In the spring of 2011 Nik Stanbridge put on an exhibition for the Bampton Community Archive of Pill Boxes in this area during WWII. Simon Rae wrote a play about life revolving around one pill box and it was given its first airing in the Village Hall to coincide with the exhibition. It was a delightful play and the scenery was excellent. The play called The Pill Box got its first showing in Bampton Village Hall on Wednesday May 25th 2011 and it coincided with an Exhibition put on by Mark MacArthur-Christie on pillboxes in Oxfordshire. It was an excellent play with wonderful staging produced by Mike Wareham. The picture is of an admission ticket for the play and the program.
Mrs Rogers lived in Brook House on Bridge Street where she sold sweets and newspapers. Bampton is 18 miles from Oxford and 18 from Swindon and somehow, Mrs Brooks managed to get a sugar allowance during WWII from both Swindon and Oxford which enabled her to make and sell lots of sweets.
Brook House is the one on the left of the picture, across the road.
She is on the left in this picture with Mr and Mrs Albert Townsend from across the road at Castle View Farm. They are standing just inside the wall of the farm.
A fear was expressed that fly-tipping would increase when the fees were raised to take waste to Dix pit and other waste recycling plants in Oxfordshire. That was in September 2017; now, in April 2020 the fears have proved to be well founded.
The Friends of Saint Mary, Bampton as part of their fund raising have in recent years organised a series of two or three talks, one a month, in the springtime. Robin Shuckburgh was to talk on the Role of Wine in The Church but sadly, due to dreadful weather this had to be cancelled and it is hoped Robin can do this another year.
Colin Harold Bathe died on May 8th 2011 at the age of seventy three. His close friend David John Titchener, widely known as Curly, preceded him by just a few months dying at the age of seventy six on January 20th 2011. Both were well known in the area around their home town of Swindon for numerous activities relating to sports and motorised vehicles, but it is their involvement with traditional music, Morris dancing and song for which they will be remembered by Bampton people.
The article gives you far more information about these two men.
This is the service program for the service of thanksgiving, held on Tuesday June 5th 2012, for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in St Mary The Virgin Church, Bampton.
There was a very full program of events that took place throughout Bampton from Saturday June 2nd to Tuesday June 5th. This is the full list of the events.
These are just two photographs taken during the Easter Bonnet competition in 1993. John Tanner and his children Nelson and Stephanie can be seen in one picture and Helen Buckingham, Stephanie again and Ann Jackson amongst other can be seen in the second one.
Between 1926 and 1938 Bertie Clark, although not a Bampton man, played for the Bampton Morris Men and he can be seen here on the left. The dancers are on the South side of the Market Square in front of Folly View semi-detached houses.
Each year, usually in November, the Bampton Traditional Morris Men had a party with singing and dancing and a lovely buffet. Swindon Folk Club members were invited along with a few other special friends associated with the side. These pictures were all take at their 1996 party in the Village Hall, Market Square
