TODAY should see people across the county come together to celebrate Oxfordshire Day - if anyone knew it existed.

The day is marked annually on October 19, the feast day of the patron saint of the city and university of Oxford, St Frideswide.

But other than a civic service in Christ Church Cathedral, which houses St Frideswide’s shrine, the day passes each year with barely a murmur.

Witney Gazette:

The one organisation which is celebrating this year's Oxfordshire Day today is Cedar Court care home in Witney, which has planned an Alice in Wonderland-themed event.

Oxfordshire County Council chairman Gill Sanders was among the thousands of residents unaware of Oxfordshire Day and called for more to be done to celebrate the occasion.

She said: “I wasn’t actually aware of it and I was really surprised.

“As we know we’ve got an Oxfordshire day, I think it would be really good to make an event of it.

“The city and the county could get together and do something to mark what is obviously a historic day.

“It’s a shame we don’t do anything about it.”

The civic service is held on the nearest Tuesday to St Frideswide’s Day and always has a theme, which this year was ‘European friendship’.

Witney Gazette:

This year’s service was attended by Lord Lieutenant Tim Stevenson OBE, chancellor of the University of Oxford Chris Patten and guests from Oxford’s twin cities, Leiden and Bonn.

Pupils from several schools participated, including a performance from Didcot Girls School orchestra and poetry readings from Matthew Arnold School students.

Lord Mayor Colin Cook also attended the civic service, but admitted he was unaware of Oxfordshire Day.

He said: “This is a real opportunity for people taking pride in their locality."