It wasn’t only in Oxford that Girl Guide and Brownie groups were successful - they flourished in other parts of Oxfordshire too.

Oxford Mail photographers were often despatched to ‘the sticks’ to record activities in our county towns and villages.

Picture 1 shows Guides and Brownies who spent an afternoon helping to keep Carterton, near Witney, clean and tidy.

READ MORE: Nine photos of riots and protests at Campsfield House 

Led by Guide Captain Pat Evans, they set off from St John’s Church armed with paper sacks and walked through the shopping areas picking up litter.

Mrs Evans said: “The Guides suggested it and it is our contribution to the Best Kept village competition.

“We asked the town council if we could tidy up the centre of the village and they replied they would be delighted.”

Seen left to right are Marcia Lucas, 12, Julie Hodgson, 10, Carol Sweeney, seven, Wendy Sparkes, eight, and Jennifer Powell, 12.

Fifty Guides and Brownies at Kennington, including Susan Wilde in Picture 2, surprised everyone by keeping quiet for more than four hours in 1972.

They were taking part in a sponsored silence, raising £150 for the village’s overseas aid fund.

The headline in the Oxford Mail above Picture 3 read - ‘Girls on the crest of a wave’.

They were some of the 150 Guides, Rangers and Brownies who were singing on stage in the finale of an all-girl Gang Show at Wenman School, Thame, in 1971.

The show was produced by Mrs D Turner and Mrs M Hutchings.

Picture 4 shows some of the cast in another Gang Show - this one at Stonesfield, near Woodstock, in 1970.

The show, which raised £53 towards the village hall rebuilding fund, was called ‘Mrs Pooter’s Party’ and was the fourth to be staged in the village.

It proved so popular that the cast decided to give an extra performance.

The Guides and Brownies from the Woodstock area in Picture 5 released more than 200 gas-filled balloons in 1970 to mark International Thinking Day, while in Picture 6, we see 30 Guides from a newly formed Bicester company about to leave for a week’s camp in 1968.

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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.