ALL TIMES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
FRIDAY 2nd September: Optional pre-conference events
3.00 pm: Visit to the Pitt Rivers Museum, home of the University of Oxford’s archaeological and anthropological collections, accompanied by Lorraine Mepham and Dr Rosamund Cleal. CLICK HERE for more information and to reserve a place.
4.00 pm onwards: Welcome to St Hilda’s. Registration and tea will be available in the foyer of the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building.
4:15 pm: Tour of the new College buildings and gardens, starting at the Lodge
7.00 pm: Two-course evening meal at St Hilda’s (£25.20 per person), followed by our annual pre-conference quiz and drinks, this year hosted by Effie and Carina.
SATURDAY 3rd September
10.00 am: Coffee and registration in the foyer of the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building
10.30 am: Annual General Meeting of the Barbara Pym Society (for Society members only)
11.30 am: Conference begins: Opening remarks by the Chair, Deb Fisher
11.40 am: ‘Here might a writer love to work’: Reaching Out to Greece in Barbara Pym’s Notebooks and A Few Green Leaves – Talk by Rose Little
12.30 pm: Barbara Pym’s Last Title – Talk by Dr Barbara Everett
1.00 pm: Lunch in the Pavilion (£24.00 per person)
2.20 pm: ‘Lead, kindly Light’ – Talk by Kate Fenton
3.10 pm: ‘No good can come of all this delving’: The Deserted Medieval Village and Other Archaeology in the Work of Barbara Pym – Talk by Lorraine Mepham and Dr Ros Cleal
4.00 pm: Afternoon tea
4.45 pm: Free time
6.45 pm: Drinks reception
7.15 pm: The Annual Banquet in the Pavilion (£46.20 per person) followed by the BPS charity Pymbola, hosted by The Fabulous Paul Howard
SUNDAY 4th September
10.15 am: Coffee in the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building
10.45 am: ‘A few green leaves can make such a difference’: Pym, Larkin, and Rural Retirement – Talk by Daniel Vince (Philip Larkin Society)
11.35 am: The Finstock Years: Touring Oxfordshire with Barbara Pym – Talk by Dr Emily Stockard
Unfortunately Emily Stockard is unable to attend; her paper will be read by Lucia Costanzo and Triona Adams.
12.30 pm: Discussion and summing up of conference
1.00 pm: Sunday lunch in the Dining Hall (£25.20 per person)
2.30 pm: Dramatised reading of A Few Green Leaves, devised by Yvonne Cocking
3.30 pm: Tea and biscuits; conference adjourns. Those who are not otherwise engaged are welcome to linger after tea and share their opinions of the conference with the Chair and other members.
Optional events for those staying over Sunday evening:
6.05 pm: Choral evensong at Christ Church Cathedral
7.30 pm: Meet for dinner at a local restaurant (à la carte, location will be announced)
Activities in Oxford
A Barbara Pym Walk Through Oxford. This self-guided tour of Oxford highlights places associated with Pym and her friends, but also points out many other sites of historical and literary interest. It starts and ends at St Hilda’s and takes approximately one hour.
City Sightseeing Oxford offers hop on, hop off bus tours with 20 stops throughout the city. The bus stops at The Plain (the roundabout at the end of Cowley Place) by Sainsburys.
The Bodleian Library. The Weston Library galleries are open from 10.00 to 17.00 Monday-Saturday and 11.00 to 17.00 on Sunday; current free exhibitions are ‘Tutankhamun: Excavating the Archive,’ ‘Sensational Books’ and ‘Designer Bookbinders’. Guided tours of the 15th-century Divinity School and Duke Humfrey’s medieval library are also available.
Ashmolean Museum. Admission is free but advance booking is advised. There is a charge for the special exhibition ‘The Pre-Raphaelites’.
Oxford Botanic Gardens Christ Church Picture Gallery
Museum of the History of Science Modern Art Oxford
Pitt Rivers Museum The Story Museum
Museum of Oxford Oxford Castle and Prison
More information on places to go, things to do, and where to stay is available at
the Oxford Visitor Information Centre or Experience Oxfordshire