The Oxford Arthurian Society

Mark is former secretary of the Oxford Arthurian Society. His interest was how the core Arthurian matter has been moulded into a mythology that tells the core stories of each of the eras. There is a sense in which the Arthurian legend becomes a vehicle - a carrier for the true message and more significant messages. To allow a full exploration of this Arthurian adventure and to create a society that acted as a catalyst for ideas and discussion in much the way the
Inklings had,  his aim as secretary was to transform the society.

• To make the society a core part of members lives by having regular meetings in university term-time and travels and adventures each and every vacation. This involved having a structure of events planned before each term and a term card created before students had come up and planned their terms. 
• To make each and every meeting a highly social one with space and time to chat before any structured event, to have something that stimulated discussion intellectual discussion and to follow up with a cosy, aimable social period. This rotated around a free and ample provision of mulled wine at every meeting and the extensive preparation, budgeting and infrastructure that involved. This was a shift from occasional mulled wine evenings of the earlier society. The outcome though was to provide highly animated discussion and make each meeting not just a dry talk or lecture, but a highly social and stimulating evening out in itself.
• To have regular first-class speakers of every type like Geoffrey Ashe and first class venues like the Rollright Stones on May morning.

More than anything the aim was to do all these things with a light touch, avoiding factions and  encouraging talented individuals  to show and develop their skills before the society.