Category: entertainment and leisure news

THAME Youth Theatre is doing Hairspray: the Broadway Musical. There are 70 children taking part, from all over Thame and surrounding villages. Over 40 are new members who are coming to Thame Youth Theatre for the first time.

All the children are working incredibly hard to make this an amazing show, with fantastic energy and enthusiasm during this intensive week where they rehearse from 10am-4pm each day.

The show is on Friday 20th August in the Phoenix Performing Arts Studio at Lord williams’ Lower School at 7pm and promises to be a fantastic evening!

THAME Town Council will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain on September 18, with a 1940s Hangar Dance at the Spread Eagle Hotel, with music from the Sound Force Big Band.

Go along in 1940’s dress and enjoy a hot Buffet Supper 1940’s style. Tickets at

MUSIC, dance, magic and colour, and that special something that you can?t put your finger on, will fill Towersey Showground, including the new Market Square stage with its 500 tiered seats. This tiny village will once again play host to its own Festival Showground over August Bank Holiday weekend.

Circus Skills for all ages, world class face painting, wandering street theatre, including giant green bugs, 18th century 10ft high ladies, a Samba Band, jugglers, puppets, a 6ft balloon escape and an enormous amount of
larkin? about.

Take the challenge of a climbing wall, Victorian Children?s Chair‐o‐plane, the world?s largest parasol, a
mobile recording studio and a giant wooden sculpture making a unique visitor experience.

Sit back with a cool drink under a blue sky where flags and banners flutter in a summer breeze that carries the sound of great music, laughing children and cheering crowds. A visit to Towersey is a truly magical day out.

Shop ?til you drop at over a hundred different stalls, selling every conceivable item from garden herbs and
handmade soaps to unique jewellery and clothing. Enjoy a mouthwatering array of exotic & delicious foods and a
pint at our huge real ale bar. All of this awaits you on the Towersey Festival Showground, in ?Another Lovelier World!?

Open from 10am ? 6pm Fri 27 ? Mon 30 August. Adults

THE organisers of the Towersey Festival, this coming bank holiday weekend, have got together with ThameNews.Net to offer the opportunity to win FREE tickets for the Georgie Fame gig on August 26, 2010.

All you have to do is send in a photograph you took at last year’s Towersey Festival, to editor@thamenews.net

The best one, as chosen by Sonja Francis and Tom Heap will be published on Thamenews.net and on the ithame app.

So get searching through those jpg files and send in your photograph before August 20, 2010.

HAURSPRAY Schools – Thame Youth Theatre’s exciting summer project! This summer, Thame Youth Theatre is running a holiday project for anyone in the area aged from 7-18. Spend a week working with TYT’s directors, making friends, and having fun, before performing Hairspary, at the Phoenix Performing Arts Studio in Thame. No experience needed.

10.00am to 4.00pm (performance Friday 20th at 700pm), at the Phoenix Performing Arts Studio, Lord Williams’s Lower School, Thame. Cost:

THAME’S long awaited new library in North Street, with a host of innovative features, is set to open at 10.30am, on August 2, 2010.

Children can delve into the world of illustrating during a special event to mark the opening of the new library. Well-known author and illustrator, Shoo Rayner, will be on hand at the new library from 2pm to show youngsters how to draw many of the characters he is famous for, including Ricky Rocket and Vic the Viking.

THAME town centre, stalls include bread, tarts, croissants, cheese, charcuterie and ?saucissons?, as well as Paris handbags, Proven

JULY
Sat 10th Jazz Picnic. Haddenham Village Society has announced regretfully that it has had to cancel this year?s annual Jazz Picnic due to insufficient tickets being sold.

Sun 11th Breakfast Service. Judy Thorp(e) from Action for Children (formerly known as the National Children?s Home) is the speaker at the Methodist Church breakfast service (9.45am). All are welcome. A collection will be taken for the charity at the service.

Tues 13th Dementia Forum. A new monthly service for carers and people suffering from dementia is starting on Tuesday (2.30-3.40pm) at Haddenham Medical Centre, Stanbridge Rd and continues on the second Tuesday of each month. If you or a loved one suffers from dementia, you can ask questions or voice concerns about what help is or is not available for you. The forum will be supported by professionals (Carers Bucks in association with Brendoncare Chiltern View) and others who have experience in the journey you are taking on. For enquiries about the group please contact Mike Tullett on 01296 747463.

Wed 14th Open Evening. Haddenham Community Infant School?s Curriculum Fortnight this year was on the theme ?A Life like Mine, How Children Live?. The school?s Curriculum Open Evening (6.30-8pm) will give interested villagers a chance to see what the children have been learning through this topic and see a recording of their performance of The Jungle Book.

Thurs 15th Composting Talk. Transition Haddenham and Transition Thame & District Permaculture Group have organised an evening on Composting (7.30pm) at the Rose and Thistle Pub.

?Most gardeners have a compost heap and it is recognised to be the most efficient way of providing soil nutrients, but what makes good compost? We will look at different methods and their advantages and disadvantages, various materials you can compost and some of the more obscure methods. Simple composting is a very energy efficient means of producing plant fertiliser and is available to everyone.?

Local Master Composter Keith Broadey will give an entertaining presentation on ?Composting for All?. Entrance free but donations welcome. For more information on Transition Haddenham contact 01844 296174.

Fri 16th Concert. A concert by the Manor House String Quartet, ‘Invitation to the Dance’, will be held at St Mary?s Church (7.15 for 7.30pm). Although the quartet – Vaughan Jones and Louise Bevan (violins), Adrian Smith (viola) and Julia Graham (cello) – have quite an established following in other villages in the Vale, this is the first time they?ve played in Haddenham. At this themed concert they will take a light hearted journey through the minuets and gavottes of the 18th century, exploring tangos, polkas, jigs, reels and much more. The programme will include popular classics and well loved pieces such as Tchaikovsky?s Waltz from Swan Lake, Faure?s Pavane, Ravel?s Bolero, Offenbach?s Can Can and Monti?s Czardas as well as many pieces inspired by dance and the folk tradition from around the world. Tickets are

WHERE? The Festival Dance House, Towersey near Thame. WHEN? Sunday, August 29, 2010, at 3pm, as part of the awesom Toweresey Festival!

Don?t miss the hit musical adaptation of the award winning picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. ?A modern classic? The Observer

Following another sell-out run in the West End this Christmas, Tall Stories? live stage adaptation of the best-selling picture book The Gruffalo is back on UK tour and coming to Oxfordhsire!

Touring internationally since 2001, this magical musical adaptation of the best-selling picture book, The Gruffalo has been performed to over a million people the world over!
The award-winning book was recently voted the nation?s number one bedtime story by BBC Radio 2 listeners and even hit the small screens on Christmas Day in a star-studded TV adaptation on BBC1!
Join Mouse on an adventurous journey through the deep dark wood? meet a wheeler-dealer Fox, an eccentric old Owl, a maraca-shaking, party-mad Snake! Mouse can scare these hungry animals away with tall stories of the terrifying Gruffalo, but what happens when he comes face to face with the very creature he imagined??
The Gruffalo is packed full with songs, laughs and fun for children aged 3 to 103!

The unique summer setting of The Festival Dance House in Towersey, near Thame is the perfect place to see this great family show. This huge marquee venue provides plenty of room to bring a blanket and cushions, spread out, bring some nibbles for your picnic (but don?t let the Gruffalo smell them!) and enjoy the show in the unique setting of this summer theatre in a marquee.

Watch a sneak preview online at www.gruffalolive.com

?Tall Stories have transformed a well-loved story into an exuberant, funny show? Time Out

?A rare treat to find a show that really is for all the family? The List *****
?Irresistibly charming? The Times
?An absolute delight? The Scotsman
?Monstrous fun? Daily Mail

Order your tickets now on 01629 827016 or online at

SOUTH Oxfordshire District and Vale of White Horse councils have announced summer holiday activities programmes for July and August.

Throughout the summer holidays, both councils are running a holiday activity programme for young people aged 5-18 years. Together with leisure operators and local sports clubs and groups, the councils are providing a variety of activities across both districts, between 26 July and 27 August.

The exciting activities on offer this year range from tennis and golf to street cheer and kayaking, as well as more traditional sports such as badminton, football, netball and squash and the ever popular Star:track athletics courses run with England Athletics.

There will also be a series of street sports programmes for young people aged 11-16 years at various leisure centres and youth centres. Activities include cricket at Great Western Park, netball and trampolining at Castle Leisure Centre and street dance in Chinnor and Chalgrove.

Bill Service, South Oxfordshire District Council Cabinet member with responsibility for leisure, is encouraging parents to book now to guarantee a place. He said, ?It?s even easier to book than ever, using the online booking form at www.southoxon.gov.uk/holiday-activities. So don?t delay ? book today!?

He added, ?Why not encourage your kids to get active and maybe trying something new. With the 2012 Olympics only two years away, let?s get kids on the track to sporting stardom and swap video games for tennis and street dance.?

Cllr Richard Gibson, Vale of White Horse Executive Member for Leisure, said: ?The holiday activities programme offers a wide range of sporting activities for children to get involved with, and by working with local clubs the youngsters are able to continue in their chosen sport long after the holidays have finished.?
PHOTO: Courtesy of www.squashzag