Autumn Lectures for Members via Zoom

Unfortunately, because of Covid-19 restrictions, we cannot hold any of our Autumn Lectures in Magdalen College Auditorium this year.

In their place we are recording some lectures via Zoom which will be made available to our Members to view in their own homes, from a link sent by email.

Here is the programme for October to December 2020. These talks are delivered by staff members of the West Oxfordshire estates of the National Trust, to whom we are very grateful for their contributions.

Conservation Grazing at White Horse Hill

Lecture available to OCNT Members for a week from Monday 19 October.

National Trust Ranger Andrew Foley will tell us more about a topic close to his heart, which he describes in this way:
“A talk on our successful arable reversion project at White Horse Hill, and further success with our new grazing regime including the type of cattle we have and why we choose these. I will also talk about the resulting benefits for wildlife, people and the history of the Hill.”

Coleshill House: its secrets, trials and tribulations

Lecture available to OCNT Members for a week from Monday 16 November.

A talk scheduled to take place in November in Magdalen College Auditorium, will now be delivered via Zoom by Liza Dibble, NT Community Learning Officer for the Buscot and Coleshill Estates.

Buscot and Coleshill Estates came together in 1956 on the death of Ernest Cook, bequeathed to the National Trust. Coleshill House, built in 1660 and occupied by Auxiliary Units during WW2, burned down during restoration in 1952.

Coleshill – Rediscovering an historic landscape

Lecture available to OCNT Members for a week from Monday 14 December.

A virtual walk with Christian Walker, General Manager for West Oxfordshire, around Coleshill Park, discovering this lost landscape that once had a unique house lost to fire in 1952, after which it fell to sleep. The overgrown Long Shrubbery walk and former flower gardens are not open to the public, but as the parkland returns to National Trust management this autumn, Christian will share some of the plans over the coming years to restore and enable greater access to this special place.   


OCNT Members watch out for the email containing details of how to watch these lectures on your computer / tablet / smart phone which will be sent to you a few days before they become available. This will be a simple process of clicking on a link which will take you to view the recording. You can choose when to watch, at a time convenient to you. No need to leave your house!