THE needy in east Oxford are to benefit from a fund aiming to leave a legacy from the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Community leaders in the area have launched Her Majesty’s Jubilee Legacy Fund for East Oxford and are looking for donors and fundraisers.

The idea came last October when 28 community leaders decided to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s 60 years on the throne.

Founder Imam Monawar Hussain, a deputy of Oxfordshire’s The Lord-Lieutenant – HM The Queen’s representative in the county – said: “This fund is about being able help people locally and at the same time making sure this is a wonderful legacy.

Mr Hussain, who also represent Oxford Foundation youth project, added:“We want to make sure this ensures a real powerful legacy for what Her Majesty has done for this country in our small way.”

The fund is being piloted in East Oxford and if successful after a year could be used to raise cash elsewhere in the city.

The money will be collected and handed out via the Oxfordshire Community Foundation (OCF) which last year launched a campaign to raise £20m in the county to mark the Jubilee.

The core group behind the fund includes representatives from St Clement’s Church, the African-Carribean Community, the Pakistani Community, the Cowley Road Works, and the Divinity Road Area Residents’ Association.

Dick Wolff, Oxford City Council councillor for St Mary’s, has pledged more than £1,000 of his council spending budget.

He said: “The intention is to bring together the full diversity of the East Oxford to address the needs of it’s most vulnerable. That is really the heart of what it is about.”

Professor Graham Upton, High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, has nominated the East Oxford fund as one of his charities.

He said: “There are people in that area whose opportunities are being limited because they do not have the financial support to do things they would like.”

City council members Craig Simmons and Sajjad Malik have also donated cash.

Last year Prince Edward came to Oxford to launch the OCF’s bid to see £20m donated to community projects in the county to mark the Jubilee.

The organisation hoped each of the county’s 635,000 residents would donate £6 and 25,000 would raise £600 each to reach their target.

In May, the fund had raised £453,000 of the £4m it had hoped to find.

THOSE INVOLVED

Tim Stevenson, Lord-Lieutenant of Oxfordshire; Nawaz Khan, Abbott Forbes Solicitors; Craig Simmons, Oxford City Council member for St Mary’s; Chinta Kallie, Hindu Community; Revd Canon Bruce Gillingham, Rector at St Clement's Church; Sadiq Abbassi, Muslim Scouts; Professor Graham Upton, High Sheriff 2013-14; Dr. Elizabeth Mills OBE,  Divinity Road Area Residents’ Association; Shajaat Hussain, Oxford Charity Fun Days; Betty Skolnick, Jewish Community; Pastor Grady Reid, Christian Life Centre; Jayne Woodley, chief executive of Oxfordshire Community Foundation; Sobia Afridi, Oxford Brookes University; Ruth Conway, Anglo-Asian Association; Jawaid Malik, Justice of the Peace; Sgt Nathan Budd, Thames Valley Police; Hilary Lowe, Assistant Dean at Oxford Brookes University; Mari Girling, Iffley Fields Residents’ Association; Sgt Javid ul-Haq, of Thames Valley Police; Zaheer Qureshi, Treasurer of the Asian Cultural Association; Haji Farooq Rana, the Muslim community; Anna Moon, Chairwoman of Oxfordshire Community Foundation; Mohammed Nawaz, Justice of the Peace; Cllr Dick Wolff, representing St Mary’s; Aziz Rahman, Bangladeshi Association; Danielle Battigelli, Cowley Road Works; Imam Monawar Hussain, Deputy Lieutenant; Inspector Marc Tarbit, Thames Valley Police; Husham Osman, Sudanese Community