What's On

On Saturday 13th November between 10 and 12.30pm, the Rumble Museum and the Parish of Cowley St John are running a joint Story Collection Morning at St Alban's Church.
 
We are inviting people to bring any stories or items that are connected to the history of the "Robin Hood" area, and the churches of St Mary & St John, and St Alban's. The Robin Hood area is said to have stretched between Magdalen Road and Howard Street. A Robin Hood Tavern, Robin Hood Terrace and Robin Hood School all existed in the area. Common explanations of the name are that the area was at the boundaries of the city, that the area was very poor, or even that some of its residents were considered to behave like outlaws.

For those who would like to share their stories and items (these could be anything from photographs, diaries, letters, to any other sort of item or object), volunteers will record these and make them available for others to listen to or view through an online archive gallery.

There will be refreshments and an activity trail for younger children, and also a range of archive material and artefacts on display. Visitors will be able to explore the historic building of St Alban's Church, and have hot and cold drinks and cakes.
All ages are warmly welcome to come along, and there is no need to book to attend. If you are unable to attend, but would like to share a story or item by email, you can do so by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We are delighted that Natty Mark Samuels, founder of the African School in Blackbird Leys, will be giving a   reading of his poetry inspired by artefacts in our African collection on Friday 24th September between 4 and 5pm.

Visitors will be able to listen to some of his beautiful poems. as well as view the artefacts in our collection and enjoy some African-themed refreshments. To book places, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This event will be the first event in our celebrations of Black History Month in October, and forms part of our African Artefacts Project, which is generously funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Rumble Museum regularly organises a very wide range of speakers to deliver talks on all sorts of topics, from medicine and economics to astronomy and neuroscience. You can listen again to some of our recent talks below by clicking on the images.

2nd July, "What Happens in the Brain when we Disagree", by Dr Andreas Kappes, Psychology Lecturer at City, University of London (organised as part of our Year Eight Breakfast Talk Series).

We are delighted to announce the launch of our virtual event "Cheney 2050" on 24th March, 2021.

2020 brought two firsts for Cheney School. The pandemic forced schools across the country and world to close their doors to most students for the first time. In 2020, Cheney also received the news that it had become the first UK school to have an accredited museum spread throughout its site. More than ever, communities have been reflecting on where they are now, and what they want to see in the future. It is a challenging and exciting time for everyone. In this conference there are a range of organisations offering workshops, and two expert speakers, to inspire you to develop your own ideas about where Cheney should be in 2050. What should Cheney, and its Rumble Museum, do in the next thirty years to make the school and community a better place for everyone?

The website for the conference will contain a gallery of fascinating things to explore, both on the day of the conference and beyond. You will find five minute talks from a range of experts, including Pitt Rivers Museum, Friends of the Earth, Butterfly Conservation, silvologist Dr Gabriel Hemery, Tom Hayes, Oxford City Councillor, Tree Talk, and others. You can also explore some of the many artefacts in the Rumble Museum, which have been specially chosen to connect with the conference themes. From the mbira piano to the science fiction of C.S. Lewis, there is something to link with all the ideas of this event.

Local primary school children have also come up with their own ideas about their future schools, so you can explore their thoughts and plans as well!

Year Eight Museum Council students have been working hard to identify, map and photograph all of Cheney's beautiful trees. They have themed each section, and recruited a range of staff to be the voices of the trees. As well as many fascinating and informative staff tree voice-overs, there are some celebrity trees hidden in each section - visit the tree trail to see if you can recognise their voices as they tell you about their tree.

The live talks and workshops on the day itself will be booking only for Cheney sixth formers. However, the talks and some workshops will be made available for all to listen to after the day itself. There are talks by Lord Robert Winston and Kate Raworth. There are workshops by Earthwatch, Natural History Museum Oxford, Ashmolean, Empathy Museum, the City Council, Uncomfortable Oxford, Brookes University, Story Museum, Bill Finnegan, Oxfordshire Livable Streets, Project Cece and Pivot power, amongst others.

The conference will be hosted here. Visit on 24th March to explore!

Over the next few weeks, the Rumble Museum is making a series of shows called "Stories through Objects" for Radio Cherwell, the Hospital Radio Service.

Each show will explore a different story, and use objects from our collection and songs to journey through the themes, characters and places in the stories.

The shows are aired every Friday from 1.30 to 2pm, and then repeated on Mondays at 1.30pm. You can listen to these shows on the Radio Cherwell website. We make the voice recordings, playlists details and objects featured available once the live shows have aired. Please see below for the shows.

Episode 1: 17th and 20th April - Homer's Odyssey

Episode 2: 24th and 27th April - Orpheus and the Underworld

Episode 3: 1st and 4th May - Theseus and the Minotaur

Episode 4: 8th and 11th May - Echo and Narcissus

Episode 5: 15th and 18th May - Peleus and Thetis' Wedding

Episode 6: 22nd and 25th May - Daedalus and Icarus

Episode 7: 29th May and 1st June - Prometheus and Zeus

Episode 8: 5th and 8th June - The Creation of the World

Episode 9: 12th and 15th June - Dionysus

Episode 10: 19th and 22nd June: The Founding of Rome

From September 2021, we are running a community cafe in St Alban's Church on Charles Street. It will open to the public every Saturday from 10 until 12.30pm, and serve hot and cold drinks, and snacks.

The cafe is there to offer everyone an opportunity enjoy the special atmosphere and building of St Alban's, as well as to explore the history of the church and wider 'Robin Hood' area of East Oxford. We are very interested in any stories people might have of the the church and the area, and for those who would like to share them, we can record these and make them available for others to listen to. Similarly, we would love to see any photographs and objects connected to the area, and can make digital galleries of these for those who would like that.

All ages are warmly welcome, and there is an activity trail for children to enjoy.

The address is:

St Alban's Hall, Charles Street, Oxford, OX4 3AH

The cafe is drop-in, with no need to book  in advance.

Please get in touch for more information on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.