The little green tickets issued to revellers guaranteed a night of unbounded merriment.

The idea was to eat and drink as much as they could. No-one would care if they threw a meat bone over their shoulder, if they pinched a serving wench’s bottom, if they belched lustily, or even danced on the table.

Almost anything went at what was billed as Oxfordshire’s first Medieval English Banquet.

Such events were well established in the north of England, and in April 1974, Douggie Wharmby, manager of the Riverside Hotel in Burcot, near Abingdon, decided it was time to try the idea in the south.

He, his wife and hotel staff plotted the evening to the last detail. Costumes were hired, platters and wine cups specially made, King Henry VIII, a court jester and the wandering minstrels were signed up, and the serving wenches were briefed to be as sporting as possible.

Guests, who had snapped up the green tickets to the banquet within days, were soon in the swing of medieval life. Mead and wine began to flow and everyone was soon bawling for the wenches, banging their tables and tucking into huge amounts of food on the long plain scrubbed tables amid plenty of laughter.

Mr Wharmby, who hailed from Lancashire, noticed some initial reticence – one guest had to be persuaded to administer a pinch to a wench to provide photographer Paul Anthony with at least one bawdy picture.

But everyone became more daring as the evening wore on, with members of the hotel staff sportingly allowing themselves to be carried to the stocks and set up as targets for chunks of bread and other missiles.

One guest said: “To be truthful, I think the hotel got its sense of period rather mixed. The serving wenches’ costumes looked very Tudor to me. And Henry VIII wasn’t exactly medieval either. Yet no-one really minded.

“The service was first rate. You just had to yell ‘wench!’ at the top of your voice and one would arrive. People soon got the hang of that, and the girls never got rattled. It was a good atmosphere.”

Mr Wharmby, who sold tickets for £6 plus VAT, was well pleased with the evening.

He said: “People can go out to an ordinary dinner-dance and enjoy themselves, but there’s a certain amount of restraint. At our banquet, the idea is for everyone to let go and really return to the past. I think it went down great – we’re going to hold another. Many of the people came up to me and booked again. They said it was the greatest night out they’d had for a long time.”

Any memories of this and other medieval banquets to share with readers? Write and let me know.