Little did the committee who compiled and printed the Eynsham Cookbook realise that the weekend they planned its launch would coincide with the build-up to the election and that they would be able to hand the first copy to David Cameron when he visited the village while campaigning.

As Eynsham’s MP David Cameron was one of the hundred contributors who wrote a recipe (roast shoulder of lamb) for this fundraising publication, the brainchild of local historian Doreen Hockedy.

Doreen has already successfully instigated the sale of Eynsham tea towels and aprons. She saw a cookery book as the next logical step in her crusade to raise funds for the Church Hall restoration fund.

The fascinating thing about this little cookery book is that, like so many homespun books of this type, it is not just a list of recipes but a social record of historical significance. When checking the recipes submitted, the committee soon discovered that many residents had provided recipes that their mothers and grandmothers used to cook. Indeed, they received such a large number of recipes that dated back several decades that they added a special chapter entitled Stirring up the Past.

These old recipes include a grandmother’s recipe for squirrel casserole, which are prepared like young rabbits and cooked in water laced with tarragon vinegar once the joints have been fried in hot fat until brown, then braised for two-and-a-half hours with vegetables until the meat drops off the bones. Squirrels were once considered delicacies, but are seldom eaten now.

I admit to eating squirrel many years ago at a gamekeepers’ dinner at The Crown, Enstone. It was served as a mystery dish. The amusing thing about that dinner is that I’m not sure I would have eaten it had I known it was squirrel, But I didn’t – so I ate with confidence and declared it tasty.

Rook pie was also considered a special dish once. Jenette Blake, who submitted this recipe, says that this pie was one of the highlights of her life as a child during the war. The pie was cooked after the annual shoot, which was deemed necessary to keep numbers in the rookery at a reasonable level as there were a limited number of elm trees suitable for the colony near her home.

Jenette says that although the pie can be eaten hot, they always ate it cold, sometimes for breakfast – then more of a major meal then than it is nowadays.

Contributions from Eynsham WI dating back to 1949 are also in the book. These include boiled meat roll, and a Dutch butter made from isinglass, water, loaf sugar, lemon juice and rind, and yolks of eggs, which was thought suitable for invalids.

Recipes taken from Jean Sawyer’s little book Our Shop Cook Book, printed to celebrate the splendid ironmonger’s shop her family once ran in Newland Street, date back to a 1822 cookery book used by her grandmother. These include “Alfie the road sweeper’s baked date pudding to keep the cold out” that calls for bread, breadcrumbs, milk, sugar, butter and chopped dates.

While many of the recipes are linked firmly with the past, others reflect the diverse nature of Eynsham’s population today. Sandy Hellig’s tasty Asian beef with noodles, for example, is one of the many take-away dishes she cooks in her deli, Cornucopia. It is a splendid example of a dish that originated in another part of the world. Sandy says people love it particularly when served with noodles or tagliatelle and wilted pak choi or spinach.

Graham and Daphne Maynard’s delicious Greek-Cypriot recipe for moussaka is an impressive and tasty contribution, too. As they say, it’s inexpensive, tasty and works every time. What more could you want?

The pesto bread that parish councillor Verity Hughes contributed also reflects modern influences as it calls for the king of Mediterranean herbs – basil – which when combined with hazelnuts, grated Parmesan and extra virgin olive oil, creates a superb pesto that gives her bread an extraordinarily good flavour. The perfect summer bread actually.

Of course, no village cookery book would be complete without a big section on home-made cakes and biscuits. Visitors to Eynsham’s weekly Country Market are already aware that the we have some very talented cooks, capable of creating a wide range of delicious sponges and fruit cakes, as well as biscuits such as cookies made with beekeeper Sally Moyes’s honey.

Even a local dog, Rolo Roston the poodle, contributed a biscuit recipe, but as this calls for an over-generous amount of Marmite and grated cheese this is for canines only.

The Eynsham Cookbook proved such a hit that members of the committee are already considering another reprint. It is now on sale (£7.50) at most village shops, including Evenlode DIY, Emporium, Cornucopia and the village Post Office.