PICTURE SPECIAL: Splashing about, alien fascination and creative learning

FIREMEN took to the water in a series of strange contraptions to raise money for charity.

Most chose converted baths to make the journey on the Oxford Canal from Banbury to Kidlington.

Colin Timberlake, left, and Brian Benstead fitted a paddle wheel to their tandem bicycle and pedalled off.

But they didn’t get far – they found it too tiring and eventually linked up with a conventional bath to complete the course.

Many of the baths set off on the 20-mile trip in 1973 equipped with flashing blue lights and sirens.

All the crews completed the journey within 13 hours and raised more than £600 for the Fire Service Benevolent Fund.

ET captured

YOUNGSTERS were asked to imagine what ET’s home was like in a competition.

The science fiction film of the extra-terrestrial was all the rage in the early 1980s, so the New Coronet at Didcot decided to cash in on its popularity.

Suggestions ranged from a home built in Lego to one with Didcot Power Station’s cooling towers in the background.

The winners were Stuart Garland, 10, left, and Kevin Mitchell, eight, who won ET games and a year’s free tickets to the cinema for them and their families.

Totally soaked

THE wettest folk at Carterton Gala Day were these two young ladies.

Kathy Smith, 14, left, and her sister Roanne, 17, got a constant ducking as visitors paid to have a go at the ‘Tip-‘em-Out’ sideshow.

The gala day was organised to celebrate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977.

The town had a carnival atmosphere, with streets festooned with balloons and bunting.

A mile-long procession of nearly 50 floats was led by drum majorettes and the Oxford Caledonian Pipe and Drum Band.

Carterton’s Silver Jubilee Queen, Tracey Soanes, rode on top of a double decker bus with TV presenter Keith Chegwin.

Go see one play and get one free

PUPILS at Grove Primary School, near Wantage, devised their own stage show to entertain parents and friends.

The youngsters, aged eight to 11, put on a mixture of singing, dancing and acting, including two short plays, The Gift and St George and the Dragon, in 1976. There was also morris dancing and folk songs from the school choir.

Most of the school’s pupils took part and staff helped make costumes and scenery.

Cellist plays it cool

A calm-looking Kate Spencer takes a final look at her music before taking part in a rehearsal for a charity concert.

The 16-year-old cellist from Bicester Community College was a member of the Oxfordshire Central Music School, whose orchestra was preparing to perform at Oxford Town Hall in aid of the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless.

Rehearsals were held at Peers School, Littlemore.

The programme included Mozart’s Overture, The Shepherd King, Mendelssohn’s String Symphony and Cesar Franck’s Symphony in D Minor.

Educational trip

THESE pupils from Windmill Secondary School, Deddington, were heading for a month on the Isle of Wight.

But it wasn’t a holiday – they were facing four weeks’ tuition in a boarding school at Freshwater.

They and pupils from Blessed George Napier School, Banbury, were the first in North Oxfordshire to take part in a new pattern of secondary education in 1965.

Mr G R Wing, headmaster of Windmill School, said: “The pupils will be making a great deal of use of the surroundings there and will take part in expeditions.”