Three fascinating speakers are launching the Friends of St Mary’s Kidlington’s new programme of storytelling events in St Mary’s church this autumn. Philip Pullman, world-famous author of the His Dark Materials sequence of books that has inspired film and TV productions is the opening speaker on Saturday 21 September 2024. Philip has delighted and excited adult and young readers with his imagined worlds centred on Oxford. His talk will be a fascinating exploration of the ways the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tales have inspired his storytelling from his childhood onwards.

For the second in the series of Autumn Talks hosted by Friends of St Mary's Kidlington Prue Leith of Celebrity Bake-Off fame will be the speaker on Saturday 19th October. Prue will be in conversation with Joanna Foster who is co-ordinating the Friends programme. Prue will be recounting many colourful stories of her life, which has ranged from running her own cooking company, appearing in Bake Off, writing novels and much more besides.

Our third star speaker in series of Autumn Talks hosted by the Friends of St Mary's Kidlington will be Debbie Dance, who has been Director of Oxford Preservation for the last quarter century and is now chair of the Oxford Playhouse. On 16th November she’s going to talk about church buildings and their stories - past, present and future. She is Chair of the Christ Church Fabric Committee, a member of the Church Buildings Council, which helps churches and dioceses with care, conservation and development and closing of churches.