Summertown’s Alexandra Park comes of Age

Alexandra Park’s 100th anniversary festivities, celebrated by 70 local residents on the 7th of June, was officiated by Oxford’s new Lord Mayor, Louise Upton. In her first ribbon-cutting assignment, she wielded the scissors deftly at the portal of an imaginatively designed sensory garden about to be planted with garden features associated with Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials trilogy. Geoffrey Randall, the garden designer, in association with Henk van Es originated the sensory garden plan, assisted by a local group of volunteers from Osberton Road. St. Edwards’ School brass band with 15 musicians led by Band Master Richard Powell, opened the event with rousing music, followed by the arrival of the officially titled ‘Worshipful’ Lord Mayor and the Keynote speaker, the former Lord Mayor James Fry, now County Counsellor for Summertown and Walton Manor. Having experienced 50 years residence in North Oxford, he reminisced about how the expanding connectivity of Banbury and Woodstock Roads with Marston Ferry Road has altered the context in which Alexandra Park has existed. 

As one of Oxford’s smallest parks, it is nonetheless a ‘park for everyone’ in terms of the diversity of its amenities: a children’s playground with a wall mural painted by school children from four local schools, swings, and sandpit for toddlers. The area encompasses Summertown’s Tennis courts, with six hard courts and six grass courts, a basketball court and a large central green field for the enjoyment of people and not to be forgotten their dogs. During Covid the Park became a magnet for people seeking the safety of an expansive green space.  

Towards the end of the festivities, rain arrived, but armed with umbrellas, most of those in attendance were undeterred. The day ended with many taking advantage of a guided tour of ‘old Summertown’ by the historian, Gareth Winrow. He brought the richness of the neighbourhood’s past to life with stories about many former residents, including a pig farmer, an undercover spy, the inventor of the MRI scanner. Dr Winrow is author of the book Stories of Middle Way and has edited, together with Deborah Bryceson, a collection of articles entitled Suburban Evolution of Summertown: Living in the Shadow of Oxford. The Summertown and St. Margaret’s Neighbourhood Forum (SUSTM) sponsored the event and several of its members contributed chapters to that book.