While the end of the 1960s is remembered for swinging London fashion and the Beatles and the Stones, people in Oxfordshire had to make their own excitement.

Here we look back at some archive photos from 1967 to 1969.

Earlier this year Hugh Williamson remembered how his father Tony Williamson fought racism in the 1960s.

Oxford Mail: Tony Williamson in 1960 Picture: Hugh Williamson

Hugh told the Oxford Mail: "Sorting through my father’s papers at his home near Oxford, I come across cuttings from the Oxford Mail that give me a jolt.

Read again: Bus services in Oxfordshire being axed

"They were about events in the city decades ago, in the 1960s.

"Yet there are such strong parallels to today.

"In 2020, there were protests in the city streets against the statue of Victorian imperialist Cecil Rhodes outside Oriel College.

"Hundreds marched down High Street and sat outside the college entrance, a building funded a century ago by Rhodes.

"There are parallels in Oxford in early 1962. The Conservative Government under Prime Minister Harold Macmillan had tabled the Commonwealth Immigration Bill, to heavily limit immigration from the former colonies in the Commonwealth.

Oxford Mail:

"The Tories said it was necessary to protect jobs of British people. Labour called the draft “cruel and brutal anti-colour legislation”.

"People from many walks of life in Oxford opposed the Bill. Tens of thousands of people from the Commonwealth had settled in Oxford, filling labour shortages in industry and the public sector, giving the city a multicultural identity earlier than other places. Pressure groups were emerging to promote racial integration and anti-racism."

Read more: Restaurants with the best and worst food hygiene ratings

Hugh added: "Canon Tony Williamson, my father, was part of this movement. He was a freshly elected Labour member of Oxford City Council, giving him a voice, a platform, to speak out.

Oxford Mail:

"On Sunday, February 4 1962, those opposing the Bill marched through the city centre under the Movement for Colonial Freedom banner, ending outside St John’s College in St Giles. My father spoke to the crowd.

"As the Oxford Mail reported: "Mr Williamson, waving a copy of the Bill, told an audience of about 200 people: ‘We have got to see that we get over this problem without making coloured people scapegoats. We cannot build our council houses in Oxford because we have not got enough labour. We have 3,000 jobs waiting and yet we say ‘No, you cannot come in’”.

Despite this protest, and others across the country, this battle was lost – the Bill became law in July that year. Race relations didn’t disappear from the political agenda, however.

Read more: Photographer shares his best snap of the year

Conflicts over race and racism continued. In one case, an Indian man, Hans Raj Gupta, who worked on the Oxford buses, was the victim of a racist attack outside his home, only months after he had been recognised as the first Indian bus inspector in Oxford.

Oxford Mail:

Dozens of anti-racism protesters were arrested for occupying Annette’s hair salon in Cowley Road in 1968, after staff refused to cut the hair of black and Asian customers.

Dozens more were detained when Enoch Powell, the far-right politician, came to speak at Oxford Town Hall. The offices of the Oxford Committee for Racial Integration (OCRI), a pioneering anti-racist community organisation set up in 1965, were vandalised, and OCRI warned of the rise of the 'extreme right'.

Read more from this author

This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF