South Oxford Community Centre

The 2021 census will be in March. Do, help your neighbours or anyone you know, if they have difficulty filling them in. Too many people think of this as being an instrument of state control rather than an instrument of social planning: if we don't know how many children there are, how can we plan for there to be enough school places and in the right places; if we don't know the location of the older population, how can we plan to have the right facilities in the right places; how can we plan for more and better housing without understanding where the population works and what it's doing? The census isn't connected to HMRC or any other government agency so filling it in cannot affect your immigration, tax or benefits situation. And the individual entries are anonymised for 100 years—the next release of personal data will be in January 2022 when the individual entries for the 1921 census become available. Do your bit as citizens to make planning for the future more effective by giving the government accurate figures about the age, location, employment of the population, the necessity for which has become even more evident with the pandemic.

Thank you for all your support, during this interesting time of 2020/21. The Community Centre and office are closed because of lockdown. As soon as we know an opening date it will be posted here. The office and emails will be monitored and any enquiries will be answered in due course.

The Management Committee and Staff would like to thank all supporters of the Community Centre and hope to see you soon in the New Year

The café is due to reopen on 9th March 11-2 pm with the takeaway cafe serving all your favourite homemade soups, cakes, teas and coffee.

If you are looking at something to do during the lockdown then why not check out the local What's On guide

Our Christmas exhibition video of the exhibits is available here and on PDF available by email from the office. The small sales are available as click and collect, details of some of the items are available here. 

See the latest information from Oxford University - Press release with new additional information 

updated 3rd March 2021

We want to make certain that everyone has a safe and enjoyable visit to the South Oxford Community Centre.

To help ensure the safety and well-being of our visitors, staff and volunteers please read the following information before your visit.                    
In light of Covid-19, we would like to assure our visitors that:

• We will do our utmost to ensure everyone has the space to use the Centre safely.
• The Centre has undergone thorough cleaning in preparation for reopening.
• We will sanitise the Centre regularly throughout each day, with special attention paid to high-contact areas such as handles, bannisters and bathrooms.
• We have strict procedures in place for our staff

In return, we kindly ask visitors to:

• Stay away if you show any symptoms associated with Covid-19 or generally feel unwell
• Wash your hands-on arrival. Washing facilities are available in both disabled toilets in the main building and the Gill Garratt and Brenda Horwood rooms. Before using the stairs or entering the Main hall sanitise your hands.
• Maintain a safe distance between you and others.
• Wear a mask when you enter the Centre until you leave.
• Follow all Staff instructions and signage in the Centre.

For Community Centre Visitor/guest Q&A follow this link

 The Community centre is located in a beautiful old Victorian pumping station built in 1856 and can be found a mile from the centre of Oxford just off the Abingdon Road in Lake Street.

South Oxford Community Association (set up in 1937) looks after the day to day running of the Community Centre. We provide rooms for the benefit of local residents to use for leisure, meetings, and learning at affordable prices. The Association is a charity, and we offer affordable rates for groups working for the benefit of the community. The Community Centre is self-financing and we pay all our own staff costs, bills, buy our equipment and maintain the interior of the building. Our Management Committee is a friendly group, and we are always looking for new members. You can find more information on the Management Committee in 'meet the team'. Please contact the office to register your interest in joining the Committee or for more information. The Community Centre hosts various groups during the year and Art events in May and Christmas. Details can be found here or on our Facebook page South Oxford Community Centre. The Centre can also be used for Art exhibitions, contact the office for more details.

We are now once again producing our own Newsletters which will be distributed to local residences in the South Oxford area. We will have copies available in the Centre for those who live outside our area of delivery. All of our Newsletters are available here.

The Community Centre has Free Wi-Fi brought by Super Connected Oxford

Please contact Debby in the office on 01865 242666 or  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

 The art in the Community Centre is now under a new title 'New Hinksey Arts' this title will be used for all our exhibitions, promotions and workshops.

The art of George Bissill has finished though his work will be able to be viewed via our YouTube channel 'The Pumping Station'

New Hinksey Arts Workshops have been suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. They will resume once the current restrictions have been lifted.

Watercolour Pencil Workshop cancelled to 2021

Life Drawing workshop cancelled to 2021 All materials provided. £12.00 [SOCA members] £14.00 non-members

Building a sketchbook cancelled to 2021

For more information on our art workshops and events see our Arts page

If you would like to be on the email list for the art events please contact the office by email to give your written consent on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Neighbourhood Community Forums are held during the year. Past Forum notes can be found here.

If you would like to be on the email list for the Forum contact the office at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Find out about the regular activities taking place at the Centre.

Details of the rooms for hire 

The 37 men of New and South Hinksey. A group of local enthusiasts are researching the history of the 37 men of New and South Hinksey who lost their lives during the first world war. More information can be found on their website www.wixsy1.wixsite.com/37men-new-hinksey or contacting the office on 01865 242666

Explore the fascinating history of Grandpont, New Hinksey and Cold Harbour

Directions to the centre and a location map.

Please get in touch if you want to make a booking, or have any queries.

Links to other South Oxford organisations. This page also contains a diary of events in South Oxford.

As you will be aware as and from 25th May 2018 there are new rules on data protection. If you would like to have information sent from the Community Centre you need to send in written confirmation to the office by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  All previous agreements are no longer valid and I will not be able to contact you with information on events.

We have several lists that you can sign up for. Art events and classes, Neighbourhood Forum, and local events in general at the Community Centre. SOCA members receive emails during the year to remind them of events and what's on, so why not join the Association and support your local Community Centre and receive information direct to your inbox. We would like to keep you informed so please do contact us.

Our new policies on Privacy and Data protection can be found on the Policies page.