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Aston memories

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Memories of Oxfordshire

My Home 1962

I was born in Bampton in 1957, my family moved away to Dunstable to give us a start in life. I have always and always will reguard Bampton as my home. I visit when I can which is about once a year. I walk around the village which brings back lots of memories. The times I remember are of going to the fields in May to get wild flowers to make a garland to take around on the spring bank holidays, also watching the Morris Dancers and the shirt race. I will never forget my childhood at Bampton. I will always class it as my home.

Free's - Post Office And Grocery, Longworth

Having spent the first seven years of my life in Longworth, I remember Free's shop vividly. The Frees were friendly, welcoming people. Mr Free had curly hair and wore a tan-coloured kind of overall-coat. Mrs Free wore glasses on a chain. They ran the Post Office and sold all kinds of groceries and household goods, but I remember it for the sweets and ice creams – my favourite was a block of lemon mousse that you ate from a rectangular wafer cornet.

The sweets we enjoyed from Free's included Barrett's sherbet fountains and 'Jamboree Bags', which contained a novelty gift, a lollipop and lots of pastel-coloured, powdery-flavoured sweets, plus some toffees wrapped in waxy paper.

Mr Free also did home deliveries. My mum would order her groceries in a red-covered notebook with a little window at the top with her name in it. Mr Free would deliver the order once a week, with all the goods packed into a large cardboard box.

We used to... Read more

Longworth Memories From 1950.

My grandparents were William (Bill) and Molly Free - my mother was their daughter, Barbara. For five of my earliest years, I lived in the building shown, although it did not look quite like that! The shop and house were (mainly) re-built by the Mansell brothers of Longworth, in the early 1960s. My grandfather was generally well liked in the village, and was a very kind man. Grandmother was the same, and she rode around the village on her bicycle every morning (excluding Sundays), delivering the mail. Later, my stepfather, Philip Osborne, joined the business, and took over all deliveries. Groceries were delivered to customers in many surrounding villages and our van was seen frequently running from village to village. The van was, from about 1954, painted and grained so that it appeared to be wooden and when I was living in Buckland, we would form a crocodile to walk to the canteen for lunch, on the day that Mrs. Preece was having her delivery, most of the children would knock... Read more

Flying From Brize Norton

Although I have been to RAF Brize Norton a few times I have never actually seen the place with the name Brize Norton as each time I have on army duty and taking off on an RAF plane!
In the 1970s I flew with members of my regiment several times to Germany and Malta and RAF Brize Norton supplied the transport each time.

Strange But True

My father was a bank manager in Faringdon in the 1970s and managed the accounts of the Pusey estate and the Hornby family, owners of the estate. On one occasion, during an annual fete, Dad was asked to act treasurer of the fete. He asked me to help him. On that day, two Puseys were in Pusey village.
My Pusey family was based in Oxford, where my paternal grandfather was employed in the University. His father was, I believe, a butcher in the St Clements area of the city.
In my father's family were six children, three sisters and three brothers, of which my father, Frederick was the fourth child. There were five Pusey cousins: John (son of Guy and still lives in Oxford), me, (son of Hugh and now living in Somerset), Michael (sadly deceased), Peter and Anne (sons and daughter of Harold). Peter lives in Malvern and Anne lives in America. There were also two non-Pusey cousins: Mary and Jane (daughters of Vera Heath, the youngest sister... Read more

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