Whilst walking through the village with grandchildren 2 weeks ago, I stopped at the War Memorial to show my granddaughter the name of my Uncle, her great great Uncle, James Leonard Wearn who was killed in the Second World War. To my amazement placed beneath his name was a small wooden remembrance cross which had been written on with

“2020 In remembrance of James Leonard Wearn from Deborah and Victoria Wearn”

I immediately phoned my sisters and brother who were completely unaware of the existence of the 2 ladies who are apparently related to us. 

Mike
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While doing some research on Ancestry I came upon the Electoral Register for Great Coxwell for 1959.  By digging further I reached the 1935 Electoral Register.  I have found them very interesting and a number of people in the village have expressed interest (or already had copies from me), so I thought I would make them available to you all.  There are a number of names that will be very familiar.  I also have a register from 1939 which is more like the usual census, giving all people in a household, their dates of birth and their occupations.  However, the images are very dark so I will have to clean them up as much as possible to make them more legible.  If I succeed I will put them on here shortly.  I shall also see what others are available.

Dear Editor of the Coxwell Newsletter.
 
Thank you for publishing the story of Marian Czerwinski.  It is important to have it recorded.  I wonder whether the Oxford Polish Association would like a copy (I have sent a copy - Ed).  

​I well remember Marian’s smoke-emitting Robin Reliant.  One of its incarnations burst into flames on the corner of Puddleduck Lane, leaving black scorch marks on the wall of what was then Helen Anderson’s house.  
 
Ann-Marie and I look forward to receiving our copy of the Newsletter and enjoy reading about life in Gt Coxwell, where we had five very happy years.
 
Best wishes
Ian Beckwith (Vicar of Gt Coxwell 1997-2002).
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We've had this link on the home page for a while, but here it is again if you have never seen it, from the BFI web site

"This travelogue of the countryside around Great Coxwell and Faringdon was sponsored by Shell-Mex, and written and narrated by poet John Betjeman. Great Coxwell was in Berkshire until 1974, when it became part of Oxfordshire after boundary changes."

Watch the 3 minute black and white film from 1955 here.

This second film from 1952 is 5 minutes long and without dialogue, but in colour, to quote the BFI"In the market town of Faringdon in Berkshire (it transferred to Oxfordshire in the 1974 council re-organisation) a carnival is underway to raise funds for All Saints' Church. The unusually squat tower of the church is a legacy of a Civil War cannon ball that drastically reduced its height in 1645. This historical oddity is commemorated on one of the floats in the brightly decorated parade captured in vivid Kodachrome by Joyce Skinner.
Look out too for an appearance by an American military band that is visiting from Fairford in Gloucestershire. The United States Air Force were running the base at the time as the Cold War escalated. The filmmaker, Joyce Skinner, was later a member of the South Birmingham Cine Society and went on to make several sponsored industrial films and prize winning amateur productions."

Watch it here

Enjoy!
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