Free festival 'brings fun back' to estate

Patrice, who helped created the signature festival blackbird, said she hoped the event happened "every single year"

A free community festival has returned to "bring fun back" to a city's estate for a second year.

The Leys Festival took place at Blackbird Leys Park, in Oxford, and was co-produced by residents of the Leys community and the University of Oxford Cultural Programme.

It offered "a day celebrating all the creativity and energy of Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys" through arts activities, food and live music performances.

Lead organiser Erica Whyman said the event's name One People, One Place represented its spirit.

The African food stall offered food from all over the continent, such as Ghanaian street food, Gambian chicken and Sudanese cakes

The festival featured about 30 stalls with products from a range of different cultures.

Jacqui Gitau was part of the team behind the African hotpot stall, run by the community interest company AFiUK.

She said: "Our kelewele is Ghanaian street food, this chicken is Gambian, the lamb is Tanzanian, we have Sudanese cakes - the whole of Africa is here."

Patrice and Denise, a mother and daughter team who lead the crafts event, said the festival "brings fun back into the Blackbird Leys".

"There's so much talent, so many things to do, it's a vibe and everyone loves it," Patrice said, adding that she hoped it happened "every single year".

Denise said they had made a signature blackbird that hung from one of the trees.

Other highlights included the painting of a mural and a tent celebrating the Windrush generation, which settled in the area.

Former resident Mark Fuchs, who now lives in Oxford and returned especially for the event, said the area had "a good community feeling".

A tent was dedicated to stories from people of the Windrush generation who settled in the area

Ms Whyman said they had wanted to make sure families felt they could come.

"All of the food today was £5 or under," she said.

She said that everyone had agreed with councillor Imade Edosomwan's suggestion to call the event One People, One Place.

"That is the spirit of this place," she said.

"There's a really fierce feeling that there's a story that doesn't get told about community resilience and people coming together."

One of the highlights included the painting of a Blackbird Leys mural