THE spirit of Africa will visit city streets - for a family fun day organised as part of the Cowley Road Carnival.

Thanks to a £40,000 Heritage Lottery Funding grant, an education officer has been hired to arrange a series of events focusing on the history of carnival.

And it all starts with a family fun day today at East Oxford Community Centre, in Princes Street.

Education officer Henrietta Gill said: "It is all part of carnival extending beyond just the day to have year-round activity and it is also all about celebrating the African origin for carnival.

"A lot of dance traditions and music originated in Africa then went to the Caribbean and morphed into lots of different things in Cuba and Brazil."

A range of activities are planned, from music and drumming workshops, to textiles, a global market and a bouncy castle.

Ms Gill said: "The Heritage Lottery Fund is supporting us in our work to learn and understand more about the roots of carnivals from around the globe.

"This year we are focusing on the origins from the African continent, the Caribbean, Brazil and Cuba, alongside the more undiscovered celebrations from Eastern Europe.

"This will hopefully show us all that there are many different varieties of carnival and that the Cowley Road tries to bring these all together so everyone is included."

The free day runs from 11am to 6.30pm.

Dance workshops start at 2pm, with a demonstration of Ghanaian dance.

Spencer Ngwenya will lead Zulu dance and Zimbabwean gumboot dancing, and Mariana Pinhot will share some samba reggae moves from Brazil.

Ms Gill said: "We hope it will be a really nice family celebration that brings the different communities together to show us what amazing cultural heritage there is."

Mr Ngwenya said: "I always have lots of people wanting to learn African dancing so we decided to create a place where everyone can find a regular centre for African culture."