Category: entertainment and leisure news

March 7, 2009 – Thame Players presents Alan Ayckbourn’s “Sisterly Feelings”. 7.45pm at the Players Theatre, Nelson Street, Thame.

Tickets

TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM TODAY
PARENTS, carers and children are in for a treat yet again as the Oxfordshire Early Years Fun Day in Cutteslowe Park returns for its eighth year.

The Fun Day, run by Oxfordshire County Council?s Early Learning and Childcare Service, is a free event for children under five and their parents and carers.

More than 5,000 people are expected to attend the event in Cutteslowe Park, Oxford, which will take place on Thursday June 25 between 10am and 3pm.

Tickets for the free event will be available from Monday March 2 by calling 01865 815211. This is a very popular event and places are limited. Parents are asked to bring their own packed lunch and plenty of drinks. There is no entry without a ticket.

All day entertainment

There will be a huge variety of free entertainment on offer including Farms 2 Ewe, Cogges Farm, fairground rides, a reading tent, Oxfordshire play bus, Mini IQ, free smoothies, free water, a fire engine, Usbourne Books, free car seat checking from Footsteps, a police car and baby massage classes.

Parents and carers can also find out about Oxfordshire?s childcare, early education, play and health services that are available for children under five and their families in Oxfordshire.

Councillor Louise Chapman, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families, said: ?Oxfordshire Early Years Fun Day is the largest free event in the county for children under five and this is the biggest it has ever been. We always have wonderful feedback on how much fun the day has been and how useful the information is that we put into the goodie bags, which we give to each child.

“I am very much looking forward to this year’s event as it is also an opportunity for us to say ?thank you? to all those working with children in the county.”

Picture courtesy of Ipswich.gov.uk

THAME CONSERVATIVES – Main Hall, Lord Williams?s Upper School, Thame –

Clive Conway is association with Thame Players, will be presenting AN AUDIENCE WITH PETER SALLIS at The Players Theatre, Nelson Street, Thame, at 7.45pm on Friday, March 13.

A DEDICATED FAN

Veteran actor, Peter Sallis – star of ‘Last of the Sumer Wine’ – will be talking about his life and career. In Amongst the sellout audience will be a young German girl – a dedicated Sallis fan – who is
flying over just for the performance. Now that is dedication! The rest of the audience may not have such a journey but will certainly enjoy the performance just as much.

Peter Sallis was in the very first pilot show of ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ over 30 years ago and ofcourse is still in the cast. More recently he has found a whole new fan base since he became the voice of Wallis in the ‘Wallis and Gromit’ films. The Friday night audience will hear about this and many other episodes in his life.

For any last remaining tickets for the show, which cost

FROM time-to-time, ThameNews.Net likes to give local writing talent a voice and here Pascal Ansell, ex pupil from Lord Bill’s, now studying at Leeds University, recalls an interview with a modern, female …yes female, classical composer he met recently, and an encounter with one of his all-time drumming heroes, Zach Hill, from Hella.

Paste this link into your browser for the Judith Bingham interview http://explodingcrotch.blogspot.com/

and this one:
http://www.diskant.net/features/zach-hill/

for Pascal’s brush (?) with Zack Hill (drumming pun intended!)

Picture: Pascal Ansell plays air guitar at the sea side – well,why not?

THAME Choral Society is now in a better position to maintain its excellent reputation and hire professional instrumentalists for its next concert in May.
The choir’s first-ever quiz night, held on a very chilly Saturday night in Haddenham last weekend, netted the choir over

YOUNG musicians are set to battle it out for a place in the annual Rock and Pop Festival organised by Oxfordshire County Council’s Music Service.

Around seven bands will be chosen from auditions of about 40 musicians by a panel of experts from the Music Service’s Rock and Pop staff at Centre for Music headquarters at Bayard’s Hill School, Headington, Oxford, on Saturday January 31.

Musicians from all over Oxfordshire

The bands due to tryout include Ioneye, Rotary Attachment and Picnic Now!, who are all well-known on the county gig circuit and who are looking to appear at the Rock and Pop Festival gig, which takes place at the Centre for Music on Friday April 3, for a fourth time.

The groups come from all over Oxfordshire, attending schools in Abingdon, Faringdon, Woodstock, Thame, Oxford, Bloxham and Kidlington. Their musical influences range from The Beatles, Nirvana and Green Day to more modern groups such as Lost Prophets, Kings of Leon and The Raconteurs.

A great experience

Nick Wright, Rock and Pop’s Manager, said: “The bands auditioning for the festival are always of the highest quality and this year will be no exception.”

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.”

Tickets for the April gig, at

THE very first performance of a brand new production celebrating the life of Charles Dickens is to be shown in Thame.
Called A CELEBRATION OF CHARLES DICKENS, the show tells of the extraordinary and unique world of one of the best-loved authors of all time.

Through the writings and letters of the author himself, together with those of his friends and contemporaries, the show traces his fascinating life, illuminated by some of the funniest scenes in all literature as well as some of the most moving, embracing the romantic and the grotesque, the satirical and the macabre.

It brings to life Dickens’ universally loved characters, from Mr. Pickwick, Mr. Micawber and Mrs. Nickleby, to Mrs. Gamp, Uriah Heep and Scrooge, and reveals Dickens the celebrity, the social reformer, the actor, the entrepreneur, and, above all, Dickens the supreme entertainer.

The show stars Peter Egan and Elizabeth Garvie. Peter Egan is best known for his portrayal of Paul Ryman in the TV sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles. He has appeared in many other television and film roles including Michael Cochrane in The Ambassador, the Duke of Sutherland in Chariots of Fire and Oscar Wilde in Lillie. Elizabeth Garvie?s best known role was Elizabeth Bennett in the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. Other roles include Camilla Parker-Bowles in Diana ? Her True Story and Mary Rennie in the film, The Hostage.

Music for the performance will be provided by Christine Croshaw on the piano and flautist, Clive Conway.

The very first performance of the show, will will tour the whole country throughout 2009, will be at The Players Theatre in Thame, Oxfordshire at 7.45pm on Sunday 11th January.

Tickets cost

From tomorrow (04/12), until December 14, the Dadbook Gallery, at Cuddington, near Thame, will feature work by the controversial artist, Eric Gill, one of the most colourful figures in early 20th century art.
Amongst the works on view will be recently discovered original nude studies. will also be on display.

Eric Gill lived at Pigotts, North Dean, near High Wycombe, from 1928 until his death in 1940.

To celebrate the gallery?s exhibition of Gill?s work, Dr. Richard Cork will give the first in a series of specialist lectures at the gallery on December 12, entitled Wild Thing, Epstein, Gaudier-Brzeska and Gill.
These three artists revolutionised sculpture in Britain between 1910 and 1915.

FOUR MUSICAL GROUPS JOIN FORCES TO RAISE THE ROOF

On November 29, a special performance of Handel’s Messiah will be given in St. Mary’s Church, Thame. After two very successful similar events, this third collaboration between the world-renowned Orchestra of St John’s in London and the local Crendon Chamber Orchestra, will bring together the best of local amateur musicians with inspiring professionals.

The concert is part of OSJ Offstage, an OSJ community project which aims to innovate, create and educate. The combined orchestra will be joined by the OSJ voices, one of the country’s foremost choral groups, and members of Thame’s Lord Williams’s Festival Chorus. The concert will be conducted by John Lubbock, the inspirational Musical Director of the Orchestra of St. John’s.

Messiah is Handel?s most famous creation and one of the most popular choral works. It contains many well-known arias and choruses, of which the Hallelujah chorus is recognised almost everywhere. King George II stood for the chorus and the tradition continues today; Handel himself was reputedly reduced to tears by it. Messiah needs no more introduction.

The concert is on November 29, at 7:30 pm in St. Mary?s Church, Thame. Tickets are