Turning Oxfordshire inside out

Saturday 30 September, 2006

Blackbirds in pies, Foucault's pendulum, a mile for the Millennium and a Danceathon: these are just some of the intriguing ingredients in next year’s 1000th birthday celebrations.

Special events are being planned around the county for Oxfordshire 2007, offering an exciting array of art, dance, theatre and music. Sport, food and science are also included—and many of Oxfordshire's 70-plus festivals will also be joining in the party with their own millennium contribution.

Some brand new festivals are being specially organised for next year. The UK's first ever Children's Food Festival will take place in the countryside, with local celebrity chefs Raymond Blanc and Sophie Grigson leading a strong line-up of chefs, restaurants and farmers. There will be chef's demos, field to fork food stories, walkabout theatre, medieval food tastings and much more (including those four and twenty blackbirds...).

Other highlights next year include Faces of Oxfordshire, a special event profiling the county’s famous and hidden people—past and present; Oxford Unmasked: conversation meals with people from all cultures and walks of life; and a waterways festival celebrating rivers, canals and lakes.

The year kicks off with Dancin' Oxford's Festival of Dance 2007, an inspiring and exciting programme of dance for everyone—from keen enthusiasts to those with two left feet. Leading local, national and international dance companies, community and youth dance groups will all be in performance in locations around the city. There's plenty of scope to take part, including two fun-packed days of taster dance workshops and the chance to make your mark in the first-ever visit of the 'Move-Me Booth' to Oxford, where you can create your very own dance for the camera—just step inside, pull the curtain and choose a choreographer.

The 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade will be celebrated in March with a range of events, the highlight of which is a commemorative service in Christ Church Cathedral with some of the best gospel choirs in the country.

Next year holds many treats for music lovers, including an open-air Festival Concert in May where schools and university choirs and musicians from across Oxfordshire will be performing a new piece specially composed for the occasion, and one of England's most popular choral works Belshazzar's Feast, whose composer William Walton was at Christ Church College.

Sport is seen as a strong ingredient in the county's cultural life, especially with the London Olympics coming up in 2012. Street Olympix is a festival of outdoor sports, with heats around the county and a day of races and street games during the Lord Mayor's weekend in May. The highlight will be a one-mile street race commemorating the first sub-four-minute mile in Oxford famously run by Sir Roger Bannister in May just over half a century ago.

Oxfordshire 2007 aims to light up the county next year in new and unusual ways, turning the spotlight on a rich array of cultural talent and creative innovation. A key ingredient is collaboration, with new partnerships, new ideas and new events. This is a year organised by—and for—people of Oxfordshire and it's one to celebrate. Oxford Inspires, the county’s cultural development agency, is coordinating the year, but it's the talents of groups and individuals that are being showcased.

Visit www.oxfordshire2007.com and find out more about next year's festivities or contact us if you or your organisation would like to be involved in the celebrations.

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