The Talbot Fund
The Talbot Fund, named after the first Warden, Edward Talbot, was set up in December 2002. It is vital in funding current needs and strengthening the key characteristic of an Oxford education, the tutorial. Over the last decade the Fund has raised over £4millon to support students at Keble. Donors help to provide bursaries and support teaching, enable a myriad of student societies and sports teams to flourish and also help to restore and enhance the Butterfield buildings such as Hall, Chapel, the Library and student accommodation.
The Talbot Fund is one of the top performing annual funds across the Collegiate university. Participation is the key to our success with one in three Old Members contributing to date: one in four Old Members do so by giving regularly each year which greatly helps us to plan ahead. Our aim is for no less than 100% participation.
Academic Projects
Providing vital scholarships and bursaries to ensure that financial means is no barrier to a Keble education and helping to fund teaching to support the tutorial system.
The generous Bursary and Scholarships scheme is one of the main things that attracted me to Oxford and Keble. The financial support I have received so far has enabled me to fully enjoy and participate in university life, attending black tie events and cinema trips despite my financial difficulties. I am able to use my weekends playing football for College, singing in the acapella choir and catching up with work instead of working in a part-time job. Every week I also look forward to my Spanish evening course, paid for by the College provided that I complete the course, this has both enabled me to enrol on the course and acts as a great incentive!
Laura Scott (Modern Languages, 2010)
Undergraduate Bursaries
The College assists and augments the Oxford University Opportunity Bursary Scheme to ensure that applications to Keble are received from the ablest applicants regardless of their financial background. Endowed funds from the Talbot Fund are set aside for this purpose, with the aim to increase the funds available over time.
Graduate Scholarships
Keble is aware of the fact that state funding for graduates is hard to obtain, especially in arts and humanities. The College is in the process of establishing a series of graduate scholarships so that we can attract the best graduates to come and continue their research here.
For further information on the detail of bursaries and scholarships, please refer to the student page in the academic section of this site.
College Community
Enriching the life of each student and encouraging individual talents, passions and interest in music, sports and drama.
I came to Oxford in 2008 to start my DPhil in Information, Communication and the Social Sciences. As I was driven to research the interrelations of society and the Internet, Oxford was the perfect place to be. Moreover, I am rowing with the Oxford University Women’s Lightweight Rowing Club at a national and international level. While the Faith Ivens Franklin Fund enabled me to attend important conferences in my field, the Keble Rowing Society and the Blues Fund have been a great support in achieving my sporting goals. If it wasn’t for this great support network, I would not be able to thrive in either field.
Bianca Reisdorf (DPhil, 2008)
Drama and Music: The Sloane Robinson Building has provided superb facilities for the College in the area of drama and music, facilities which are second to none in the University. It is our aim to make funds available to support first rate drama and music productions during term time.The O'Reilly Theatre hosts regular drama productions, some put on by outside companies, others performed entirely by students. There is a full programme of musical events held each term in the Andrew and Christine Hall Music Room.
Sport: Keble has a strong sporting tradition and our sports men and women need equipment, training facilities and funds to meet the cost of participating in events. The College already spends substantially more than the sum allotted by Government for this purpose.
Keble Rowing Society
The membership subscriptions of the Keble Rowing Society assist the College in the support of the Keble College Boat Club. The College is very pleased to have the major sponsorship of the Boat Club through Neptune Investment Management but further funds are needed to ensure that the College has the best equipment possible and has good caching in place to ensure that Keble's men and women rowers move steadily up the Divisions. Anyone wishing to support Keble Rowing by becoming a member of the Society can download a Membership Form.
Capital Projects
Some of the gems of Butterfield's vision to preserve for now and future generations include the Hall, Library and Chapel all overlooking our beautiful quads.
My experience of Keble can be expressed in a single word; incredible. From the Latin ‘credere’, ‘to believe’. I was literally unable to believe that I had been accepted by Keble; none of my family had been at Oxford, and the only people I knew who had gone there were high-flying aspirational politician types. Keble is perfectly located for my subject: opposite the Pitt Rivers Museum and minutes from the Ashmolean and the Archaeology Institute. I try and see at least one play a week, I write the occasional film review or feature for the student papers, and have recently finished editing the first issue of a creative arts publication I co-founded, Fig. Magazine. I’m hugely grateful for the friendships I have made here and the incredible people I have met. Again, I mean incredible in the original sense of the word; people here, like the buildings and the place itself, need to be seen to be believed!
Mujtaba Hameed (Archaeology and Anthropology, 2009)
Keble Hall
The preservation and restoration of our buildings for future generations is essential. In recent years, the painted ceiling in Hall has been cleaned to reveal its original colour. It is our intention to complete the restoration of Hall by cleaning the walls and repairing and restoring the floor in the course of the next few years.
The area of the floor nearest to the servery which sustained the most use has now been replaced with tiles specially made to resemble Butterfield's originals. Other areas of the floor will require attention in the near future. Now that we have a supply of appropriate tiles, this project can be built into the work schedule of the College. The Chapel Organ, with the generous support of Old Members and Friends, Keble has been able to commission a new pipe organ, an essential element in the long-term restoration programme of the College to Butterfield's original design. Keble Choir is well regarded and considered to be one of the best 'non-professional' choirs in Oxford. Keble's Organ Scholarships are highly prized and our organ scholars will soon benefit from performing on a prestigious pipe organ.
Keble Chapel
In 2011, we installed a four-manual tracker organ built by Kenneth Tickell Organbuilders Ltd. The original Butterfield pipes have been restored and the new instrument has many Neo-romantic qualities which suit the splendour and acoustic of our magnificent Chapel. It allows for a wide organ repertoire to be played on it and is a wonderful addition to the spiritual and musical life of the College.
Undesignated
Funds which are not specifically earmarked are of greatest benefit to the College as they can be directed to the area of most need. Currently, the income from undesignated funds is being directed to support our academic provision. A large majority of donors choose to give in this way.
