Celebrating 800 years of Magna Carta

This year marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, and colleagues at Oxford Brookes are contributing to official commemorations alongside our own anniversary celebrations. Charlotte Field from the UK recruitment team reports on the ceremony held at Runnymede earlier this month:

I was lucky enough to get invited to the official Magna Carta commemoration day at Runnymede on 15 June, the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta. I was there with colleagues from the University, and representing many more who have been working on the Magna Carta project over the last year, the culmination of which includes the symposium that was held on 18 June and the ongoing exhibition currently in the Glass Tank. 

It was pretty special to be at the site of Runnymede on the anniversary itself. I imagine it feels like a special place on any day of the year, but I felt a particular weight in trying to think about what 800 years really means, in light of what happened there. Speeches from David Cameron and the Archbishop of Canterbury in the presence of the royal family were fascinating to hear but the most affecting part of the morning for me was looking at the new permanent artwork commissioned for the commemoration. 

 

Artist Hew Locke has created ‘the Jurors’ which in the vastness of the meadow provides space to think and reflect about our history, with his images depicting the struggle for freedom and democracy over the last few centuries and beyond, imprinted on twelve imposing bronze chairs. These will be positioned on that meadow for the future and I'd highly recommend going to see them.

Visit the exhibition

‘A Modern Magna Carta’, an exhibition of works by local schools interpreting the Magna Carta for 2015, is open in The Glass Tank on our Headington campus until Friday 24 July (Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm, free entry, open to all).

The exhibition will then move to the Museum of Oxford, where it will remain until 20 August. 

Visit our events pages for more information.

More on the Magna Carta

Find out more about activities run by Oxford Brookes on the Magna Carta Project web page. 

Watch our three former chancellors debating 'On Liberty, Magna Carta and our future’ earlier this year. 

‘Creating our Future’ at the Cowley Road Carnival

Final preparations are underway for Sunday’s Cowley Road Carnival, Oxfordshire’s largest community event. As part of our anniversary celebrations, Oxford Brookes University is the carnival’s lead sponsor this year, with a theme of ‘Creating our Future’.

The procession, always a highlight of the festivities, will start from The Plain at 1.30pm. Oxford Brookes will be leading the way with a carnival banner, stories from our 150 years of history, and our carnival sculpture Brookie the bookworm. All the procession pieces were made by students and staff in a series of workshops in the run-up to the carnival. For a look behind the scenes, check our Cowley Road Carnival blog.  

The Brookes Zone will be open throughout the afternoon in Manzil Way with a range of family-friendly activities. In line with the theme of ‘Creating our Future’, children will be invited to create a time capsule and to contribute to the Brookes Wish Tree. There will be a mortar board making workshop, Victorian themed activities in a reconstructed classroom, and the chance to win prizes in the Brookes Bus mystery word competition.  

Visitors will also be able to find out more about our 150 years of history by exploring our timeline, and to learn about recent research with the bamboo bike and a video of Artie the robot. Add to this tea tasting, face painting, a juggling unicyclist and a wheel of fortune, and there should be something for everyone. We look forward to seeing you there! Please share your photos and tweets with #brookes150

Visit the Cowley Road Carnival website for more information on the event.

Brookes People Awards

For those of us who have been planning the Brookes People Awards for some time, it is really encouraging to see the impact on those who have found out they've been nominated.

The Brookes People Awards is a peer-nominated recognition scheme for staff, recognising colleagues and teams who reflect the Brookes guiding principles through their work, and a key part of the 150 celebrations. Nominations are open until the end of March 2015; the shortlist will be announced in May; and the awards ceremony takes place in June.

Nominees are being informed of their nomination in batches, and the responses have been really encouraging. One staff member told me that after a colleague in their team opened their letter and certificate, they straightened up in their seat and held their head high for the rest of the day. Others have seen colleagues so excited about their nomination that they needed to double check whether they had actually won an award. Yet another was so pleased that they pinned their certificate to their office door.

Numbers of nominations in February were double those in January. With many more nominations coming in this month it promises to be a great range of nominations. If you're a staff member and you'd like to make a nomination, don't delay - nominations deadline is 31 March.

How to find out more

Find out more about the anniversary through Twitter @brookes_is_150; at our web pages; or via email at 150years@brookes.ac.uk.

How are we doing?
We want to provide you with information about the anniversary in a way that works for you. Let us know how we're doing with the poll on the right hand menu, and by contacting us via the email address above.

Browse our history timeline

Our anniversary year has now begun! One of the many things we've put together for you is our interactive timeline. Take a look and enjoy...

If you’d like to reflect on how student social life has changed, take a look at the plans for the student union’s social evening and dance in 1922.

Or perhaps you'd like to find out more about our predecessor institutions such as Westminster or the Polytechnic, in which case a search on the institution’s name reveals dozens of articles and images for you to browse through.

Student magazines from throughout the ages are available for you to explore, scanned in for you to enjoy. If you’d like to hear first hand from people – ranging from those who knew John Henry Brookes right through to present day students and honorary graduates – watch the videos available for you.

We hope you’ll love this resource, which will grow over the coming year with new stories.

If you'd like to share your own stories and images of Brookes, join the growing community at www.brookes.ac.uk/my150.

How to find out more

Find out more about the anniversary through Twitter @brookes_is_150; at our web pages; or via email at 150years@brookes.ac.uk.

How are we doing?
We want to provide you with information about the anniversary in a way that works for you. Let us know how we're doing with the poll on the right hand menu, and by contacting us via the email address above.

Enjoy our lectures - wherever you are

Our anniversary lecture series is a celebration of diverse interests and ideas. From a former director of GCHQ to a founding member of the Pogues, there is a broad spectrum of perspectives designed to appeal to the open minded and intellectually curious.

Professor Sir David Omand will examine the challenges of reconciling security and privacy online, in ‘Intelligence in the digital age’. And futurist Mark Stevenson will look at change on a grander scale in ‘The future is up for grabs’.

The emotional impact on journalists who cover difficult events forms the basis of ‘Shock, horror’ by Sian Williams, journalist, Brookes alumna and MSc Psychology student (University of Westminster). Sian covered the Hillsborough disaster, Asian tsunami and other harrowing events.

As well as inspirational external speakers, our 'best lecturers' - as voted by Brookes students in their 2013 awards - will be speaking about their specialist subjects throughout the year.

How to book - and enjoying the lectures if you're unable to be there

All anniversary events now appear on our web pages - take a look and book some thinking time.

Twitter discussions during the lectures are encouraged to use #brookes150 – check out the hashtag during the lectures to see snippets and opinions of the lecture.

All lectures are being recorded using lecture capture. If you’re unable to make the presentation but would like to catch up with it afterwards, visit our lecture capture site.

How to find out more

Find out more about the anniversary through Twitter @brookes_is_150; at our web pages; or via email at 150years@brookes.ac.uk.

How are we doing?
We want to provide you with information about the anniversary in a way that works for you. Let us know how we're doing with the poll on the right hand menu, and by contacting us via the email address above.

Stepping back in time

150 years ago a small art school opened its doors to students in a single room of the Taylorian Institute in Oxford’s historic city centre. Our anniversary celebrations are an opportunity to join us as we mark Oxford Brookes’ journey from that room, through its years as a technology college and later a polytechnic, partnering with other like-minded institutions and becoming a university.

Starting this autumn, you’ll be able to take a trip through our interactive digital archive and discover a rich history, marked by personal stories, written contributions, fascinating archive material, photographs, videos and interviews. You’ll also be able to visit our campus exhibition in person.

You might discover the story, as told by the local press, of Brookes’ battle to move from scattered rooms around the city centre to its Gipsy Lane site at Headington; or you might encounter an interview with honorary graduate Benjamin Zephaniah, explaining why he preferred the honour to an OBE.

Who were the bands playing the SU in the seventies? What made the front page of the Polytechnic’s student magazine?

Who was John Henry Brookes and what exactly is his legacy?

You’ll be able to explore and discover more about Oxford Brookes, its students, values, staff and faculties, buildings, challenges and changes since 1865. From October, either drop in to our exhibition space in the Abercrombie building on Headington Campus, or visit our interactive digital archive. Follow our twitter feed and web pages to be notified when the timeline and exhibition go live.

How to find out more

Find out more about the anniversary through Twitter @brookes_is_150; at our web pages; or via email at 150years@brookes.ac.uk.

How are we doing?
We want to provide you with information about the anniversary in a way that works for you. Let us know how we're doing with the poll on the right hand menu, and by contacting us via the email address above.

Books for sale to mark our 150th anniversary

Next year is such a special moment in the journey of Oxford Brookes that we’ll be marking the occasion with two new books. Whether you’d like to learn more about the inspirational man we are now named after, or would like something which commemorates our journey to date, there is a book for you.

Did you know that the Duckworth-Lewis method was developed at Brookes, or that we have a piece of college pudding in our archive from 1897? Perhaps you knew that we have a reputation for excellent learning and teaching, but were unaware that at Brookes we were the pioneers of the modular degree programme? Whatever your interest in the University – our prestigious research achievements, the people who have defined our character throughout the years, our role in the Oxford music scene and more – look out for this book. ‘Wisdom, Wonders & Wickets: 150 tales from 150 years’ will be a beautiful collection of shorter and longer articles – perfect for dipping into, or reading longer pieces when you have a few moments to spare.

If you’d like to get to grips with a biography of our modern spiritual founder, and find out more about his connection with our institution, I’d recommend ‘John Henry Brookes: A man who inspired a University’. This account of his life, achievements and contribution to the growth of Oxford Brookes has been written by alumnus Bryan Brown. To give you an insight into the many works of art produced by John Henry Brookes throughout his life, it is beautifully illustrated with photographs of his work.

Both books will be on sale in the autumn, both on campus and online.

How to find out more
Find out more about the anniversary through Twitter @brookes_is_150; at our web pages; or via email at 150years@brookes.ac.uk.

How are we doing?
We want to provide you with information about the anniversary in a way that works for you. Let us know how we're doing with the poll on the right hand menu, and by contacting us via the email address above.