The Bampton Beam used to be produced three times a year. This issue is from April 2002. The topics covered and the advertisers include:-

ARTICLES AND NOTICES
Parish Council and District Council Elections 2nd May 2002
Photograph of flooding and Morris Dancers outside the Elephant and Castle 1932
Bampton Riddle
A Skateboard Park for Bampton?
Bampton Village Hall
Bampton ‘250’ Club list of winners
Blood Donor Session Cancelled – by Susan Phillips
Grand Plant Sale
Bampton Methodist Chapel by Linden Burley
The Burford Singers
Magpie Lane Concert in aid of Friends of St Mary’s
The Secret Gardens of Bampton by Ian McLintock
Easter Church Services at St Mary’s
Bampton Parish Council News by David Hawkins, Chairman
Village College
Support for the Post Office
Town Hall – Lift for Disabled
Parking on Pavements
Do Fouling
Golden Jubilee Celebrations
Council Tax Increases
Oxfordshire Special Conservation Award (OSCA) Success
Market Square Improvements
West Oxfordshire District Council News by Jonathan Phillips, District Officer
New Pavilion Manager – Ray Willis appointed
Parish Assembly Meeting
Bampton Classical Opera 19th and 20th July 2002
Farmers’ Market, Monday 6 May 2002
New Bus Timetables
A Bampton Museum? By Jo Lewington
Letters and emails to the Editor
The Bampton Recreation Ground
Bampton-in-the-Bush Cricket Club
The Pavilion
Bampton Youth Football Club
Bampton Archery Club
Short Mat Bowls
Bampton Town Football Club
The Horseshoes Football Club
Bampton Gun Club
Bampton Weightlifting Club
Bampton Badminton Club
Bampton Archery Club
Bampton Tennis Club
Society for the Protection of Bampton
Parent Partnership Oxfordshire
Could you be a Citizen Advocate?
Learning Grant Scheme
Sobell House Hospice Charity
Volunteer Link-Up
Age Concern, Oxfordshire
Remembrances of My Service in the US Army Part1: Panama to Bampton by Dick Ford, US Army 1941 – 1945
May Garlands by Ruth Wheeler
Spajers News by Don Rouse
Minor Injuries Unit at Witney Community Hospital
Notice Board
Still Too Fast – speeding cars
Macmillan Cancer Relief, Bampton, Faringdon and Carterton
The Children’s Society
Bampton Ladies Group
The Cancer Research Campaign
Bampton Youth Centre by Colin Allport
The Bush Club
Flower Guild of St Mary the Virgin, Bampton
Bampton Welfare Trust
Bampton Exhibition Foundation
Bampton Bridge Club
Community Lunches
Bampton Websites
Useful telephone numbers
Out and About – photographs of Bampton and the Bampton Gardening Club
Shillbrook Wood by Colin Allport
Answer to the riddle on front page – photograph of Francis Shergold and Fred Lomas
Thames Travel Bus Timetable
Letters to Auntie Beam
The Gardening Page by Edie Bindweed
The Gardening Club News
Out of Work Farmer Turned Agricultural Correspondent by Don Rouse
Two Very Committed Women of Bampton by Fenella Gray – Hilda Kent and Margaret Howes
Bampton Golden Jubilee Celebrations
David Cameron MP – advice centres across West Oxfordshire
Postwatch Representative – voice of the consumer, Derrick Millard
Bampton Spajers Golden Jubilee 50th Shirt Race
A Decade of Bampton Classical Opera by Gilly French and Jeremy Gray
The Bike Project by Jo Lewington
The Cookery Corner by Gilly French – entertaining on a budget
West Ox Arts
New West Ox Arts Administrator – Abigail Ballinger
Medieval In Minds – Alison Merry and Friends
North Oxfordshire College, Banbury, Exhibition
Exhibitions in the Robert Vesey Room, Bampton Library
An Eye on the East – Hugh Sowden
Gallery Life Drawing Classes
Oxfordshire Arts Week – Open Studio
Crossword
Town Hall Bookings
Calendar of Events
WODC Environmental Services

LIST OF ADVERTIZERS
Oxford Double Glazing, Summertown, Oxford
Grey Gables Garage
Londis, community shop
Garden Trading Company
The Morris Clown
Bampton Fax Bureau at Emmies Newsagents
Cotswold Electronics, TV, Video, Audio, Microwave repairs
Lynwood Leisure Buildings Ltd
Bampton Cars
The Horseshoe Inn
N Nurden, Motor Body Repairs
Patrick Strainge, Butchers
Philippa Rayne, osteopath, Fiona Farmer physiotherapist and Lesley Mellin, reflexologist and aromatherapist
Danetree, veterinary surgeons, Faringdon
E Taylor & Son, Funeral Directors, Carterton
Curtain Choice
N J Woodley, building maintenance
Temples, DIY, Ironmongery, Paint, Wood, Cement, Sand, Gravel, Toys, Gifts and Candles
A Simmonds, The Old-Fashioned Village Store
Andrew Bowman, Master Thatcher
Tony Hughes, scissor sharpening
The Pitstop and Oxford Carb Services
The Elephant & Castle
The Robert and Doris Watts Residential & Nursing Home, Carterton
Pellmans, solicitors, Eynsham
The Flower Mill
Foxbury Farm, Brize Norton
The Appliance Doctor
Little Chicks Childminders
Live-in Home and Pet Minding Service – Jacqueline and Merv
Don Rouse Cars
Abbey Properties Estate Agents
The Romany Inn
Electric Vehicles Ltd
Domino Menswear, Witney
R Cooper, Builders, Painters, Decorators, Carpentry, Joinery, Dry Stone Walling
The Standlake Garage
Bojangles Hairdressers
Bodytalk, remedial sports massage

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

1. Trojan Tourer 1924 model owned by Doug Read. Douglas Read driving, passengers David Hunt, Bill Bullock and Geoff Hunt
2. Photograph of a Riley Monaco in 1933
3. Photograph of MG Model J.2. 1932 in 1948.
4. Photograph of MG Model T.A. 1937 driven by his wife Sally (nee Raymond) in 1953 (Sally was buried in Nov 2020)

This is one of the earliest photograph of the Bampton Morris Men taken in 1897, Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year.
The dancers are
George Wells/Taylor
Thomas William Tanner
Joseph Rouse
Robert Dixey
George Dixey
James Dewe
Charles Henry Tanner, ragman
Henry Radband, sword carrier
William Nathan Wells, fool, known as Jingy
Richard Decimus Butler, musician

These are a collection of records compiled by Lloyd Hughes Owens and cover many aspects of local life and people. 1247 local tithes; 1275 extract from Quo Warranto Roll concerning tenures; 1288 Bond of obligation to pay rent for Vicars' house; 1262 Grant of land in Chimney; 1307-8 Confirmation of the rights of the D & C to manorial privilege in Bampton; 1318 Composition concerning common pasture; 1308-19 Records in suit - depositions of witnesses etc - concerning the tithes of Standlake and concerning the burial of the people of Standlake in Bampton parish church; 1360 Judgement in a suit against the chaplain of Standlake; 1406 Memoranda about the burials of the people of Standlake and Herdwyck away from Bampton parish church; 1445 Copy of an earlier grant, exemplified by Edmund Lacy, bishop of Exeter by the Bishop of Lincoln of portions of the parish church of Bampton to the D & C of Exeter; mid 15th century Draft letter recommending Richard Daber as Vicar of Bampton; late 15th century Group of letters about the manor of Bampton, addressed to the bailiff of the manor; 1503-4 Reference to the rebuilding of the chancel of Bampton church; Repairs made in 1496 at a cost of £20 in the accounts spread over 20 years; late 15th century? Reference to a suit between the Earl of Shrewsbury and the D & C concerning common of pasture in Bampton; 1670 Certificate by Bishop of Oxford re William Hodge's resignation of the vicarage; 1691 Receipt by Mr Veysey for the court rolls of Bampton. There is much more information in this collection of papers.

Brian and Siobhan O'Rourke owned the Cotton Club and started it in these premises in Rosemary Lane. It acquired a wonderful reputation and I know one seamstress in South Wales who came once every two months to buy her cotton fabric here. After a few years, the shop went across the road into the right-hand side of Duttons and from there it went to the Market Square in the premises that had once been the Central Garage, then Barclays Bank and it was when the bank left the Cotton Club moved in.

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.

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.

When Lloyd Hughes Owens created a series of albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s there were people alive who could remember seeing Fred Able in Bampton with his little cart, two donkeys and his dog.

Edith Susan Quick nee Sheppard died on September 10th 2020. Edie came from a Bampton family of several generations. Her husband John was the principal founder member of the SPAJERS, our charity which creates fun events to raise funds for local senior citizens. They include the Shirt Race, Donkey Derby, Josie's Grand Draw and in conjunction with Bampton's fire brigade a wonderful bonfire and firework night. In the past there have been balls in Weald Manor.

The staircase to the top floor of the Grammar School was removed in the 1960s when people stood a greater chance of getting to the ground floor by falling through the rotten floor than coming back down the stairs. The Bampton Community Archive members have worked incredibly hard to raise funds on the back of the tourism boost from visitors flocking to Bampton to see the this building which was used as the Cottage Hospital in ITV's Downton Abbey. The grant from WODC means the work to bring the whole building into good heart can begin.