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www.bampton-network.co.uk (website and number no longer active)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.

Death notices of several Bampton people
img215 - An article from the July 2012 issue of The Beam. An obituary for Jonathan Phillips. He was a Parish and District
councillor, a Major in the army in WWII and was vice president of the Royal British Legion.
img219 - Newspaper cutting August 23rd 1982 re the death of May Dunlop Morton who lived at The Deanery with friend Marjorie Pollard. She left £348,963 with £500 each to NSPCC, Dr Barnardo’s and the National Trust.
img220 - Newspaper cutting - the death of Robert (Bob) Allinson April 8th 1994 aged 74 husband of Kathleen. Bob
carried the cake for the Francis Shergold Morris team for many years.
img221 - Newspaper cutting - the death of Joseph Edward Bunce aged 91. Joe was landlord of the Swan Inn in
Buckland Road before Mr & Mrs Sollis. img222 - Newspaper cutting - the death of Oswald Bartlett of
Field Cottage (by Sandfords Field) aged 101. His 76 year old wife Doris was at his bedside. Rev. Derek Frost took the
service and described Joe as "a smashing old chap, a lifelong Christian and Church goer".
img223 - Newspaper cutting July 22nd 1983- the death of Mr Arthur Timms aged 66. Arthur started the timber business in
Brize Norton selling second hand timber from Brize Norton air force base when it was run by the Americans. He leaves a
wife Kathleen and two sons Phil and Jeffrey.
img227 and img227a - 2 Newspaper cuttings 16-3-1979 - the death of Frederick William Robinson 68 and his wife Hilda
from Buckland Road and one other person in the car with them in a collision in thick fog on the A40 near Burford.
img230 - Newspaper cutting April 4th 1958 - two sister and their companion who lived together, all died in one week.
Miss Margaret Oates was the eldest daughter of Dr and Mrs Oates. She was a founder member of the Bampton Women's
Institute, took a keen interest in folk dancing and was a pioneer of the Bampton Folk Dance Society. She was an
accomplished needlewoman and was still smocking up to the time of her death.
img232 - Newspaper cutting Witney Gazette April 4th 1958 - two sister and their companion who lived together, all died in
same week. Miss Dorothy Oates died aged 80 on March 24th the same day as Miss Brooks who had been companion to
Dorothy and her sister Margaret. Dorothy was a member of the Women's Institute. The funeral of Miss Oates and Miss
Brooks took place on the same day Thursday March 27th at St Mary's in Bampton, service conducted by Rev. G West.
img233 - Newspaper cutting Witney Gazette April 4th 1958 - two sister and their companion who lived together, all died in
same week. Miss Dorothy Oates died aged 80 on March 24th the same day as Miss Brooks age 96 who had been companion
to Dorothy and her sister Margaret. Dorothy was a member of the Women's Institute. The funeral of Miss Oates and Miss
Brooks took place on the same day Thursday March 27th at St Mary's service conducted by Rev. G West. Miss Brooks, aged
17, became nanny to Margaret and Dorothy and they stayed firm friends for life.

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.