Our community work
We support the whole community with free food support initiatives, wellbeing activities, enrichment trips and community events.
Come along to our free community event at Rose Hill Community Centre, this Saturday (12:30pm-2:30pm)!
We will be serving up a free hot lunch, plus refreshments!
– Watch a stir-fry demonstration led by chef Gregg Brown, and take some home
– Make a fruit smoothie on the smoothie bike
– Plant a sunflower
– Have fun doing arts and crafts
– Find out about local wellbeing projects
– Play some games and puzzles
Supported by Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire Community Foundation, and The National Lottery Community Fund
November activities & events 2025
Food activities with Oxford Brookes students
“Being able to understand, not only how to cook, but how to eat healthy is so important for good health.” – Student
In November, Nutrition students from Oxford Brookes University came to complete their placement with us.
During this, they hosted sessions for the children to take part in cooking and learn about nutrition in a fun environment.
Local students getting involved with youth charities is a great opportunity for everyone involved!
The students identified the importance of supporting organisations such as RHJYC in making nutritional information accessible and fun for children and young people.
“Getting the children familiar with working with food in any capacity is an important step towards building a healthy relationship with food and teaching nutrition.” – Student
The students said they felt immediately welcomed by the children and were reminded that things that may feel simple and mundane to us are often fun and educational experiences that can begin to lay the foundations of a future healthy diet.
One student explained how touched she was that the children told her they loved her on her departure, while another reminisced on the excitement amongst the kids at cracking eggs!
Nutrition information doesn’t have to be complicated. The Oxford Brookes students are hopeful that ensuring the RHJYC children can get hands-on experience in a fun environment will be crucial in their development. Cooking is absolutely something for everyone to get involved in!
Thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund for supporting our youth club activities.
October activities & events 2025
Free trip to Harcourt Arboretum
Thanks to funding from the Macfarlane Family Foundation, we visited the Harcourt Arboretum and had fun at their autumn fair!
We had a lovely walk around the site and admired the colourful leaves, explored a range of stalls and enjoyed some fun activities.
Feedback from the families:
“We really enjoyed today, we walked through the trees with the group, watched the horse and did face painting.”
“We loved the whole trip, especially how big the park is.”
“Thank you so much for the trip and lunch, my kids and had a lot of fun because of you guys, we really appreciate the hard work you guys do.”
“I really enjoyed this trip and found the greenery calming. This was an amazing opportunity for my family and me, and I hope we can experience more in the future.”
“The trip was fun, I especially enjoyed archery.”
October half-term activities
RHJYC, in partnership with Film Oxford and Rose Hill & Iffley Low Carbon, hosted two free community events for families during October half-term.
The activities were bug-themed, and families could make their own bug-house-shaped lanterns, insect headdresses, nature prints, and insect-inspired arts and crafts!
Families also had the opportunity to see our giant moth lantern being built by local artist Mani, thanks to everyone who helped during these workshops!
The Creative Lights Festival: Brilliant Bugs was supported by The National Lottery Community Fund and Oxford City Council.
September activities & events 2025
JYC Taster event – Wednesday 10th September
3:15pm – 4:45pm at Rose Hill Community Centre in the main hall.
Free activities, including:
Arts and crafts, games, free play, nature activity, food activity!
Meet the team, find out what we do and sign up to youth club!
Free community meal, and cake! Help us to celebrate our funding success!
All children must be accompanied by a responsible guardian at this event, this is not a drop-off session.
July activities & events 2025
Thanks to funding from the Macfarlane Family Foundation, we took families on a free trip to Crocodiles of the World!
The families enjoyed seeing all the animals, from alligators, crocodiles, meerkats, reptiles and more!
Family feedback:
“It was very interesting and cool to look around!” – Parent
“Thank you, I am very happy that this is running for the community.” – Parent
“Thank you for a fun filled day!” – Parent
Mental Health Aware training
In July, our team came together for Mental Health Awareness training, delivered by Restore.
The four hour course, designed by Mental Health First Aid England (MHFA), aims to:
- Increase knowledge about mental health & factors affecting mental health
- Stigma and recovery
- How to have conversations with someone about their mental health
- How to look after your own mental health.
Staff feedback:
“It was very helpful, not just from a work perspective, it equipped me with tools I can use in my personal life. I will apply this to my voluntary work and it has helped to increase my awareness. I would encourage everyone to do this course, not just for work, but for general community awareness.”
“I have learned a number of ways to approach and listen to others and the best ways to respond. I will use the knowledge from the course to support me in working with the children. It’s given me a range of tools and words to use.”
A big thanks to our trainer, Julie Field, for teaching our staff and providing such insightful and useful mental health awareness training.
Thanks to Oxford City Council’s Community Insight Profile grant for funding this training.
June activities & events 2025
Family trip to Millets farm
Thanks to funding from the Macfarlane Family Foundation, we took families on a free trip to Millets farm and Millets Wildside centre.
The families enjoyed watching the flying display at the wildlife centre, and loved seeing all of the different animals up close!
There was also a lovely park, garden centre and farm shop on site to explore!
Family feedback:
“Lovely place. We really enjoyed it. The kids were really happy and learned lots about animals. Plus, with the rides and park with a big space to have a picnic with family. Thank you!” – Parent
“I thought that it was wonderful seeing the animals and having a picnic.” – Child
“A really big massive thank you. Really appreciate what you all do.” – Parent
“Best day ever and happy!” – Child
Rose Hill Nature day
On Saturday 7th June, we hosted a free community nature day event at Rose Hill Community centre.
It was a very creative afternoon, full of arts and crafts, music and food!
Oxford Urban Wildlife Group showed children how to make dragonflies using pipe cleaners and shared information about the work they do to support nature at Boundary Brook Nature Reserve.
Wild Oxfordshire shared information about bees and how to support hedgehogs and other wildlife. They also showed children how to create a hedgehog from pine cones and clay!
Rose Hill and Iffley Low Carbon group showcased their work in the community, and led a guided tree trail and identification challenge for adults and children, congratulations to Alice who won the prize!
Thanks also to the Oxfordshire County Music Service Samba band for leading the trail to the community orchard and raising spirits in the rain!
Thanks to Tony who runs the Rose Hill & Iffley Naturehood Watch group for showcasing his pompom caterpillars craft and encouraging residents to get involved in local nature projects.
Families also had fun painting butterflies and wood cookies, and getting glitter tattoos!
We served a delicious community lunch with hot and cold options, from pasta, chicken and vegetables, to a make your own wrap station!
Thanks to everyone who kindly donated clothing and bric-a-brac to our event, the community really appreciated taking home these items!
Thanks to Oxfordshire County Council and their Oxfordshire Great Big Green Week (GBGW) small grants programme, we were able to create 100 nature themed activity packs which were distributed to the community for free at our event.
The pack included two indoor growing activities, plus a variety of arts and crafts activities.
Feedback:
“Brilliant, inclusive of everyone. Great activities, food and friendly people.”
“Very impressive, the kids had lots of fun, we enjoyed all the activities.”
“It was great, my daughter loved it. She made her own dragonfly which was great.”
“We loved the tree trail!”
A big thanks to everyone who support this event:
Oxfordshire County Council, The Macfarlane Family Foundation, Oxfordshire Community Foundation‘s Thriving in Nature fund, Oxford City Council, Rose Hill and Iffley Low Carbon, Oxford Urban Wildlife Group (OUWG at Boundary Brook Nature Reserve) and Wild Oxfordshire, plus everyone who donated items.
Marmot Place event
We attended the ‘Oxfordshire Marmot Place: Tackling the health gap at its roots‘ event at Rose Hill Community centre on Monday 9th June.
“It’s great to be part of an event looking at tackling health inequalities across Oxfordshire and meeting other wonderful organisations who are working hard to support their communities like us at RHJYC.” –RHJYC Director Chris Chaundy
May activities & events 2025
Free trip for families to Tumblestone Hollow
Thanks to funding from the Macfarlane Family Foundation, we took families on a free trip to Tumblestone Hollow, based at Stonor Park!
The families enjoyed spending time playing in the adventure playground and exploring the beautiful grounds and garden.
Family feedback:
“I liked and enjoyed the trip as much as my nephews and nieces. I also had a great experience and I really liked the secret passages to different gardens. There is lots to do from playing in the park to seeing deer up close for the first time.”
“The kids loved the ponds with the tadpoles and the park and sand section. They were exhausted from all the fun!”
“Thank you for this amazing opportunity to come to these unique places.”
“We would like to thank you all for giving people in the community chances to go out and explore a new place.”
Thanks to the Macfarlane Family Foundation for supporting this trip.
Celebrating OCF’s Thriving in Nature fund
On Monday 12th May 2025, around 60 people gathered at Asthall Manor near Burford to celebrate Oxfordshire Community Foundation’s Thriving in Nature Fund.
The guests consisted of donors to the fund; charities that had received grants from the fund; and others interested in the fund.
OCF staff facilitated a workshop session at the event, where participants discussed four topics in smaller groups, designed to capture learning from the first year of Thriving in Nature grants.
RHJYC Director Chris Chaundy said:
“It was great to be part of the successful OCF celebration and learning event at the beautiful Asthall Manor!
It was wonderful meeting the different funders/donor’s who support OCF and it was great to meet all the successful grantees who do amazing work across the county.
We enjoyed sharing what we have done with our grant so far, and how the community has benefitted from our wellbeing in nature activities.”
Wellbeing in nature sessions at Oxfordshire Mind & Rose Hill Methodist Church
Thanks to Oxfordshire Community Foundation’s Thriving in Nature Fund, we can support adults and children with free wellbeing in nature sessions.
Our outdoor wellbeing coordinator, Meg Harcourt, delivered a wellbeing in nature session for adults at Oxfordshire Mind in Cowley, and at a community food bank based at Rose Hill Methodist Church.
Oxfordshire Mind session
The adults at the Oxfordshire Mind group spent time decorating wood cookies with paintings of flowers and trees, and enjoyed planting sunflower seeds which they can look after and watch grow over the next couple of months.
Meg informed the group about our free wellbeing in nature sessions in Littlemore, and encouraged them to visit us.
It was a lovely workshop and a chance for us to work with a new group and develop a connection with a brilliant local organisation.
Rose Hill Methodist Church – Community Cupboard
Meg also had a good time attending the Community Cupboard group based at Rose Hill Methodist Church.
The Community Cupboard is a local food bank in Rose Hill, where anyone can pop in and have something to eat, share in conversation and get information about local services and groups that run in the area.
The residents and families who attended had fun painting, and planting lots of seeds in toilet roll tubes.
It was a great opportunity to connect with people who live locally, and to find out about the challenges and barriers that stop people from accessing nature.
Thanks to both groups for inviting us to your sessions, we really enjoyed sharing our wellbeing in nature activities with you all.
If you are a local organisation who works in the OX4 area, and could benefit from wellbeing in nature activities/support, please reach out to Meg by clicking the button below:
March activities & events 2025
Free trip for families to Oxford Brookes Science Bazaar
Thanks to funding from the Macfarlane Family Foundation, we took families on a free trip to the Science Bazaar at Oxford Brookes University!
Family feedback:
“It was just really amazing. My son enjoyed LEGO, Humanbody and Spot the robot dog. It’s really worth joining this trip as we learned about new things!”
“It was a great time as a family, we enjoyed it a lot!”
“The trip was so awesome. Me and my daughter enjoyed and explored a lot!”
“I thought the trip was fantastic. I really enjoyed the day.”
“Thank you for a fantastic day and the lunch was just great. It really made the day pleasant and made us feel really welcome.”
“Thank you very much for making my Saturdays fun!”
We would like to thank Oxford Brookes for their hospitality and helping us to organise this trip.
Thanks to the Macfarlane Family Foundation for supporting this trip.
February activities & events 2025
Free food & wellbeing festival
Massive thanks to everyone involved in our Food & Wellbeing Festival!
We had a great day filled with amazing activities and freebies, including: free clothing and bric-a-brac, free bags of fruit, herbs and spices, food related games, fitness challenges, windowsill gardening, spiralized fruit snacks, community group stalls, flatbread making, free community meal and a beautiful veg & fruit garden art mural!
Community feedback:
“It was a lovely way to get exposed to new foods and be sociable.”
“Really thoughtful and entertaining, the kids said 10 out of 10.”
“Children had a great time, they now want to grow vegetables in the garden!”
Thanks to everyone who donated items for our event, and thanks to Crawford’s fruit for their delicious fresh fruit, herbs and veg!
Thanks to our stallholders: Oxford City Farm, Community Action Groups – CAG Oxfordshire/ Replenish, Oxford Brookes Centre for Nutrition and Health, Rose Hill and Iffley Low Carbon, Rose Hill Community Chaplaincy, YouMove / Oxford City Council / Rose Hill Community Centre, Good Food Oxfordshire – FEAST project, Gregg Brown, RHJYC’s Thriving in Nature project stall, TVP Oxford local PCSO’s for supervising our smoothie bike, and Sam and her family with their wonderful spiralizing stall.
Thanks to the Well Together Fund for supporting this event and all of our food activities (Community First Oxfordshire / OCVA , NHS Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board), and thanks to the Macfarlane Family Foundation for supporting our work.
And thanks to Oxford City Council for supporting our free spices, herbs and fruit giveaway.
Free cooking sessions for adults
Would you like to learn how to cook in a relaxed and social environment?
Register your interest for our free cooking classes for adults at Rose Hill Community centre.
These classes are supported by Oxfordshire Community Foundation’s Living Essentials fund.
Email Aimee: aimee@rhjyc.org for more information.
Free trip to the Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford City centre
Thanks to funding from the Macfarlane Family Foundation, we will be running one free trip every month until the end of the year!
Our first trip was to the Oxford Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum on Sunday 2nd February.
The families had a great time walking around the museum and discovering all of the animals, fossils, skeletons, and historic and cultural items in the displays!
Family feedback:
“We enjoyed the trip as a family and meeting other family members.”
“It was really good and we explored so much!”
“Well organised and stress free. Lovely activities!”