Rae Young

“It’s a dynamic and diverse place” I was born in South East London in 1977 and moved to Thame when I was 18 months old. The M40 was being constructed at that time, and my father had a job as a sales engineer for a company that made air conditioning equipment in Birmingham. His sales…

Sinead Cusack

“The beauty of the hill sold it to me” I was in born in 1948 in Dublin, the child of two actors whose parents were also actors. My grandparents were travelling players – they’d go to a different town every week. I was brought up in a seaside town called Dalkey with my siblings. It…

Nigel Adams

“It’s the best place in the country” I was born in Cheltenham in 1958. My father was a farm manager in the Cotswolds, but when I was five the farm was sold. We ended up at Shirburn Farm when I was seven as my father got a job as the farm manager. I went to…

Fergus Lapage

“I like Watlington, it suits me” I was born in 1949 in Stornoway, in the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. My mother was a Macloud, she had to learn English at school. My grandmother could only speak Gaelic. My dad was a doctor and my mother was a nurse. They met in India…

Angela Clark

“I’ve only ever worked on Watlington High Street in my whole life” I was born in Hythe, in Kent in the late 50s, and we moved to Ashford when I was four. I went to Primary School there. When I was ten my dad got a job in Reading, so that’s how come I am…

Jaine McCormack

  “Watlington is a very special, small community” I was born in Newcastle in 1957. I was brought up in rural Northumberland and lived there until I was 18. My family are mostly still up there. I’m a Geordie, and you can’t take the Northern out of somebody. There’s a lack of “side” – people…

Barry Adby

Watlington has a lovely, friendly feel to it “I was born in Watlington Hospital in 1948 and brought up by my grandparents. They adopted me, and the adoption procedure was done in The Court House, in Watlington, where there used to also be the Police Station. We lived in the same house as I still…

Jamie Carter

There are no Autism services here, so I am starting my own My dad, Mark, has always lived in Watlington, and his dad, Charlie, before him. My dad met my mum on the Isle of Wight when he was on a cricket tour. I was born on the island and we moved here when I…

Kitty Tait

The shops in Watlington have been really supportive “I was born in Shepherds Bush in London in 2004 and when I was three, my brother was five and my sister was seven, our family decided to get out of the city and move to the country. My grandparents live in Wallingford, not far away, and…

David “Ginger” Mustion

I know a lot of people “I was born in Wantage, and lived on a farm first of all, but there was a fire. It started in the barn and everything went. So we moved to Shirburn when I was three years old and I’ve been here ever since. I moved to Watlington in 2005.…