Our Patrons

Our Patrons

At Active Oxfordshire we are thrilled to have the support of four fantastic Patrons, all of whom play a key role in championing the benefits of physical activity and help to ensure that activity in Oxfordshire is fully inclusive. Our Patrons attend events, provide advice and guidance and are superb ambassadors for the vital role that activity plays in transforming lives.

Read below to find out more about our Patrons at Active Oxfordshire:

Shaista Aziz

Shaista Aziz is co-Director of the award winning Three Hijabis, and alongside Amna Abdullatif and Huda Jawad, work and campaign to make football, sport, and cultural spaces anti-racist and free of gender based violence. Shaista is a Non Executive Director at Cricket Scotland and is a keen cricket, football and sports fan. She enjoys walking, weight lifting and boxing.

Shaista was born and raised in Oxford and served as a councillor on Oxford City Council for seven years, including close to three years on the Cabinet as Cabinet Member for Inclusive Communities and Culture and Community Safety. She was instrumental in developing and implementing the Thriving Communities Strategy and Anti-racism charter.

Shaista is a journalist, writer, and public commentator on current affairs, anti-racism and sport. She is a Therapeutic Counsellor, passionate about mental health and holistic approaches to community healing and wellbeing.

Lam Joar

Lam is passionate about sports and education. He is dedicated to using education and sports to raise awareness of refugees. Lam's advocacy is inspired by his own journey. At the age of just 15, was forced to leave his home country, South Sudan and became a refugee in Kenya. He was a 100m runner and was selected among the first group of the Refugee Olympics in 2015.

After the 2016 Olympics, Lam decided to focus on his higher education and transitioned to working for the Refugee Olympic Team through the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation and became the Camp Coordinator. He was the Refugee Team Assistant at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. He graduated with a master's degree in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies from the University of Oxford. Lam currently works at On Running as a Sales Advisor.

Sir Muir Gray CBE

Sir Muir Gray is a public health professional who has worked for Oxford City, Oxfordshire and the NHS nationally where he set up the national screening programmes and has had an interest in the benefits of activity throughout his professional career.

He has never used the term 'physical activity' preferring to use the phrase 'activity, physical , cognitive and emotional' because everyone underestimates the beneficial impact of exercise on the brain and the mind.

Muir published an article in the BMJ in 1982 describing how our rate of decline was not determined primarily not by the ageing process but by a widening Fitness Gap.

In 2016 he published an article in the journal of the Royal College of GPs on Activity Therapy, saying that every person with a long term condition should get an activity prescription as well as a drug prescription. Muir has worked closely with Active Oxfordshire for several years, including playing a key founding role in the development of the national network Live Longer Better.

Richard Venables

Richard Venables MRICS DL is a long-term Oxfordshire resident and has dedicated significant time and energy to both economic and cultural development in the county. Richard was High Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 2018-19, appointed Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire in 2017 and has previously served on the boards of both Active Oxfordshire and OXLEP.

Richard is a playing member of Oxford Hawks Hockey Club since 1993 and former junior coach and County Hockey coach. Richard is heavily involved with Horspath parkrun, where he volunteers as an Event Director.

Richard is particularly interested in youth sport in priority communities, as well as disability sport and workplace wellbeing. Richard has been instrumental in the launch and further development of Access Sport Oxfordshire, our inclusive sports programme for young people.