Lunchtime Talk: 'Lost in the Woods: The story of Slade Camp'

‘Lost in the Woods: The story of Slade Camp and a rediscovered Oxford community’

The Slade Camp was set out in open fields on the edge of Shotover in the late 1930s as part of the military preparations for war. The camp saw action during WWII: as a training centre, for housing returning troops from Dunkirk and assisting in demobbing soldiers. But it was after 1945 that the wooden huts and network of tarmacked roads served their most useful function, when the camp was used to help to deal with the post-war housing crisis. Army buildings became family homes as hundreds of people arrived to set up a new community.

The neighbourhood grew and thrived with Shotover woods becoming a playground for the children who lived there. The last residents left the camp in the early 1970s, but the history of the place and people who lived there mirrors the development of modern-day Oxford and tells us much about social and cultural changes in the city.

Join Maurice East to hear how ordinary people built a community in the aftermath of war and how the fascinating story was rediscovered during lockdown fifty years later.

Complimentary tea and coffee will be available to enjoy during the talk. We recommend arriving before the start of the talk if you would like to grab a refreshment.

Tickets cost £5 and are available online via Eventbrite (booking fee applies) or at the Museum shop.

Sales from tickets help support our work to deliver fun and accessible family activities, community engagement projects, schools workshops, exhibitions and special events for Oxford’s people in our Museum spaces.

is a local historian who was born and raised in Oxford. He interprets the social history of the city through the lens of growing up as a ‘townie’ and shines a spotlight on stories far off the usual tourist trail. His main area of research is the history of car making at Cowley and how the arrival of industry, cars and blue collar workers changed Oxford forever in the early twentieth century.

Access:

There is step-free, level entry access to the Town Hall via the entrance closest to Carfax Tower (to the left of the main steps as you face the Town Hall). Inside the Museum, Museum Makers is accessible via a platform lift to the Galleries and then a lift to the basement.

Accessible toilets are available in the Museum (close to Museum Makers) and in the Town Hall on the ground floor, before entering the Museum. Please if you’d like to talk to a member of staff about your access requirements. Further access information can be found on our page dedicated to .

Photo consent:

Please be aware that photographs will be taken at this event for use in marketing. If you (or a member of your group) would prefer not to be photographed, please let a member of staff know during the event.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Museum of Oxford, St Aldate's, Oxford, United Kingdom