Past Events

Weekend 19-21 September 2025: Meeting Minds, Oxford

Dear Oxonians, hand on the heart – were you aware that as an alumni you are most welcome to join the annual alumni weekend in Oxford called Meeting Minds??? If not, read on!

This year, Jan Könighaus and Mette Ahlefeldt-Laurvig went along and it was a FABULOUS weekend. As always, there were back-to-back lectures, concerts and tours — from Poisons in Literature, Creative Writing Course, and Spanish for Beginners, to the latest on Malaria Vaccines and guided tours to the Ashmolean and Rhodes House.

The weekend opened at the Weston Library with the by Oxford University Chancellor, The Rt Hon William Hague, who gave us a highly entertaining talk followed by a lively panel discussion and Q&A from the audience. The event was followed by drinks and nibbles for all attendees.

Only your Chair and Vice Chair represented OUSL, but with nearly 100 registered members, we could be many, many more. So do mark your diaries for 18–20 September 2026 — the next Meeting Minds in Oxford!

Your OUSL Chair and Vice Chair enjoying a moment with our OUS Paris counterparts: Howard Norman (Chair) and Lena Schreiner (Secretary) following the Chancellor’s excellent talk.

Gala Autumn Wings Ball: 25 October 2025


OUSL members have kindly been invited to join the Gala Autumn Wings Ball on 25 October at the Novotel Kirchberg, 18.30.

This charity event supports local and RAF causes and gathers UK veterans, expatriates, diplomats, and service personnel from across Europe. Tables seat 10, but individual participants are most welcome. The event also coincides with a Remembrance Service on the Saturday morning at the WW2 graves in Hollerich of RAF and RCAF airman who died defending Luxembourg.The tables at the Gala Dinner & Ball place 10 persons, however individuals attending will be welcome.

Sign-up: please sign up directly with RAFV&F Lux – see form below

Tuesday 14 October 2025: Dinner-Talk with Professor Dr. Kenneth Lasoen at Cercle Münster

Cambridge has secured a Dinner-talk with Dr. Kenneth Lasoen, a Cantabrigian and expert on security and intelligence. Professor Lasoen will be speaking on the subject of espionage and OUSL member are cordially invited .

In the course of the evening there will be a three-course dinner at Cercle.

Date and Time: 14 October 2025 at 19h

Venue: Cercle Münster

Price:  c. €115 – price and payment method to be confirmed.

Sign-up: Norry: norry.welch@cambridgesociety.lu, cc Mette: chair@oxford.lu 

Invitations will follow.

Thursday 7 October 2025, Dinner-Talk with Dominic Grieve, former British Attorney General at Cercle Münster.

We are delighted to invite you to an exclusive Dinner-Talk with the Right Honourable Dominic Grieve KC.  Grieve will speak on: ‘The Role of the Attorney General and the Fate of the Rules Based International Order.’

Dominic Grieve served as Shadow Home Secretary 2008-2009 and Attorney General for England and Wales 2010-2014. Grieve was Member of Parliament for Beaconsfield 1997-2019 and Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee 2015-2019. 

We are honoured that the H.E. Joanne Olivier, British Ambassador to Luxembourg, will be among our guests.

The Talk will be followed by a three-course dinner at Cercle Münster.

Date & Time: Tuesday 7 October, drinks at 19h followed by three-course dinner and dinner talk.Sign-up: with Mette Ahlefeldt on chair@oxford.lu, with cc to David Clark : davidowenclark@gmail.com.

Price: €110/person – NB, please note that this is an exclusive event as places are limited.

Invitations with full information to be sent out shortly.

Saturday 4 October 2025: Cambridge is kindly inviting us to join their day trip to Trier to see the Marcus Aurelius Exhibition: ‘Emperor, Commander, Philosopher’, and the Stadtmuseum

Meeting mid-morning in Trier (see below) we begin with an exhibition at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum: ‘Emperor, Commander, Philosopher’.
The exhibition covers the multifaceted life and times of Marcus Aurelius. During a 90 minutes tour visitors travel back in time to the Roman Empire of the 2nd century through a very well orchestrated archaeological exhibition addressing the fascination surrounding Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. 

This will be followed by a late lunch at Weinstube Kesselstat, and if you crave more cultural food, there is an optional afternoon tour to
The Stadtmuseum Simeonstift, which has an exhibition that focusses on an artistic representations of good rule from the time of Marcus Aurelius to the present. 

Programme:

10:27-11.21:       Train journey from Lux to Trier.

11:25am:           Walk to Rheinisches Museum, Weimarer Allee 1, Trier (15min)

12:00pm             Rheinisches Museum: Marcus Aurelius Exhibition (90min)

13:40pm:               Walk (15min) via the 4th century Imperial Roman Baths to ‘Weinstube Kesselstatt’, Liebfrauenstraße 10, for lunch and drinks

And if you would like to know more on Marcus Aurelius and governing:

14:30pm:              Walk (15min) to optional tour at Stadtmuseum Simeonstift: ‘What is Good Governance’ (75 min), from Marcus Aurelius to the present day.

16:10 pm:             Walk via Porta Negra to drinks then train back to Luxembourg as and when

Price: € 26 euros for one exhibition, or €32 euros for both exhibitions (to be verified).

Sign-up: Norry: Sign-up: Norry: norry.welch@cambridgesociety.lu, kindly cc Mette: chair@oxford.lu.

Tuesday 16 Sep. 2025, 19h: Freshers Dinner

We had a great Freshers Dinner at Chiche! This year we only had three freshers, but we were lucky that two of them could come, one who will read a Masters in Law and another who will read a Dphil in Mathematics (Merton). We also had the pleasure of including several members who kindly help each year carrying out mock interviews as well as members of the committee.

14 September 2025: Croquet in the City & pizza

This was a packed Oxbridge weekend! Yesterday OUSL organised the hike in Müllerthal and today Camsoc spearheaded the annual game of croquet in Parc Pescatore followed by pizza.

We had a great turnout from both societies with participants of all ages and a good number of students joining in. We were extremely lucky as the park was bathed in sunshine for most of the afternoon. With glasses of crémant and nibbles in hand, we did our best to follow Fanny and Andrew’s expert instructions in the fine art of croqueting. Two matches were played – three teams in the first match, and two in the second. The ingenious format left plenty of time to chat and have a laugh between turns, and the day wrapped up with a pizza at Bacchus for around fifteen of the group, mostly students. Once again, a thoroughly nice day in a thoroughly nice weekend.