NEWS ITEM

WMRA Annual General Meeting

November 22nd 2023, 7-9pm, D'Overbroeck's School, Leckford Rd

The Annual General Meeting of the Walton Manor Residents' Association will take place next week in the Main Hall at D'Overbroeck's School on Leckford Road.

The evening will begin with an an overview of the activities of the group in the last year, including an update on various planning applications in the area, our financial position and a summary of the year's social events.

Following that, we have arranged for Professor William Whyte, Professor of Social and Architectural History at Oxford University to give us a presentation on the new Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities that is currently under construction in Jericho.

As a 15-year old in 1963, Stephen Schwarzman visited Oxford and it made a huge impression on him. Later, once he was CEO (and Co-Founder) of Blackstone, a leading investment firm, he made a £150-million donation for the establishment of a new Centre for the Humanities in the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter.

The centre will include a new institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence - looking at the assumptions behind all the algorithms and machine learning that are steadily taking over many aspects of our lives.

In addition it should also benefit businesses and residents in Jericho because the new facilities will include a 500-seat concert hall and a 250-seat auditorium. There will also be flexible performance and exhibition spaces for music, dance, and art.

Professor Whyte is Chair of the Project Board for the investment and is going to give us an overview of the project and its progress. He will endeavour to answer questions that local residents may have about the construction, the donor himself and the facilities that residents will have access to in the future.