Berinsfield, the specially-created village which this month celebrates its 50th birthday, has been transformed from the place no-one wanted to know - into a thriving village with a strong community spirit.

Ken Hall, who has been lived in the village for 43 years and been chairman of the parish council for 40, said: "I have always been proud of Berinsfield and always will be. And it's right we're celebrating 50 years of our village."

Izzy Hiles is one of the organisers of the village celebration day on Saturday, July 19.

She said: "Berinsfield has changed a lot over the years but it still retains a strong community spirit and there are many who never want to live anywhere else - after all, we have so much here, when other villages are losing their facilities."

The event's special guest will be Sir Hugo Brunner, whose visit to the village will be his last official function as the Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire before he retires.

During the Second World War, Berinsfield was the site of RAF Mount Farm, a satellite station of RAF Benson, used to train bomber pilots.

Later in the war, the US Army Air Force took over the airfield as the base of their 7th Photo Reconnaissance Group, which took pictures of enemy installations across Europe.

Many famous American entertainers visited the airfield - including Glenn Miller, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour.

After the war, Britain faced a housing shortage and many people were housed in the old military Nissen huts at Mount Farm.

The then Bullingdon Rural District Council came up with idea of turning the site into a new village, the first in England for 200 years.

It was named after St Berin, the missionary bishop who converted the West Saxons to Christianity in the seventh century AD. The 'field' was added because that is how the American airmen always referred to their base.

And 50 years ago Berinsfield was born and the first people moved in, though things did not always run smoothly.

Mr Hall said: "Oxford sent us many of their undesirables and that was how Berinsfield became the place nobody wanted to know. Over the years things have changed - but reputations are slow to go away.

"We have here a wonderful community, one to be proud of and one which has gained many of its facilities by itself.

"The swimming pool connected to the school was funded by local people.

"Many of our young people have an enviable reputation for the work they're continuing to do to help Aids victims in Kenya - every year a batch of them goes over to help build community centres and classrooms under Operation Noah's Ark.

"Berinsfield has been transformed from the place nobody wanted to know to become a place where people are proud to live and where people want to come to live."

The celebrations on July 19 will run between 10am and 4pm at the playing fields in the centre of the village.