New project: Radley during Covid

Our latest oral history project aims to capture the memories of Radley people about the effect of Covid from spring 2020 to December 2021. We want to record these memories for the sake of future generations while they’re still fresh in people’s minds.

Because of Covid, we’ve not been able to make new recordings for some time, so we’re very excited to begin a new series. The Oral History Group has drawn up a framework of questions to ask and will be interviewing people who either live or work in Radley, or are involved with the Radley community about their experiences during Covid.

We’ve identified various categories of people to interview, ranging from those involved in key village institutions (church, shop, etc) and community organisations, those who run a business, were working from home, retired people, professionals such as doctors and nurses, to those looking after children or caring for someone. The information given by interviewees, who may well fit into more than one of our categories, will be used to produce a picture of the impact of Covid on the village as a whole.

Previous recordings

Over the years the Club has built up a library of oral history recordings in two main collections:

• Radley Remembered – a series of interviews with people with memories of Radley up to and including the 1953 Coronation More about this series of recordings

• A Tale to Tell – interviews with people who live or have lived in Radley with interesting tales to tell about their lives More about this series of recordings

Recordings have also been made as part of the research for a Club publication:

• Radley Primary School: Then and Now – research for The History of Radley CE Primary School (published 2008) More about this series of recordings

• Farming and Rural Life in Radley – research for Radley Farms and Families 1600-2011 (published 2011) More about this series of recordings

All the recordings are listed by subject category in the archive catalogue.

How to obtain a copy of a recording

Links to audio files of the interviews in the various series are generally available on request from the Club archivist – there’s no charge but you may be invited to make a donation to the Club. 

When contacting the archivist, please quote the name of the person interviewed and the archive number of the recording you’re interested in.

Please note that recordings are provided solely for non-commercial research, study and private enjoyment.

World War Two memories

In 2020, a series of short accounts of Radley experiences in the Second World War prepared by Club member and past chairman, Christine Wootton, was published online. While the accounts make extensive use of recordings in the Club’s oral history collection, this was a wider project using material acquired by Christine during research on other topics.