Fathers in Oxford have welcomed news that a service aimed at improving father and child relationships is to be relaunched.

Roundabout Dads ran for two-and-a-half years until last October, when the group ceased meeting, due to dwindling numbers.

However, staff at the Roundabout Centre, in Waynflete Road, Barton, have received so many inquiries about the group’s sessions that they have decided to relaunch it.

Father-of-two Paul Wetton, from Downside Road, Risinghurst, said: “I think it’s great that they are opening it again.

“It gave me a chance to socialise with other dads and also to spend time playing with the children. It’s very helpful and the facilities are brilliant.”

Kathy Shepherd, senior family community support worker, said that at one point Roundabout Dads was attracting 15 fathers and their children to the centre.

The fathers would join their children in activities such as painting or clay modelling while socialising with other dads and receiving advice from centre staff and health visitors.

Ms Shepherd said numbers for the free-of-charge group fell to about five families per session, after some children reached an age where they pursued other hobbies on Saturday mornings.

She said the group would be relaunched with a drop-in session between 11am and 1pm on Saturday.

Thereafter sessions will be held between 10am and noon on the first and third Saturdays of the month.

Ms Shepherd said a free cooked breakfast would be provided for every family, but in the future the centre would ask dads to take on the cooking duties and become involved in running the group.

She added: “Our numbers went down, so we decided to close it and rethink it.

“The idea is just to give dads the opportunity to spend time with their children on their own.

“A lot of the mums see it as a great way to give them a break, and are all for encouraging their partners or husbands to bring their children along.

“We have also had dads use it who only see their children at weekends.

“It’s a place they can come which doesn’t cost anything, and in the summer its a nice place because we have got a nice outside area.”

Father-of-three Laurence Brooks, 43, from Headington Quarry, said: “It’s an excellent service. They have got lots set up for the kids and a really nice outside area where the kids can run around and scream and shout.

“I’m very pleased that they’re opening it up again.

“I was very sad when they took the decision to close it down, because I think it’s something that’s really useful and enjoyable as well.”

ghamilton@oxfordmail.co.uk