Carnival's future unclear after organiser steps down

Uncertainty has arisen over whether a large summer carnival will go ahead as planned after the chair of the event's organising committee stepped down.

Oxford's Cowley Road Carnival, which attracts tens of thousands of people, was cancelled last year, with those behind the street parade saying it would return in 2026.

But the man behind the event's revival in 2024, Pax Nindi, said he had now handed over leadership of the group responsible for its planning, Cowley Road Works, to a new committee.

The new chair, Rosy Jacobs, said the group was looking at organising the event for later this year, pending funding and licensing permission.

Explaining why he had now passed on the reigns of organising the once annual event, Nindi said: "I really decided to stress myself so that I could make sure that it happened, and then I could walk away.

"Now I'm much more confident we've got a committee together, so I decided it's over to them."

The event, which fills the streets with music and dazzling costumes, began with the Caribbean Carnival in 1986.

But it has been beset by issues over the past decade, including the Covid pandemic and funding issues.

Nindi explained that when he first joined, organisers had been "discussing about handing over the carnival and closing it down".

"I couldn't let Oxford be denied such a beautiful event," Nindi, who has helped plan carnivals around the globe, said.

It returned to the Cowley Road in 2024 for the first time in five years, before being cancelled again last year.

Organisers said the break would allow them to "focus on getting the foundations right" and to throw a "bigger, better and more secure" carnival in 2026.

"I don't know [if I'm] confident because it's not up to me now - I've handed it over to the committee," Nindi said, on whether it would go ahead this year.

"When I left, everything was in place," he added.

Oxford City Council confirmed it had received a placeholder application for this year's edition, but was waiting for more information from the organisers.

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