Our next Subject Dinner will be for all Old Members who read History as part of their degree at Queen’s.
The dinner will take place on Saturday 21 March 2026.
Please save the date.
More information and booking will be available in the New Year.
We are planning an Entrepreneurs and Investors gathering in London on Tuesday 3 February 2026, which is being kindly hosted by Old Member Tomas Tokovyi (MSc Genomic Medicine, 2022).
We would love to hear from Old Members who:
- Are entrepreneurs or have an entrepreneurial mindset
- Invest in start-ups or are curious about doing so
If this sounds like you, we would be delighted if you could register your interest.
Invitations will be sent closer to the date.
We hope to see lots of you there!
Our wonderful choir will be bringing ‘Christmas from Queen’s’ to London with a concert on Friday 19 December 2025 from 7.30pm at Sinfonia Smith Square as part of their annual Christmas Festival.
‘Christmas from Queen’s’ is a festive programme of 20th and 21st-century works showcasing composers connected to the College, including Herbert Howells’s Three Carol-Anthems, Kenneth Leighton’s Three Carols, and selections from David Bednall’s dramatic and evocative Christmas cantata Welcome all Wonders, written for the choir in 2011. They will also include other Christmas music recorded by the choir, by Cecilia McDowall, Dobrinka Tabakova, and Imogen Holst.
We are delighted to be able to offer a £10 discount on tickets (a maximum of 2 per person) to our Old Members, just enter the code “XMASQUEENS10” when booking by clicking the button on the right.
Come join us at the New Old Members ‘plus’ Drinks Reception in London on Tuesday 18 November from 6.00 till 8.30pm at The Folly, Gracechurch Street, near Monument (map).
Booking is now open until 3 November (or until we sell out).
New Old Members – those who joined Queen’s within the last ten years – are warmly invited to an evening of meeting, greeting, and networking with fellow Old Members. We’re also delighted to welcome alumni who joined Queen’s in 2010 or later (hence the ‘plus’ in the event name).
New Provost Paul Johnson will be there too, so come and say hello, share stories and build new connections across the year groups of recent Queen’s leavers in the Garden and Deli semi-private area of The Folly bar and restaurant!
Tickets are £20 per person, including drinks and light bites.
We will celebrate our traditional Needle and Thread Gaudy on Saturday 10 January 2026 for Old Members who matriculated in the years 2008 or 2009.
Booking is now open until 10 November 2025.
Traditionally held at the beginning of the New Year, this dinner involves the College’s Bursar threading a needle into each guest’s jacket and advising them to be thrifty in the coming year. Needles were historically popular as Christmas gifts but it is thought that this Gaudy’s customs are a pun on the College founder’s name, Eglesfield – the French words ‘aiguilles et fils’ meaning needles and threads.
The Gaudy dinner is free of charge. B&B is available for Saturday 10 January at £50pppn.
Please note that due to space restrictions in Hall, this is an Old Member only event (for matriculation years 2008 and 2009).
SATURDAY 10 JANUARY
4.00pm Tea & cake in the Shulman Auditorium
4.30pm Welcome
6.30pm Drinks in the Upper Library
7.00pm Dinner (Black Tie)
SUNDAY 11 JANUARY
8.15–9.45am Breakfast in Hall
8.45am Holy Communion
We will celebrate our traditional Boar’s Head Gaudy on Saturday 20 December 2025 for Old Members who matriculated in the years 2000 or 2001.
Invitations to join the ballot for places will be sent in September.
The programme will begin with tea and Christmas cake in the Shulman Auditorium, followed by a recital of seasonal music in Chapel with the College Choir.
The Gaudy is combined with the Boar’s Head Ceremony, which takes place before dinner. Guests are asked to assemble in Hall by 6.25pm when the Boar’s Head will make its ceremonial entrance.
After the Ceremony, champagne will be served in the Upper Library, followed by dinner at 7.15pm. Holy Communion will be celebrated in Chapel on Sunday morning.
The Gaudy dinner is free of charge. B&B is available for Saturday 20 December at £50pppn.
Please note that due to space restrictions in Hall, this is an Old Member only event (for matriculation years 2000 and 2001).
Programme
SATURDAY 20 DECEMBER
3.30pm Tea & cake in the Shulman Auditorium
4.00pm Welcome
5.45pm Recital of Seasonal Music in Chapel
6.30pm Boar’s Head Ceremony
6.45pm Drinks in the Upper Library
7.15pm Dinner (Black Tie)
SUNDAY 21 DECEMBER
8.15 – 9.45am Breakfast in the Hall
8.45am Holy Communion
Julia Doyle soprano
Esther Lay mezzo-soprano
Guy Cutting tenor
Choir of The Queen’s College, Oxford
Academy of Ancient Music
Owen Rees director
Handel’s Messiah lies at the very heart of Christmas musical festivities. The oratorio follows Christ’s life from the prophecies of the Old Testament through to his birth, passion and resurrection, and the final conquest of sin with the promise of eternal life. Handel uses his consummate skill as an opera composer to inject vivid colour and intense drama into his score. First heard in 1741, it remains just as popular today as it did in Dublin nearly 300 years ago. Arias of mesmerising beauty and triumphant courage sit alongside virtuoso choruses of stunning power – including the famous ‘Hallelujah Chorus’.
This concert continues the acclaimed collaboration between the Choir of The Queen’s College, Oxford and the world famous Academy of Ancient Music, a combination of the finest choral singing and an orchestra with a worldwide reputation for excellence in baroque and classical music. Previous performances of Messiah in this collaboration, also with star-studded line-ups of soloists, have sold out months before the event and early booking is advised.
Choir and orchestra are conducted by Owen Rees, Director of Music at The Queen’s College, hailed as ‘one of the most energetic and persuasive voices’ in this field.