An historic Shirt Race which has been run for 70 years is back having been cancelled last year.
The race – organised by the Spajers (the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Junketing) – has drawn hundreds of people annually since 1953.
Sadly last year's event had to be cancelled due to lack of volunteers after three experienced organisers resigned from the committee.
The only other times the race had not been held was in 2020 and 2021 during the Covid pandemic.
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But this year’s spectacle is back and due to take place in Bampton on Saturday May 25.
The race involves teams of two, often in fancy dress, one sitting in a pram, wheelbarrow or other non-powered contraption, the other pushing, racing through the streets.
The teams will run down the high street, round Rosemary Lane and back to the finish at Bell Lane.
In the original race competitors had to drink half a pint of beer (or squash for youngsters) and change places at six of the 11 pubs on the way.
The winners were the first through the front door of the Swan pub at the finish.
This year there will be two races, one for adults and a joint one for juniors and intermediates.
Some claim that the origins of the race can be traced back to the year 784 and Ethelred the Shirtless chased the burghers of Bampton through the streets in an unsuccessful attempt to clothe his nakedness.
Others say it dates from 1067 when William the Conqueror’s soldiers, stationed at Shifford, were hit by a beer drought and invented the race to pass time.
The modern version began in 1953 when village gas man John Quick, farmer Doug Read and fishmonger Paul Bovington dreamed up the idea of a pram race to celebrate the Queen’s Coronation.
The event was revived at midday on Coronation Day, with a 12-bore shotgun fired in the air to start the first race.
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Don Rouse, one of the organisers still in post, said: “I have been privileged to be Master of Ceremonies at this race since 1970.
"Every year, the fun and intensity of this important event in Bampton’s social calendar have grown."
The races along with the Donkey Derby and Fireworks display raise money to support the town's elderly residents.
In 2022 the Spajers made their highest ever profit from the race to benefit more than 300 pensioners in Bampton and the neighbouring village of Lew.
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