Description

Kay Mander’s famous film of rural Oxfordshire was commissioned in October 1945 and is the best post-war film record of the area. Covering an area of Twenty-Four Square Miles, including the market town of Banbury, and the village of Hook Norton, the film records in detail English country life as it was lived immediately after the war.

Full description from the producer:

Kay Mander’s film of rural Oxfordshire was commissioned in October 1945, but grew out of a planning survey of north Oxfordshire to the southwest of Banbury, carried out in the last six months of 1943 by the Oxford Agricultural Economics Research Institute. This was published in 1944 as Country Planning. A Study of Rural Problems edited by the Institute’s Director, C.S. Orwin. Covering an area of Twenty-Four Square Miles, including the market town of Banbury, and the village of Hook Norton, the film analyses in detail the local communications, population figures, trade and industry, the agricultural community, housing conditions, public administration, schools and health services, and is illustrated by actuality scenes, models, maps and diagrams. Also highlighted are social activities in the area, including YMCA dance evenings, choir practice, village cricket, darts and dominoes in the local public houses, and meetings of the Women’s Institute and the Parish Council.

Additional information