These ladies were in good spirits as they posed for the camera.

Oxford Mail photographer Bill Radford clearly thought showing a little leg would embellish his picture.

In fact, the ladies were leaving Oxford for a serious purpose.

They were all members of Oxford and District Licensed Victuallers Women's Auxiliary - in other words, they ran or helped to run pubs in the Oxford area. They were heading to Portsmouth in 1971 to take part in the Licensed Victuallers' National Homes annual convention at Portsmouth.

The National Homes charity was one of the main good causes the landladies and their pubs supported.

The convention was attended by about 3,000 people from across the country.

The women are, from left, Mrs Everett (Bulldog), Mrs Harrington (The George, Botley), Mrs Clayton (The Bullingdon, Marsh Road), Mrs Hastings (Dolly's Hut), Mrs Mansell (The George, Stanton St John), Mrs Greenwood (The Plough, Wolvercote), Mrs Locke (Newlands, Eynsham), Mrs Parrott (The Jolly Postboys) and Mrs Reading (The Eagle and Child).

A more sedate picture of the women, with their legs firmly on the ground, appeared in our sister paper, The Oxford Times, under the headline, Time, Gentlemen please, to bid farewell to the ladies.