Category: Business News

A THAME furniture retailer is to retire next month, and has sold his shop in the High Street, to an up-market cookware company.
David Healey, who lives in Long Crendon and is a long-term member of the Thame Chamber of Commerce, has decided to retire after over 20 years in Thame and will close the doors of the shop for the last time on May 27.
The shop will be taken over by The Steamer Trading Cookware Company, whose head office is in Lewes, East Sussex.
The Steamer Company was founded in 1985 by Liz and David Phillips on the site of the former ?Steamer Inn? in Alfriston, Sussex – hence the name Steamer Trading. Today the business has grown to six stores across East Sussex and one recently opened in Kent.

Liz and David state on their website: http://www.steamer.co.uk – “Remaining a family-owned and run business is important to what we do best at Steamer Trading ? being passionate about what we sell and the customer service we offer. All of our stores offer a very different look ? we always seek out unusual buildings: from a Victorian railway station in Heathfield to a converted church hall in Brighton ? but the range of kitchenware that we offer, over 10,000 different items, represents the very best to be found in the world.”

Photo: Liz and David Phillips, Founders of The Steamer Trading Company.

A GROUP of local business people have come together to form a not-for-profit company with the aim of helping disadvantaged people from around the world to help themselves.

The goal of ‘Ethnix’ is to locate and import products made by people willing to work their way to a better standard of living and then sell them here in the UK. What sets Ethnix apart from many other similar projects is that any profit made will be returned to the source community and invested in learning, business or social projects.

Founder member and Ethnix Director, Hilary Handley, says:”The Ethnix team is offering a hand-up rather than a hand-out to disadvantaged people around the world and you can help us do that by buying a product from our range. By giving any of the Ethnix products as gifts you will effectively give the gift three times; the first gift is buying the product in the first place and growing the producers business, the second gift is giving it to the person you bought it for and the third gift is the profit going back into the community where the producers come from.”

The first product in the Ethnix portfolio is a range of Hessian bags made by co-operatives of women who live in appalling conditions in Khayelitsha, a sprawling township near Cape Town in South Africa. The bags are all very reasonably priced and can be purchased online at www.ethnix.org or by calling Hilary on 01844 291320.

The Ethnix team is: Hilary Handley (Wildfire, Haddenham), David Handley (Thame Workholding, Long Crendon), Simon Husband (Richardsons Chartered Accountants, Thame), Cat Young (Solve the Web, Wallingford), Pascale Wood-Atkins (Wood-Atkins Commercial Law, Whitchurch), Malcolm Newdick (Riverbank IT Management, Little Haseley), Louise Brooker (Box Technologies, Bicester), Sue Harper (Independent adviser, Haddenham).

THAME computer support company, SoundByte Response, have joined forces with a London-based charity to send obsolete computer equipment to schools and charity projects in the Developing world.

Soundbyte have agreed to act as a collection point for all suitable hardware and will bear the cost of getting the machines to London where volunteers prepare them for use overseas.

Computer Aid International has already shipped more than 60,000 PCs to 99 different countries. Of those 60,000 shipped, over 45,000 have gone to educational institutions and the remaining to community organisations working in fields as diverse as HIV/Aids, environment, human rights, and primary healthcare.

Soundbyte Managing Director, Simon Gray, explained:
“We have been supporting ComputerAid since the Thame Festival last year but didn?t have the space to act as a collection point for them. But now that we?ve moved to larger premises in Wellington Street, we can help forward this hardware rather than it ending up in landfill.”

As Computeraid themselves stress, not all equipment is suitable:”We are currently able to make use of any Pentium III or IV machines and any related peripheral equipment. Importantly we also need your mice, keyboards, modems, cables and power leads, memory and other peripheral parts.?

Soundbyte are also accepting monitors, as long as they are working and are not larger than 17? but make a nominal charge for testing and shipping. Soundbyte can also clean all the existing data from your machine prior to donation.

If you have equipment to donate then you can take it to Soundbyte?s computer clinic at Avon House, 82 Wellington Street, Thame, during office hours or call 01844 216981 for more information.

AS TV chef, Phil Vickery is urging people in Oxfordshire to buy local, a Thame food shop is featured in the new Food Guide 2006.
Local Tastes, in the Buttermarket, Thame, only sell produce sourced from within a 30 mile radius of the store and was the winner of the much coveted 2005 ‘Taste of the South East’ award.
See their website at: www.localtastes.co.uk

The Food Guide features 126 people growing, rearing, processing and selling local food in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire and neighbouring areas.

Phil Vickery says in the foreword: ?My mission is to urge all chefs, cooks, tea shop owners and caterers to look for locally produced food that has a real flavour and taste. The French, Spanish, Italians and Portuguese love their local food heroes, it?s about time we did the same.?

Oxfordshire County Council is one of the local authorities to help fund and back the Food Guide. It is now available from Farmers? Markets, shops, pubs, restaurants, public libraries, council offices. They are also available from the Berks, Bucks, Milton Keynes and Oxfordshire Food Groups that co-ordinate the Food Guide.

The guide will be launched at the Oxford Farmers Market, Gloucester Green, on Thursday March 2 at 11.15am.

Cllr Roger Belson, Oxfordshire County Council?s Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: ?Buying local food that has not travelled for miles tastes better and is more environmentally friendly.

?The phrase ?food miles? refers to the distance and the amount of fuel that has had to be used to get foodstuffs into our supermarkets. There are few ?food miles? for local food. I urge everyone in Oxfordshire to have a close look at the delicious local food that is on sale on their own doorsteps.?

A powerful new Network, set up to boost business in Oxfordshire?s towns, is celebrating another big jump in its membership.
Witney & District Chamber of Commerce and The Henley Partnership Ltd have now agreed to join the Oxfordshire Town Chambers Network (www.otcn.co.uk), taking its total membership to 15 organisations across the county, including Thame Chamber of Commerce.
Between them, these 15 organisations have more than 1,200 business members.

The two newcomers join town Chambers or business groups in Abingdon, Banbury, Bicester, Burford, Carterton, Charlbury, Chipping Norton, Didcot, Faringdon, Oxford, Thame, Wantage, and Woodstock as members.

OTCN co-founder John Naish says: ?This is a real boost for what is becoming an increasingly powerful and active business network for Oxfordshire. We?re delighted to welcome Henley and Witney to the Network to add their expertise and experience of working for the benefit of their town and its businesses, to that of the 13 town chambers and business groups already playing an active role with us.?

Chairman of The Henley Partnership Ltd, Errol Facy says: ?The Henley Partnership is delighted to join the OTCN. We all do our best to support and develop our own towns, but there are matters that affect us all. The Network helps us prioritise and focus on the key issues with a collective voice. It also saves each of us re-inventing the wheel by exchanging what we’ve done and how we achieved things. ?

Chairman of Witney Chamber, Lesley Semaine, says: ?Witney & District Chamber has joined the Oxfordshire Town Chambers Network so that we can give our business community more commitment on their behalf. Joining the other fourteen town chambers and business groups makes us stronger and with their help, we can be more influential in dealing with our members? issues.?

The Oxfordshire Town Chambers Network aims to help its member organisations share ideas, best practice, and experience of common issues that they are tackling in their towns in Oxfordshire, and engage the groups in lobbying local authorities and other decision makers.

Three events networks: The Oxfordshire Womens Forum, The Late Breakfast and Wantage & District Business Breakfast Club have also joined, while three other town business groups in the county are discussing membership.

The Network has been launched with a web portal to promote its member groups and their websites at www.otcn.co.uk. It is encouraging its member groups to develop their online presence. Most recently Faringdon Chamber (www.faringdonchamber.com) and OX1 (www.ox1.uk.com) have new sites. OTCN has built a page for Charlbury and Witney Chambers on the Network?s own site.

LOCAL businesses are being invited to sponsor Thame’s roundabouts following the district council handing over their maintenance and management to a private company.
The roundabouts available for sponsorship are that at the junction of the A418 Oxford Road/Rycote Lane, the A418 Aylesbury Road/A4129 and B4011 roundabout, the one at the A4129 Kingsey Road/B4012 Howland Road, and the Waitrose roudabout.
For more information contact Market Force on 01394 672467.

INTEROUT Transport Services has appointed Graham Wood as contracts manager for its specialist bulk foods division.
Graham has risen through the ranks at Interoute on the company’s internal management development programme.
A graduate of Southampton University, he joined the company five years ago as a distribution analyst at its Thame headquarters. He went on to become a traffic supervisor at the company’s Teesside location before moving to the food division eighteen months ago.
In his new role he will be responsible for customer support and the ongoing development of both the oil seeds and glucose sides of the operation Interoute runs for food customer Cargill. He will also be managing specific projects.
These include the continuous improvement of vehicle security and product integrity and the optimisation of information technology such as the Navman satellite tracking system installed a little over a year ago.
Graham is also responsible for monitoring and reviewing his division’s implementation of the new working time directive for drivers.
Graham will report to David Bhidey, operations director of Interoute’s food division, who himself developed the company’s internal management development programme to identify, encourage and equip talented staff with the skills to become effective managers.
Says David, “Good managers are an essential yet scarce resource. Developing and encouraging from within is proving to be a very effective way of coping with the skills shortage and encouraging the strongest potential employees.
“Graham’s promotion is a prime example of the success of our management development programme.”

Article Courtesey of Transport News Network

IN essence, employers WILL require fuel receipts for mileage claims in future, even if the claim is on a pence per mile basis.
Business Brief 22/05, issued by HMRC on December 1, 2005, describes the new arrangements for recovery of VAT by businesses on road fuel purchased by their employees on their behalf.
Essentially, employers will be able to continue to treat as input tax the VAT incurred by their employees on fuel costs that are subsequently reimbursed by the employer, either on the basis of actual cost of the fuel or by means of a mileage allowance. However, after January 1, this year, the business must hold a VAT invoice or invoices showing sufficient VAT to cover the input tax claim. Normally, there will not be an invoice showing exactly the amount of the input VAT claimed because often some of the fuel will be used by employees for private purposes and reimbursement will usually be based on a fixed amount per mile.

New legislation to take effect on 1 January 2006 will ensure that VAT can only be claimed where the fuel is used for business purposes and is attributable to taxable outputs. There will be a requirement to hold a VAT invoice. HMRC have confirmed that relief will not be denied on the grounds that the fuel is actually supplied to the employee and the VAT invoice is in the name of the employee and not the business.

There will be instances when the fuel purchased within a certain period does not correspond exactly to the cost of the reimbursed business fuel. This could arise, for example, where fuel is purchased in one VAT period but is not fully used until a subsequent period. HMRC accept that some invoices may cover more than one claim and will take this into account in checking the evidence to support claims.

INSTALLATION of the eagerly awaited CCTV scheme for Thame, is due to start on Monday, January 16.
The

THAME And District Chamber of Commerce’s programme of meetings for the coming year is as follows:

Monday, January 30 – 6pm Venues to be confirmed
Monday, Feb 27 – 7.30pm AGM and Dinner
Wednesday, Mar 29 – 6pm
Thurs, April 27 – 6pm
Monday, May 22 – 6pm
Tues, June 27 – 8am
Wed, July 26 – 6pm
August No Meeting
Thurs, Sept 28 – 6pm
Tues, Oct 31 – 8am
Mon, Nov 27 – 6pm
Thurs, Dec 07 – 7.30pm CHRISTMAS SOCIAL

New members welcome. Please contact the Secretary, Sonja Francis on 01844 218832 to confirm attendance within one week before each meeting. (Both existing and potential members.)