A CHARITY dedicated to a musician who died after a battle with cancer has been revealed as the latest sponsor of this year’s Cowley Road Carnival.

The Patsy Wood Trust, set up in memory of Patsy Wood, will be lending its support to the county’s biggest street party for the second time.

It comes just a week after Cowley Road Works, the team behind the annual festivities, announced Oxford Brookes University as one of the carnival’s main backers.

Executive director of Cowley Road Works Danielle Battigelli said: “We are very grateful to the Patsy Wood Trust for supporting co-ordination of the creative programming for the carnival event, which enables so many local musicians, dancers and other performers to have a platform and enjoy hearing each other at the biggest community cultural event in the city.

“Patsy Wood was a keen musician herself and we are very happy to be able to continue music making in her memory in East Oxford.”

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The Patsy Wood Trust launched in 2008, a year after 47-year-old Ms Wood, who was interested in art and made colourful pieces including ties, lost her battle with a rare form of cancer that was first found in her oesophagus.

Ms Wood, daughter of Sir Martin Wood, who founded manufacturing firm Oxford Instruments, left funds in her will to support projects and charities close to her heart.

To date, the charity has donated about £2.5m to good causes across the county which support environmental and conservation work, music, creative art, training and education.

Chairman of trustees and Ms Wood’s half brother Robin Buxton said: “She was a very happy person. She had more moments of happiness than most of us achieve and I think for her that came from people and doing things with people and making people happy.”

Mr Buxton said Ms Wood, who worked at Oxford Brookes University’s former Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences and lived in Argyle Street with her partner Colin, devoted a lot of her time to crafting vivid artwork.

He said she would also organise carol singing in East Oxford before Christmas, sang with Oxford Community Choir and would learn to play new instruments just to help out other choirs.

The father-of-two from Harwell added: “It’s East Oxford, it’s where she lived and she loved the carnival so we thought that was a very good fit.

“She had a deep sense of community. It’s that breaking down the barriers and the bringing together of all the different communities in East Oxford and celebrating that.”

With less than four months until carnival spirit hits East Oxford on July 5, organisers are busy preparing for this summer’s event. So far more than £34,000 of the £120,000 target has been raised since planning for the event started in September.