Bampton Aid Network BAN
On 10ᵗʰ March 2020, a fortnight before the first COVID lockdown, Jess Egerton, a Bampton
resident, emailed Trevor Milne-Day, Chair of The Society for the Protection of Bampton, “We
should make up a bunch of volunteers who would do shopping, run errands, or pick up
prescriptions”. Within a week the infrastructure was in place with a cohort of 60+ helpers, a
mobile phone with a dedicated number, and protocols drafted. All those things and more began
to be performed by the willing team.
Piers Foster created a website over a week-end with links to government and medical advice,
details of services BAN offer, and local shops and services that are open for business.
Two other residents, Annie and Robin Jenkin, formed a brigade of home-cookers to provide
free meals to all in need of a lift, no matter what age.
Volunteer dog-walkers and people with the time to chat (a service called TalktoBAN) stood
ready to help and soon Adam Lethbridge and Sue Greenwood gathered together and edited the
first of an intended weekly newsletter “Lockdown Lowdown” to more than 1,500 people.
If you lived in Bampton and needed help then you were invited to call 07946 192638 or go to
www.bampton-network.co.uk (website and number no longer active)
The support group was “put into hibernation” on Friday 18ᵗʰ September 2020, with the home-
cooked meals service continuing. BAN was temporarily resurrected with the second national
lockdown on 5ᵗʰ November 2020. By the end well over 700 jobs had been undertaken.
Thanks to the kind generosity of Ben and Manja Uglow a drinks party for all the volunteers
was held on Friday 23ʳᵈ July 2021 to say thank-you and celebrate the substantial lifting of all
restrictions.
Out of the cohort of volunteers was formed a separate group who assisted the Surgery at the
mass vaccinations which started in January 2021 when the Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca
vaccines became available. These vaccinations have continued to Spring 2023.
TMD 30/07/23

Witney Gazette article "People now no longer want to go into care homes any more!" dated July 2020
Home manager Jane Roberts runs two care homes in the area Rosebank in Bampton and Churchfield in Cassington

Article By Fran Way @OxMailFranW Reporter dated 30th April 2020
Britain is 'past the peak' of coronavirus - but we can't come out of lockdown until we're sure it wouldn't risk a second spike, the PM said.
A total of 674 more deaths have been recorded since yesterday in all settings.
But the peak has been passed, Boris Johnson said.
Speaking in this afternoon's press conference, he likened the coronavirus crisis to a 'tunnel' we've passed through and we can now see 'the sunshine.'
He says he will set out next week a plan for how we get back to work and school. But five key tests must be met before we come out of lockdown.

Oxford Mail article by Fran Way dated 30th April 2020 announcing May Morning festivities had been cancelled amid the coronavirus lockdown, but revellers could still take part in spirit by holding events at home and sharing them online.
The event has been going on for hundreds of years with celebrations kick-starting at 6am with the traditional singing of Hymnus Eucharisticus by choristers atop Magdalen College tower, followed by lively peels of bells. Strict rules ban mass gatherings and forbid people leaving their homes without a valid reason, such as going to work, food shopping or getting exercise.

Newspaper article by Trainee reporter Gergana Krasteva about Oxfordshire cadets congratulating Tom Moore on his 100th birthday
dated 30th April 2020. Captain Tom Moore raised £28 million for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden, He was later knighted.

Exclusive article by Fran Way Reporter @OxMailFranW for Oxford Mail dated 1st May 2020 entitled Desperate housewives struggling to make ends meet in the coronavirus lockdown are selling sex online to survive. In the past two weeks, more than 60 explicit adverts have been posted on the buying and selling site Craigslist by women and men in Oxfordshire ‘looking to have some fun’ and ‘desperately trying to make some extra money’. An investigation by the Oxford Mail can now reveal the seedy ‘underworld’ of
the county still ticking during coronavirus lockdown.

Newspaper Article by David Lynch about OXFORDSHIRE’s tourism businesses are losing hundreds of millions of pounds a month because of the coronavirus lockdown,Experience Oxfordshire, an organisation which promotes tourism in the county, warned of massive losses in a report into the economic shock of the pandemic and lockdown, which has forced most businesses to close.
It said the local tourism economy had already experienced ‘significant losses’ of between £112.5m and £137.5m per month.

Newspaper cutting dated 1st April 2020 reporting the West Oxfordshire District Council's closure of all Front desks due to the Coronavirus Pandemic in keeping with the Government Instruction. The staff continued to support emergency cases remotely.

Article by reporter Erin Lyons dated 1st May 2020 about ‘False negative’ fears at Oxford's coronavirus testing site:- Thornhill Park and Ride. Oxford’s ‘shambolic’ coronavirus drive-through testing site could lead to false negatives for key workers.
Concerns have been raised over a lack of medical staff on site to administer throat and nasal swab tests at the Thornhill Park and Ride facility, which opened fully on Saturday. Serco, which ran the site for the Department of Health and Social Care and undertook
testing, defended the facility.