"Tell me, what exactly is the function of a rubber duck?”. This is the question that was on everyone’s mind as they entered this years Arts and Societies Dinner. Being lucky enough to have Mark Williams (the actor who played Arthur Weasley, among a plethora of other film, theatre and television roles) as our guest speaker meant that various Harry Potter quotes reverberated round the Hall all evening.
As the student Arts Rep, it was my responsibility to organise the annual Arts and Societies Dinner, for all those who have been involved in some sort of arts activity, or society, in the past year; anything from Ukulele Society, to Knitting Club.
It is tradition to invite a former student of Brasenose, who has gone on to have a relatively ‘arty’ career. With the help of College, I contacted Mark Williams and invited him to come and speak at our dinner. I knew this was quite a long shot, so was incredibly excited when he accepted!
After weeks of organising menus, seating plans, and invitations, the actual dinner came around incredibly quickly. One of the perks of organising the dinner was being able to sit on ‘High Table’- at the far end of the room. This in itself was very exciting, made even more fantastic by the opportunity to sit next to Mark and chat about his time at Brasenose.
After dinner, it was time for ‘Mark Weasley’ (as he was affectionately called by many members of College) to give his speech. Speaking about the plays he was in whilst at Oxford, and the extravagant lengths he has gone to in order to play a part, he had everyone laughing along with him and enjoying every minute of his speech.
Soon, there was a rather large queue to get a selfie with the man himself. Mark was incredibly obliging, and is now a feature of many new Facebook profile pictures!
Overall, it was a fantastic celebration of Brasenose students’ involvement and contribution to the Arts; every person in the dinner had a vey well deserved seat, and I can’t wait to see what the next year brings for the Arts within Brasenose.
Read more about the annual festival of arts - Arts Week - which we hold in the summer term.