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Clarion Weekend, 1 May 2026

Clarion Weekend, 1 May 2026
May Morning crowds. Photo by Roger Close.

“Now is the month of Maying, when merry lads are playing.” We’ll stop right there to avoid the more suggestive bits. Our May Day round-up has madrigals, mangos, and maternity wards. Only in Oxford’s most eclectic newsletter…

This week’s long reads

It’s just under a week until polling day. The Clarion’s essential election guide sets out the contenders in every Oxford ward, charts the lie of the land in West Oxfordshire and Cherwell, and asks what might change with Reform UK and the Greens both surging. Plus we pose the awkward question – is this an election that anyone really wants to win? Read on…

The 2026 election run-down
Elections come but once a year… depending where you live. This time, it’s the turn of Oxford City and the northern districts. Each council has a subtly different arrangement for electing its councillors (have we mentioned de Gaulle’s 246 varieties of cheese…?), but essentially, every City ward has two councillors,
Oxford ClarionOxford Clarion

It’s mango season on the Cowley Road. Our brand new mango correspondent tells you everything you never knew you needed to know. Essential reading.

A primer on South Asian mangoes: a very opinionated guide
We thank our brand new mango correspondent for writing the primer on East Oxford’s (not so) hidden seasonal fruit that we never knew we needed. We’ll be in the Cowley Road food shops if anyone needs us… Oxford has many signs of the beginning of spring: the daffodils and
Oxford ClarionOxford Clarion

May Morning… preparation and festivities. Photos by Roger Close (except for screengrabs from Magdalen live-stream).

This week’s top stories

18,500 people lined the streets of Oxford for May Morning today. Magdalen College Choir sing their own Hymnus Eucharisticus, and the bawdy madrigal ‘Now is the month of Maying’, from their tower at 6am. This year the two traditional songs were joined by a lush choral arrangement of ‘Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high’. (At 44m, Magdalen Tower is the tallest building in Oxford.)

Attendees at the top of the tower included University Chancellor William Hague, Lord Mayor Louise Upton, and President of Magdalen Dinah Rose, who posted photos on Bluesky. A prayer from the Dean of Divinity, Andrew Bowyer, included: “In her [the spring] we see the rejoicing of St Mary Magdalen, first witness of the resurrection. We celebrate the birth of an earthly morning. We pray thee, use the beauty of this creation to knit our hearts to the things that endure to eternity.”

This year’s May Morning will be one of the last with a boys-only treble line. Magdalen College School is going co-educational from 2027, and the choristers with it. You can recap the livestream on the choir’s YouTube channel.

Oxford City Council, which co-ordinates crowd control on the High, thanked its partners including Thames Valley Police and Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service for “another wonderful morning”. The singing is, of course, only the beginning of the festivities, with revellers fortified by entertainment from Morris dancers, folk singers, street performers… and many cups of coffee. Our 2024 long read has everything you need to know.

(And should you want a dash of co-operative idealism with your May morning coffee, we strongly commend this radical tea towel by artist Walter Crane, drawn for the original Clarion newspaper in 1895.)

CrossCountry’s “horror movies: train edition” reel filmed at Banbury station; crowded conditions at Oxford.

Banbury passengers were turned away from a peak commuter train at Oxford station yesterday, as the row rumbles on about CrossCountry omitting Banbury stops from their reinstated services. Station staff pleaded with Oxford–Banbury passengers not to board the overcrowded four-carriage CrossCountry Voyager at 17.40, asking them to wait for the stopping train instead.

From 17 May, six CrossCountry services dropped during the pandemic will return to the timetable – but as first reported in the Clarion, five of these will skip Banbury, leaving hour-long gaps in the timetable. CrossCountry director Nick Westcott said:

“CrossCountry customers will see no change in the number of services at Banbury from May. Extra long-distance services will operate through Oxfordshire, passing non-stop between Oxford and Leamington Spa. This will provide more seats for people travelling long distances by encouraging people travelling locally to use other trains, including the significant increase in services being introduced by Chiltern Railways between Banbury and Birmingham.”

However, there is no increase in services between Banbury and Oxford, where CrossCountry provides the great majority of the service. Some of the ‘missing’ trains are shadowed by a local Great Western service following soon after, but several gaps remain. Banbury’s Labour MP Sean Woodcock has asked CrossCountry to reconsider, writing: “I receive frequent complaints about the service from constituents who face overcrowding and delays to their journeys.”

The Clarion understands that, in the time since CrossCountry originally dropped these services, freight trains have taken up some of the capacity that a Banbury stop would have used. At 11.22, for example, a southbound CrossCountry will run non-stop through Banbury so it can overtake a slower container train.

(In a piece of irony on the iron road, CrossCountry this week posted a short-form video entitled “My top 5 horror movies: train edition”, filmed at… Banbury station.)

Around the city

  • Richard Harries, former Bishop of Oxford, has died. A strong voice on the liberal wing of the Church of England, he campaigned for the Church to divest from companies in apartheid South Africa, bringing a landmark case against the Church Commissioners that set a precedent for ethical investment. He shaped the present-day organisation of the Diocese of Oxford, which has more churches than any other, and at Christ Church approved the first ever appointment of a woman to the role of cathedral precentor. Author of more than 30 books, he was a regular voice on Radio 4’s Thought for the Day. The current Bishop, Steven Croft, wrote: “We remain in debt to Richard for his gentle, encouraging leadership, inspiring appointments and skilled stewardship for his long ministry here.”
  • Summertown’s search for a new GP surgery was taken to Health Secretary Wes Streeting this week by local MP Layla Moran. Discussing funding for a new site for Summertown Health Centre, she raised issues around making the business case for new sites. A working group of local stakeholders, including Oxford City Council and Thames Valley ICB, is seeking to secure a new and expanded site with the practice having outgrown the current Edwardian building. Moran said: “I was pleased to have the opportunity to raise the case of Summertown Health Centre with the Secretary of State and I am pleased that he has promised to follow this up. We will continue to fight for a new and viable long-term future for Summertown Health Centre.”
  • Four homes for families experiencing homelessness are to be built in unused church land at Cowley St John. The Oxford church has won a grant from St Martin-in-the-Fields, the church on Trafalgar Square, to build four self-contained modular homes. The homes will provide stable housing for up to eight individuals and families experiencing homelessness, with wraparound support delivered in partnership with local organisations.
Proposed Park & Ride locations. (Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors.)
  • Six locations are being considered for new Oxford Park & Rides – including three south-east of Oxford, currently a gap in the network. Sites at Lodge Hill (near Abingdon) and Cumnor Hill have also been floated, as well as a 1,100-space P&R at Bladon Roundabout near Oxford Airport. Parking at “outer P&R sites” at Eynsham, Oxford Airport and Grenoble Road would be cheaper, or even free, to make them competitive with the ring road sites. Eynsham Park & Ride is currently expected to open in 2027 once the entry road has been built as part of the wider A40 improvements. The new locations were suggested in a study carried out by Oxfordshire County Council. A separate study has been commissioned to make the best use of Oxford Parkway as “an exemplar modern Mobility Hub” with facilities for cycle parking and hire.
  • Do you like wildflowers? Oxford schools, charities, care homes and other community organisations are invited to submit a 200 word entry to win a 'biodiverse landscape makeover' (featuring ready-rolled wildflower turf) for their current space .

Around the county

  • Oxfordshire County Council has launched a 10 year plan to support adults with learning disabilities. Based on a consultation involving over 160 people, the plan aims to help those involved to have a good life, have a place to live, improve access to health services and reduce hospital admissions. Councillor Tim Bearder, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for adult social care, said: “This strategy is about listening and acting. We are determined to make Oxfordshire a place where everyone, regardless of ability, can live a good life.”
  • A £115,000 redevelopment of the maternity outpatient clinic at Banbury’s Horton General Hospital has now been completed. The redevelopment includes two new clinic rooms, a redeveloped clinic room with scanning facilities, and a new accessible toilet. Local activists are campaigning to bring back consultant-led maternity and other acute services to the Horton; we looked at maternity care in Oxfordshire in a long read in March. Milica Redfearn, Director of Midwifery at Oxford University Hospitals, said: “We are delighted to be investing in the future of maternity care at the Horton. These upgrades allow us to offer an improved environment for patients and staff, while also expanding the range of specialist care we can provide locally.”
  • An Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member has stepped down and left the ruling Liberal Democrat group. Ben Higgins, formerly cabinet member for Future Economy & Innovation, is now listed as “Independent (non-grouped)”. He has also left the LibDem group on South Oxfordshire District Council. He was elected as county councillor for Watlington & Rotherfield in 2025. An OCC spokesperson said: “Further arrangements relating to cabinet responsibilities will be confirmed by the leader in due course, in line with the usual processes.” The Clarion has approached Ben Higgins for comment.
  • Fly-tipping at Buscot, near Lechlade, cost a Swindon barber £2,000 after Vale of White Horse enforcement officers discovered evidence linking the dumped waste to his address. Andre Niehues told Reading Magistrates’ Court he had “paid an unknown man £20 to remove domestic and business waste”. Cllr Robert Clegg at VoWH said: “If the amount being charged for waste disposal looks too good to be true then it almost certainly is. Passing waste to someone else does not remove your legal responsibility.”
  • To beer, pilgrim! The pre-Reformation tradition of the “parish ale” will be celebrated in Wantage on 9 May. A festival organised by the church with specially brewed beer, parish ales were once common in Oxfordshire. This year’s Wantage event will feature ‘Discipale’, specially brewed by nearby Indigenous Brewery. CAMRA’s Oxford Drinker magazine spoke to vicar Katherine Price, who said: “We see it as reflecting the Church’s historical commitment to hospitality. We think of our church as a Free House – in that God’s House is freely open to everyone in our community.” Charlbury also staged a parish ale event last year, while this Saturday, you have a choice of two beer festivals actually held within churches: Elsfield (just a short walk or bike ride from Marston) and Witney.
  • Free beer? To celebrate 20 years of brewing Hooky Gold beer, Hook Norton Brewery is offering anyone with a gold medal a free pint of Hooky Gold. It is described as “the zesty, floral, and refreshing soul of the Cotswolds”. On the one hand, obvious marketing gimmick, but on the other, free beer.
  • An Oxfordshire A-road with a poor safety record could see its speed limit reduced. The A361 between Banbury, Chipping Norton and Burford has seen several fatalities in recent years. Oxfordshire County Council proposes to cut the speed limit from 60mph to 50mph south of Chipping Norton. New 40mph limits would be introduced at Williamscot Hill, Shipton-under-Wychwood and Bradwell Grove. Consultation is open until 29 May.

Registering bikes at Oxford University; the vast expanse of tarmac at “the worst junction in Oxford” (Google Street view).

Walking and cycling

  • A walking and cycling plan for Wallingford has been signed off by Oxfordshire County Council. It envisages a ‘modal filter’ to reduce through traffic on Wallingford High Street, a safe cycle route to Cholsey station, advance cycle signals on Shillingford Bridge, and new pedestrian crossings. Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plans are OCC’s method of identifying and prioritising improvements, and are now in place for most towns in the county. They do not come with any associated funding, but form an evidence base when negotiating funds from housing developers or Government.
  • Rose Hill residents are campaigning for pedestrian crossings and speed enforcement at what has been called “the worst junction in Oxford”. The three-way junction of Church Cowley Road and Henley Avenue currently has only refuges in the middle of the road. In 2024, the County Council introduced 'safety improvements' which removed protective wands from the cycle lane in order to reinstate an extra car lane at the junction. Drivers also use the adjacent service road to avoid the traffic lights.
  • 110 bikes were marked by Oxford’s neighbourhood police team in an event co-hosted with Oxford University this week. The BikeRegister initiative sees frame numbers registered on a central database, and markings applied, to increase the chance of recovering a stolen bike.
  • Oxford’s cycle campaign, Cyclox, has staged ‘video hustings’ for the City Council elections. They asked candidates what they would do to make cycling safer, increase the number of people cycling to work, and reduce bike theft. Here’s the responses from Labour’s Louise Upton, the LibDems’ Jo Bowlt, and the Greens’ Emily Kerr.

A wheelbarrow of tiramisu at Goodies; the poet behind Dodo Dada (…is all I want to say to you); the Fastest Bicycle.

This Bank Holiday weekend

This week

  • Goodbye Breasts! (£), Tue, Phoenix Picturehouse. A filmmaker's unorthodox artistic response to double mastectomy.
  • Oxford Jewish Fair (free), Tue, Broad Street. Kosher food and klezmer bands.
  • My Life Has Been Lucky (free booking), Tue, Blavatnik School of Government. Visionary mathematical engineer Shun-Ichi Amari delivers the Kyoto Prize lecture.
  • Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe (£), Wed, Blackwell's. From Bauhaus to Buchenwald: how do you live with fascism around the corner?
  • Oxford Dodo Extinction Dada (free booking), Wed, St Anne's College. Poetry workshop inspired by extinct animals.
  • The Fastest Bicycle (£), Wed, Phoenix Picturehouse. Documentary about a bicycle built to break the land speed record, followed by a Q&A with the director and the team leader (coincidentally Sir Roger Bannister's grandson).
  • Ancient Myths and Legends Without Men (free), Thu, Westgate Library. Drop in for a creative writing workshop with classicist Mara Gold.
  • Silk & Bamboo Duo (free booking), Thu, St Cross College. Traditional Chinese folk music performed on the pipa, guqin, dizi, and xiao.
  • London's Burning! (free booking), Thu, Maths Institute. Is the climate crisis a business opportunity?
  • Local elections (free), Thu, Oxford City/Cherwell/West Oxfordshire. Find your polling station and bring photo ID.

Splish splash

Has the recent sun got you thinking about swimming? Here are the opening dates of Oxfordshire's lidos:

Oxfordshire’s independent media

Books

Recommendations for long weekend reading from Xander at Caper bookshop on Magdalen Road.

  • How To Lay An Egg With A Horse Inside – Brian Bilston. The inimitable Bilston returns with a book that takes you under the bonnet of the sonnet. For anyone who loves words and all the splendiferous the things they can do.
  • Black Beauty – Michael Morpurgo. A retelling of the classic tale Black Beauty from the peerless Morpurgo, with beautiful illustrations from local artist and author Tom de Freston.
  • Now You Know Your ABC …or do you? – Caspar Salmon. A brilliantly wry take on the alphabet for little ones. A is for apple. B is for ball. C is for castle. But wait! D is not for dog. D is for Danger… and now there’s a sneaky wolf chasing you through France.
  • Lifeboat at the End of the World – Dominic Gregory. The teamwork, trust, and training of a volunteer lifeboat crew in Dungeness. How they cope with terrifying stormy seas as well as the unnecessarily turbulent politics of saving lives at sea in modern Britain.
  • Five – Ilona Bannister. Five passengers. Five minutes until the next train … five minutes until someone dies. Five stories unfolding on the platform in real time – a ticking clock thriller.

Notes from Clarion HQ

With May Morning today, and the election count in the small hours next Thursday/Friday, we’ve pretty much given up hope of our sleep patterns returning to normal any time soon. Have a fabulous Bank Holiday weekend and we’ll see you on Tuesday for a slightly shorter newsletter.