Furnishing the Dining Room - Appeal

As many of you will have seen, Campion Hall has started a careful campaign of re-furnishing the Dining Room. The old tables and chairs were (and are) coming to the end of their useful lives, our numbers are higher than ever before, and so the chance has been taken to re-furnish in harmony with the furnishings (narrow refectory tables and English country chairs) which Lutyens specified for the room in the 1930s. Our new, reclaimed and refurbished oak tables are now in place, as are the Presider's chair and two guest chairs made in the Suffolk country chair tradition by Otis Luxton of Long Melford. These have been given in memory of Philip Endean SJ.

It is our hope to furnish the whole room with these sturdy wooden chairs, in a sustainable mixture of second hand and new — chairs of this pattern have been made since the eighteenth century and are still made by two small joinery firms, and two specialist artisans who use salvaged and reclaimed wood. While we intend to purchase a few more chairs in the coming months, we would simultaneously ask the whole Campion Hall community of present and old members, to consider donating one chair each. The names of donors will be recorded on engraved plaques on each chair.

The choice would be to sponsor a vintage chair, a factory made new chair, or an artisan-made chair made from salvaged wood.  The costs, including plaque, are likely to be about £150 to £200 pounds for a reclaimed chair; around £200 for a factory-made chair; and around £400 for an individually-made artisan chair.

We hope that members of the Hall present and past will respond with generosity to this appeal which aims to refurnish the dining room in a sustainable and durable way both fitting the style of the room and the architect's intentions for it. We hope that your chair, inscribed with your name, will be with us for a very long time to come, the whole room in time forming a testimony to the hospitality and fellowship of the Campion Hall community.

Donations can be made online through the Campion Hall page administered by the University of Oxford's Development Office ensuring tax efficient giving wherever you are. Just follow this link or contact Colin, our development manager, to discuss alternative ways to make your donation: colin.brady@campion.ox.ac.uk