What's on in September
Creative sessions for young people aged 12+, Kington Walking Festival, community apple pressing, and all our regular events for September.
Rural Voices: creative sessions for young people
OAK is delighted to host Rural Media for this four-session programme for young people, running Tuesdays 15th and 22nd September, and Tuesdays 6th and 13th October. Try out making animations, audio recordings and zines, finding creative ways to express yourself. Everything is free, but please book your attendance in advance by emailing Toni from Rural Media at ToniC@ruralmedia.co.uk, or messaging/calling on WhatsApp 07799 814215.
Kington Walking Festival
Weary walkers and non-walkers alike are welcome at The Oxford on Sunday 20th September as we celebrate the autumn 2026 Kington Walking Festival. The Caravan Café will be serving light lunches, cakes, and hot drinks, and our bar will be open.
Please note: The Oxford will not be open on Friday 18th September as previously advertised.
Community Apple Pressing + Creative Workshop
Our friends at KLEEN join us later this month for the first of two community apple pressing afternoons (the second follows on 25th October, so do not worry if your apples aren’t yet ready!). Apple pressing from 1-4pm, please bring washed apples and clean containers if you wish to press your own juice.
Meanwhile, our regular Creative Workshop will run 2-4pm with a focus on needlefelt mushrooms. No experience necessary, all materials provided, payment by donation (£5 suggested).
Our bar will also be open 1-5pm.
Please note: you are welcome to pull in to drop off apples or pick up pressed juice, but parking in The Oxford’s courtyard will be restricted to disabled badge holders and OAK/KLEEN volunteers.
Free drop-in support sessions for community/voluntary organisations, in association with HVOSS
Do you need support or assistance with developing a community or voluntary organisation? Do you have questions about securing funding, developing policies, organisation set-up, recruitment, planning activities, or anything else?
On Thursday 1st October, OAK and HVOSS (Herefordshire Voluntary Organisations Support Service) will be hosting free 1-hour drop in sessions with HVOSS Chief Executive Will Lindesay in the barn behind The Oxford Arms. Will has worked across the local voluntary sector for 25 years in community development, youth support, management and leadership roles.
Booking for these sessions is essential: please contact Will at will.lindesay@hvoss.org.uk or call/message him on 07742 090921 to book your 1-hour slot.
Creative Workshop: Giant Crepe Flowers
August’s Creative Workshop lets you try out making giant crepe flowers. No experience necessary, all materials provided, payment by donation (£5 suggested). Plus our bar and café will be open 1-5pm.
Quiz Night: The Great British Holiday Quiz
The summer of 2026 has been a scorcher, but how well do you remember holidays of summers past, their chart hits, sporting champions, fashions and fads, and of course the ice lollies of your youth?
If you fancy testing your knowledge on those rainy long-ago summers, join us for our August themed quiz!
Quiz starts at 7pm. Teams of max 4 people, £5 per team entry. Cash prize for the winning team.
Women's Suffrage in Herefordshire - A Talk by Clare Wichhold
For our next talk in The Oxford’s barn, join local historian Clare Wichbold, author of Hard Work – But Glorious: Stories from the Herefordshire Suffrage Campaign, for a talk on the history of women’s suffrage in Herefordshire. The talk is free but donations will be warmly welcomed.
Bar open 6-9pm, the talk will begin around 7pm. Unreserved seating -please arrive early to ensure a seat.
Yard Sale
The next Kington High Street Market takes place on Sunday 23rd August, and The Oxford will be joining the festivities by hosting a yard sale. Our bar and café will also be open.
Two-day photography workshop for young people
Wednesday 5th August, 1-5pm & Thursday 6th August, 10am-2pm (this session includes lunch)
For 14-18 year olds.
Free, but booking essential. Contact kim@openarmskington.co.uk to book a place
Open Arms Kington will be hosting a two-day photography workshop for young people (14-18) this August. The sessions will be led by photographer Paul Ligas and explore the art of photography through hands-on sessions in composing and taking photographs on photo walks, making anthotype prints, cyanotype prints, and lumen printing. Make a connection with the natural world, build your confidence, experiment with light and nature, create your own photographic prints. No experience needed – just curiosity and creativity!
These workshops have been made possible through an award from the High Sheriff’s Fund, managed by Herefordshire Community Foundation.
What's on in August
Events, activities, support sessions, and more at The Oxford this August.
Quiz Night: Retro theme
We’ve decided to start theming our Quiz Nights, and to kick us off we’ll host a 70s - 80s - 90s - 00s-themed retro quiz on Friday 31st July.
Bar open 6-10pm, quiz starts around 7pm. £5 per team entry, max team size 4 people. Cash prize for the winning team.
Creative Workshop: Sun printing with anthotypes
July’s Creative Workshop will focus on making anthotypes - a natural photographic technique using light-sensitive pigments from plants and the light of the sun to create photographic prints. All materials provided and no experience necessary. Payment by donation (£5 suggested).
Plus our bar and café will be open 1-5pm.
Free Digital Skills Lessons
With thanks to Richard Connelly of AbilityNet, we will be running a course of three Digital Skills lessons in The Oxford’s barn this summer. Each lesson is self-contained and you may attend one or more as you prefer. Attendance is free, but booking is essential - please email Kim at kim@openarmskington.co.uk or call her on 07301 081444 to book a place.
UPDATE: new dates have now been set for the second and third sessions.
Monday 6th July 10.30am-12.30pm: Staying safe online and avoid scams
Monday 3rd August 10.30am-12.30pm: Getting to know your mobile phone
Monday 17th August 10.30am-12.30pm: An Introduction to AI
Tea and coffee will be provided at these lessons.
RESCHEDULED - Veteran Trees of the Marches talk
Join Josie Bridges, Welsh Marches Project Officer for Natural Resources Wales, for a talk on the giant and veteran trees of the region in The Oxford’s barn.
The talk will be illustrated by local artist and researcher Epha J. Roe with images from their project “Arboreal Encounters”, a series of photographs of English heritage oak trees informed by the Ancient Tree inventory.
Unreserved seating, please arrive early to ensure a place. The talk will begin around 7pm. Free, but donations warmly welcomed. Bar open throughout.
***This talk was originally scheduled for 24th March, and then scheduled for 19th May***
Bastille Day Celebration
We’ll be having a French-themed celebration to mark Bastille Day this July. Join us for palet (a game similar to boules), a Bastille Day quiz, and French music, and our bar and café will be open. Plus there’s a prize for the best French dress!
Bar open and local live acoustic music
Join us this Sunday for some acoustic music and an afternoon drink from our bar. Open 2-5pm.
Creative Workshop, yard sale, bar and café open, and more
Our regular Creative Workshop for June will focus on watercolour designs. No experience necessary, all materials provided, payment by donation (£5 suggested).
PLUS this month our bar and café will be open 10am-4pm, while Kington Street Market takes place outside on Kington High Street! We’ll also have a yard sale in our courtyard, alongside a sale of various artwork and art materials.
June's Quiz Night
Monthly quiz nights continue at The Oxford Arms on the last Friday of the month.
Quiz starts at 7pm, teams of max 4 people. £3pp entry. Bar open 6-10pm.
Kington Wheelbarrow Race
It’s that time of year again! Kington’s iconic wheelbarrow race celebrates its 50th edition this June, and The Oxford will be part of the fun as ever, serving as a stop-off for participants, and one of the best places to watch the action. RJ Smokeshack will be serving their smash burgers and waffles and our bar will be open.
Antiques evaluation with Halls Auctioneers
Halls Fine Art Auctioneers will visit The Oxford again on Friday 5th June to put a value on your heirlooms and antiques. On their previous visits, they’ve valued an Old Master painting and a bucket from HMS Victory, so we look forward to seeing what treasures Kington has been hiding this time!
Drop-in between 11am and 2pm, £2 per item valued. All proceeds go towards the renovations of The Oxford Arms.
Rotherwas Together Summer Exhibition
The Oxford is proud to be hosting the Rotherwas Together exhibition this summer. The exhibition features information about some of the brave women who worked at the Rotherwas munitions factory during both wars, and the remarkable story of the Rotherwas women’s football team. The exhibition is very special for Kington as it was home to Sadie and Honor Lloyd, two sisters who were members of the team who played in front of big crowds during the First World War.
The exhibition will be open during all our opening hours between 2nd June and 1st August; we will also host a launch night on Tuesday 2nd June, 5.30-7.30pm, where you’ll be able to meet some of the volunteers from Rotherwas Together and learn more about their project. Our bar will be open throughout.
Rotherwas Together is the Herefordshire-based voluntary organisation dedicated to researching stories and raising awareness of the munitions factory ROF Rotherwas, the Royal Ordnance Factory built during the First World War. The factory was used for filling shells, with the first ones rolling off the production line in November 1916. The munitions site closed after the Second World War and became home to many businesses from the 1960s onwards and is now the Hereford Enterprise Zone.
For more information about Rotherwas Together, visit: https://www.rotherwas.com/
The Factory Football element of the exhibition was kindly supported by the Sports Heritage Fund.
Creative Workshop at The Oxford Arms
May’s Creative Workshop will focus on paper-making! No experience necessary, all welcome. Payment by donation (£5 suggested).
Coffee and tea will be available, but please note that the Caravan Café will be closed on Sunday 31st May.
May's Quiz Night
Join us for May’s quiz night at The Oxford on Friday 29th May. Bar open 6-10pm, quiz starts at 7pm. Max teams of 4 people, £3pp entry. Our upcoming quiz nights will be on 26th June, 31st July, and 28th August.
EVENT POSTPONED - The Veteran Trees of the Marches: a talk by Josie Bridges
We are very sorry to announce that this talk has been postponed at the last minute due to a broken down car, our speaker is unable to get to Kington this evening!
The talk will be rescheduled, with a new date to be announced here soon.
Sincere apologies for the inconvenience!
***This talk was originally scheduled for 24th March, but postponed due to a clash with the monthly Herefordshire Wildlife Trust talk***
Join Josie Bridges, Welsh Marches Project Officer for Natural Resources Wales, for a talk on the giant and veteran trees of the region in The Oxford’s barn.
The talk will be illustrated by local artist and researcher Epha J. Roe with images from their project “Arboreal Encounters”, a series of photographs of English heritage oak trees informed by the Ancient Tree inventory.
Unreserved seating, please arrive early to ensure a place. Free, but donations warmly welcomed. Bar open throughout.
Herefordshire Histories Festival: old words of Herefordshire
The Oxford Arms will be a venue for the 2026 Herefordshire Histories Festival. We’ll have an exhibition on the old words of Herefordshire, and Richard Wheeler—author of The Old Words of Herefordshire (Logaston Press)—will be giving a talk at 1pm.
Bar and café open throughout, free entry.
Marches Makers: dance at The Oxford
As well as our exhibition on the forgotten words of Herefordshire, we’ll be celebrating the 2026 Marches Makers festival at The Oxford with morris and maypole dancing! Gidderskins Morris will perform at 11am and 2.30pm, sandwiching participatory maypole dancing taught by Jess Dawson Wright. Bar and café open 11am-5pm.
Marches Makers: exhibition at The Oxford Arms
To celebrate the 2026 Marches Makers festival, The Oxford Arms will be hosting an exhibition on the fading and forgotten words of Herefordshire.
Our bar and café will be open both Saturday and Sunday, plus we have morris and maypole dancing on Saturday 2nd May!
What's on in May
May events at The Oxford Arms. Please note that The Oxford will be closed on the weekends of 16-17 and 23-24 May.
Creative Workshop: air-dry clay slab pot making
For April’s Creative Workshop, we’ll be making pots using the air-dried clay slab method. All welcome, no experience necessary, and all materials provided. Payment by donation (suggested £5).
Plus our bar and café will be open 1-5pm, with our live 100 Club draw at 3pm.
April Quiz Night
It’s our regular monthly quiz night on Friday 24th April. Bar open 6-10pm, quiz starts at 7pm. Max teams of 4 people, £3pp entry, cash prize for the winning team.
DJ Night
Join us for our next DJ night in The Oxford’s barn, with sets from Odaat, Pink Bear, and Ad D.
7-10pm, free entry, bar open throughout.
Kington Marmalade Competition 2026
The Oxford Arms will once again host the annual Kington Marmalade Competition on Saturday 11th April, organised by our friends at Festive Foods from the Borders and the Kington Chamber of Trade. The celebrated international marmalade judge (and OAK director) Jane Maggs will once again be picking the winners and providing comments and suggestions on your recipes.
Entries will close very soon! To enter, pick up an entry form from The Grape Vine on Kington High Street or Bee’s Knees Cookshop on Church Street. There are prizes to be won, and don’t forget the under 14s category—a perfect opportunity for all budding young cooks and preserve-makers to show their talents and gain plaudits!
On the day, The Oxford will be open 11am-4pm, and our café will be open serving marmalade-themed treats. Our bar will also be open throughout.