IT is 70 years since that wartime evening when a small group of people gathered in the Old Library of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, for what was to be one of the most globally significant meetings in Oxford’s history.

The group represented a cross section of the good, great, clever and caring in Oxford, which with government departments being relocated here was fast becoming an alternative wartime capital of England.

At the meeting there was an Anglican cleric, a retired Indian colonial officer, a Jewish refugee from Germany and the Australian-born Oxford Professor of Greek Gilbert Murray and his wife Lady Mary.

What united them was a shared anguish about the impact of ‘total war’ on innocent civilians, with notes about their discussion recorded in a school exercise book.

The then vicar of St Mary’s, the late Theodore Richard Milford, recalled the mood. “It was a difficult time in which to expect anyone to be concerned with anything other than our survival.

“But the problem we were concerned with was the mitigation of famine among our allies in Europe, especially among children.”

By the time they wished each other goodnight, the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief had been created. Within 18 months £13,517 had been collected for Greece.

But there can be no doubting that the Rev Milford would be happy that the year of Oxfam’s 70th birthday began with the charity’s chief executive Dame Barbara Stocking talking about an anniversary of a different kind.

Last month she was in Haiti to mark the second anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the island, killing an estimated 300,000. Despite pledges of £2.84bn, she warned that reconstruction was moving ahead at “a snail’s pace”.

“We’ve still got a half a million people in tents and camps,” Dame Barbara told reporters during her visit.

There would, however, seem to be good reason to celebrate Oxfam’s humble beginnings and transformation into a global movement fighting poverty.

Oxfam announced last week that it aims to raise $100 million after three years for its Small Enterprise Impact Investment Fund, creating 100,000 jobs within five years. The aim is to demonstrate to the financial industry that investments can deliver both social and financial returns, with relatively low risk.

Yet it is certainly the right time to remind everyone of its Oxford roots, says Dame Barbara.

“Oxfam is indivisible from Oxford – of course the genesis is in the name.

“Although we have grown into a worldwide organisation we are still proud to be part of the city, to be able to draw on the many talents of the people who live here and to retain the ideals of those Oxford activists who started it 70 years ago – to fight poverty and suffering. Sadly, they are still just as relevant today.”