OT 330
OT 331
OT 332
Kidlington
Oral History
Stanley Meyer,
St. Mary's
Church
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
John Hancox and Jim Hunt
Lionel Spicer
Stanley Meyer, aged 84, came to Kidlington at the beginning of WW1 aged about 7. He was in the choir of St. Mary's church for 19 years, a server during the time of several vicars, and a church warden for 42 years.
Talks about the vicars he has ranging from High to Low Church, with different types and times of service, position of altars, use of incense, celebration of midnight service at Christmas etc. Problems of heating the church - various methods tried. The choir, organ, windows, Chapel, flags, memorials etc., changes over the years. His work as a trustee of the almshouses and the bathrooms added to them in 1952. Church charities.
Churchyard - difficulties of keeping it tidy and the grass cut. Replacing the pews with chairs.
A. John Hancox, born in Kidlington, his father was head cook to a widower and daughters. During war, bred rabbits and sold them to Co-op, people very pleased to have extra meat, also had goats - took milk daily to
Radcliffe Infirmary for babies. neighbours pony in exchange for teaching their son to ride, went to gymkhanas, rode into countryside. After war few families employed cooks so father took job as chef to Dean of Christ
Church, mother as housekeeper - lived in college until he and moved back to Kidlington. Old village characters, deplores new development in
Kidlington High Street.
B. Jim Hunt. Worked at Lucy's (Oxford) for 33 years. Much involved in football and cricket. Describes how Exeter hall was built in the of the football field. Became secretary of Oxford United Supporters Club 1971.
Problems when Robert Maxwell died
Lionel Spencer, lived in Kidlington since 1948. Moved to Oxfordshire from Kent with his mother and stepfather, lived on a farm at Cutteslowe - describes life on the farm, mainly beef cattle, still unmechanized and simple life with no electricity. to Kidlington where his grandparents lived in 1948 (aged 11). Attended Gosford Hill School, enjoyed school, the children respected the teachers. Head's wife gave him singing lessons, learnt to play the cornet, joined Kidlington Brass Band. Errand for local grocer, cycling (time trials on Bicester Road), dances at Foresters' Hall.
Enjoyed the theatre, went to Saturday matinees at Apollo Theatre, Oxford.
Describes in some detail his first jobs, as a trainee cinema projectionist, at
Woods,
Bilham
Walker,
David L.
15.4.1995
11.10.1995
(+
3.11.1995)
Brucker, John 4.8.1996

OT 333
OT 334
OT 335
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Peggy Duval bacon as a mechanic at Kidlington Aerodrome. Later joined RAF.
Peggy Duval, lived in Kidlington since 1939. Came to Kidlington the day the war broke out, to stay with mother's cousin at The Dog P.H. Had trained as a court dressmaker, had a job with a firm of court dressmakers which moved from London to Oxford. in 1948, she and husband ran two shops. Shopping during rationing period - husband allowed 3/4 pound cheese per week instead of 2oz because he was doing dangerous work.
Pub allowed 1 dozen eggs per week for catering. Reminiscences about house and in School Road where she still lives; a chapel, the old workhouse etc. Story of Kidlington Library - originally a cupboard full of books looked after by a teacher. She, husband and mother-in-law offered a small room in one of their shops which the library rented, a year later converted their lounge to make more space. Mother-in-law took 6 month course to train as librarian. Kidlington Library opened 1963
Dennis Carter Dennis Carter, born 1923, talks about his life long interest in farming.
Known as the 'Meads Man' of Yarnton Meadows responsible for the 3 river meadows by the Thames - Oxey Mead, Yarnton Mead, Pixey Mead.
Born and brought up in the station father was station master. At Yarnton village school, then Gosford Hill School, Kidlington. Spent all his spare time at nearby farm, helped with the animals, especially horses. Worked at the farm after leaving school, then worked on the railway. war worked again on the farm and still works there. Describes the ancient customs of the meadows - lots drawn every year by a group of farmers for the right to mow the 65 strips, not allowed to mow before first Monday in May to protect wild birds flowers. Horse drawn mowing machines before WW2, pitching the hay by hand. Changes - much of Oxey Meadow lost by building by-pass and gravel workings.
Gordon
Norridge
Gordon Norridge talks about his involvement with Kidlington Football
Club which he joined on moving to the village in 1937. He joined the committee the same year and has been on it for over 50 years. He is also a keen cricketer. Kidlington Football was founded in 1909, won first trophy
1929, successful with plenty of spectators at matches, only local residents in team. After WW2 he and others got the team going again. 1950's were the club's vintage years - won Senior League 1953, moved up to League, improved their facilities, ran minor and reserve teams. Parish Council invited them to rent ground at Exeter Close, but they were asked to move
6.6.1995
Brucker, John 1995
Brucker, John 2.7.1996

OT 336
OT 337
OT 338
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Honor Pope
1968/9 as the land was needed to build Exeter Hall. Moved to Yarnton
Road. Had very good some becoming professional. Now only 40-50 spectators at matches.
Honor Pope - came to Kidlington 1946. Talks about her work as parish, district, and county councillor. Voted for the first time in 1945, realized that her political opinions were similar to those of Labour Party. Was persuaded to stand as Labour for Parish Council, was elected. Describes her first meeting, choosing of committees etc. Party politics then not very important, most members more or less independent. Describes prominent local politician, Frank Wise. When he died she was elected take his place on District Council. Her view of the most useful committee, sites and buildings, recreation grounds etc. Building of Exeter hall. Efforts to keep some green places in the village. Problems of allotting council houses.
Likes but doesn't like the changes in the High Street.
Phyllis Jeffries Mrs. Phyllis Jeffries' father had a butcher's shop in Birmingham, he belonged to the Hughes family of Grimbly Hughes, grocers in Oxford but was not allowed to set up shop within 50 miles to prevent competition. She spent some of her childhood in with grandparents, settled there permanently after war. Worked as mother's help, then in Land Army during the war on milk delivery. Farm workers earned 30 shillings per week, women 6 pence an hour for farm work or washing before WW2.
Remembers coming to Kidlington, made life much easier. Changes in
Kidlington, new housing estates on what used to be farmland, industrial estate where station was, lovely houses in High Street, old barns, pleasant places to walk have all gone. Social life - from proximity to Oxford, people start clubs etc. but they fade away. Easy to get to Oxford for shopping but shops there mostly for young people.
Maurice Brown Maurice Brown, headmaster of Kidlington County Junior School and
Edward Field School, 1949 - 1980. Describes Kidlington Junior School in its final 2 years when he was head; about 215 children in 4 classes; no library, no school meals (had to go to Infants school for lunch); coke stoves for heating, bucket loos in the toilets; separate playgrounds for boys and girls. For his office - a typewriter, jelly type copier, no telephone.
No improvements made because replacement school was under Kept the
School Log and the Punishment Book, caning usual in schools, he did it only once in 1949. He disliked streaming which labels children, introduced
Walker,
David
21.7.1995
2.12.1995
8.9.1995

OT 339
OT 340
OT 341
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Trevor Marlow Trevor Marlow talks about his time in the Home Guard in Kidlington from
1941 - 1943 when he went into the Air Force. He joined the Home Guard aged 16, having just received a motor bike for his birthday he hoped to become a dispatch rider. He going out on night patrols to check the railway and canal and training with 1914-18 US rifles at the firing range in
Kidlington and in Blenheim Park. Exercises to prepare for invasion along unknown roads with no lights or signposts. Was the company with task of going round on motor cycle to warn of emergencies - which never happened. Gives names of other members and their occupations.
Jim Foley mixed ability classes. A few children passed 11+ and went to Bicester grammar School. Move to school in 1951 - big changes - more classrooms, art rooms, hall with PE equipment, central heating, a proper office etc.
Light and spacious (until number rose to 500) but in some ways designed for architects rather than children.
Jim Foley came to Kidlington 1964 to be headmaster of a newly built
Roman Catholic Junior School associated with Saint Thomas More church
(founded c.1935) School began with 2 classes, 80 pupils, new class added when pupils numbered 115, later up to pupils, a bus brought children from
Woodstock, Yarnton etc. Syllabus included 30 mins religious instruction every day, children were prepared at school for First Communion (aged 7) and Confirmation (aged 11). Parish priest visited frequently; good with parents as many went to RC Church. When West Kidlington School built,
St. Thomas More School able to use its football pitch and swimming pool.
Some financial support from parish eg buying a bus. When Oxford City moved to 3 tier system, for children to transfer to RC Secondary Schools so most went on to Gosford Hill. Discusses with interviewer changes in relations between children and teachers.
John Amor Interview with John Amor b. 1929, school teacher, historian, author. An interesting speaker who describes life in Kidlington before and during
WW2. Details of his home, a bungalow built in 1928 when the village consisted of scattered houses and Modern bungalow with bathroom, but water from well and no electricity until after WW2. Childhood - playing in fields, in summer all day with friends at and in canal, cycling, playing with
Hornby train set. In the church choir at the time of a very church vicar.
Family outings in an uncle's car, seaside holidays. At infant school - the teachers, marching round the playground, playing conkers and marbles.
Woods,
Bilham
5.8.1997
Brucker, John 29.11.1995
Brucker, John 13.6.1996
(&
14.1.1997)

OT 342
OT 343
OT 344
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Elsie Spencer
War time - feels that parents protected children from their own fears and people tried to positive. Joined scouts, frequent camping trips. Changes in
Kidlington - more traffic (tanks etc.), people from other areas (evacuees, trainee pilots), planes overhead, women taking men's jobs.
Interview with Mrs. Elsie Spencer, aged 88, born 1907, a lively speaker with an excellent memory. Lived in Oxford from 1914 when her father, a bookbinder, got work at Oxford University Press, moved to Kidlington when she married in 1937. of early life in Oxford - family of 3 girls and 3 boys, a wonderful father, many books in the house, blackberrying on
Cumnor Hill, cycling to Shipton Manor for dances in the gardens, Baptist
Sunday School, trips on horse-drawn canal boat. Others in apprenticed to
Webber's Department Store. She and a friend set up a knitting business with six machines and forty out-workers making high class knitwear for shops in Oxford and Bond Street. Lasted 17 years until WW2 made it impossible to obtain the wool. Worked with her husband in taxi business, when he became ill and had to give up she worked as school cook, cleaner and cinema usherette. A brother became rich from gold shares (considered worthless when given to him) now lives in South Africa she has often stayed with him. Reflects on a full life and changes in Kidlington.
Colin Shepherd Colin Shepherd (good speaker, interesting details), born in Kidlington
1925, a year after his parents came from Worcs. to run the Black Horse ph.
Had an older brother and twin sisters. Mother ran the pub, father had a market garden with hundreds of and pigs, cured bacon, sold eggs. Pub sold beer on tap only, customers refused to let pumps be installed. Ran restaurant next door, serving meals, including catering for coach parties on
David
Townsend the way to Henley and Ascot. In summer let rooms to visitors, had to move out and sleep in hut in garden. Characters who came to pub, including
'milestone inspectors' ie tramps. Children helped in pub collecting glasses etc. Free time - swimming and camping at the canal, roller skating, playing in hayfields. junior school, then to Boys' High School, Oxford, cycling there with his brother. Left aged 15, worked at Kidlington airport repairing fighter planes. Joined navy aged 17.
David Townsend talks about the development of St. John's Chuch,
Kidlington, with reference to its collection of records and his own collection. When he moved to Kidlington in 1953 it was a wooden mission church, which succeeded the original meeting a barn at Gosford Hill Farm
Brucker, John 9.1995
Brucker, John 14.10.1996
Walker,
David L.
12.6.1995

OT 345
OT 346
OT 347
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Betty
Huddlestone &
John Gilman
(ex-elephant house of Kidlington Zoo). As churchwarden in 1975 he found documents, plans etc. relevant to the history of the building of the permanent church, connected with the expansion of Kidlington in the
1950s. was given for a combined church and hall. Original plans were rather grander than could be afforded. Foundation stone laid Oct. 1957, last service in the wooden church Sept. 1958 followed six days later by opening of new one. Big alterations in to the chancel, kitchen enlarged, new vestries - old vestry became a chapel.
1. Betty Huddlestone's husband owned the Palace Cinema in Witney from
1934, and the Stirling Cinema, Kidlington from when it opened in 1938.
Very popular and successful, especially during WW2 when there was little other entertainment and servicemen from Kidlington Airport etc. The cinema also had a restaurant seating 700. Closed in 1977. (12'00)
2. John Gilman, projectionist at Sterling Cinema 1961 - 1977. Describes what the job involves, talks about different kinds of films. (18'00)
Janice Chilton and Barbara
Fitzgerald
1) Janice Chilton has lived in Kidlington since 1939. Talks about her childhood - walking to school across the fields, going with others for picnics by the level crossing and the canal bridge, playing in the fields, picking cowslips, making hay collecting firewood, gleaning at harvest time. Father bought piece of land next to their house, kept pigs and chickens during the war. Later to Bicester Grammar School by bus, joining the Guides, then Rangers leading to her becoming Brown Owl of
Pack 1950-1956, was District Assistant Commissioner 1970-1989. (Ends abruptly when clock strikes.)
2) Barbara Fitzgerald talks about visiting Kidlington Zoo frequently when she lived opposite. Zoo building became flourishing youth club. Describes involvement with other residents when she moved to new estate in 1953, to preserve a green area for sports and children's playground - money raising, negotiations with parish council and developers. Active in village musical groups.
Dennis Barnes Dennis Barnes, came to Kidlington as manager of new Sainsbury's supermarket, beginning his fifth full year at time of recording. Has worked for Sainsbury's for 36 years. Recalls time when everything was served over the counter, cheese and butter cut to order, assistants had to be good at maths. Now sales and ordering all done by computer. Kidlington branch has restaurant and filling station. He has 3 deputy managers, with other
Brucker, John 4.8.1995
Walker,
David L.
5.5.1995 (&
8.5. 1995)
Brucker, John 21.1.1996

OT 348
OT 349
OT 350
OT 351
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Mrs. Herbert
Kidlington
Oral History
Jack Coggins
Kidlington
Oral History
Margaret
Gordon
Fred Bathe managers under them. Store has provided a lot of employment Kidlington area, he does not think local shops have suffered. Likes to spend time on the shop floor getting ideas from customers. Is responsible also for
Sainsbury's in Westgate, Oxford - smaller and older but has as many customers. Problems of queuing and theft.
Margaret Gordon came to Kidlington from London in 1948. Early days at
Kidlington where she and her husband lived in an old house in the Moors from 1953, a quiet village, no pavements, beautiful Georgian houses, shopping at the Co-op where her liked the overhead cash 'railway'. People would make formal calls bringing visiting cards. Despite building expansion still possible to walk in countryside, easier now that fields are used for meadows, not arable, but much noise from airport - in local
Airport Noise Abatement Group.
Mrs. M.W. Herbert describes the establishment of a congregation and the building of St. John's Church to serve the new residential area of
Kidlington, Garden City, in the 1950s. The development of Kidlington began in late 1930s, stopped when war and land earmarked for housing was returned to farmers for food production. Taylor Woodrow continued building after 1945, Mrs. Herbert worked for them selling new houses.
Temporary church started in a large hut but eventually, with help of Taylor obtained site on The Green, church designed by local architect. First vicar appointed 1956, new church dedicated 1957. Mentions the part played by
Stanley Meyer (see OT 330)
Jack Coggins, aged nearly 80, was born in Kidlington in a cottage next to
King's Arms ph. Educated in the village but he played truant a lot. In 1930 moved to new bungalow. At that time no piped water (had a well), gas, or electricity (used oil Few street lamps, children played with tops and marbles in the main road - the only smooth surface. Talks about a resident
(an Oxford don) who, in extending his house blocked the track by which farmers took their horses down to the river to drink which children used to go down to swim. Heavy snow c.1930, men with shovels dug a way from the Moors so people could reach the station - this was before there was a bus service.
Fred Bathe talks about the Co-op, High St., Kidlington, where he began work aged 15 and has worked for 41 years. Describes the system of deliveries until about 1956, took goods to villages within a wide radius by
Brucker, John 28.11.1995
Walker,
David L.
Woods,
Bilham
10.7.1995
24.4.1995
Brucker, John 3.9.1995

OT 352
OT 353
OT 354
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Lucy, Evacuee A talk given to Kidlington and District Historical Society by Lucy, an evacuee to Kidlington during WW2. A well prepared talk which includes a song 'Evacuees'. Lucy aged 10 and elder sister Eunice who was at grammar school were staying with their in Suffolk to get away from air raids but this became dangerous too. After two weeks at home in West
Ham went with the grammar school pupils by train to Kidlington where they were put to live with families who received 5 shillings per week per
Ken Belcher
First billet cold with strict rules, after 3 months moved to much happier homes. Enjoyed junior school but remembers frequent illnesses amongst the children. Left school aged 14 to work at Co-op. Remembers a sports day with all the teams named fighter planes. Special treat was going to
Sterling Cinema. Excitement of the end of the war, big bonfire at the Zoo.
Speaks of Kidlington as feeling like home - she was one of the lucky evacuees.
Ken Belcher lived in The Moors, Kidlington as a young child; when the family moved to Oxford they continued to visit his grandmother who ran a newsagent's shop in Kidlington and, after war service and marriage, he settled in the village. Talks the newsagency business, about the open countryside, the Zoo, the aerodrome, the various shops, the bombs that fell on Kidlington and his involvement in the Home Guard during WW' and the Army Cadets before and after the war. Deplores the changes have spoilt the High Street.
John Wyse van, sometimes by bicycle, would pay and give their orders for the following week. No charge for deliveries until petrol became more expensive. Foods such as sugar, butter, dried fruit had to be weighed out by assistants. Today he works unloading and checking deliveries of foods.
Mentions other shops which used to be in Kidlington.
John Wyse talks about the building of the Roman Catholic (St. Thomas
More) church and primary school at Kidlington, and about his own experience of working at Morris Motors, Cowley and the University Dept. of Zoology. When he came to Kidlington in Catholics used a wooden hall for social gatherings and for Mass on Sundays. After a long period of fund raising a church was built and opened in 1971. The school, opened in
1984, took children bussed in from surrounding towns. Comments on the of atmosphere between the car factory and the Dept. of Zoology, and the changes in the department as reduced government funding for research
Walker,
David L.
1995 (?)
Brucker, John 29.11.1995
4.4.1996

OT 355
OT 356
OT 357
OT 358
Kidlington
Oral History
May Berry &
George Brookes
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Gordon
Norridge and
Peter Smith
Margaret
Charlett
Peter Harvey projects makes scientists more dependent on commercial firms and foundations.
Side A) May Berry talks about the changes that took place during the 35 years she worked at the Co-op, High St., Kidlington. At first, delivery of goods to people's homes was a very important aspect of the business, as was the giving of dividends purchases. At its peak the branch employed over 100 people. Its decline - competition from other supermarkets. As more people had cars deliveries were no longer so important. Ways in which the Co-op has had to change in order to survive. Side B) Brookes, parish councillor for 16 years. Has been involved in local politics, as a liberal, since 1967. Talks about various projects - nursery gardens, memorial garden, Exeter Hall, Gosford sports centre, and his role as parish councillor in the of local schools.
Gordon Norridge and Peter Smith both worked at the cement works at
Shipton-on-Cherwell. The works were founded in 1929; at the time of this interview they were being dismantled. They describe the processes - blasting, excavation of the limestone, mixing and blending etc. to the finished product originally packed in bags but later transported in bulk. In early days power was supplied by a steam locomotive. The peak years were late 1960s because of the big national motorway building Different types of work - that of the kiln burners was the best paid, cleaning inside the silos the most dangerous. Importance of safety - only one fatal accident.
Margaret (Peg) Charlett, born 1913, spent her childhood in Bicester but the family frequently visited Kidlington where a friend of her father lived.
Life in a village - water from pumps or wells, oil lamps, making or growing many things that were WW1 - seeing the first planes, eating peculiar food, the soldiers coming home, but with no radio the war seemed very remote. Won a scholarship to Bicester County School in 1925, went on to train as a teacher, taught in various schools, eventually Gosford
Central School, Kidlington. A happy school in a close community, discipline not a problem. Kidlington in earlier times - the Zoo, railway etc.
A) Peter Harvey, a life-long resident in Kidlington, describes changes in the village, particularly connected with the shop started by his paternal grandparents and run by his parents and himself. Harvey's Stores became
Kidlington's first store/supermarket in the 1950s but had to close in 1976
Walker,
David L.
5.1995
Brucker, John 7.10.1996
Brucker, John 27.1.1997
Brucker, John 25.7.1996

OT 359
OT 360
OT 361
Kidlington
Oral History
Ron Groves
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Kathleen
Hawken
John Webb because of competition from Tesco and the Co-op. His mother belonged to the Burton family who ran a well known milk company in Headington,
Oxford, and she and her husband set up a branch of as part of their shop, delivering milk to villages. B) School memories - Blenheim Road School,
Kidlington
Ron Groves, has lived in Kidlington since 1934 when, after his father's death, the family moved from South Wales. In 1948 they moved into a new house in Hazel Cescent. Houses in the Crescent were not connected to the main sewer and sewage was into fields. This concern prompted him to enter local government as parish councillor and member of the Rural
District Council in 1953, serving both for 42 years. Talks about the questions dealt with over this period - street lighting, sewage, water, the building of Exeter Hall and the development of the schools, giving a varied picture of the growth of Kidlington from 1940's to 1990's
Kathleen Hawken and her husband moved to Kidlington in 1939 as deputy manager and manager of the cinema. She found Kidlington a desolate place. The cinema had been built ready for the great expansion planned for
Kidlington but this was postponed after the war, so cinema audiences were very small until the airport at Kidlington brought airmen to the village.
Some people came to the cinema to get warm (wartime fuel shortages).
Later special buses brought customers from Woodstock, Witney The cinema had a restaurant and eventually a bar and was used for dances, concerts, pantomimes etc. When cinema closed the site became a Tesco store.
John Webb b. 1929, came to Kidlington with his parents in 1934, settling in Banbury Road. Reminiscences about childhood and schooldays in the village, at church primary school, Gosford Hill School and technical school, aged 13, in Oxford. Worked as boy after school and at weekend, delivering telegrams to villages by bicycle. Effects of war - the Home
Guard, food and petrol rationing, people helping each other, the bombs dropped on Kidlington. A country childhood, fishing in the canal, birds' eggs, getting lifts on canal barges and opening the lock gates, picking bluebells and blackberries, learning to swim in the river. Milk delivered from the churn, bread brought in a basket. On holidays with relations in
Lincolnshire saw poverty, children without shoes, families who could not afford coal. Detailed description of life in 1930's/40's.
Woods, B. 14.5.1995
Brucker, John 5.8.1995
Brucker, John 31.7.1996

OT 362
OT 363
OT 364
OT 452
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Rev. Mervyn
Puleston
Rev. Mervyn Puleston, came to Kidlington Sept. 1970, reminisces about life in Kidlington, local characters and changes to the parish church in his time there. Development of a local Council of Churches with co-operation in Christian Aid Week, joint services, gatherings with visiting speakers.
Improving the almshouses from one room apartments with shared bathrooms to comfortable self-contained flatlets. Extensions to the church.
Membership of the Parish Council and its involvement in the of the High
Street. Great interest in cooking - he trained in a hotel school before ordination.
Ethel M. Mace and Nita
Webber
Side 1. Ethel Mace, former headmistress of Kidlington Primary School, aged 90, and Side 2. Nita Webber, former teacher at the school, aged 80, interviewed at their home in Somerset. They give an detailed picture of the school in 1940's, the and village life. The school building - tortoise stoves for heating, bucket lavatories, the water freezing every winter, shortage of materials during the war. The coming of evacuees from London meant a big expansion in numbers. Descriptions of teachers. The Vicar took little interest in the school. Description of a typical day, of special occasions, of visits to Bicester for swimming, of playground games and songs. The high standards of teaching.
Rodney Hedges Rodney Hedges' family moved to Kidlington from North Oxford in 1936 when he was five, moving into a new house in Green Road. Description of the house, garden and area. Effects of the war - evacuees, airmen billeted with families, rations with chickens and rabbits, good community spirit.
Gerald Gracey-
Cox
Father was in the RAF, after the war set up hairdressing salon. After leaving school was apprenticed to his father, business was sold in 1970 after his father's death. Good descriptions of childhood Kidlington - importance of the river, canal fields, swimming, climbing trees etc.
Singing in the church choir, link between the church and the school.
Seaside holidays and occasional visits to Oxford.
Gerald Gracey-Cox - History of Kidlington History Society. 1) Joined the society on moving to the village in 1972 and became president a year later.
Became very interested in the history of the house he bought and then, with others, extended this to the church and other historic buildings. 2)
Beginnings of the society, an exhibition aroused much interest and more people joined the society. 3) Founder members of the society, Max
Surman project to photograph houses in the village. 4) Moat project. 5)
Brucker, John 7.1997
Brucker, John 21.8.1997
Brucker, John 5.7.1996
Brucker, John 28.4.2001

OT 453
OT 454
OT 455
OT 456
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
John Hancox
Family History Society, remaining Kidlington history to be researched. 6)
Working for CSE Aviation as a technical service engineer based in
Kidlington. 7) Involvement in the Oxfordshire Family History Society and working as a volunteer the Family History Help Desk at the Centre for
Oxfordshire Studies.
John Hancox describes life in Kidlington between 1930 - 1950. Living in
The Moors, singing in the church choir, playing in the fields. One of the large fields was used for vegetables during the war, local women and children picked the peas, beans Kept goats, selling the milk to the
Radcliffe Infirmary, and rabbits which he sold to the Co-op. Talks about
Czech and Polish families who farmed in Kidlington. Parents moved to
Oxford, lived with them in a flat at Christ Church College, mother was to the Dean, father was a chef. After National Service he married and moved back to Kidlington.
Grace Morphy Grace Morphy - Kidlington Adult Education Centre. She and her husband, who taught at Gosford Hill School, came to Kidlington in 1948. She trained in fashion and design, and teaching. She was asked to be on the committee of an Adult Education Centre the War and remained on it until a year before this interview. She describes the construction of purposebuilt premises, the types of courses, people who have led the centre, the difficulty of encouraging people from all kinds of background to changes of emphasis as the lives of women change etc.
Hylda Munday Hylda Munday (nee Norridge) was born in 1898 and lived at Kirtlington, which she describes - her father and brothers builders and decorators, school, clothes, food, Harvest and Christmas, day outings to the seaside.
Married in 1927, moving to homes as her husband worked for different cement factories. In 1939 he took a job at Pressed Steel in Oxford and they moved to Kidlington. Life in WW2, taking in a family from London, husband joined the Home Guard, she worked at Oxford Radiators components). Changes she has seen in Kidlington
Cicely Lee, Ken
Belcher
1) Cicely Lee - Kidlington since the 1940s. Her mother moved with the children to Oxford from Ireland after her husband's death. Cicely's elder brother joined the volunteer air force and trained as a pilot at Kidlington
Aerodrome. Her husband at Oxford High School, she was a librarian at
Oxford City Library for 11 years (21'00) 2) Ken Belcher describes the recent, exceptionally severe, floods at Kidlington when the Cherwell for
Walker,
David L.
10.1995
Brucker, John 5.2001
Brucker, John 30.7.1998
Brucker, John 26.11.1998

OT 457
OT 458
OT 459
OT 460
Kidlington
Oral History
Ken Belcher the first time came into the village. Emergency measures - valuables upstairs, being rescued by boat or Land Rover, sheltering in the Sixth
Form Centre, took 4 months to replace posessions and return house to normal.
Ken Belcher talks about Kidlington in WW2. When war began he was at school but as a paper boy and member of the Army Cadets he observed the changes in village life. He mentions the Anti-Aircraft battery, air raid warnings and A.R.P. wardens, troops in the area, the popularity of the cinemas in the long dark evenings, the Auxiliary Fire Service, the East
Ham girls' school evacuated to Kidlington, gas masks, food rationing etc.
He was at the Boys' High School in Oxford but left at 14 to run his newsagency in Kidlington. Joined the army aged 17 and served in France, by this time the war was over. Father's war service in the RAF in Africa,
Italy and Burma.
Brucker, John 17.12.1998
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Jessica
Broadbent
Jessica Broadbent (nee Judge) describes life in Kidlington before and during WW2. Her family moved to Kidlington late 1936. Primary School - outside bucket lavatories, visits by the school dentist and nurse, Easter egg hunts, a goat club. games - they played marbles, hopscotch etc. in the main road (no traffic), roamed through the fields, skated on frozen ponds. The family - singsongs in the evening, father and brothers in local band - the
Judge family well known also for Effects of the war, evacuees from East
Ham, blackout, removal of road signs. As a Girl Guide acted as a casualty for First Aid practice, collected newspapers, visited wounded soldiers in hospital at Oxford. At school - celebrating Empire Day. at end of war. Her career in the civil service.
Tony Benfield Tony Benfield was born in Kidlington in 1932. The family lived in The
Moors, then an area of few houses facing open fields which were flooded every winter. Memories of life before and during WW2 - gas masks, the air-raid siren, evacuees from Children's games - conkers, marbles, hoops,
Amor, John 4.2.1999
Brucker, John 4.2001 collecting cigarette cards. Was a choirboy and server at the parish church.
Left school aged 14, worked at the University Dept. of Agriculture as a lab. technician, after National Service joined his and brother in their building firm. Side 2. Recalls the families that lived in The Moors. The wildlife of the area. Old characters of the village. Importance of the cinema, especially during the war.
Kidlington Bertha Primrose Bertha Primrose, although born in Scotland, has spent most of her life in Brucker, John 8.8.2000

OT 461
OT 462
OT 463
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Mrs Elsie
Hawkins
Ian Pearson
Kidlington
Oral History
Doris Tresise
Kidlington. She trained in Horticulture at Waterperry, Oxon., early in
WW2 then, after a short time, moved to Kidlington as a member of the
Women's Land Army. She describes work at Bailey's Nurseries during and after the war in detail - war regulations about what could be grown, selling vegetables, plants, wreaths etc. Later she worked at the nurseries shop and, when the land was sold for building, continued to run a and vegetable shop until 20 years ago when the coming of the supermarkets made it uneconomic. Side 2. Talks about her involvement with the Red Cross, training in first aid and becoming a Reserve Nurse during ww2, Junior
Red Cross, clubs for OAPs the disabled, on duty at Blenheim Palace for special events. Her present life limited by blindness
Mrs Elsie Hawkins - 100 years in Oxfordshire. Born at Bainton near
Bicester in 1895, youngest of 5 children of a farm labourer. She describes life at that time - food, playing in the streets and at home, school at
Wendlebury. She worked as a until her marriage in 1920. Her eldest son now nearly 80; 10 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren plus great-greatgrandchildren. Has travelled twice to South Africa to visit a son. Still does her own housework, washing and cooking.
Ian Pearson is responsible for Richard Branson's gardens at Mill End,
Kidlington. He describes his early life, his study of sculpture and training as a teacher, followed by 12 years teaching. Through living in London and getting to know people who for Virgin Records, he met Richard Branson and often visited him at Shipton Manor near Kidlington, which he had equipped as a recording studio. This led to his employment as gardener at
Shipton and later at Mill End. He talks about the huge annual for Virgin employees, Branson's buying of water meadows to save them from housing development,the digging of a lake, stocking it with all kinds of water fowl, and the planting of 7000 trees, etc.
Doris Tresise talks about Kidlington Health Centre. She came to live in the village in 1964 and worked as receptionist for two doctors. She describes them and their practice and the building of the Health Centre with its team of doctors and other care staff and explains the differences it made to the work of doctors.The increasing bureaucracy and paperwork resulting from fundholding led her to leave the Health Service.The conversation with the interviewer contains much interesting detail her later jobs as Assistant
Parish Clerk and Deputy Registrar, about changes in village life, about
Brucker, John 4.2001
Brucker, John 6.2.2001
Brucker, John 4.2001

OT 464
OT 465
OT 466
OT 467
Kidlington
Oral History
Terry Ellis
Kidlington
Oral History
Audrey Arnell and David
Walker
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Ken Mort
Mrs Mary
Nowakowski
Exeter Hall and the activities that take place there about the village's schools and about improvements in the environment.
Terry Ellis describes the history of Kidlington Bowling Club. In 1979 the
Council asked a group of interested people to visit bowling greens elsewhere to compare the effectiveness and cost of artificial and natural surfaces. The expense of greens proving too great, the project was dropped. Terry Ellis and others managed to start a cLub, with nominal subscription of 1 pound, and they arranged to play at Cutteslowe Park,
N.Oxford, with a full fixture list in 1980. Subsequently. with from the
Southern Sports Council, they prepared the ground and produced a bowling green with 12 rinks, together with cricket, hockey and football fields.
Audrey Arnell and David Walker - Kidlington Information Centre. This is a voluntary organisation started by John Candy, a lecturer at Oxford
Polytechnic. David Walker was involved at an early stage, eventually becoming chairman. At the beginning main purpose was to help people with problems over the benefits system; those running the Cntre also dealt with inquiries about transport, trading standards, disabled drivers, etc.; a solicitor gave free consultations at two sessions a week. do not get involved in questions about debt, tax, divorce etc. Details of premises, funding. More recent functions include tourist information, hotels, theatres and concerts, places to visit in a 50 mile radius.
Ken Mort has been involved with Kidlington Youth Football Club for 32 years, as manager, secretary, treasurer and President. He relates the history of the Club, founded in 1965 as Cherwell Boys; the name was changed to
Kidlington Boys, then Boys and Youth and eventually to Kidlington
Youth as it now includes girls. He talks about the club houses - first an old wooden hut given by the Aerodrome then two prefabricated houses and finally a magnificent building opened in 1991. The club visited, and welcomed teams from, several European countries, and there is an exchange visit with Holland every two years. Some former members have gone on to play for professional clubs.
Mrs Mary Nowakowski - A Doctor's wife in Kidlington. Mrs
Novakowski's husband was for many years a much-loved doctor in
Kidlington. In this interview she explains how she met him when he came to England from Poland; in World War 2 he was a prisoner the Germans
Walker,
David
Brucker, John 4.10.2001
Mort, Irene
Mort, Irene
8.2001
8.2001
3.9.2001

OT 468
OT 469
OT 470
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History
Kidlington
Oral History for 5 years in terrible conditions, working as a surgeon. In England, as his documents had been lost, he did a degree in Tropical Medicine to get a qualification to practise, worked in Tanganyika with the ill-fated groundnut scheme, to England and married. Mrs Nowakowski describes how they set up a practice in Kidlington, which gradually became very busy. and how her husband was the first doctor to practise in the Health
Centre. She talks about his Polish family, his five who settled in England and a visit to Auschwitz.
Alan Nicholls Alan Nicholls - RAF in Kidlington. Alan joined the RAF in 1953, serving at Kidlington airfield from 1955 until he left in 1956. He was in a special mobile bomb disposal unit, travelling to RAF stations to collect bombs left over from the war and them to Woolwich Arsenal. He decribes the work, the accommodation in uncomfortable billets at the airfield, the kit inspections, visits to the cinema and pubs in the village, meeting local girls, and friction between the airmen and local men - the men were smarter because of their uniforms. He married a Kidlington girl and after a short period in London they returned to the village, where they and their two children live.
Bilham Woods Bilham Woods - Building Thames Valley Police Headquarters,
Kidlington. He worked as an architect for Oxford County Council until he retired in 1990.He describes the decision made in 1966 to amalgamate the police forces of Oxon, Bucks, Berks and the of Oxford to form Thames
Valley Police, and the consequent need to provide suitable premises.This meant planning and constructing 10,000 square feet of office space on the very limited site occupied by the headquarters of Oxon Police Force at He explains the various steps necessary and problems to be overcome in order to complete the main building by March 1968, though this was designed to be temporary; a purpose built HQ will eventually be constructed at
Bicester.
Hetty Frampton Hetty Frampton still lives in The Moors in the house that her husband, then a bricklayer, built in his spare time 1935-36. They came from near
Salsbury to Kidlington when he got work on the building of Gosford Hill
School. She talks about life in village before and during the War; the land opposite their house open fields, the London evacuees who stayed with them, her husband's work for the Air Ministry building airfields. Her own activities - bringing up two children, involvement in the and the parish
Mort, Irene 7.2002
7.2002
Brucker, John 15.8.2002

OT 471 Kidlington
Oral History
Carol Hand church, Townswomen's Guild, Mothers' Union. Shopping in Oxford
Market, the Kidlington Co-op, going to the cinema. Her husband died 11 years before this interview. After the War he was Clerk of Works at
Oxford Town Hall.
Carol Hand has lived most of her life in Kidlington. She describes the family's homes in Banbury Road opposite open fields and in The Moors, her father's work as a builder at the time of Kidlington's great expansion, the life of her grandparents lived by the canal, children's games, schooldays at Kidlington and in Oxford where she won a place at the Art and Commercial School [later Cheney School] and discovered that education means learning how to find out things for oneself. She married a then employed at Blenheim Park. Later, they ran an antiques shop 1988-98
- she describes her husband's interest in pottery and her own love of collecting.
Brucker, John 14.11.2002