What's On

Nature Late Event: Friday 27th June, 6 - 11pm

We are delighted to announce a first event of its kind organised by the Rumble Museum at Cheney School.

Nature Late will celebrate the world of nature on site at Cheney through talks, workshops, stalls, activities and exhibitions. The schedule is as follows:

6 - 6.30pm - "Saving Our Insects" - opening talk by Professor Dave Goulson.

6 - 8pm - Ecology Festival for all ages with a large range of science and nature-themed stalls and activities

8 - 11pm - Moth Night

The programme is still being developed, and a full line-up will be announced nearer the time. If you would like to attend, please fill in this form.

In the run-up to our Nature Late event, we will be running some smaller nature-themed activities and events, and will announce these in the coming months.

We will be holding a bird-themed event in the early spring to celebrate the birds on site, and to launch our new collection of bird prints around Oxford - more to follow soon.

Astronomy and Stargazing Evening: Thursday 19th December, 5.30 - 8pm

We are delighted to announce an Astronomy and Stargazing Evening on Thursday 19th December, 4.30 - 8pm at Cheney School.

The event will feature an opening talk from an expert astronomer, planetarium show, stalls and activities, and stargazing.

Below are timings for each part of the evening:

4.30 - 5.15pm - planetarium show - FULLY BOOKED

5.30 - 6pm - opening talk by Professor Jocelyn Monroe: Dark Matter and the Universe

6 - 8pm - stalls, activities and stargazing

If you would like to book places to attend, please fill in this form.

Toys and Games Collection Afternoon: Tuesday 3rd December, 3.30 - 5pm

We are delighted to announce our Toys and Games Collection Afternoon on Tuesday 3rd December, from 3.30 to 5pm at Cheney School.

We are inviting members of the public to visit with any stories about their childhood toys and games, as well as items they would be happy to donate to our forthcoming exhibition on A History of Childhood.

The exhibition will be curated by our Museum Council students, with support from the Museum of Oxford, and will be launched later in 2025. We are looking for toys and games of any kind and from any era, up to the present day.

Since we will possibly have more items than we will be able to include in the exhibition, visitors will also have the option of donating their toys and games to the charity Oxfordshire Toy Bank.

There will also be artefact-handling, refreshments and activities for all ages.

The event is free and open to all ages.

To help give us an idea of number, please let us know if you will be attending using this form.

Creature Fest! Friday 11th October, 3.45 – 5.30pm

We are excited to announce our Creature Festival at Cheney School, a community festival for all ages celebrating and exploring creatures across time and cultures, from ancient Greek monsters to Chinese Dragons, and from Irish creatures to Japanese spirits, and more. There will also be a natural history section exploring dinosaurs and other animals, and how they have inspired creatures in mythology!

There will be a wide range of activity stalls, exhibitions, performances and workshops for all ages. There will also be creature-themed refreshments. All ages are warmly welcomed and the event is free.

Places can be booked for individuals and groups by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The festival will open at 3pm for Cheney School students, and from 3.45pm for the wider public and continue until 5.30pm.

Visitors of all ages are welcome to come in character as a creature of their choice! There will be a Creature Costume Competition – entry will involve having a photo taken in our ‘Creature Booth’, so we can judge and contact winners for the competition after the festival.

There will be the following scheduled events, alongside all our other activities:

Minotaur shows: 3.05pm and 4.30pm (identical shows, 15 minutes each)

These exciting shows will be performed by Creature Events, an organisation which brings performances to events across the UK, run by professional actor and producer Ben Loyd-Holmes, known for Skyfall (2012), Black Book (2010) and Extinction (2014).

Ed Boxall, author & illustrator: performance at 4pm (20 minutes).

Join Ed Boxall for the story of the creation of Ireland, where you will meet the most ancient and weird of all Celtic monsters: The Formor. You’ll also meet the ancient gods who brought their creativity to the chaotic realm of the formor, including the fabulously naughty wild-child-god Aengus. Ed’s telling of the story is a fabulous mix of spoken word, poetry, song and a bit of joining in. All ages very welcome.

Medusa Performances: 3.30pm and 5pm (each followed by 30 minute workshops)

The VDK Dance Company has produced a selection of solos and duets with an overarching theme of Greek Mythology. The company brings performance into schools to teach students about Greek mythology. It is run by choreographer/dancer/teacher Jessica Van de Koot, and associates Harriet Ellis and Manon Servage.

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

Technology through Time Exhibition Launch Event, with special guest Nigel Powell: Friday 19th July, 4 - 5pm

We are delighted to announce a launch event for our Technology through Time Exhibition on Friday 19th July, 4 - 5pm, with special guest Nigel Powell, of The Unbelievable Truth & Sad Song Co. 

Over the past several months, we have been developing this collection in partnership with the History of Science Museum, through very generous community donations, the development of Year Nine curriculum materials, and a team of Year Ten student curators who have worked alongside Chris Parkin from the HSM to design the layout, text and wording for this new permanent exhibition. 
 
We are honoured to be joined by Nigel Powell, who was a member of the 90s band The Unbelievable Truth (alongside Andy Yorke, James Crosskey and Jason Mouslter) before embarking on his own musical ventures. Nigel will be talking about music technology and his experiences and work, and unveiling the exhibition. There will be performances by Year Ten musicians with Nigel, a talk and Q&A with Nigel, an official unveiling of the finished exhibition cases, and drinks and refreshments. 
 
All are very warmly welcome to attend this event. If you would like to attend, please fill in this form. 
 
We very much look forward to welcoming you at this exciting event to see the work of our student curators with the wide-ranging community donations of technology to this collection.

 

Community Tree Trail Event: Monday 22nd July, 4 - 6.30pm

We are delighted to announce that we are holding a Tree Trail Open Event on Monday 22nd July, 4 to 6.30pm at Cheney School.

We are privileged to be joined by author Julia Golding for a talk and booksigning between 4 and 4.30pm.

The event will be open for the whole community to explore our beautiful trees, see our brand new tree trail signs, take part in a range of stalls and activities and follow our trail maps! All ages are warmly welcome and refreshments will be available. There will be storytelling workshops running during the event.

The Cheney Tree Trail was first created in 2021 by the Year Eight Museum Council, and since then several other groups of students have added to the trail, as well as a range of staff and even some celebrities adding their voices to the trees!

The event will celebrate the installation of the six new signs, funded by the Trust for Oxfordshire's Environment & Grundon Recycling. The wording of the signs was written by the 8* Museum Council last term. The students chose six more of our trees to make signs for: crabapple, ash, oak, redwood, pine and plane.

If you would like to attend, please fill in this form to book places. The whole event is free and all ages are welcome.

Technology through Time Stories and Artefacts Collection Afternoon, Tuesday 19th March, 3.30 - 5.45pm

To celebrate our Technology through Time Collection at the Rumble Museum, we are holding a Technology Exhibition and Stories Afternoon on Tuesday 19th March, 3.30 - 5.45pm at Cheney School.

We will have many exciting artefacts on display, including an early 1900s Cylinder Phonograph and 1950s Bakelite TV amongst many other objects! We are also delighted to be joined by a number of other museums who will be bringing their own objects and running exciting activity stalls around those. All ages are warmly welcome. There will also be refreshments available.

Visitors of all ages are also warmly welcome to share stories of their experiences with technology of any kind. We will create a digital archive of the stories  we collect (with permission). We are just as interested in recent and current experiences as with historic experiences. We are also very interested in objects and photographs people might like to bring. We will take photographs of all items. We are happy to receive any items as donations to our collections.

You do not have to bring a story or object to attend. The whole event is free.

If you would like to attend, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you're planning to share a story or bringing an object, it is helpful to let us know in advance, but not essential.

Vintage Board Games and Books Cafe for ages 11 - 18

Saturdays 2.30 - 5pm at St Mary & St John's Church, Cowley Road

We are excited to be launching a brand new vintage board games and books cafe for young people this January!
 
If you're aged 11 to 18, and would like to spend some time on a Saturday afternoon in an atmospheric building, playing a board game, reading a book, or just chatting with friends over hot chocolate, then come along to our new Book and Board Games Cafe.
 
All are warmly welcome - please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you would like to attend; parents and carers will need to fill in a consent form, which we will email or have available on the door. 
 
Forthcoming dates are: 3rd and 24th February.
 
We have some vintage board games and books, but please also free to bring your own to play and read. If you have any books or board games that you'd like to donate to the cafe, please get in touch!
 
 

 

Amazing Brain Festival, 20th February, 3.45 - 6pm

We are very excited to be holding an 'Amazing Brain' Festival on Tuesday 20th February, 3.45 to 6pm.

The festival will include a range of engaging activity and information stalls aimed at all ages, all exploring the human brain and mind. It will include a 2 metre high T-Rex which people can operate, as part of a range of activities exploring dinosaur brains. There will also be activities and stalls also exploring ancient ideas about the mind and brain. There will be refreshments and a bookstore too.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to explore "Your Amazing Brain", an exhibition which we are privileged to be hosting. It is designed and created by the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging,in partnership with Banbury Museum & Gallery, and features striking educational displays and interactive exhibits, all exploring the brain behaviour, structure and abilities.

The stalls and activities will be open from 3.45 to 5.30pm (from 3pm for Cheney students).

There will be a closing talk from 5.30 - 6pm by Professor Sophie Scott, neuroscientist and comedian: "The Brain: Ten Things You Should Know".

To book places, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The event is free and open to all ages, but please do donate online here