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September Newsletter...

Here's a warm September hello,

I can't go on any further without giving you the latest update on our swallow family. This year the intrepid parents have managed to rear two broods, totalling eight young. Now they've all departed for hotter Southern African climes, along, of course, with their personal name tags. This will be my last word on our special foreign visitors until April next year, so to reiterate my message to our esteemed City Council; if the air quality is good enough to support the myriad of insects required for swallows to thrive in the centre of Oxford, then it must be OK for us humans. In my humble opinion, pollution in our city is pretty low, unlike the unacceptable air pollution in central London which will not support flying insects. You will never find swallows or house martins in central London.

Back to the big story, which is all about the Old Parsonage Hotel and the Parsonage Grill. We have deliberately timed our reopening for October 1st. Why? It's the perfect month of the year to celebrate everything the Parsonage represents... an open fire, our famously warm welcome, the cosy all enveloping atmosphere with its unparalleled collection of portraits, sinking into velvet cushions, the best afternoon tea and seasonal autumnal dishes on the menu.

Update on your safety: You can be totally confident that we have put in place all the necessary measures to make you feel as safe as possible without compromising the unique ambience... specially designed glass privacy screens, spaced out tables with reduced capacity, an extended covered and heated terrace for outside dining long after the nights have drawn in.

Before signing off, I hope you will all join me in marking our sadness and say goodbye to two inspirational people. Felicity Bryan, the renowned local literary agent, was a huge supporter of 'The Oxford Collection?' and our annual Food and Drink Short Story Prize, along with Sir Terence Conran, who lived not far away, I'm sure many of us recognise his supreme influence on design, life style and our own hospitality industry.

Have a great Autumn, we really look forward to seeing you.

Latest Newsletter...

Hello to everyone again,

We welcomed a deluge of regular customers at Quod on the first Saturday, July 4th, who ensured it turned out to be a very special day both for me and everyone working in their various roles. We reopened at 12.00 noon and on the dot, the very first customers through the door of Quod were an amazing family of five who had driven all the way down that morning from Warwick, specifically to be at our first lunch. What an incredible endorsement. In fact, I spoke to three separate couples over the weekend who had been to Quod on the day we had to close and had to be with us again on the day we reopened.

I spent most of Saturday and Sunday with Gosia, the General Manager and Rebecca, welcoming many, many loyal fans from far and wide who had been waiting for this moment. A snapshot of places travelled from, were... Reading, London, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Great Tew, along with the city itself and people from many communities and villages on the periphery of Oxford.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone for being so supportive. All the weeks so far have seen a steady increase in momentum, so fingers crossed we will get back to normal soon, especially if Oxford comes up with the vaccine later this year. Yet another good reason for visitors and the world's tourists to visit our fabulous city.

We were amazed to receive 68 entries with name suggestions for the swallow fledglings who are now happily flying around the City and Christchurch Meadow. So much for the so called pollution we are told exists in Oxford.

The standard of entries has made the task of choosing three winners of our ?100 vouchers incredibly difficult.

The list was easily narrowed down by ruling out the multiple entries of Beatle names (x5), Swallows and Amazons (x3), Spice Girls (x2), Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich (x2), Eeny Meenie etc (which obviously had to be disqualified).

The judges quite liked 'Quad, Quod, Kwod, Kwad' but decided that it would be difficult to call in individual birds for a friendly stroke because they'd all land on your hand at the same time. Another good one was the four different currencies from countries passed over on their way back to South Africa in the Autumn, 'Penny, Franc, Peso and Rand, but we decided that the inclusion of the Peso must have meant they were severely blown off course and ended up in Mexico or S. America which was pretty unlikely.

They will each receive a voucher for ?100 to be spent anywhere within 'The Oxford Collection?'.

A special prize goes to 5 year old Grace for her Rainbow, Poppy, Sesame, and Rosetta suggestion, Grace will receive a voucher for ten small thick ice cream milkshakes to be consumed at any time. Sorry parents, this is going to cost you but at least you're not going to be asked about it by your daughter every day.

My own entry of Tom, Dick, Harry and Sally was ruled out for being pathetic.

I do have to say again, there were many, many others who lost by the thinnest of whiskers. Commiserations to them all, better luck next time.

Over and out until the next time.

Jeremy Mogford

We are offering three separate prizes, each of ?100, to the three people who come up with the best, most original combination of names for the four young swallow chicks. Put them in order (1-4) and send your answers to Steve Holmes please, through this link, and we'll publish the best on our website.