Stephen Payne relaxing while enjoying watching the Bampton Morris Men on Bank Holiday Monday.

A double page spread about the exhibition of the History of Morris Dancing put on in the Vesey room by Janet Rouse for the Bampton Community Archive June to the end of July 2014.

Bampton always has a weekend filled with fun and laughter over the late May Bank Holiday. These cuttings talk about the Shirt Race and the Morris Dancing.
In one of the cuttings you can also read about

1. An exhibition of Arts and Crafts in the Town Hall
2. Cancer Research Bampton branch raising funds
3. The Community Fete organised by the Royal British Legion in the afternoon of Bank Holiday Monday
4. The Pumpkin Club which held a Tramps' Supper in the Cotswold Hotel on the Saturday night after the Shirt Race

In 1974 Son Townsend clocked up 50 years as a Morris Dancer and later Fool in Bampton. He first danced out with the side in 1925. To mark the occasion a clock and silver salver were given to Son.
The young dancers left to right behind Son are (I think?) Clive Tanner, Fred Cook, Mat Green and Malcolm Willis.
The young children with their flower garlands are L-R Tim Waller, Emma Carruthers, Louise Walker and Martin Landray

The lovely picture shows Frank Tanner, b1895 d1980 and his obituary written by Keith Chandler.
The young lad with Frank is Michael Hampton.

These two photographs were taken in the first half of the C20th. Sadly, I don't know their names but they look to be really enjoying themselves.

Terry Rouse began dancing in 1964 for Francis Shergold's Morris side. That year was a very wet time and Francis's side was in need of somewhere out of the rain to rehearse ready for Whit Monday and Terry invited him to use his barn at Backhouse Farm. Already a keen dancer of both ballroom and country dancing, Terry loved what he saw and asked to join the side and so began a long career both as a dancer and in the later years the Morris Fool, finally retiring in 2000.

Typewritten document about the Traditional Morrismen and their appearance at Royal Festival Hall in July 1971