OXFORD is getting in the street party mood this weekend.
There will be BBQs, street games and open air cinemas on offer all over the city as residents in 10 streets will celebrate the end of the street party season in style.
The parties are organised with the help of Oxford Streets For People, an Oxford Civic Society campaign group which aims to see residents use open space more often.
Mazz Image, of Stile Road, Headington, is one of the people organising a party.
She said: “We had a lot of babies born on the street last year, three of them in October, and a lot of us have started to become more sociable.
“One of the dads said ‘why not have a street party?’ It really does help promote a nice neighbourly feeling.
“Our street party will be very child-friendly.”
Other streets holding parties include neighbouring Havelock Road and Clive Road in Cowley.
Divinity Road in Headington and Chester Street in East Oxford will also host street parties. All Saints Road will stage a street cinema.
James Grote of Clive Road, said: “We did it for the first time last year. It is a fantastic way of people getting to know their neighbours and having a sense of belonging. It has changed our street.
“There will be music, and we are asking people to bring food and drink.”
Oxford Streets for People earmarked this weekend as being the ideal one to close the street party season.
Richard Bradley, group co-ordinator, believes that mid-September is a good time to be holding a street party.
He said: “People tend to avoid organising street parties in the middle of the summer because their neighbours are away. We think street parties are a good thing because they help to bring communities together very easily.
“A lot of people know their neighbours a lot less than was the case 20 years ago and this is one way of meeting them.
“It is good that people had experience of them through the Royal Wedding.”
“I think next year will be a bumper year because of the Queen’s Jubilee and the Olympics,” he added.
Oxford Streets for People works with the city council to make it easier for residents to close their street if they want to hold a party.
Over the course of the year there have been some 50 street parties in Oxford.
For more information and help in organising a street party visit oxstreets.org.uk.
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