With just one week to go before the UK and Commonwealth countries celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s 70th anniversary of ascending to the throne, community groups across Oxfordshire have been busy preparing creative and cultural activities.
In April this year, 44 community foundations were able to distribute over 700 grants totalling £4.58m to community groups throughout England from UK Community Foundation’s Let’s Create Jubilee Fund, on behalf of Arts Council England, the national development agency for creativity and culture. This was made possible thanks to National Lottery players. The funding will help to build community cohesion by connecting local artists and voluntary organisations that have not previously collaborated.
The Let’s Create Jubilee grants were awarded to eight collaborative projects in Oxfordshire. Here is a round up of the activities taking place up to and over the Jubilee weekend.
Age UK Oxfordshire and The Mill Arts Centre in Banbury are working together with people across the county for the Creative Windows for the Jubilee project. They have held a series of inspirational workshops and put together a creative pack to encourage everyone to display their artwork in windows, gardens or community spaces.
On Saturday 4th June from 11am to 4pm, The Mill will hold a celebration of the Platinum Jubilee with a day of creativity, refreshments and entertainment. It is free and all are welcome to drop in. Artist Sally Davies will be leading creative activities on the day!
In the bunting-decked streets of Steeple Aston, on Saturday 4th June, there will be a Fete at the Gate. This event is about enabling the creativity of each and every villager. Some people are setting up a car boot sale, some are selling home baked biscuits, others are offering kiddy craft challenges. There will also be masterful meringues and upcycled crafts as well as the ul
timate slime recipe. A village picnic will take place on Sunday 5th June, featuring the re-launch of their Whit Races; a mad-cap sports day for children young and old, featuring everything from egg & spoon, through tug of war, to slow cycling/walking, with Platinum Jubilee Medals for the winners (and those who take part!)
A living storybook, Jubilee Reflections will also be created as an audio archive of villagers’ memories of the Coronation and previous Jubilee Celebrations. Connecting this all, a new map of the village will be commissioned from a local artist, leading people around the village and including transcripts from Jubilee Reflections on the back. The Recreational Trust is responsible for the maintenance and development of sports and recreational facilities in Steeple Aston.
The Sunshine Centre, in partnership with Cherwell Theatre Company, are hosting an afternoon community event at Princess Diana Park in Banbury on Wednesday 1st June, from 12 to 3pm. Invitations are extended to the whole community, including the residents of the local care home. Puritan Radio is master of ceremonies. Entertainment will depict seven decades of Her Majesty the Queen’s reign, encouraging different dance styles, spanning time and traditions to reflect the cultural mix and varying generations within the community.
At the beginning of the half term school holiday on May 30th and 31st, they are running “Dance in Advance” workshops. The plan is to create a flash mob of young dancers who can demonstrate to the rest of the community and encourage them to join in! A local artist will create, in collaboration with the community, an outdoor mosaic which will be displayed on the wall of The Sunshine Centre as a lasting reminder of neighbours coming together in celebration. Tea and cakes will be provided for those attending, who are encouraged to bring along a picnic to enjoy with friends and family.
A week of community arts activity in and around the Film Oxford premises starts on Monday 30th May and culminates on Saturday 4th June, with a street party and outdoor film screening on Howard Street. Local residents will learn filmmaking skills as they plan, film, and edit a short documentary about people and characters who live on the street, with the support of a professional filmmaker. This will be a companion film to a similar documentary made in 2002 when Film Oxford first relocated to the area. 20 years on, the film will feature a new generation of families and residents who have moved to the area. The film will be premiered at the Street party on the Saturday evening outdoors on the big screen and then be featured online on Film Oxford YouTube showcase.
There will be five creative arts day workshops led by local professional artists to design and make decorations for the Saturday street party. A series of evening events will include local musicians, poetry, spoken word and dance. On Saturday 4th June there will be music, food, children’s workshops, and performers. In the evening curry and refreshments will be provided free. The event will conclude with the outdoor screening of the completed documentary “This is Howard Street 2022” and mark the relaunch of the local residents’ monthly cinema events, Poppadom Pictures.
Join in Barracks Lane Community Garden free nature focused activities at their Joy for Jubilee celebration on Sunday 5th June from 11am to 4pm. All are welcome to join in the creative writing workshops with Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre, jute bag decorating, ‘hapa zone’ bunting (uses cotton and leaves), posy, crown, and pizza making! Plus, music from the last 70 years. Their wellbeing through song group will perform at Joy for Jubilee and there will also be the opportunity for the local community to take part in a Jubilee Workshop led by their singing facilitator. The event and workshops will be recorded as a short film to be kept as a legacy resource.
African Families in the UK are going to mark the jubilee celebrations with Weaving the Tapestry, an ambitious project bringing together a collaboration between Oxford’s African diaspora communities, local artists and cultural partners, including Museum of Oxford, Pitt Rivers Museum, and Oxford Brookes University. 
An extravaganza to learn, re-tell, re-imagine and celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee using diverse artistic mediums and community-centred activities. A series of belonging workshops and intergenerational storytelling sessions have taken place. On Monday 30th May, Museum of Oxford hold a Kings & Queens Family Day.
On Saturday 4th June, from 12pm to 7pm, a community fest will take place in Blackbird Leys Park. The celebration will include people with heritage from all African nations and all the islands of the Caribbean, which are represented in Oxford, with display stalls of historical and cultural artefacts symbolic to their culture and relationship with British culture. There will also be creative hands-on art sessions from Oxford Brookes Fine Art students. Bring a picnic!
Cutteslowe Community Centre, working together with The North Wall and Cutteslowe Garden Project, are putting on an outdoor variety show to celebrate the Jubilee. Next week dance and drama workshops will take place for young people to create short performances to be premiered on stage. The Not Quite Royal Variety Show takes place on Sunday 5th June, from 12pm to 6pm in Cutteslowe Park. This outdoor variety event will feature comedy acts, musical acts, family theatre and community performances, and will be free for local residents to enjoy and connect with each other. Bring a picnic, a sun hat (or waterproof!) and something to sit on.
Abingdon Flower Club will be joining the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, as part of the Rye Farm Meadow Festival,
from 11- 4pm on Thursday 2nd June. You can make Jubilee buttonholes, Jubilee floral head-dresses and corsages! They are working with Dementia Friendly Abingdon and joining in with the wider Abingdon Jubilee plans, with a celebration of flowers. The club will celebrate floral arts for the Jubilee by using red, white and blue flowers and ribbons and it is hoped people will learn the techniques involved and carry on in the future to make more floral displays or be motivated to join Abingdon Flower Club.
We hope you all get the chance to enjoy the local Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Find out about other grants available now from OCF
Let’s Create Jubilee grants awarded in Oxfordshire:
Lead organisation |
Activity planned |
Amount awarded |
Age UK Oxfordshire |
Paint the Town for the Jubilee |
£9,972 |
The Recreational Trust |
Steeple Aston Platinum Jubilee Weekend |
£3,000 |
Sunshine Centre |
Community Platinum Jubilee celebration and Dance in Advance |
£4,448 |
Film Oxford |
“This is Howard Street 2022” – Jubilee week celebration |
£9,955 |
Barracks Lane Community Garden |
Jubilee Joy |
£2,335 |
African Families in the UK (AFiUK) |
Weaving the Tapestry |
£9,122 |
Cutteslowe Community Association |
The Not Quite Royal Variety Show |
£8,245 |
Abingdon Flower Club |
Celebrate the Jubilee with Flowers |
£900 |