The gift of a loaf of bread to every child at Burford Primary School couldn’t have been better timed.

Bakers were taking industrial action at the time and there was a general shortage of bread.

So mothers must have been delighted when their little ones trooped in with a crusty loaf under their arm in the autumn of 1977.

The gift, however, was nothing to do with the bakers' dispute — it was a town custom going back more than 300 years.

Two men left £2 12s a year in their wills so that 12 poor children could have a loaf every Sunday.

But Burford Parish Council decided that every child should have a loaf once a year.

The ceremony usually took place in the summer, but was put off that year until December because of the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations.