Our lovely new ram is officially named!

Local schoolchildren who helped decide the name of our lovely new ram came to the pub the other day to attend the official naming ceremony and see the names they’d chosen being put up on the pub wall.

Manager Becs invited them in after attending a special school assembly at St Mary’s C of E Infant School to announce the winners of a competition to give our friendly wooly faced lamb a name.  She also arranged for a sign-writer to come and paint the names onto the pub wall.

Being so proud of our ram, which is the focal point of our new look, we thought he definitely deserved a special name.  Spot him everywhere in the pub, from the backs of bar stools and on beer mats as well as on the new pub sign outside and even looking like he’s walking across the front of the building. So we asked regulars as well as local school children to come up with a great name for him.

The children and their teachers from St Mary’s C of E Infant School, West Witney Primary School and The Farmhouse Nursery School on Church Green quickly rose to the challenge and suggestions for the name flocked in.

What a fantastic response!  We were thrilled not just with how many but also how clever the names were – it really captured everyone’s imagination!  We had over 100 entries, making it very hard to choose a winner, so in the end we picked two; Ramikin from four year old Harry who attends The Farmhouse Nursery School and BoomerRam suggested by six year old Casper Wright from St Mary’s.  Both will be popping in for hot chocolate with their families before heading off to Cogges Manor Farm for a great day out as their prize.

We also thought a nice way of celebrating the names would be to put them on the wall for everyone to enjoy.  We’ve got some quirky rams heads decorating the wall in the eatery, with little bells around their necks, which look like they’re peering out from the wall, so we’ve painted the winners’ names under each one.

The adult winner of the naming competition, Emily McIntyre, also had her name written up inside the pub alongside the childrens’ names.  Her idea was to call him Barnaby Blanket, a nice nod to the town’s blanket making history.  Emily wins a meal for four at The Fleece for coming up with the name.

Other names we loved which just had to have a prize were Mr Baarington from Elliott Fowlson and Aries the Ram from Grace Bruzus, both aged six. Maisey aged six called him Smartie, because she has them on her Babyccino at The Fleece.  All are from St Mary’s C of E Infant School.  Four year old Amy Bhogal gets a special mention for a fabulous effort in colouring in the ram, as does five year old Samuel Leahy for a great name using the local history of Witney, Buttercross.  Amy and Samuel both attend West Witney Primary School.

We’d like to say a big thank you to all the children who took part and came up with so many fantastic names – we really enjoyed reading them all. Do come and see the rams and the winning names next time you’re in.

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