Well Together Project: People’s History Exhibition and Community Engagement

Well Together is a grants programme, funded by the NHS Integrated Care Board, which recognises the essential role community and voluntary organisations play in addressing health inequalities at a local level. The programme invests in community-led health and wellbeing activities and projects for all ages – children, young people and adults.

Well Together is delivered in partnership by OCVA and Community First Oxfordshire. The Programme is funded by the NHS Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board.

As part of the Well Together Project, this pop-up participatory exhibition aims to uncover the hidden histories of Oxford’s city centre — from the people and places that shaped St Ebbes, St Thomas, and Osney — and sharing stories of community, wellbeing, and belonging. Together, we’ll explore how our past can inspire happier, healthier futures for everyone.

The exhibition featured ten information banners displayed in the Park End Street windows, complemented inside by archival photographs, 1981 maps, and a vintage street directory of the neighbourhood. Visitors were welcomed with hot drinks and snacks and invited to share their own memories and stories of the area

Halloween & Harvest Celebration, 26th Oct

Drop in crafting, Halloween decoration making & feasting! Free food & crafts. Community pop up food market. Half term is a tricky time to engage families.

Zine & lantern making sessions, 1st -2nd Nov

Led by Rachel Barbaresi. Postcard time travel workshop where participants explored hidden histories and views of Oxford, time travelling through archive photographs and lesser known city stories from St Ebbe’s. Lois Muddiman led the Lantern making over the weekend, She is also a local councillor so was able to give advice to people who came. The Sunday session was busier than the Saturday.

Food is Medicine event, 9th Nov

Mini workshops, free food & a community pop-up market exploring herbal histories, fermented superfoods & plant-powered living.

Participants learned how to make foraged balms for pain relief, blend herbal teas & create immunity-boosting tonics (including fire cider), made freshly pressed apple juice and explored the pop-up food market. This event was packed with a diverse crowd and the workshops were lead by Global Majority facilitators.

The lantern parade, led by Filipino artist Bethenie Carriaga’s willow dragonfly lantern—decorated collaboratively by participants on the night—guided over 100 adults and children along the river and through St Thomas’, stopping at OVADA to enjoy their Diwali displays before some participants continued to Faulkner Street and Friar’s Wharf to engage local residents. The event culminated back at OVADA with WellTogether-funded healthy hot food and drinks.

Across two weekends, artists Lois Muddiman and Miranda Miller delivered our main lantern-making workshops, enabling the creation of nature-based lanterns for all ages. Additional thanks go to Dosa Park for providing plant-based catering, OVADA for hosting, Oxford Capoeira Society for music, and poet Mohsen Mohamed for front-of-house and stewarding support.