History and 40 Years On

SENDRA

Update of SENDRA History in 2021

SENDRA is due to celebrate its 40th birthday this year. It is thought to be one of the longest lasting residents’ associations.

In preparation for that birthday the Committee decided to add updates to the Mary Hodges 2008 history and to ensure that the archive of SENDRA activities and residents’ experiences of living on the estate, including photographs, is appropriately stored and accessible. This would also improve continuity and ease the transition between successive officers and committee members by ensuring that “corporate memory” is retained. 

A small group of volunteers (Chris Knight, Margaret Maden, Carol Wills and Frances Stobbs) “the History Group” identified some major themes which have engaged SENDRA since 2008 and there are links to these updated reports :

Oxpens Meadow

Westgate development

Flooding reports and surveys

SENDRA VOICES FROM ACROSS THE YEARS – As well as the objective history, it was considered very important to record some subjective experience of residents and others. A collection of residents’ memories and impressions has been assembled by Carol Willis. From the ‘pioneers’ in the early 1980s to more recent arrivals and including SENDRA’s committee members, the recollections are revealing and fascinating. There are also some memories of living through the lockdown and the pandemic in 2020/2021. 

A major task has been to expand and update the website and Jonathan Guillebaud was co-opted to the Committee to act as website manager. The documents accessible whether to the current Chair of the Committee on the “cloud” or to the public at the Oxfordshire County Archives have also been identified. The management of the extensive paper archives is subject to ongoing consideration.

Like all living history, new developments continue to have an impact on the environment and lived experience of the SENDRA residents and these matters will be addressed as current issues or history as time passes. 

SENDRA

WESTGATE….another view

Margaret Maden

Ian Green has provided, here, a clear account of how SENDRA was involved in the development of Westgate; a consultation of high quality.

My own views about Westgate, then and now, differ perhaps? I believe the consultation was effective, even if we didn’t succeed in everything we recommended.  Having a ‘back door’ into John Lewis is a good for us and everyone approaching from the city’s southern neighbourhoods? Having a large shopping mall which is accessible, clean, sheltered and well provided with seating is a welcome addition to Oxford’s city centre? One SENDRA member, when consultation started, expressed a commonly held view – ‘we don’t want a bog standard shopping centre’. We haven’t been landed with this have we?

20% of the ‘retail outlets’ are restaurants and  the roof level variety is impressive, with great views, from Norwegian KUPP in particular, of our estate and the HInksey Hills beyond. Views from the roof’s eastern side of Oxford’s ‘dreaming spires’ are rewarding. Having a good quality cinema is a singular asset, as is a Blackwell’s bookshop, and our refurbished County Library at the main entrance; a welcome civic element.

The information panels distributed around the Centre, describing Westgate’s Franciscan origins are well constructed, illustrated and written, even though less engaging or impressive than the real in situ remains. Key artefacts and displays from the excavation are available in the County Museum.

The four reputable architectural firms employed for 4 sectors promised more than was delivered; the ‘dreaming spire’ over the main entrance is a joke? The centre still has a ‘fortified castle’ feel to it with its south and east frontages particularly off putting, but the open ‘24/7’ walkways into and out of the Mall are helpful and  welcoming.

During the pandemic, the shelter offered during bad weather and the availability of seating for social encounters and chats were clear benefits. Sainsbury should be awarded a medal for managing to stay open before, during and after both Westgate’s construction and the pandemic.

However, the pandemic has emphasised how the further rise of online shopping threatens all physical shops and high streets. The future of Westgate is further questioned by this large scale trend. Sad that a (mainly) well designed and conceived centre should be thus out of time; an anachronism perhaps – as Ian Green suggests?

What exactly, will we instead have as our ‘back door’? Perhaps, at least, the weekend traffic jams – cars awaiting access to John Lewis’s underground car park will end. Should we petition the Franciscan order – its return might be the best solution?