A POPULAR event not seen on an Oxford estate for more than a decade looks set to return next summer.

Annual play days in Blackbird Leys’s parks were a regular fixture for years until money for the events dried up.

Now volunteers and the Oxfordshire Play Association (OPA) are now working to bring families on the estate together once again for a free day of games and fun in the park.

It comes a year after the Leys Fair – which also hopes to make a return – was cancelled due to a lack of support.

Play development officer Jane Gallagher said: “There used to be quite a few play days run in the Leys about 10 or 15 years ago.

“They stopped when the money ran out, but people will have lots of memories of the events back in the 1990s.”

She added: “Hopefully this day in Blackbird Leys will help families on the estate really come together and celebrate their community.”

It is hoped the Leys Play and Activity Day, scheduled for July 26, could become an annual fixture for the estate.

The OPA, which was set up in 1974 to champion the right of children to have space and time to play, is also hoping to raise enough money from grant-giving bodies to run 11 other play days across the county.

They will include six at Ministry of Defence bases for armed forces families, which already have Oxfordshire County Council funding.

Each playday costs between £3,000 and £6,000 to stage, depending on the range of activities.

Activities on offer will include dance, climbing walls, martial arts and free play, which could be as simple as providing 100 cardboard boxes and paint.

Representatives of Blackbird Leys Adventure Playground, the Leys Community Development Initiative, Children’s Centre and other groups met last week to discuss the plans.

Paula Mitty, who has three sons at Orchard Meadow School, said: “Anything that’s giving children an opportunity to get outside has got to be a good thing, especially if it offers parents the chance to play with them.

“I think it’s brilliant that someone is trying to bring back the idea of imaginative play – and it’s even better that there will be no charge.”

For more details of the OPA’s work, call 01865 779474 or see its website