Iconic north Oxfordshire roundabout has received a festive make over thanks to returning public arts project, Round and Round.
Published: Friday, 28th November 2025
Over 200 Cherwell residents, visitors and community groups came together to repurpose ex-display floral frames into festive decorations to decorate the Banbury Cross roundabout.
Cherwell District Council’s landscaping, wellbeing and communities teams, along with local textile artist Anne-Marie Cadman to ran ten community focused workshops in late October and November in Castle Quay and Orinoco.
Partners, the People’s Theatre Collective, Orinoco, The Mill Arts Centre and Oxfordshire MIND, also took part in this project, working with people in the heart of the community. Feedback from participants included, ‘Really lit up my day. A lovely project bringing the community together.’, ‘Very productive for the kids and nice that they’ll see their work later on.’ and ‘Fabulous fun! So wonderful to create something to bring joy to the community.’
All the sessions transformed the floral frames into to three festive reindeer and two orb and sceptre structure to provide some extra sparkle to Banbury town centre this Christmas.
Councillor Rob Pattenden, Portfolio Holder for Healthy Communities, said: “These structures are absolutely fantastic, they add a wonderful Christmassy feel to our historic Banbury Cross landmark. Every time I pass the display it makes me smile to know that so many members of our community came together to create such a stunning festive scene for residents and visitors alike to enjoy.
“Thank you to everyone that gave their time and creative endeavours to produce these structures that have formed a central part of the decorations in the town.
“This project returned for a fourth time this winter and the massive turn out we had is a testimony to how vital art and community focused programmes are to bringing together groups of people to bond over shared interests, developing new skills and reinvigorating mental wellbeing.”
Artist Anne-Marie Cadman, said: “I was thrilled to be invited once again to lead the Round & Round community arts project. We had hundreds of participants of all ages and their creative contributions combined into lovely recycled festive outcomes. I’m looking forward to seeing the frames in situ on the Cross and Warwick Rd.”
The five structures have been installed at Banbury Cross roundabout and at the Warwick Road entrance to People’s Park. The community created structures form a key part of Banbury’s Christmas decorations and lights, and will be officially turned on during the Christmas light switch-on on Sunday.
Round and Round is a council-led initiative with sustainability as a key principle. The launch of this programme in spring 2024 allowed old floral display frames to be reused and recycled into structures to bring colour and life to key town centre locations.