The activities of VIOCS in 2013 started with the annual VIOCS boat race celebration held in the lovely home of Sigrid and Gordon Walker (Caius Cambridge) in Oak Bay, and attended by seventy guests.  Drinks and canapés were enjoyed as well as artisan cheeses donated by David Wood (Exeter Oxford) of the Salt Spring Island Cheese Company.  A video of the boat race was shown, preceded by thoughtful short addresses by champion rowers Dominic Seiterle and Barney Williams (Jesus Oxford).  A silent auction of generous gifts given by various members of the society ended the evening.

A Family Picnic event took place on a particularly warm summer day in August at the organic farm owned by Fiona Hamersley Chambers (Linacre Oxford) in Metchosin.  Some people competed for the “Dolly Cup” in the “Aunt Sally” tournament while others preferred to spend time relaxing and socializing.  The main event was a barbeque accompanied by a plentiful supply of interesting “potluck” dishes as well as drinks, followed by ice cream.

In September we were privileged to hear an engaging talk by Dr Mark Purcell (Oriel Oxford) when he visited the University of Victoria as a guest of the head librarian Jonathan Bengtson (Exeter Oxford).  Mark is head librarian of the Libraries of the National Trust and, as such, has visited every single one.  He showed beautiful pictures of various National Trust buildings and libraries and spoke about particularly interesting books and manuscripts held in some of them.  We had the opportunity of meeting Mark for drinks in the Graduate Students lounge before he gave his talk.