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The latest news from the
Oxfordshire Local History Association (OLHA)
September 2022
(Above) Hebborn’s Golden Gallopers at the Witney Feast, which will be held on the Leys on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 September. This annual fair dates back to 1243 when Henry III granted two deer from the Royal Forest of Wychwood to celebrate the rededication of St Mary’s Church. The feast is traditionally held on the two days following the first Sunday after 8 September, the nativity of the Virgin Mary. Image from the Witney Gazette.

All members of local history societies and groups that are members of OLHA are themselves members of OLHA automatically, and this e-bulletin is for everyone. Hence, if you are on the committee of a local history group or society, please make sure that this e-bulletin is forwarded to all your members by sending them this url. Thank you.
Not a member of OLHA yet? Join now! It costs less than £1 a month!
The British Association for Local History (BALH)’s next digital webinar is on Tuesday 6 September, 7- 8pm, in which Jessamy Carlson of the National Archives will discuss The 1921 Census: opportunities for local history.

Further information and booking here.
Peter Smith will give an illustrated talk on the fascinating history of the Port Meadow Bailey Bridge at the Museum of Oxford on Wednesday 7 September, 1–2 pm.

2022 marks the 75th anniversary of the erection of this innovative modular structure, a rare surviving example of what was described as “the wonder bridge”, credited with making a huge contribution towards the ending of the Second World War.

Tickets £4 / £5. Further information and booking here.
Gliders lined up ready for D-Day at RAF Grove, June 1944.

The Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum (SOFO)’s popular on-line talks series returns on Thursday 29 September at 7pm, with Aldon Ferguson discussing The RAF in Oxfordshire. Watch the talk for free here.

In the meantime, thirteen past talks, many with an Oxfordshire theme, can be viewed on SOFO’s website.
Steeple Aston Village Archive (SAVA)’s next exhibition Village Personalities of Steeple and Middle Aston will be held on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 November, 12 noon to 4pm in Steeple Aston Village Hall.

Every community has its characters, but few of them are properly recorded for posterity. This exhibition will present a fascinating cross-section of village life by telling the stories of 38 significant individuals. These include village ‘stalwarts’ from 1522 to 2022; those who made it to the ‘wider stage’ (including Iris Murdoch); and a few of the locality’s more controversial figures.

Entry is free, but donations welcome. SAVA’s book of the exhibition, as well as all its other publications, will be on sale.
And a reminder of events already advertised in previous bulletins...
The Hornton History Group will present A Child Through Time, a hands-on exhibition at the Hornton Pavilion (near Banbury), on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 September. The event will explore a child’s life through history, from the Romans to the Anglo Saxons, the Norman Conquest, the Hundred Years War, Dissolution of the Monasteries, the English civil war, the industrial revolution and evacuation during World War II. Free entry.
Oxford Open Doors will be on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 September this year. Dozens of city, university and colleges buildings and grounds, many of them normally closed to the public, will be open and free to visit.

Further information on the Oxford Preservation Trust website.
During the Second World War, Coleshill House near Faringdon was the training headquarters for the Auxiliary Units, the secret British Resistance which would have swung into action in the event of a German invasion. The house was destroyed by fire in  the 1950s but the Auxiliers’ operational base, the model farm and the watermill can be visited from 10am to 4pm on Sundays 11 September and 9 October 2022.

The 11 September event will be a special heritage day when all the components of the estate will be open and augmented with a programme of short talks, activity workshops and re-enactments.

The Coleshill estate is open for country walks all year, as is the tea room.
The remarkable mosaic floor at North Leigh Roman Villa will be open to visitors on 17 September and 18 September, 11am - 5pm.

Further information here.
The Hornton History Group is organising an all-day trip to the Battle of Bosworth Museum and battlefield, Roman Leicester, and the Abbey Pumping Station (above), on Saturday 24 September, to which non-members are warmly invited.

Further information and booking here.
Historian and broadcaster Michael Wood will give an illustrated talk on The Story of England: Kibworth Revisited, at Merton College, Oxford, on Monday 26 September, in support of the Oxfordshire Victoria County History (VCH). Tickets are £15 including a glass of wine.

Further details and booking here.
The Oxfordshire Family History Society’s annual Family History Fair will take place on Saturday 1 October, 10am to 4pm, at the Marlborough School, Woodstock. There will be lots of local and family history societies providing information and selling books and other items, plus stalls specialising in military history and old postcards. The fair is free and open to all.

Further details here.
Looking for speakers or guides for your group’s 2022/23 programme? OLHA’s substantial directory of speakers and tour guides is often updated, and shows which speakers are able to deliver their illustrated talks via Zoom or similar on-line platform.
Oxford tour guide and speaker Maurice East was born in Headington and attended Cheney school in the 1980s. His childhood was spent in the shadow of the once vast car factory at Cowley; everyone seemed to have a family connection to ‘the works’. In recent years he has become fascinated by the life of Lord Nuffield and exploring the origins of car making in Oxford.

Maurice’s approach is always from a ‘townie’ perspective, and he weaves anecdote, personal reflections, and family history into all his guided tours and illustrated talks.

Find out about Maurice’s walks and talks, and how to contact him, here.
The Wheatley Village Archive has installed its first ‘history’ window display on the High Street (above). Items ranging from a Roman tile to a 20th-century milk bottle help to tell the village’s story in an accessible and engaging way. The window is illuminated at night until 11pm.

Other Oxfordshire local history groups who’d like to consider a similar project are invited to contact Wheatley Village Archive chairman Michael Heaton for advice.
A new short film, Women on the Line, tells the story of women’s involvement in trades unionism and strike action in Oxford, starting with the famous Pressed Steel strike of 1934. The film is was made by students at charity Film Oxford using archive material from the Oxfordshire History Centre and the Oxford Mail.

View the film here.

The film is the second of three films to be made as part of a Heritage Lottery funded project, Protest and Progress: Stories from Industrial Oxford. View the first film, Destination Oxford - Little Wales, here.
OLHA committee member Liz Woolley will be running her popular weekly class The City of Oxford 1850-1914 from 13 September to 15 November at the Old Fire Station on George Street (above).

This will be a great opportunity to learn more about the social, cultural and economic history of Oxford’s ‘town’ (as opposed ‘gown’) in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, and to set that history in the context of contemporary national developments.

Further information and booking here.
As reported in previous e-bulletins, the British Association for Local History (BALH) has teamed up with Pharos Tutors to offer short topic-based on-line courses on a variety of local and family history subjects.

Forthcoming courses (from September) include Wills and Administrations: the riches of probate records; and Apprenticeship Records. Most courses last 4 or 5 weeks and are reasonably priced at around £60.

Further information and booking here.
The latest publication from the Wheatley Village Archive is Wheatley 1890-1910: Reminicences of the turn of the century and a snapshot of the village in 1910 by Michael Heaton. In the 1950s steps were taken to capture living memories from the late 1880s onwards, and these are gathered together in this book. The result is a detailed and fascinating insight into life during a benign and progressive period in the village’s history.

Copies are available for £7 from Michael Heaton.
Vanessa Moir, editor of the OLHA journal, writes:

“Please do fill in our survey about the journal, even if you don't regularly read it. It exists to support local historians in the county, so we want to hear your views.”

To give feedback please fill in this short survey or contact Vanessa directly. Thank you.
A reminder to all local history society secretaries to please send details of your 2022/23 programme to OLHA web manager Liz Woolley so that she can update the ‘Talks & meetings’ page of the OLHA website, and include your talks in future e-bulletins. This is a great way of advertising your society’s activities and attracting new members.

If you haven’t already done so, please send your programme details in doc or txt format [not pdf] to membership@olha.org.uk, and remember to include the time of your meetings, and the venue. Thank you.
Most Oxfordshire history societies have gone back to meeting in person, whilst a few are still holding talks on-line. Either way, there are interesting history and local history talks on offer across the county almost every weekday. To see a detailed daily listing, go to OLHA’s website.

Here is a selection for September:

6th – British Modern Military History Society (Woodcote) – Paul Knight “The Mesopotamia Campaign in World War One”. On–line talk, 7:30pm; e–mail zoom@bmmhs.org or check www.bmmhs.org for more details.

6th – Hook Norton – Katherine Bradley “Early women professional gardeners including at Waterperry”. Baptist Church Hall, Netting Street, 7:30pm.

8th – Banbury – David Griffiths “The Vikings in the Thames Valley”. Banbury Museum, Spiceball Park Road, 7:30 pm.

8th – Wootton & Dry Sandford – Liz Woolley “Rose Hill (Oxford), an area of  surprising contrasts and great historical interest”. Community Centre, Wootton, 7:30pm.

12th – Chipping Norton – Sean Callery “How did Chippy outgrow Hooky?” Methodist Church Hall, West Street, 2:00pm.

12th – Oxfordshire Family History Society – Ben Beck “Tracing your Quaker ancestors”. On-line talk, 8:00pm (OFHS members only).

12th – Radley – AGM and Sarah Somerville “A guide’s guide: working in historic houses in the 21st century”. St James the Great Church, 7:30pm.

13th – Thame – Paul Barnett “RMS Carpathia’s dash to save a stricken Titanic”. Thame Barns Centre, Church Road, 7:30pm.

14th – British Modern Military History Society (Woodcote) – Robin Brodhurst “Dudley Pound and the decision to scatter arctic convoy RQ17”. Woodcote Village Hall, 7:30pm; e–mail info@bmmhs.org or check www.bmmhs.org for more details.

14th – Stanford in the Vale – Carol Anderson “Over The Hills To Glory: The Story of the Ascott Martyrs”. Village Hall, 7:30pm.

14th – Wallingford – Giles Pritchard “Conservation work on the remains of the College of St Nicholas, Wallingford Castle”. Church of St Mary-le-More, Market Place, 8:00pm.

14th – Wychwoods – Mark Bathurst “The Medway Queen”. Milton under Wychwood Village Hall, 7:30pm.

15th – Longworth -Martin Syrot-Smith “Daily Life in Tudor Times”. Southmoor Village Hall, 7:30pm.

19th – Goring Gap – Ian Keable “The Century of Deception: Birth of the Hoax in 18th England”. Goring Village Hall, 2:30pm.

19th – Kennington – Mike Hurst “Tracks to the Trenches”. Methodist Church, Upper Road, 7:45pm.

19th – Wheatley – Julie Godson “Scandal in High Society Oxfordshire: selected tales of toffs in trouble”. Merry Bells Village Hall, High Street, 8:00pm.

26th – Oxfordshire Family History Society – Mark Davies “Felons, fellows, and females: the completion of the Oxford Canal”. Exeter Hall, Kidlington, 8:00pm.

27th – Kidlington – Nick Humphris “Chedworth Roman Villa: One of Britain’s largest Romano-British villas”. Baptist Church, High Street, 7:30pm.

28th – Dorchester – John Stevenson “Modern buildings in Oxford”. Dorchester Abbey, 7:30pm.

30th – Bensington – Tim Healey “Apples! The Myth and Mystery of England’s Favourite Fruit”. Benson Parish Hall, 7:30pm.
If you have any items for the next OLHA e-bulletin, please send brief text and low resolution images to Liz Woolley by 25 September.
Copyright © 2022 Liz Woolley, All rights reserved.


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