Course On Marriage

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32030, 3 July 1969, Page 2

Course On Marriage

Would your marriage get a warrant of fitness? This is a question Oxford couples will be asked to consider during a four* day course on marriage from July 7 to 10. The “Spotlight on Marriage’* programme has been arranged by a combined church and community committee at Oxford. Its aim is to help those Interested to take a close look at their marriages, to Iron out difficulties and Increase understanding between partners. "Marriage problems are surprisingly similar,” Mrs M. Flanagan, chairman of the organising committee, said recently. "We want people to know that help in solving them is available and to tell them where they can get it.” Right Order The committee hopes that by bringing together a crosssection of married persons it will be able to assist them to see their problems in perspective. It wants to help them reconsider their priorities in marriage and put them in the right order. The programme will not be merely a series of advice talks. It has been planned to entertain as well as inform and calls for group participation. At the opening programme on Monday evening two dramas, "Coffee House” and “The Wedding Ring,” will be presented by the Pilgrim Players. Later in the evening the Rev. D. Balfour, of Annul, will lead a discussion, with the actors taking part, on the meaning of marriage. Marriage guidance will be discussed on Tuesday evening by a team led by the Rev. H. I. Hopkins and Mrs Hopkins. “This will take the form of questions and answers. The cards will be laid on the table and those present will judge for themselves the value of marriage guidance,” Mrs Flanagan said.

An open forum on good and "not so good" marriages will be held oh Wednesday evening. This group-involve-ment programme will be led by Messrs C. A. Mitchell and D. Smith, of the Canterbury Mental Health Association. Whether or not the male is losing his dominance In marriage and society is the topic to be debated between the Oxford Country Girls’ Club, team and a Sheffield men’s team. The girls’ team was recently runner-up in the C.G.C. national debating contest The Sheffield team has won a Young Farmers’ Clubs national debating contest. Mr Murray Baxter, of Sheffield, will be the Judge. The course will be held at the Oxford Town Hall and, residents from other districts will be welcome to attend, Mrs Flanagan Mid.