THE arrival of a new fire engine in Oxford was the occasion for a civic celebration.

Dignitaries turned out in their full regalia, firemen stood to attention and crowds gathered to welcome the new appliance.

This was the scene outside the Town Hall in St Aldate’s on July 14, 1935.

Oxford Volunteer Fire Brigade had acquired the tender from Morris Garages from its base a few hundred yards away – now the site of the crown court.

The vehicle, registration number BWL 810, was driven the short distance to the Town Hall, where the mayor, Mr GC Pipkin, smashed a bottle of Champagne over the bumper and christened it Fred Ballard after the brigade’s president.

The mayor then got into the passenger seat and was driven to Gloucester Green, where he opened an extension to the George Street fire station. The brigade had suffered a severe lack of space and was able to expand by moving into part of the old Corn Exchange.

We know the names of the four firemen facing the camera – Jack Hale, Charlie Brown, Sidney Honey and Chris Newbold. Mr Honey became a sub-officer and when he died in 1958 at the age of 52, he was in charge of all Oxford’s volunteer firemen at the Slade station at Headington.

His best friend, Chris Newbold, a butcher at Florence Park, became a leading fireman, while Charlie Brown became station officer at George Street.

The pictures come from Annette Moore, of Chal-grove, whose father, Cyril ‘Jim’ Bushnell, was a member of the Oxford Volunteer Fire Brigade.