Freda Daniels was not quite 3 years old when she was dressed up to sell poppies in 1929. She was born April 13th 1927. The photograph of her sitting has '3 years old' written on the back. When she married she became Mrs Freda Bradley.
Tom Smith was the son of a gypsy Queen and for 1969, the number of people and cars who came to his funeral was a very memorable affair. To this day, locals call the bend just outside Bampton on the Bampton to Brize Norton Road 'Hoppy's Corner.' It's on the right leaving Bampton just after passing the allotments.
This lovely photograph shows James and Elizabeth (nee Fox) Green with their children Lizzie, Harry, Jack, Jim, Rose, Fred and Percy taken about 1902. Harry, really Henry Arthur Green died in the WWI
We were all sorry when Adrian Simmonds had to close his shop. It was like an Aladdin's cave inside and he aimed to have 6 new things each week. There is a letter to the Bampton Beam here from Toby Hopkins and one from Adrian himself.
This letter, dated November 1st 1944 was send by Stan Smith's commanding officer to Stan's father informing him that Stan was missing but may be a POW. He was a POW and near the end of the was became one of the POWs who took part in the what became known as the Long March. They were marched from East Germany keeping ahead of the advancing Russians. Stan walked almost 1,000 miles. He survived.
Doug Read OBE (he gained the OBE for services to ploughing) was a huge fan of classic cars and owned several over the years. These are four of them and show
Trojan Tourer 1924 model owned by Doug Read. Douglas Read driving, passengers David Hunt, Bill Bullock and Geoff Hunt
Photograph of a Riley Monaco in 1933
Photograph of MG Model J.2. 1932 in 1948.
Photograph of MG Model T.A. 1937 driven by his wife Sally (nee Raymond) in 1953 (Sally was buried in Nov 2020)
Win Jones aged 94 is a very remarkable lady. She works hard at keeping fit and that is probably what has helped her to get over being infected with covid-19
These are brothers Jim and Dick Daniels. Jim is the older brother standing in the front in a scout's uniform. Dick is in the background. A few years later Jim joined the Air Scouts and did circuits and bumps and enjoyed it despite not liking heights. Their had a sister called Freda who became Mrs Freda Bradley and she wrote a lovely book about life in Bampton she recalled during her life.
When the Wenrisc ward was closed in 2015 there was great concern locally that it may be permanent despite being told it was for refurbishment. It was with relief that it was reopened a year later.