Sorry - I know that pun was terrible but I couldn't resist. Everyone was feeling festive at Oasis last Saturday as local makers, performers, volunteers, and community members came together for a Christmas celebration of our community. An amazing 354 of you joined us on the day - thank you!
Last year, all our plans got scuppered by lockdown, and this year Railway Gardens is a construction site (hooray!) – but we weren’t going to let that stop us holding a Christmas celebration. Thanks to our friends at Oasis Refugee Centre we had a brilliant day, meeting so many new people and catching up with familiar faces. If you came along in any capacity – guest, stallholder, or performer – we’d love to hear your feedback to make future events better.
In this post we’d like to share a few highlights from the day. Firstly, we were joined by so many local makers, creatives, and community organisations that the main hall was buzzing! Splo-Down Food Coop, StarGarAllot Community Allotment, Tremorfa Pantry, and XR Cardiff who were all there to help new people get involved with their projects and campaigns – and a special shoutout to the Cardiff COP26 Coalition who raised £236 for Oasis on their cake stall.
As for Christmas treats we were very pleased to welcome…
- Gorgeous Franks cross stitch
- Seren Willow
- Oasis spice packs and upcycled woollen goods from the Blancot Project
- Kate Dumbleton Jewellery
- Upcycled homewares and Christmas decorations from Willows SEC
- Jo Chittenden with upcycled gifts
- Postcardiff, with vintage styled artwork from Wales
- Eve Pyra, with beautiful art prints
- Ffrili Jilli – upcycled fabric art and gifts
- Screen printed bags designed by Oasis clients and printed with support from RCWMD students.
- Frankie and Cat with their preserves and hot sauces
- Upcycled homeware and goodies from Cecilia and Marcia
We were also treated to some great performances, including dance from Marla King, song and dance from Oasis One World Choir, and circus workshops from NoFit State. Food was provided by the catering team at Oasis, who warmed everyone up with mulled apple juice, cawl, and mince pies.
Seren in the Community braved the weather to offer festive play in the garden, and there were plenty of crafts to try too, from Danish paper craft and block printing to beeswax candle making. The last activity took place on the Railway Gardens stall as a fundraiser to buy a solitary bee nesting box for the site – and I’m pleased to say we reached the target! We also really enjoyed chatting to people about Railway Gardens, and we had some great discussions about whether or not there should be beehives on site – more on this in the new year! We gave away over 500 bulbs which we hope will be brightening up gardens around Splott and Adamsdown throughout the spring – and if you did take home some bulbs please do consider planting a few in a separate pot to bring along to the Railway Gardens grand opening next year.
We would like to say a huge thank you to the team at Oasis for making this possible, especially Steve and Matt who have been so supportive and helpful.
And finally we would like to thank the wonderful volunteer team who made this possible – Kate G, Helen Clare, Eve, Bethany, Kate O, Stephen, Karolina, Matthew, Ffion, Lis, and Ruth. They worked really hard and gave up their time at such a busy time of year so covid-safe high fives all round.
