Format: PAL All Regions
Duration: 62 minutes black and white

First Pasture Price: £12.99

Status: In Stock

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.

The rich tones of the much loved broadcaster John Arlott describe the countryside and lifestyle of a bygone age.

Also included is a 21 minute film, Harting - An English Village, on the Sussex Downs.