Women have played an important role in looking after the sick, elderly and needy in our communities over the years.

These pictures show members of the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service at work or being rewarded for what they did.

Picture 1 dates from 1986 when three women – left to right, Freda Cooper, Ursula Goulding and Queenie Thomas – received long service medals.

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Mrs Goulding was the county meals on wheels organiser, Mrs Cooper was finance officer and Miss Thomas was county administrative worker.

Jill Ford, area organiser for Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire, presenting the medals, said they were a small acknowledgement for the hard work they had done.

Past and present members at Didcot gathered in 1989 to celebrate 25 years of helping the community.

In Picture 2, we see Eileen Todorovic, left, and Freda Lane, right, with meals on wheels organiser Connie Jeans.

Didcot members cooked 100 meals at Ladygrove day centre twice a week under Mrs Jeans’s supervision.

Among those present was founder member Edith Turner, 89, known as ‘Spud’ as she was chief potato peeler until a machine was introduced.

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Elsie Andrewartha, sitting in Picture 3, enjoyed helping the elderly, even though she was older than many of them.

She was celebrating her 90th birthday and was still organising activities for villagers at East Hanney, near Wantage.

Ted Perkins, chairman of the Vale of White Horse district council, and WRVS members gathered to thank her in 1980 for 39 years’ service.

Picture 4 shows members being thanked for long service by Home Counties organiser Gloria Simms, centre, at Wallingford in 1987 – left to right, Pat Ashton, Betty Jaffrey, Elsie Reed and Rosa Taylor.

The Witney meals on wheels team, in Picture 5, took to the streets to celebrate the organisation’s 50th anniversary in 1988.

They took part in a parade from their base at Witney Methodist Church in High Street through the town to a reception and open day to illustrate their work.

Picture 6 takes us back to 1955 when members presented a television to Cowley Road Hospital in Oxford. It was bought with the proceeds of a trolley service.

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.