Author: Sonja Francis

UNUSUAL stories about Oxfordshire?s past will be unveiled at a new exhibition that looks at the history of hats and shoes.

The show ? Head over Heels ? at The Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock, explores headwear and footwear through a range of subjects, revealing amongst many other things secretive local traditions and how the items became fashionable.

Shoes bricked into walls

Museum visitors can discover more about the mystery of why shoes are often found bricked into walls near windows or doors or in roofs in properties in southern England.

Theories around the practice include the idea of protecting a property from evil forces or that the essence of the wearer remained in the shoe because it had become moulded to their foot. The show includes a pair of heavily-worn clogs found in a roof in Standlake, which are thought to be part of a cache of concealed garments.

Part of the free-to-view exhibition in the Park Street venue is split into sections ? work, shopping, performance, mystery and childhood ? which document various items, including an animal headdress worn in 1885 during a Tudor pageant staged by Lord and Lady Wantage at their Lockinge Manor home.

The exhibition reveals that style was important to shoe-wearers long before the appearance around a century ago of familiar high street names which enable many people to purchase footwear in styles often seen by the rich and famous. It will display leather fragments of rounded- and pointed-toe shoes dating between 1300 and 1500 that were found during a 1970 excavation of Oxford Castle Barbican.

Range of local exhibits

Other items that will be on show at the exhibition, which runs from Saturday 16 June to Sunday 9 September, include:

A woman?s hat with feathers that was worn in the latter part of the nineteenth century in Middle Barton. Feathers at the time were extremely expensive and popular, to the extent that it led to the foundation in 1889 of the Society for the Protection of Birds, due to the international trade in rare bird feathers
Former Mayor of Oxford Sir Robert Buckell?s bowed shoes, bought from R Gillman and Son, a shop in Cornmarket Street, Oxford.

A beekeeper?s hat, possibly home-made, worn in the earlier part of the last century in Steeple Aston
First World War sheepskin boots owned in the Abingdon area which were worn by airmen as early aircraft did not have heaters due to the need to be as light as possible

A 1700s-style cocked hat worn in the mid-twentieth century by the High Sheriff of Oxfordshire ? a role dating back to 1066.

A white cap worn by the 1930s by a maid at Swyncombe House, near Wallingford. Staff being caught not wearing their caps were frowned upon in some households at the time

Museums worked together

The exhibition is the culmination of the first-ever joint venture by city, county, university and independent museums and collections, which also involved a show at The Museum of Oxford which ran until June 3.

Sam van de Geer, an Oxfordshire County Council Museum Object Conservator who worked on putting the exhibition together, said: ?Delving in to the local history of hats and shoes has been a rewarding experience for everybody involved, particularly when working with the community groups and volunteers who have given up their time to assist with this project.

?The exhibition will show people how fashion influences us all in obvious and sometimes hidden ways.?

Councillor Judith Heathcoat, Oxfordshire County Council?s Cabinet Member for Safer and Stronger Communities, said: ?This exhibition is part of the fruit of some excellent collaborative work involving museums and collections from across Oxfordshire and it promises to be fascinating for all those who come to see it.?

The county council-run Oxfordshire Museum is open 10am-5pm, Tuesday to Saturday and from 2pm to 5pm on Sundays.

LOCAL artists will once again be opening their doors between June 9 -24, for this year?s Bucks Open Studios, and inviting people to go and watch them at work, and to exhibit finished works for sale.

There are several artists taking part in this year?s event close to Thame, including Anna K Baldwin in Haddenham, who makes contemporary jewellery (see www.bucksopenstudios.org.uk/exhibitorlisting.asp for a full list). But it would certainly be worth while travelling just a little bit further to visit a very newly established little gem of a workshop between Lane End and Frieth.

Hideaway pottery is an embryonic cottage industry, off Ditchfield Common, Lane End, High Wycombe selling a mixture of burnished earthenware pots and domestic pottery items, all with a distinctive style inspired by the kind of pots found on archaeological digs. But artist, Jilly Reynolds is not just a potter, offering beautifully rustic, hand spun yarns and unique ragdolls made from hand spun wool and recycled fabric scraps in the traditional manner. Each item is unique and original, the creation of Jilly herself, who possesses a relentless imagination making her a self-confessed compulsive maker for more years than she cares to divulge.

Jilly told ThameNews.Net: ?I hope that as business expands, Hideaway will be able to offer the space as an outlet for other local craftspeople and designers starting out on their own. Many a craftsperson has given up on their dream because of the difficulty of finding an outlet, as major shops and galleries have a huge mark-up which renders the goods too expensive to buy and does not give the creators an opportunity to be competitive in the face of cheap mass produced foreign imports. With a little imagination we could change all that.?

Hideaway sits on the edge of a beautiful cottage garden and is in the midst of fantastic Walking country, high in the Chilterns. Jilly is aiming to offer individual spinning and basic hand knitting lessons too.

Contact 01494 883965 or 07854810196
Or e.mail: jilly@hideawaypotter.co.uk

***NOW (07/06)less than 10 tickets left for 8pm the artist, plenty at 5pm screening ***
SATURDAY, June 9, 2012 – Thame Cinema 4 All presents: The Artist – France / Rest of the World 2011, 100 minutes, PG certificate, Directed by Michel Hazanavicius, Starring Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, James Cromwell and John Goodman.

We end this season with the most delightful film of the last year, perhaps even the last decade ? at the very least, it is a rare example of a Best Picture Oscar going to something that really was the best picture by a considerable margin. Hazanavicius? gem pays homage to the silent era of cinema with a moving and heartwarming love story set against the backdrop of the advent of the talkies. Dujardin is handsome and preening, funny, self effacing and vulnerable as George Valentin, clearly intended to be a Valentino or a Douglas Fairbanks, swooningly popular and a powerful player with his studio.

However, George is reluctant to admit that talking pictures are the way of the future, and his stubborn refusal to go with the flow means his career looks ready to crash and burn. Meanwhile he encounters ambitious rising star Peppy Miller, whose charm, looks and vivacity mean she is on the brink of megastardom. In a series of hilarious re-takes of a crowded dance-floor scene, they notice each other, sparks fly and an enduring attraction begins, although it is not until much later that their feelings are made known to each other.

References to A Star is Born are striking, and there are sufficiently numerous nods to cinema of the past to make the film a cineaste?s dream. But The Artist is an absolute winner even without an encyclopaedic knowledge of movie trivia. By situating the narrative at the last gasp of silent movies, we are encouraged to reflect on what makes movies so mesmerising ? the beauty of the black and white cinematic screen reminds us that this artform is first and foremost about looking, and we are invited to consider what was lost when we came to rely on increasingly complex soundtracks. It shows that image and orchestral accompaniment are more than up to the task of conveying complexities such as crises of masculinity and the folly of pride, and of rendering utterly believable sentiments such as loyalty, pathos, love and longing. Oh, and the dog is fabulous.

If you?re not moved to tears / rapturous applause at the end, well… get the person sitting next to you to check for a pulse.
(ps ? you may have heard of certain philistines at some cinemas asking for their money back when they found out that the film was silent – you have been warned, and refunds will only be considered if you leave in an ambulance!)

***NOW (07/06)less than 10 tickets left for 8pm the artist, plenty at 5pm screening ***
SATURDAY, June 9, 2012 – Thame Cinema 4 All presents: The Artist – France / Rest of the World 2011, 100 minutes, PG certificate, Directed by Michel Hazanavicius, Starring Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, James Cromwell and John Goodman.

We end this season with the most delightful film of the last year, perhaps even the last decade ? at the very least, it is a rare example of a Best Picture Oscar going to something that really was the best picture by a considerable margin. Hazanavicius? gem pays homage to the silent era of cinema with a moving and heartwarming love story set against the backdrop of the advent of the talkies. Dujardin is handsome and preening, funny, self effacing and vulnerable as George Valentin, clearly intended to be a Valentino or a Douglas Fairbanks, swooningly popular and a powerful player with his studio.

However, George is reluctant to admit that talking pictures are the way of the future, and his stubborn refusal to go with the flow means his career looks ready to crash and burn. Meanwhile he encounters ambitious rising star Peppy Miller, whose charm, looks and vivacity mean she is on the brink of megastardom. In a series of hilarious re-takes of a crowded dance-floor scene, they notice each other, sparks fly and an enduring attraction begins, although it is not until much later that their feelings are made known to each other.

References to A Star is Born are striking, and there are sufficiently numerous nods to cinema of the past to make the film a cineaste?s dream. But The Artist is an absolute winner even without an encyclopaedic knowledge of movie trivia. By situating the narrative at the last gasp of silent movies, we are encouraged to reflect on what makes movies so mesmerising ? the beauty of the black and white cinematic screen reminds us that this artform is first and foremost about looking, and we are invited to consider what was lost when we came to rely on increasingly complex soundtracks. It shows that image and orchestral accompaniment are more than up to the task of conveying complexities such as crises of masculinity and the folly of pride, and of rendering utterly believable sentiments such as loyalty, pathos, love and longing. Oh, and the dog is fabulous.

If you?re not moved to tears / rapturous applause at the end, well… get the person sitting next to you to check for a pulse.
(ps ? you may have heard of certain philistines at some cinemas asking for their money back when they found out that the film was silent – you have been warned, and refunds will only be considered if you leave in an ambulance!)

DONT miss BLOCK PARTY Friday, June 8, 8pm – 2am at the Spread Eagle, Thame! Ibiza legend, Brandon Block will be playing live!

Along with: Thame’s very own legend, Kristian Winslade, Tom Baker (no, not Dr Who!)and Arnie, playing House, Club classics, Dubstep.

Guest DJ from: Space/Gods kitchen/Passion/Mos/Moneypennies

Guest dancers: Nu Wave

Lazer & Light Show from Space, Ibiza

For tickets and further information, please contact Arnie on 07794746073

TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE SO GET THEM NOW OR PAY ON THE DOOR….