THIS was an occasion to forget work and enjoy themselves. Members of the Nuffield Press and Publicity departments at Cowley were attending their annual dinner and dance.

It took place at the Morris Motors’ clubhouse in the early 1960s.

The picture comes from a large collection belonging to Alfred John Blake, of Southby Close, Appleton, who was commercial director at Nuffield Press.

Three of the organisation’s executives are in the picture – Reg Bishop, the director of both departments, Herbert Draper, the accountant at Nuffield Press, and Walter Oldfield, the manager.

The company had its roots in the Oxford motor industry from the start.

William Morris, creator of Morris Motors, could not find a printer in the city willing to take on the job of printing his magazine, the Morris Owner.

So he decided to set up his own print works. That was in 1925. The following year saw the Morris Oxford Press, as it was then known, in full production under the directorship of Miles (later Sir Miles) Thomas, who was also managing director of Wolseley Motors.

It occupied the old military academy at the corner of Hollow Way and Garsington Road, where William Morris produced the first Bullnose Morris cars after he turned his premises in Longwall Street into a garage.

The site was perfect as, opposite, were the open fields where Morris was later to expand and establish his first purpose-built motor works.

As well as producing The Morris Owner, the printing plant produced manuals, handbooks and brochures for Morris’s growing motor empire and the Morris Mirror, a monthly journal for workers.

During the Second World War, it switched to printing instruction manuals and service literature for the Spitfires, Wellingtons and Lancasters, the aircraft that helped win the war.

The company was renamed Nuffield Press in 1945 after Morris had become Viscount Nuffield, taking the title from the village near Wallingford, where he lived.

It continued to produce literature for the British Motor Corporation after Morris Motors and Austin merged in 1952.

By 1957, it was being hailed as Cowley’s big success story. Sales had risen 600 per cent and the labour force had doubled to 240 in 10 years.

When it celebrated its diamond jubilee in 1985, it had a turnover of £7.7m and had nearly 300 employees.

The following year, however, the company became part of the fraudulent Robert Maxwell empire and never enjoyed the same success.

A series of redundancies, a management buyout and a move to smaller premises at Abingdon failed to save the business, which closed in 2011, bringing to an end more than 80 years of Cowley history.

Do you recognise yourself or anyone else in the picture above? Write and let me know.