This year we were delighted to partner up with the beautiful Oxford Botanic Gardens to bring not one, but two events to our community.

Friday 24th July, saw eager little ones and their parents attend our first-ever Cherwell Collective Family Day. The event was all about celebrating nature and marked the start of the school summer holidays.

Cherwell Collective Family Day at Oxford Botanic Gardens

Joined by our partners from TVERC ( Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre) and Wild Oxfordshire, our team, alongside the staff at the Oxford Botanic Gardens and Arboretum, welcomed families for an afternoon of fun and exploration.

The aim of the event was to connect people with nature and have some fun along the way, and there was plenty of opportunity for this to happen.

Families from our community enjoyed taking a break from exploring the gardens to take part in the activities. From tours of the collections, to plant handling, craft activities, noticing nature challenges to a teddy bear’s picnic, the day was a huge success. 

Our volunteer Neil, estimated that over 150 people came along throughout the afternoon to interact with the activities that were offered and said the leaf rubbing was a great hit!

Cherwell Collective works to support the local community and we were grateful to Oxford Botanic Gardens and the University of Oxford for offering 20 free tickets so that families could attend. We’d also like to thank our partners and volunteers who worked hard to make the event happen.

People interacting with the stall and examples of the leaf rubbings that the children did.