2021 Donkey Derby held in Sandfords field on August Bank Holiday Monday ecery year. The event is accompanied by a fete and is well attended. The donkeys are ridden by children and the races are sponsored by local businesses. and there was a raffle with prizes given by Majestic Wine, Patrick Strange Butchers, Blenheim Palace, Crocodiles of the World, Bampton Garden Plants The Shake Shop Aston Pottery, Cotswold Wildlife Park. 50 Photos showing participating attractions and visitors.
New Tale by Comedy Spy Thriller Author. Article about Steve Sheppard, Bampton Resident who has written two books the A Very Important Teapot and Bored to Death in the Baltics.
Article by Miranda Norris, entitled "Bampton's annual Donkey Derby is a runaway success" Children race donkeys around a field as a much-loved village tradition on bank holiday Monday. The donkey derby in Bampton is run by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Junketing (SPAJERS), which was formed in 1953 and also runs the village's famous shirt race. Children aged eight and above and weighing under eight stone are allowed to ride the donkeys with a donkey welfare officer in attendance.There are eight races, with six donkeys in each. Each race is sponsored by a local business, and the donkeys are sponsored by villagers. All proceeds from the event go to events and trips for Bampton's senior citizens. Visitors to Sandford's Field also tried their hand at games such as crockery smashing and Splat the Rat, while children not keen on donkey racing enjoyed pinning the tail on one.
On 28 November 1946 an Avro York MW168 belonging to the Transport Command Development Unit at RAF Brize Norton failed to become airborne and instead crashed on to the railway line between Brize Norton and Carterton stations, coming to rest in a field, as pictured. Needless to say the line was closed for several days while the RAF effected recovery. Photograph from the Martin Loader Collection
Witney Gazette advertisement for the Bampton Street Fair of 1984, with small adverts of local Bampton businesses. A Simmonds in Market Square, sold everything from birdseed and dog food to shoe polish and fresh bread and Cakes. Mr Simmonds was well liked and respected. Wilsons Estate Agents , Butleres of Bampton Local Wine merchant Emmie Papworth Newsagents F Ham Market Square sold ladies and gents shoes Patrick Strainge Butchers, Duttons Wine merchants, Beers Spirits Fruit and vegetables Delicatessen WJ Lock & Son Local Builder and Contractor Painter and Decorator J Temple Hardware DIY Gardening Fishing Tackle
Photograph of 1984 Bampton Traditional Morris dancers Left to right, back row. Francis Shergold squire, Bob Allison cake bearer, Rod Stradling melodeon, Martin Ferguson, Ray Borrett, Bruce Piercy, Dave Rose, Billy Main, behind is Tony Daniels, Cyril Smith, Jamie Wheel with Mark Harrison behind and Jasper Walsh. Front left to right. Terry Rouse fool, Craig Godwin, Keith Rouse, Jamie Blackwell, Reg Hall on fiddle.
Sam Bennett born (1865-1951) from Ilmington, a frequent dancer and musician in Bampton, this photo dated 1920 Sam had the distinction of being called “a rotter” by Cecil Sharp. He was responsible for reviving the Morris tradition in the Warwickshire village of Ilmington. Although a fiddle player himself, he learned the tunes from a local pipe and tabor player, Tom Foster, who “no longer had enough teeth to hold the pipe in place” In the process of reviving the dances, Bennett did some improving and inventing along the way. To Sharp, this was inexcusable meddling; what he most treasured about traditional dance was that is was supposedly not the work of individual creativity, but of centuries of continuous evolution by the common, preferably uneducated people. Bennett was recorded in 1933 by a Harvard academic, James Madison Carpenter. Being a self-taught fiddler, and having learned his tunes directly from a piper, it is little wonder that his playing, though very rhythmic, was plain and unadorned except with frequent open-string drones.
