L to R. Lucy Slatter, Terry Argles, Terry Crowley, all living in Church Street. May, 1997. Lucy Slatter died 2008.

This video club shop was well used and its demise was brought about when the local little supermarket began renting films and it was just too easy to get a film from the supermarket while buying other items.
It was a special outing to rent a film from this shop in Bushey Row and a few people collected the posters that used. Now a film can be downloaded something of the magic of making the special effort to go out and rent a copy has gone.

John Temple ran this hardware shop for many years and it was brilliant. He always had a smile on his face and worked very hard to stock items that were really wanted.

Richard Briers used to live in Carswell on the edge of Bampton and came to Adrian Simmonds' shop in the Market Square to buy his pet food. He is in the shop in this photograph.

In the middle of this picture you can see Angela John Antiques on the left and Health Matters on the right. Both were in the Market Square. To the left you can just see the entrance to Market Square Garage. On the right behind the blue car you can see two windows of the what was the WI Hall and later became the Village Hall.

This newspaper cutting is from April 1st 1983.
The anniversary of the Women's League was celebrated by joining with the Mothers' Union for prayers and a celebration tea.
The PTA held a bazaar and raised £75 for their funds which in 1983 was a good amount of money. The same day head teacher Malcolm Mason took some of the school's boy to Wembley to see the schoolboys' match against Germany.
The wives club monthly meeting had a special speaker called Mr Blue who talked about colour in the home; he had previously worked on the interior of Blenheim Palace.

Celebrating the launch of the nationwide Farm Holiday Bureau are Mr Nick Hooper, Mrs Mary Rouse from Lew and Mr Dick Millard of the English Tourist Board. Nick and Mary were members of the local group, the Thames Valley Farm and Country Holiday group and were part of a small group of people from across the UK to set up the national organisation with included members in England, Wales, Scotland and N Ireland. Several years down the line the name was changed from Farm Holiday Bureau to Farm Stay UK. The launch was held at Cogges Farm in Cogges next to Witney.

Keith Mitchell and Rhona Peacock in fancy dress for the shirt race in 1983. Their pram was made into a coffin on wheels.

Back in the 1980s a club or society had a bazaar or jumble sale almost every Saturday in the WI Hall and there would be a queue of people waiting to come in. This was the Christmas Bazaar held by the Playgroup to raise funds for its running.
Mrs Lynne Evans and Mrs Diane O'Brien can be seen with young Neil O'Brien in the top picture and along with one of Father Christmas's helpers are Lizzie Betts, Kathryne Betts and Louise Burton.

Although the caption talks about a 'Street Fayer' the picture is actually of Jim Smith and Martin Barber in fancy dress for the Shirt Race organised annually by the SPAJERS ie the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Junketing. The society organises fun things to raise money for the senior citizens of Bampton and Lew.