A garden in Divinity Road

On a sunny Sunday afternoon in July a varied and different selection of neighbourhood gardens opened their gates to visitors; this was the second open gardens event this year, the first being held in April.

Another Divinity Rd garden

We enjoyed a feast of spectacular colour, fine vegetables, three inspiring and successful ponds - one established and one relatively new, a beautifully renovated greenhouse and a fair crop of mare’s tails.

Tea and cakes were most welcome  in Hilltop Road.

Many thanks to all participating for their hospitality and inspiration!

A garden in Southfield Road

Malcolm Graham and residents discussing the development of Hilltop Road

Malcolm is Oxford’s best known local historian, is the former head of Oxfordshire Studies with Oxfordshire County Council, including managing the county’s extensive photographic archive of over 400,000 images. His doctoral thesis was on the suburbs of Victorian Oxford, and he later produced a book: The images of Victorian Oxford. He has published extensively on the history of Oxford since the 1970s. Of particular interest for those of us in the DRARA area are: On Foot in Oxford, no 12: East Oxford, and with Laurence Waters, Cowley and East Oxford Past and Present, (Stroud, Sutton Publishing, 2002). He could not have been better qualified to lead our walk!

Date: 15th May 2010
Time: 5pm
Location: St Mary & St John Church, Cowley Road

In mid-May, the East Oxford Community Choir will join forces with the ‘Ensemble Vocal Interlude’ from Grenoble, France, to perform Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio, ‘Paulus’ (‘St Paul’). They will perform two concerts – one in Oxford and the other in Dorchester-on-Thames.

‘Paulus’, completed when Mendelssohn was only 25, tells the story of the capture, trial and stoning of Stephen; Saul’s persecution of the Christians; Saul’s conversion; and his baptism as Paul. It is a tremendously powerful, dramatic work, with passages of great lyrical beauty and serenity. Premiered to enormous acclaim in Düsseldorf in 1836, it had the effect of reviving the oratorio in Europe.

Divinity Road resident, Chris Emlyn-Jones, will sing the part of St Paul, and the concerts will be conducted by local music teacher, Mel Houldershaw.

The details of the two concerts are as follows:

Mendelssohn: ‘St Paul – the Conversion’

East Oxford Community Choir, orchestra and soloists, with Ensemble Vocal Interlude, from Grenoble.

Also: Mozart’s ‘Exultate Jubilate’ (soprano Helen Maxey)

Friday, 14 May, 8 p.m. at Dorchester Abbey, Dorchester-on-Thames
Saturday, 15 May, 5 p.m. at St Mary & St John Church, Cowley Road, Oxford.
Tickets: £10/£9 concessions/ £3 under-18s
Available from The Playhouse: tel.: 01865 305305
Website: www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford
Or at the door.

For further information, or to order tickets, please contact Glen Williams (Oxford 727612), 93 Divinity Road.

Click here to download a PDF poster of the concert.

Date: 14th May 2010
Time: 8pm
Location: Dorchester Abbey

In mid-May, the East Oxford Community Choir will join forces with the ‘Ensemble Vocal Interlude’ from Grenoble, France, to perform Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio, ‘Paulus’ (‘St Paul’). They will perform two concerts – one in Oxford and the other in Dorchester-on-Thames.

‘Paulus’, completed when Mendelssohn was only 25, tells the story of the capture, trial and stoning of Stephen; Saul’s persecution of the Christians; Saul’s conversion; and his baptism as Paul. It is a tremendously powerful, dramatic work, with passages of great lyrical beauty and serenity. Premiered to enormous acclaim in Düsseldorf in 1836, it had the effect of reviving the oratorio in Europe.

Divinity Road resident, Chris Emlyn-Jones, will sing the part of St Paul, and the concerts will be conducted by local music teacher, Mel Houldershaw.

The details of the two concerts are as follows:

Mendelssohn: ‘St Paul – the Conversion’

East Oxford Community Choir, orchestra and soloists, with Ensemble Vocal Interlude, from Grenoble.

Also: Mozart’s ‘Exultate Jubilate’ (soprano Helen Maxey)

Friday, 14 May, 8 p.m. at Dorchester Abbey, Dorchester-on-Thames
Saturday, 15 May, 5 p.m. at St Mary & St John Church, Cowley Road, Oxford.
Tickets: £10/£9 concessions/ £3 under-18s
Available from The Playhouse: tel.: 01865 305305
Website: www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford
Or at the door.

For further information, or to order tickets, please contact Glen Williams (Oxford 727612), 93 Divinity Road.

Click here to download a PDF poster of the concert.

http://consultation.oxford.gov.uk/consult.ti/Additional_Licensing_of_HMOs/consultationHome

After ten years of campaigning, new legislation has been passed which will enable councils to better manage proliferations of HMOs. At the beginning of April 2010, City Councils were given stronger local licensing powers to control HMOs. Oxford City Council is proposing to use the new powers to licence every HMO in Oxford.

See their website for more details, opportunities to get involved, and register your interest to receive project updates: http://www.archeox.net/

Date: 26th September 2010
Time: 1-4.30pm
Location: Warneford Meadow

We are looking for volunteers to help.

There will be stalls selling local produce, including the famous Hill Top Road honey, jams and jellies, local bread, cakes etc, and surplus fruit and vegetables from local gardens and allotments.

Date: 18th September 2010
Time: 2-11pm
Location: Divinity Road area

Freecycle and community clean up in the afternoon including tea…
then Film in the Street on Divinity Road in the evening.

Suggestions for films needed please – selection to be made at the Meal in the Street in June.

Date: 4th July 2010
Time: 2 - 6 pm
Location: DRARA area

8 splendid gardens in the neighbourhood to visit!

Register and collect Map at Sinnet Court

Charge £2 per family/group

For more information telephone Rebecca Philipson on 421000