A village offered a fond farewell to two of its best known - and long-standing - residents.

Joyce and Dennis Jones have lived in Nuneham Courtenay for more than 60 years, but are moving to a bungalow in Watlington.

The couple have been involved in village life for nearly all of those six decades, and seen hundreds come and go.

They ran the village post office for 32 years - and older residents remember the couple because they weighed babies on the post office scales to save mothers paying bus fares to go to the nearest clinic.

Many of those babies have now grown up and were at a farewell party for the couple at a packed Nuneham Courtenay village hall.

Mrs Jones, 84, said: "Those 'babies' now have their own children, but they still come to see me.

"In those days, people were not earning a lot of money. I told the mothers that if they brought their babies in, I would weigh them once a week.

"Not many people had telephones then, and if babies were ill, I would also ring the doctor for them."

Mrs Jones first arrived in Nuneham Courtenay during the Second World War as a member of the Land Army.

She met Mr Jones, who was in the RAF and stationed nearby.

They married and, after the war, returned to Mr Jones's home in Yorkshire before moving back to Oxfordshire, to Oxford, and then to Nuneham Courtenay in 1949.

When the postmistress retired, Mrs Jones took over.

She said: "I applied for the position and so did some other people, and I was lucky enough to get it.

"For a few years we turned our front room into the post office, but when the old PO building became available, we moved into that.

"We ran the post office from 1951 until 1983 when I retired. Nuneham Courtenay was a wonderful place years ago. Everyone knew and cared for each other.

"It's not quite the same nowadays, with so many newcomers buying properties.

"They aren't really village people. This party is like how Nuneham used to be."

The couple were stalwarts of many village activities.

Mr Jones, 88, started a youth club which met on Friday nights, and was also a member of a committee that launched an annual flower show. The show stopped a few years ago when entries declined.

Mrs Jones said: "I did quite a few things. I was Brown Owl for the Brownies and captain of the Girl Guides.

"I became president of the WI, and played the organ in the church until it closed around 20 years ago. After that I joined the choir at nearby Marsh Baldon."

Mrs Jones added: "Another thing we did was to hold Communion services at our house for the elderly who were unable to travel out of the village.

"I also started the Nuneham Players and we would entertain the elderly people."

Mrs Jones and her husband have two children, Jenny and Duncan.

She said: "Duncan runs a garage and, until a week ago, I was doing his books."

Villagers paid tribute to the couple. Long-time friend June Harris said: "Joyce was the backbone of the village for so long.

"She was involved in anything and everything. It will be very sad when they've gone."

Mrs Harris added: "My children have always called her Auntie Joyce."

Neighbour Sheila Brooks said: "They will be sadly missed. She was always there when people needed help. Joyce and Dennis are two beautiful people - real characters."