The Arts Society Oxford – VISITS PROGRAMME 2019 – 2020
Tuesday 3 to Friday 6 September 2019: Four day autumn tour by coach to visit ‘The Great Houses of Derbyshire’, staying in Buxton.
Sunday 15 September 2019, 11:15am: Enjoy a lovely Sunday morning coffee concert at the Holywell Music Room.
If you enjoy music and want to attend concerts with other people with a common interest, please come an hear the Adderbury Ensemble directed by Benjamin Gilmore with Fiona Cross (clarinet) playing Mozart’s String Quartet no 16 in E flat major, K428/421b and Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor, op 115.
COST £12, including coffee beforehand at The Vaults & Garden Cafe served from 10:15am.
4, 19 October, 2 November 2019, 2:30 pm: Small group private visits to explore the Oscar Nemon Gallery on Boar’s Hill, Oxford
Escaping from Germany in 1938, Oscar Nemon built his home and studio on Boar’s Hill. He is famous for his sculptures of a spectacular list of high-profile figures – the Queen, Prince Philip and many other members of the Royal Family; Max Beerbohm, Lord Beaverbrook, Earl Mountbatten, Eisenhower, Truman, MacMillan and Margaret Thatcher. He is best known for a series of more than a dozen public statues of Winston Churchill, including the celebrated work in the House of Commons. See many examples of his work and enjoy a private tour hosted by Alice, Oscar Nemon’s daughter-in-law.
COST £10, including the tour, coffee/tea and a cake.
Thursday 10 October 2019, 2:30pm: Visit the Oxford Playhouse Theatre for a matinee performance of ‘The Barbershop Chronicles’
One day. Six cities. A thousand stories. Following a sell-out run at the National Theatre, Inue Ellams’ acclaimed ‘Barber Shop Chronicles’makes a much-anticipated visit to Oxford. Newsroom, political platform, local hotspot, confession box, preacher-pulpit and football stadium. It is a heart-warming, hilarious and insightful new play that leaps from a barber shop in Peckham to Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos and Accra over the course of a single day.
COST: £14
Wednesday 6 November 2019, between 10:00am to 12:00noon: Meet the artist – Felicity Gill at The North Wall (Gallery, Theatre and Cafe) in Summertown.
Felicity Gill is a figurative artist and portrait painter who has painted many prestigious portraits including Boris Johnson, Sir Henry Cecil (for the Jockey Club) and Joan Bakewell. Her latest solo show: Being Human opens at The North Wall in late October. Drop in for a chat and coffee, visit the exhibition and meet the Artist to hear about her work.
COST: £2.70, including coffee/tea and cake. Exclusive event for TASO members.
Thursday 21 November: Coach trip to Leighton House and nearby 18 Stafford Terrace in Holland Park, London
Leighton House is a purpose-built studio house and ‘showpiece home’ commissioned by the Victorian artist, Lord Frederic Leighton. Leighton’s extensive travel inspired the grand interiors and influenced his collections. Nearby 18 Stafford Terrace was the home of Edward Linley Sambourne, another famous Victorian artist, renowned for his satirical caricatures of famous figures in Punch magazine. Sambourne’s home is a fantastic example of ‘House Beautiful’ style, a popular nineteenth century design movement.
COST: £39 includes transport and guided tours of both properties but excludes coffee and lunch.
27, 28 November, 2 and 3 December, 2:00pm: Oxford Sculpture Walking Tours with Lizzy Rowe
Join local museum guide and teacher, Lizzy Rowe, for a fascinating tour. We will explore many of New College’s sculptural treasures starting with the tortured figure of Lazarus by Jacob Epstein and including the rarely seen misericords. We will walk past the grotesques and gargoyles along New College Lane and the Sheldonian Stone Heads to All Souls College where we will enjoy the wonderful reredos screen in All Souls Chapel. A rich and varied look at monuments, some of them already familiar but others never noticed before.
COST: £6.50 including tour and entry fees but excluding an optional tea/coffee afterwards in the cosy Vaults and Garden Cafe.
Thursday 19 December 2019: Christmas at Waddeston Manor
A coach trip to Waddeston Manor for a traditional two course Christmas lunch with a glass of wine. We then enjoy a tour of the decorated house and a visit to the Christmas Fair. From dusk, around 4pm, the grounds come to life with a light trail around the Aviary that playfully combines colour, sound and movement. The Manor’s facade will also be bathed in light with two unique shows.
COST: expected £40.50 fully inclusive for NT members, £56.50 for non-NT members.
Wednesday 22 January 2020: Coach trip the Saatchi Gallery to see the Tutankhamen exhibition: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh
The legend of Tutankhamun captured imaginations globally when, in 1922 his tomb was unearthed by British explorer Howard Carter and financier Lord Carnarvon. This exhibition will unveil more than 150 original objects from the tomb with 60 pieces travelling out of Egypt for the first and only time. This is a wonderful opportunity to see the young Pharaoh’s personal belongings as you follow his passage into everlasting life, before the artefacts go back to Egypt to be permanently installed in the Egyptian Grand Museum which is currently under construction.
COST: around £39.50 including transport, tour and coffee but excludes lunch.
Various dates in February/March (dates being finalised): Walking tour of Oxford Colleges with Alastair Lack
Thursday 23 April: A visit to the City of London including a tour of The Guildhall.
May: UK Tour
The itinerary and costs and will be available in the near future.
Late May/June (dates being finalised): Small Group private tours by car to Upper Slaughter Manor, a ‘quintessential Cotswold Manor House’
Upper Slaughter Manor is a picturesque manor house set in idyllic Cotswold countryside. It is the home of Mr & Mrs Feller and dates from the Tudor period. The rooms of the manor are filled with antique furniture, pictures, silverware and samplers dating from the 18th Century. The Feller collection of 17th Century samplers was donated to the Ashmolean Museum. Surrounding the manor are several acres of gardens, with views over the surrounding Cotswold landscape.
COST: £30 including a guided tour of the house and lunch (£5 extra for wine)
Monday 15 June: Coach trip to Elton Hall, near Peterborough
This is a private tour exclusively for TASO of Elton Hall, which stands proud in unspoilt landscaped parkland. A house has stood here since the 12th century. Elton Hall is enchanting and there is something romantic and magical about the building with its gothic south elevation set at a right angle to the classical, French inspired, entrance wing. Its art collection contains many Old Masters and fine examples of English portraiture. There is the State Coach used by the family to attend the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Queen Victoria and Henry VIII’s Prayer Book, given to him by Katherine Parr who had herself been given the Manor of Elton by Henry VIII after their marriage.
COST: around £49 including transport, private tour of house and gardens, coffee on arrival and lunch.
September/October: Overseas Tour
The itinerary and costs and will be available in the near future.
Want to know more? Come and talk to us at the visits desk in reception before lectures. You can book for current visits and tell us your ideas for future trips. You can also email us for further information at tasoxford@gmail.com. We hope you will come and enjoy at least one of these events in 2019-20.
TASO Visits Team