The Leys Festival: Hertford in the community
24 July 2026
On Saturday 11 July thousands of people joined The Leys Festival, a lively free event in Blackbird Leys Park offering music, dance, art, craft, sport, food and exhibitions throughout the day. The festival was organised by members of the community, including Hertford staff member Ewa Gluza, in collaboration with a small team from the Cultural Programme at the University of Oxford. Called One People, One Place, the Festival celebrates all the creativity and energy of Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys and brings people together from across the City of Oxford.
Physics lecturer Sam Henry ran a science activity stall showing how to accelerate particles with a Van der Graaff generator and explaining the elementary building blocks of the universe with a pile of Lego. The stall was staffed by an enthusiastic team of volunteers, including Hertford students Alyssa Wu, Ayyappadas Chirukandath Suthy, Hannah Wei and Hari Downing.
Sam says: ‘It has been great fun to play a part at The Leys Festival. We get to showcase the exciting research we do in the University and engage with the community, including those who were not yet big science fans. We talked about particle physics with young children, who were clearly fascinated and asked us some great questions. The hot weather made it tiring for everyone, but it was a fantastic day.’
The previous day, Ewa represented the Oxford Polish Association at the official opening of the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, meeting His Majesty The King in the process! The invitation was particularly meaningful because the Schwarzman Centre has been the lead organiser of The Leys Festival since 2023.
Ewa says: ‘Looking back, what makes me most proud is not a single conversation or invitation, but the relationships that have been built through years of volunteering, collaboration and commitment to our local community. Community partnerships create opportunities, strengthen neighbourhoods and remind us that lasting change is always a collective effort.’
Image credit: Samuel Henry