Category: Business News

THERE have been a series of commercial distraction offences to retail premises across the force area since February. This has involved groups of up to 10 (sometimes more) people, described as Eastern European, both males and females and sometimes with children.

They have entered smaller retail shops, post offices and petrol filling stations and distracted staff with enquiries and purchases, whilst a number of the group enter rear storage or private living areas, stealing mainly cash and jewellery. To date there has been no violence used by this group.

A similar incident occurred at a Newsagents in Oxford Road, Abingdon, on Thursday 22nd March, at approx. 13:17hrs.

Please be extra vigilant to these offences and lock any access to restricted areas during trading hours. If you see anyone suspicious or have any information relating to this message, please call the police on 08458 505 505 and state you are responding to a ringmaster message.

THE Thame Festival parade is happening! A positive response has met recent appeals by the event organisers who, nonetheless, need more businesses to get involved in the parade and the festival.
To make the parade more accessible to businesses who may not have the time or staff to organise anything elaborate, this year there will be no need to necessarily come up with a full float or fantastic costumes – although of course the more colourful and eye-catching the better – just get involved in this fun, community event.
Claire Hewison-Billsborough, Thame First’s representative on the Festival Committee, says: “Taking part could simply be walking along with T shirts with your company name on, or the ‘full thing’ with banners and flags etc.. whatever you do, just do something.. please let us have your ideas, and commitment for this annual event.. look forward to hearing from you..”
contact Bob Davies: mortgagebob1@btinternet.com or Diane Eyre: diane@seyre.com

“A significant proportion, about 57%, of the private sector jobs in the County are provided by small businesses. The small business sector is therefore a crucial element in the Oxfordshire economy. There has never been any significant study of how the small business economy works at the local level. The Oxfordshire Branch of the FSB has therefore engaged academics from both Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University who are active in the Oxfordshire Economic Observatory, to undertake just such a study. They have undertaken an analysis of the small business economy in Oxfordshire with the aim of identify the main issues facing small businesses and to recommend strategies for resolving them.”

See full report. Link

Photo: Courtesy of ism Insurance Inc.

UMBERTO DELLA VALLE, who owns and runs the prize-winning delicatessen in Greyhound Walk, Thame, has added his support to a charity that aims to help children in Ghana.
Umberto, who has two young daughters himself, has been a big sponsor of TACCO since it’s inception. The specialist Italian food shop in Thame, organised fundraising for TACCO recently and with generous donations from his customers, presented a cheque of

THAME First, formerly the Thame Chamber of Commerce, is to investigate the possibility of Thame becoming a Fair Trade Town.
To qualify, the following five goals must be met:

1.The local council must pass a resolution supporting Fairtrade, and serve Fairtrade coffee and tea at its meetings and in offices and canteens.

2.A range of Fairtrade products must be readily available in the area?s shops and served in local caf

THAME businesses are being invited to promote themselves by taking part in this year’s Thame carnival procession.
Because of Health and Safety and insurance issues, the carnival was cut out of the annual Thame festival celebrations last year, but the organisers are hoping, that with the support of local businesses, a walking carnival procession will make the event a festival to remember.
The theme of this year’s festival is ‘A Thousand Years of Oxfordshire.”
Any businesses who would like to support the festival this year, either with sponsorship or entering in the procession itself, is asked to contact the Chairman of the organising committee, Bob Davies via ThameNews.Net on: editor@thame.net

FLEDGLING South Oxfordshire businesses are being reminded that the clock is ticking on their chances of winning a great prize and taking their venture to the next level.
The deadline for entries to the South Oxfordshire New Business Competition is now just days away. Competition organiser, Paul Mabbutt of Jennings of Garsington, says: ?Entries close on February 28. We?ve had some great new businesses put in their forms already. But we know that people take their time to put together their submission carefully and run up to the deadline. We?d hate them to miss the closing date and miss out.?

The winner will get a cutting edge business advice package from competition co-sponsors Oxford Brookes University Business School and Business Boffins, plus their choice of either: a FREE furnished office in Hampden House for a year or a FREE virtual office for a year. To enter, the business must have been less than two years old on December 31st 2006.

The furnished office is free for 12 months and has an equivalent value of

BUSINESSES across Oxfordshire are to be asked their views on how environmental issues, such as waste, water and energy, affect them.
Over the next three weeks Oxfordshire County Council will be posting questionnaires to some 18,000 businesses.
The aim of the survey is to enable the council to develop services that cut the cost of doing business and help businesses reduce their impact on the environment at the same time.

The survey, which is being run jointly with the Oxfordshire Sustainable Business Partnership, can be completed online at: www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/sustainablebusinesssurvey or returned by post. The closing date is 5 March.

Everyone who responds to the survey will be automatically entered in a raffle to win one of five bicycles from the Oxford Cycle Workshop, which refurbishes used bikes.

Oxfordshire County Council’s Commercial Waste Reduction Officer Dan Dempsey said: “This is a really major survey that gives local businesses the chance to influence the development of the council?s services for them. For instance, trade waste recycling services that match customer demand.”

He added:”Businesses that perform well environmentally are also financially successful.”

A THAME economic group is determined to help make the town fit for business in the 21st century. Among the innovative ideas discussed at a meeting of the Economy Group of the 21st Century Thame Partnership recently, was a town-wide shopping Loyalty Scheme, making the whole town centre a Wifi hotspot for wireless internet communication, encouraging businesses to recycle more and adopt other sustainable good practice, and making Thame a Fairtrade town.

Already, discussions have taken place between a company that runs an award-winning Loyalty card scheme and several retailers in the town.

Alun Rowe, Chair of Thame First, formerly the Thame Chamber of Commerce, said: “We are determined to do all we can to keep Thame a vibrant and economically viable town in these difficult times for smaller retailers particularly, but for all types of businesses. We can only achieve this if we all pull together and do all we can to take advantage of best practice and modern technology so that people want to come here and do business with us.”

The next meeting of ‘Thame First’ is on Thursday, February 15, at the United Reformed Church (opposite Thame Market place car park) from 6-8pm.

Photo: Chair of Thame First (formerly Thame & District Chamber of Commerce), Alun Rowe, of Pentangle Internet

RUNNING a cost-effective and environmentally friendly office – Breakfast meeting – February 13, Sherard Building, Oxford Science Park 8am – 12 noon.

This FREE half day event will provide information and solutions to running a green office. Businesses can take a big step towards cutting office waste, and saving money on resources and utilities such as paper, water and energy – which Envirowise has estimated could be as much as