Dressed in all their finery, these ladies were looking forward to a day out in London.

The charabancs were ready at Wolvercote, Oxford, to take them to Wembley to tour the British Empire Exhibition in 1924 or 1925. We know the names of nine of the women – Miss Fletcher, Mrs Robinson, Mrs Taylor, Bessie Loveridge, Mrs Collett, Miss Rowland, Mrs Hutt, Mrs Brookes and Mrs Fathers.

The picture is one of a large number of Wolvercote scenes belonging to former villager Val Faulkner, of Raymond Road, Bicester.

The exhibition was opened by King George V on St George’s Day, April 23, 1924.

The British Empire consisted of 58 countries at that time, and only Gambia and Gibraltar did not take part.

It cost £12m to stage, it was the largest exhibition staged anywhere in the world and it attracted 27m visitors.

Its aim was “to stimulate trade, strengthen bonds that bind mother country to her sister states and daughters, to bring into closer contact the one with each other, to enable all who owe allegiance to the British flag to meet on common ground and learn to know each other”.

There were displays of industry, engineering and arts in three exhibition halls. Among the exhibits was the famous locomotive, 4472 Flying Scotsman.

At the 1925 exhibition, it was joined by the newly built Great Western locomotive, 4079 Pendennis Castle, now preserved and based at Didcot Railway Centre.