Fifty years ago Icolyn ‘Ma’ Smith arrived in Oxford from Coolshade, near Kingston in Jamaica. She looks back at her time in the city and tells Sophie Mogridge of her determination to help those less fortunate than herself

After serving lunch to the homeless for almost a quarter of a century, Oxford’s “Ma” Smith has vowed to continue her selfless act of love, serving those who are having a hard time making ends meet.

Many regular visitors to the soup kitchen at the Asian Cultural Centre off Manzil Way in East Oxford have come to rely on Mrs Smith’s hot and tasty meals and the free food has encouraged them to take stock before turning their lives around.

Icolyn Smith MBE, 84, moved to Oxford from Jamaica 50 years ago and opened the kitchen in 1992 after seeing people in need.

She said: “I don’t like to plan for the future because only today is yours, tomorrow is a gift, but I am certain that I will continue doing what I do for as long as possible.

“I will continue to love and care for our community for as long as God will let me.”

Reflecting on her five decades in Oxford, Mrs Smith said that the city had changed dramatically over the years.

She said: “I haven’t changed at all in 50 years – I’m set in my ways, but Oxford is completely different from the way it once was.

“I remember there were only a few cars on Cowley Road but now there are hundreds.

“Even the shops are different. I used to go to Cowley Road to buy my linen but now there are lots of restaurants and pubs.”

Mrs Smith’s husband Eric, a carpenter, moved to Oxfordshire in 1960 where he worked for the Atomic Energy Establishment at Harwell.

After growing up in Coolshade, 20 miles from the Jamaican capital Kingston, Mrs Smith moved to Oxford to join her husband in 1965.

She wasted no time in finding a job on arrival and two days later was working in the canteen at the British Leyland car factory in Cowley.

The couple worked industriously and were able to put down a deposit on a house in Randolph Street, off Cowley Road, where they brought up their children. Mr Smith died in 1976.

The soup kitchen opened its doors on September 28, 1989.

She said: “There have been lots of things that have made me proud while working in the soup kitchen but what I’m most proud of are the men and women who have had their lives turned around for them. I’ve seen them grow and blossom, which has been a real joy.

“I’m also incredibly proud of my 10 grandchildren and one great grandchild, who I love dearly.”

In a chance meeting, author Andrew Bax from Drayton, near Abingdon, heard Mrs Smith’s story and has written the book From Coolshade to Cowley Road about her life.

The 71-year-old author said: “She is absolutely astonishing – to have that level of energy and commitment at 84 is just incredible.”

Mr Bax first met Mrs Smith after walking down Cowley Road and dropping into the Asian Cultural Centre.

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  • Ma Smith with her family at the launch of the book about her life

He said he heard a racket coming from the kitchen, where he saw a “very small person stirring a very large cooking range”.

According to Mr Bax, Mrs Smith has always gone above and beyond what was expected of her.

He said: “I’m pleased that everyone is recognising Icolyn’s efforts but she really does so much more than the obvious and a lot of her good deeds go unnoticed.

“For example, when the John Radcliffe Hospital was campaigning for a new hospital wing for children, Icolyn went out onto Cowley Road with a bucket every week and ended up raising thousands of pounds.”

Mr Bax added that Mrs Smith annually contributed half of the proceeds from her stall at the Cowley Road Carnival to Oxford Children’s Hospital.

He said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if she has raised in excess of £20,000 for the hospital over the years, which is just remarkable.”

ISLAND LIFE

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Born in 1930, Mrs Smith grew up in Coolshade, Jamaica, a town only 20 miles from Kingston, with five brothers and four sisters. 

They all worked on a smallholding, where they would feed the chickens with corn and collect their eggs, before leaving for school.

According to Mrs Smith, the chickens laid their eggs among the pineapples and so it was difficult to collect them without being scratched by the pineapple prickles. 

Mrs Smith’s family grew their own coffee, cocoa beans, peas, beans, yam and sweet potatoes and also kept goats, pigs and cattle. 

Mrs Smith’s mother taught her to cook from the age of six or seven, when she learned how to season meat from herbs and spices they also grew themselves. 

Mrs Smith’s education was cut short when she was needed to help with the care of her sister’s child Monica and younger sister, Enid.

Mrs Smith left Coolshade to live with her sister Mary in Kingston when she was 18.

HONOUR

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Mrs Smith opened her soup kitchen at the Asian Culture Centre in Manzil Way, Oxford, on September 28, 1989, after seeing people in need in the area. 

Over the past 16 years, with the help of her family, she has served lunch to thousands of people living on Oxford’s streets, which led to her being made an MBE in 1998.

Mrs Smith received the honour for services to disadvantaged people and in 2012 received £11,500 funding through the Channel 4 programme The Secret Millionaire. 

The soup kitchen is open all year round from noon until 2pm every Wednesday and Mrs Smith’s guests look forward to traditional Christmas dinner during the festive season. 

She always cooks roast turkey, beef, Yorkshire pudding, Christmas pudding and mince pies. 

In February last year, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, visited Mrs Smith and praised her for her positive impact on the city.