Category: entertainment and leisure news

THE Friends of Towersey Festival, who strongly believe that Arts in the community are vital to the local economy, are once again inviting local musicians to apply for funding.

They believe that live music, theatre and the general performance and visual arts brings people together, they exchange views, ideas, they form new friendships and links, they bring together projects and presentations, provide full time and part time jobs, a purpose for those seeking voluntary work and most of all a community spirit, most needed in times of a credit crunch.

Strong links with Towersey Village Festival are very evident in the list of recipients of grants from the Friends of Towersey Festival. Both young and old return to the Festival year after year to perform and share their experience as a way of saying thanks for the help. Funds are raised and distributed on grant application to both national and local artists. The Trustees are now welcoming applications.

Local musicians or Arts related groups are invited to apply to the Friends of Towersey Festival for funding towards new instruments, lessons, bursaries, education trips and equipment. Some of the people who have benefited are:

Sarah Stuart – Coursework & Instrument
Lucy Ward – Guitar Pick-up and Equipment
Wilber – One-to-one lessons
Ethno England – Annual Gethering
Ellie Skinner – Source Material
Brewery Arts Centre(Youth Folk)Kendal- Youth project
Jonathan Fairey – Drums
Brin Sawdon – Sibelius
Ryburn 3 Step – Clogs
Becky Redwood – Oxfordshire City Youth Orchestra Annual Tour

Thame Youth – Young Directors Project
Booker Ranger Guides – Gangshow & Pantomime
Amy Darcy – Career Development
Footloose Festival – Workshop Leaders
Dominique Dean – Melodeon
The Very Official
Theatre Co. – Career Development

If you think you would like to join this list, then you should apply to The Trustees, The Friends of Towersey Festival, c/o PO Box 296, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 3XU. The charity is for:

The education of people in music, dance, song, theatre, arts and crafts
To encourage the young to encompass performing and visual arts at an early stage
To support the careers of people, developing their skills and even taking them on to a fully professional level
To support people in later life who decide perhaps they missed out and now turn to the arts in their leisure time or new careers.
Registered Charity No: 299636

If you would like to support The Friends of Towersey Festival, then you could become an individual supporter for

Presented by Thame Chamber Choir – Saturday, April 25, 2009 at St Mary?s Church, Thame from 7.30pm.
A concert celebrating nature?s inspiration upon four centuries of composers. Directed by Duncan Aspden.

Five Flower Songs – Britten
Three American Folksongs – Rutter
The Bluebird – Stanford

Together with delicious partsongs from composers including Gibbons, Weelkes, Parry, Pearsall, Coleridge-Taylor and Sandstrom reflecting nature’s varied touch upon humanity.

Ticket

Enjoy an overnight stay, sensational 3-course dinner, deluxe continental breakfast and a bottle of champagne on a Friday night from as little as

YOUNG Oxfordshire bands are set to blow the roof off Oxfordshire County Council’s Centre for Music during the annual Rock and Pop Festival tomorrow, Friday, April 3, 2009.

Several groups were selected by a county council Music Service panel during heats in January to perform in the gig at the Centre for Music at Bayards Hill School, Waynflete Road, Headington, Oxford.

The bands playing are:

Hell’s Gazelles from Lord Williams’ School, Thame

Picnic Now! from Abingdon’s Larkmead School and John Mason Secondary School

The Will & Jim Project from Faringdon Community College

Rotary Attachment from Leckford Place School, Oxford
Motherhen from Bloxham School

Montreal from Banbury School

White Space from Gosford Hill School, Kidlington

Councillor Jim Couchman, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Social and Community Services, said: “The continued success of the Rock and Pop Festival is yet another example of Oxfordshire’s Music Service providing opportunities for musicians at all levels of experience, from those who have never had a chance to play in a large venue before to those that play regular gigs around the county.”

Rock and Pop Leader Nick Wright said: ?The bands who will be performing have been chosen for the quality of their song writing, playing and singing, their originality and to show as many different styles of music as possible. They are all very able bands for their age and experience and will, I hope, provide a very entertaining evening.?

Tickets are available for the gig, which begins at 7pm, priced

TALK by Melvyn Bragg, Friday, 27th March 2009, 5.30 p.m. – 6.30 p.m., at The Taylor Institution, St Giles, Oxford Melvyn Bragg is an Author, Broadcaster and the President of Mind. He will be talking about his acclaimed series of ‘autobiographical’ novels (The Soldier’s Return, A Son of War, Crossing the Lines and Remember Me) following the journey of a young man from Cumbria to Oxford and London. This event was kindly organised by Kath Thomson. Admission will be

TOMORROW, Thursday March 26; doors open at 8 pm – The Social, Station Road, Chinnor;

FEATURING – Cali Collect, Devile Beside Her and Tiger Trap + tbc

A BLOOD donation session will be held at The Village Hall, Church Way, Haddenham on Tuesday 7th April from 1.00pm – 2.55pm & 3.45pm – 6.15pm.
For more information or to book an appointment to attend this session, please call 0845 7 711 711 or visit www.blood.co.uk

HADDENHAM MUSEUM. In anticipation of Haddenham United Football Club’s 100th anniversary next year, club chairman John Carnell has assembled a display of club photos, memorabilia and artefacts, which you can see at the museum (behind the Methodist Chapel in the High St) (open Sundays 2-4.30pm or Tuesdays 10am-noon) for the next couple of months.

Mike Whitney has recently added a new album of photos, ‘The Changing Face of Haddenham – from 2000’, to the existing collection, which contains photos going back over several decades.

Sat 21st Witchert Chorale. There will be tickets at the door (

YOUNG people in Thame are invited to a meeting of youngStarS THAME.

Why? There is a need to enable the young people of Thame and the surrounding area to have access to new services and amenities. This venture seeks to address those opportunities, and provide a framework for their development, funding and implementation.

What: Meeting to explain the opportunity to develop a new social enterprise which is independent of any existing organisation, and structured to maximise the revenue raising capacity for projects that fit its objects. Its distinctive feature is that it will be run by a board that principally consist of young people under 30 years of age.

Who should attend: People with a keen interest in the educational, social and economic development of young people as engaged local citizens – especially young people themselves.

Outcome: A minimum of three young people to become members of a new company with charitable objects, and to complement this, three additional people to support the work of the members, forming the nucleus of an advisory council

When and Where: – 11 March from 6.00pm-7.00pm in the Conference Room, Lord Williams School, Oxford Road, Thame

Interested? Who do you know that would be interested in finding out more information? Please invite them to accompany you to the meeting. For more information contact Richard Morgan on 0845 658 8093 or email richard@genyus.eu

ORSUM Events, in collaboration with Crash Records, are reviving the Chinnor and Thame Rock Nights.

Previously held in Thame, the Rock Nights were extremely popular hosting favourites including Hedroom, Lament, Tonight is Goodbye, Daytime Roleplay, Shouting Mike, Linchpin, The Youngs Plans, but when the Football Club, and The Social both closed, and with the absence of a suitable regular venue, they stopped,

With continued pressure to revive these nights from gig goers and musicians alike, the search for a suitable venue began. The Social Club in Chinnor was available as a regular venue and seemed to fit the bill so, with the teaming up of Orsum Events and Crash Records, regular rock nights are back with a new name, Rock the Pavilion.

Starting on March 12, the Rock Nights will be held every other Thursday until June 18, at The Pavilion, Sports and Social Club, Station Road, Chinnor Oxon. The venue will be 14+ with strict ID for the licensed bar.

Having gained support from Marshall, Ashdown and Rock Star Energy drinks and with four bands per night, Rock the Pavilion rock nights are going to be orsum!!

March 12th will be headlined by Bootstrap, an alternative rock band from Aylesbury, supported by Slapdash, ska punk from Thame, indie punk band TerrorFret from Chinnor and One Last Dance Off from Thame. For more about the Rock Nights, dates and bands see http://myspace.com/orsumevents.

Doors open from 8pm. Entry is