Robin Shuckburgh has been chairman of Bampton Community Archive for about 8 years (as at 2017) and over-seen the raising of £250,000 to repair the roof of the Old Grammar School in Church View and make the upstairs a usable space again.
In 1947 no girls were allowed in the choir at St Mary's which was quite normal in most churches at that time. In the summer of 1947 these 9 choirboys were taken on an outing to Southsea as a treat.
On Saturday April 18th 2015 the choir from St Mary The Virgin, Bampton went to Lichfield Cathedral to sing Sung Evensong. Choir master and conductor David New, organist on the day for the choir was John Ridgway.
This was a barn dance held in Saint Mary's in 2003 to help raise funds for the church. Bampton is lucky to have kept its retained fire service and the firemen and women very kindly move the pews both before and after the event.
Dr Alan Gaydon was churchwarden at St Mary The Virgin for several years and during his tenure the gales of January 25th 1990 blew the stature of John The Baptist off the base of the spire.
The old carillon had to be turned off permanently in the end when too many pins on the drum had fallen out and simply would not stay in place when put back.
These picture were taken in 2007 and show the electric motor which now drives the church clock. It used to be powered by weight and pendulum which had to be wound up twice a week along with the weight that drove the carillon.
On February 17th 2016 work began to dismantle the old pipe organ in St Mary's. Douglas Clare, one of our two churchwardens in April 2019 wrote the following article for the May issue of Contact.