These two sketches were done by Alan Beers in 1990 and given to Bob West, who has kindly allowed the Archive to scan them. They are of Cyril Smith and Francis Shergold.
All these pictures of the Bampton Traditional Morris Men were taken on May Bank Holiday 2003. Dancers include John Shuker, David Townsend, Martin Landray, Cyril Smith, Billy Main, fool Ray Borrett and musician Reg Hall.
These newspaper cuttings are all from 1980 and the topics covered include Morris dancingOur Youth Club members who took part in a 24 hour table tennis marathon Bampton's first junior May Queen Tanya NewlandBampton Fair
The Bampton Traditional Morris Men dancing in the morning of May 25th 2015 as far as Ham Court. I didn't follow them beyond this venue so was not able to record the remainder of the day.
This is a list of Bampton Traditional Morris Men c1981 plus people who regularly had a connection with the side. It is hand written by Dave Rose for Francis Shergold but does not have Francis's details on it
These photographs are very likely to have been taken in 1913. The fiddler dancing a jig to his own playing is William Nathan Wells, better known as Jingy.
Frank Purslow was not only an excellent melodeon player, he taught many local people as well. He also had a wonderful catalogue of music gathered throughout his life. It was shocking to see it all put outside the gate of his house after his death for the bin men to pick up. A little was rescued but the vast majority was thrown away. The letter from Frank shown here was a follow-on from one sent the week before and the text will explain all.
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.