Bloomers!

THERE were ‘belles’ of a different sort at the communion service at St Andrew’s Church, East Hagbourne.

When Vera Newman (left) and Ethel Napper ran a pancake stall at the village fete in Edwardian swimsuits, the vicar, the Rev Peter Faulkner, wagered £1 that they wouldn’t wear them in church next day.

The two women sportingly took him on, sat in the pews in their mop caps and knickerbockers – and found 50 willing sponsors among the congregation. The £51 raised in 1983 went towards a £10,000 appeal to repair the church bell tower.

Mother and ‘baby’ time

THERE was lots of fun in what Headington British Legion described as its first Pot and Winkle Club Night.

Teams took part in a pram race around Barton estate, drinking three bottles of beer and changing places twice on the course.

Oxford Mail:

Teams take part in the Barton pram race

The winners were Mr J Trendell and Mr E Ballard, right, and the runners-up were Miss K Vincent and Mr R Brown, left.

The evening also included a children’s fancy dress parade, won by four-year-old Corinne Holloway, a spaghetti-eating competition, an egg and spoon race and a beer drinking contest.

An angelic choir

THE choir at St Mary’s Church at Upton, near Didcot, were pleased to display their new cassocks.

A service was held in 1979 to bless the cassocks, which had been made by villagers and paid for from the proceeds of sales, coffee mornings and donations.

Oxford Mail:

THE choir at St Mary’s Church at Upton

At the service, the vicar, the Rev Hugh Pickles, presented organist Audrey Danjanovic with an inscribed medal for 35 years’ service.

Pupils get that sinking feeling

PUPILS took a day off lessons and had some watery fun at Marlborough School, Woodstock.

Oxford Mail:

Festival day at Marlborough School, Woodstock

The highlight of the festival day in 1982 was a pram race, with competitors racing around the school four times in fancy dress, then putting their prams on rafts and paddling them across the school swimming pool. One of the crews is pictured taking a ducking.

Double tops

Oxford Mail:

Darts players at the Kings Arms pub 

THESE hardy souls spent 24 hours taking part in a darts marathon at the Kings Arms pub in Kidlington in1987, in aid of the Oxford and District Children’s Heart Circle.

The big cheese

THIS monster cheese plant had been a feature in the canteen at the Alcan factory at Banbury for many years.
But when the canteen staff hung up their cooking pots after a reorganisation, there was no longer any room for it.

Oxford Mail:

Christine Cole and Jo Jackson

So it was handed to Sycamore House in West Bar, Banbury, where it was sold to provide money for an outing for handicapped children.
Christine Cole, left, head of Sycamore House, and her deputy, Jo Jackson, are pictured with
the giant.