A Model Council • The Oxford Rural Community Council (in
this case co- operating with the Oxford Preservation Trust and with the central C.P.R.E.) are most successfully reviving merry England in most practical fashion. They are helping to provide occupational centres for the unemployed, to provide playing fields, to build and manage village halls, to re-establish arts and crafts among village smiths in iron and wood, as well as to organize local drama and fairs and fetes. New as this work is, they are in tradition. The preservation of the spirit of rural England is as important as the preservation of its architecture and rural attractions. In connexion with this Lancastrian Fair Mr. Drinkwater says that, "to preserve the traditional qualities and aspects of the countryside is to preserve a source of spiritual wealth that circulates daily among the whole national life. I hope that the promoters of this present fairing will be richly encouraged in the service they are doing to the com- munity." Oxfordshire has found a real model for imitation.
Previous page
