DOES anyone remember Jack Viner’s dance band? It appears to have been very popular, particularly in the 1930s.

We know the name of only one of the musicians – drummer Harry Baston, who was well-known in Witney.

He was born in the town in 1894 and attended Cogges School, leaving at the age of 12 to join Early’s blanket mill.

He joined Witney Boys’ Brigade and as the First World War approached, he and fellow BB members marched to the recruitment office together to sign up with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

He was wounded at the Battle of the Somme and after recovering in England, he became a rifle instructor.

After the war, he ran a fishmonger’s business in Witney with his brother William. He died in 1977, aged 83.

The band performed at many events in the area, including private functions at the Mitford sisters’ family home in West Oxfordshire.

Can anyone tell us more about the band?

Memory Lane this week

 

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