Oxford News
St Patrick’s Day party at Oxford taproom a smash hit
Tap Social Movement hosted a Paddy’s Day party at its Botley Taproom on Saturday, March 14 – just before the official Irish feast day on Tuesday, March 17 – which was a “rip-roaring” success.
After the Ireland team won their Six Nations match against Scotland, the taproom hosted revellers for dancing, music, beer and a best-dressed contest.
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Harry Househam, events manager for Tap Social, said: “It was a rip-roaring and jam-packed day with non-stop craic!
“The Ireland team won their match against Scotland which really got things off to a great start and set the tone.
“After the Irish victory the day was followed by non-stop live music and dancing, and we burnt some Irish turf incense to get the venue really feeling like a traditional Irish pub.
“The stout taps were flowing all night, we sold out of Murphy’s Irish stout, and our own locally brewed gold award-winning stout, Inside Out, was also a smash hit.”
The post-game music started with a fiddle and guitar performance from Rebecca Mileham and Jonathan Yeap, followed by the Oxford Fiddle Group playing traditional Irish songs accompanied by a harp, guitar, squeezebox and accordion.
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Then came Marion Flanagan Irish Dance School who ‘wowed the crowds’ with their Riverdance, followed by headliners The Publicans, an Irish folk band who kept the audience jigging.
The best dressed winner walked away with a real four-leaf clover, and Tayto crisps were declared the winner in the Tayto v King crisps popularity contest.
Mr Househam added: “Tap Social is greatly proud to host an eclectic mix of weird and wonderful live events which celebrate local communities and offer a vibrant place to eat and drink.
“Just 12 hours after our St Patrick’s celebration, we had our regular live wrestling league with United Wrestling.
“It’s a really great space with a busy line up of fun events, and we love celebrating Paddy’s Day as part of it.”
Founded in 2016 by Ms Taylor, her sister Tess Taylor, and Paul Humpherson, Tap Social provides training and employment to people moving through the criminal justice system.
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The enterprise has delivered more than 100,000 hours of fairly paid work to prison leavers and people on Release on Temporary Licence.
It currently operates the Proof Social Bakehouse in Kennington, at the organisation’s former refitted brewery, as well as bar Lock29 in Banbury and The Market Tap by Tap Social in Oxford’s Covered Market.
A new venue, Day Release, is set launch at Signal Yard in Milton Park this year, the fifth Oxfordshire venue which will bring all the Tap Social brands together in one location.
The garden has been developed at Folly View Primary School and is designed to support pupil wellbeing, creativity, and personal growth by providing a calming and engaging outdoor space.
Funding for the project was secured through a £1,500 grant from the Tesco Community Grants scheme, made possible by votes from shoppers using blue tokens at the Faringdon store.
Muddy Spades, a local gardening business led by Royston Oxendale, also played a key role in bringing the garden to life by donating plants and building bespoke planters for the space.
Richard Evans, chief executive of Cambrian Learning Trust, said: “This wonderful sensory garden is a testament to what can be achieved when a community comes together with a shared purpose.
“At Cambrian Learning Trust, we are proud to see Folly View Primary School bringing its core values of belonging, kindness, and aspiration to life in such a meaningful way.
“This space will not only enhance pupils’ wellbeing but also inspire curiosity, resilience, and a lifelong love of learning.”
The garden will also support the school’s gardening club, offering pupils hands-on opportunities to care for plants and learn about the environment.
The school has thanked Tesco Faringdon, Muddy Spades, the PTA, and everyone involved in turning the garden into a reality.
UNESCO first adopted March 21 as World Poetry Day during its 30th General Conference in Paris, with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard.
The heritage organisation said: “World Poetry Day is the occasion to honour poets, revive oral traditions of poetry recitals, promote the reading, writing and teaching of poetry, foster the convergence between poetry and other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and raise the visibility of poetry in the media.”
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This time on Looking Back, we’ve found a selection of fantastic poetry celebrations in Oxfordshire from the year 2014, now 12 years ago.
Language lovers converged for the day of celebration on bookshops, schools, at recitals and conferences.
Take a look back through this Oxford Mail archive gallery to find pictures from a decade ago of World Poetry Day celebrations in Oxfordshire.
We’ve made a gallery of pictures showing all the Oxfordshire spots which have been used for TV and film sets over the years.
Some of the biggest productions filmed here in Oxfordshire include Spectre in the James Bond franchise, which transformed Blenheim Palace in Woodstock into the Palazzo Cardenza in Rome.
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Many period dramas were also created in the county, like the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, which was partly filmed at Chastleton House in the Cotswolds.
Cotswolds villages have been repeatedly transformed and used as filming locations for their historical appeal, like the villages of Brill, Broadwell and Castle Combe.
Find all the pictures in this archive gallery of historic Oxfordshire filming locations here.
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