Copy of Funeral Service for Elizabeth Banham held at St Mary's Church held on 28th October 2021
Lis Banham, well known to so many Bamptonians, died April 17th after a courageous fight with cancer. She was a wonderfully active member of the Bampton community. She was one of the founder members of The Bush Club; she helped in the Community Shop; she 'sat' for the Archive in the Vesey room; she played bridge in the Bridge Club for many years and one thing she enjoyed doing was providing the table decorations for the club’s two parties each year. She was a member of the Flower Guild and loved her garden which she opened for Bampton’s Hidden Gardens and many people will remember her for starting and organising the Theatre Club, counting its member on to the return bus to ensure nobody got left behind; she was an active member for fundraising for ZANE, the Zimbabwe project. She always turned up for meetings of the various village groups and was always encouraging and helpful. She flew with the WAAF and you will be able to read much more about her in the next issue of The Lowdown but in the meantime, there is a delightful piece about Lis in the April issue. Her father was an Air Vice Marshall, the only member of the R.A.F. to shoot down an enemy aircraft in both WW1 and WW2. She will be greatly missed by many of us.
Jo Lewington & Frank Hudson

From issue 19 of The Lowdown 2021
LIS BANHAM
Lis Banham, who died on 17th April after a brave fight against cancer, made a truly invaluable contribution to life in Bampton, and has left a wonderful legacy from the forty five years that she lived in the village. To name a few? Lis started the Bampton Theatre Club where she will be remembered for her boundless energy and organisation, especially when making sure no-one got left behind on the buses; she was a stalwart of the Bridge Club for many years; she was a very accomplished gardener and her garden in Church Street regularly featured in Bampton’s Hidden Gardens; and she was a long-time and much valued member of the Bampton Flower Guild making arrangements for church and community events. Lis was actively involved in the Community Shop, the Bampton Community Archive where she sat in the Vesey Room, and BZP, the fund-raising society for different projects in Zimbabwe. She was a leading force behind the building of the Bampton Youth Club on Church View. In addition, Lis was at various times a Parish Councillor, a volunteer hospital driver and a Witney Citizens Advice Bureau member, truly a lady for all seasons and of many talents. Lis was born on 21st February 1931; her father was an Air Vice Marshall and was the only man to shoot down enemy aircraft in both World Wars. She joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in 1949 as a Pilot Officer and served with RAF Intelligence during the Malayan Conflict all over South East Asia - Singapore, Malaya, Borneo, Vietnam, Ceylon, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. She returned to RAF Coltishall in East Anglia where she met her husband, Dickie Banham, an RAF fighter pilot. As a Flying Officer, she left the WAAF upon marrying in 1957 (a necessity in those days). Lis and Dickie moved around with the Air Force and lived in Washington DC for two years while Kennedy was President, and they also had spells in Ghana, and Cyprus during the Turkish invasion of 1974-76. They were posted back to the UK and to RAF Brize Norton in December 1976, where Lis fell in love with the local area and decided she wanted to settle there, having spent a life of moving houses around the world. They moved into Tudor Cottage, Bampton in the Spring of 1978 and she remained there for the rest of her life. Lis will be much missed by so many in Bampton and beyond. ~ A Life Remembered ~

'Go Thou and Do Likewise' is on the top of the banner of the Friendly Society. On Hospital Sunday the members walked from their headquarters in one of the inns to St Mary's for a service and in this picture, they are seen leaving after the annual service. Before the days of the National Health Service, those who could, paid into 'the club' ie the Friendly Society and if they were ill and could not work, sufficient money was provided for the family to buy food. It was literally a life saver for them. The National Health Service came into being July 5th 1948.
1a Foresters A photograph of the Foresters with their banner outside Oathurst, now called Rosebank Nursing Home. Bampton’s Brass band is with them. People paid into clubs like the Foresters then, if they were unable to work, the club kept them from starving. This was before the welfare state came into being and so these friendly societies were very important.

Newspaper cutting mentioning the new Cala Homes development and the Path to Nowhere. Oakwood Gate

Photos of Mr Hemmings Morris Side at Cumnor in 1983. Bampton Morris are often guests.

Photos taken by Bill Govier showing Easter Bonnet Competiton held on Whit Mondays
Jackie Lewis
Marion Paintin
Janet Newman
Vera Elward
Emma Paintin
Anabelle Newman

Les and Stella King owned a department store Kings of Bampton in the High Street. selling, haberdashery, toys, shoes and all manner of household items. Baby clothes, underwear, ladies and gent's clothes and made to measure garments.

Copy of the programme for the Morris Dancers Bank Holiday Queen Elizabeth II 70th Jubilee celebrations.

Series of Photographs taken early 1980 featuring some of the machinery on display. The photos are described as follows:
BA40FA~1 - Ploughing with teams of 3 bullocks, young boy leading the front bullock and a ploughman on the reins. Each team pulled a single furrow plough.
BA2357~1 - Mr Fred Hornsby at the front of the combine. Fred worked for John Henly on Bampton Deanery farm and in later years for his son Roy. This picture approximately 1980.
BA0C0D~1 - Detail of a traction engine. There would have been one at opposite sides of the field and the implement, such as a plough or potato drill, would be pulled from side to side by the steel hawser seen here under the engine. The engine provided the power to turn the cable drum to wind in the cable. Originally the engine would have been fired by solid fuel but many were later converted to run on oil.
BABDA1~1 - Douglas Read, OBE born 1926 taking part in a ploughing match. Doug got his MBE several years after this picture was taken and it was for services to ploughing. He has was national ploughing match champion more than once and in later years was a judge for the High Cut class at the Fairford, Faringdon, Filkins and Burford Ploughing Match. (Known to many locals as the 3Fs and a B).
BA4883~1 - The driver of a plough being drawn across the field by a traction engine at the Fairford, Faringdon, Filkins and Burford Ploughing match.

These are a collection of records compiled by Lloyd Hughes Owens and cover many aspects of local life and people. 1247 local tithes; 1275 extract from Quo Warranto Roll concerning tenures; 1288 Bond of obligation to pay rent for Vicars' house; 1262 Grant of land in Chimney; 1307-8 Confirmation of the rights of the D & C to manorial privilege in Bampton; 1318 Composition concerning common pasture; 1308-19 Records in suit - depositions of witnesses etc - concerning the tithes of Standlake and concerning the burial of the people of Standlake in Bampton parish church; 1360 Judgement in a suit against the chaplain of Standlake; 1406 Memoranda about the burials of the people of Standlake and Herdwyck away from Bampton parish church; 1445 Copy of an earlier grant, exemplified by Edmund Lacy, bishop of Exeter by the Bishop of Lincoln of portions of the parish church of Bampton to the D & C of Exeter; mid 15th century Draft letter recommending Richard Daber as Vicar of Bampton; late 15th century Group of letters about the manor of Bampton, addressed to the bailiff of the manor; 1503-4 Reference to the rebuilding of the chancel of Bampton church; Repairs made in 1496 at a cost of £20 in the accounts spread over 20 years; late 15th century? Reference to a suit between the Earl of Shrewsbury and the D & C concerning common of pasture in Bampton; 1670 Certificate by Bishop of Oxford re William Hodge's resignation of the vicarage; 1691 Receipt by Mr Veysey for the court rolls of Bampton. There is much more information in this collection of papers.