In early 2022, the Oral History Group began recording a series of interviews to capture the memories of people in the village about the effects of the Covid pandemic on them. The aim was to discover how the Covid pandemic had affected people in Radley and to make a record for future generations. To do this, the Group sought to interview people from a range of different categories – particularly those involved with key village institutions like the village shop, the church, the school and then people running a business, working from home, retired, medical professionals, looking after their children, caring for someone – a whole range of people.

The Group chose a period from early 2020 to the end of 2021, covering the three lockdowns. It produced a timeline of this period as an aide-mémoire for interviewees and interviewers. The next step was to develop a framework of questions to form the basis of an ‘informal chat’ format for the interviews. Download the timeline as a PDF

The aim was 20 interviews. In the end, 18 were recorded over the next two years or so.

On 9 September 2024, the Oral History Group gave a talk about the project at the Radley History Club meeting in Radley Church. The presentation covered the common themes uncovered by the interviews and the insights gained from them. Three members of the Oral History Group – Joyce Huddleston, Colin Orr Burns and Tony Rogerson – gave different parts of the talk. Tony Gillman, its ‘tech’ expert, recorded the talk. Click here to download a PDF of an edited version of the transcript of this recording interspersed with slides from the presentation.