FOLLOWING the news that ex Spandau Ballet vocalist, Tony Hadley, is no longer available to officially open the Thame Town Music Festival tomorow (July 8), Thame’s Mayor, Tom Wyse, will do the honours.
Tom is a big music fan himself, but has promised not to sing!
THAME Players present this heart-warming re-imagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling. This fully orchestrated musical tells the story of Ugly, an aesthetically challenged duck, who finds himself pushed out by the other members of the duck-yard, leading him into an adventure that will see him discover the true meaning of what it is to be different.
Winner of multiple awards, including the 2000 Olivier Award for Best Musical (beating both The Lion King and Mamma Mia), this touching celebration of being different is sure to delight audiences with its sparkling wit and memorable score.
The cast includes 14 adults and eight children who play a range of delightful and less delightful characters, from frogs and geese to turkeys and mandarin ducks. Tom Mackriell, director of the Thame Players’ production, said: ” ‘Honk! has been an exciting and fun experience for everyone involved. Each cast member has taken on all the challenges given to them with passion and confidence – their commitment and enthusiasm will ensure this production is a big success.
“This is my third time of being involved with Honk! and each time I find something new and exciting about it. The story carries such important messages about inclusion and diversity, especially important in today’s society, so I think that Honk! will always remain poignant and current. I can’t wait to see it on the stage here in Thame.”
The other works of British writing duo, Stiles and Drewe, have exploded around the UK over the last few years and include Mary Poppins, Half a Sixpence, Betty Blue Eyes (based on the film A Private Function) and the soon-to-open Wind in the Willows. Honk! is guaranteed to put a smile on everyone’s face – no matter how horrendously ugly that smile may be.
Tickets cost £9 (concessions £8) and are available from Spear Travels, 01844 217228 or online from www.thameplayers.co.uk
THAME Youth Theatre is looking for a committed and reliable Drama teacher from September, 2017.
The hours would be Monday’s, 4pm to 6pm directing members ages 10-12.5. There is potential of a second class 6.30pm to 8.30pm for ages 12.5- 14.5.
“Thame Youth Theatre is incredibly passionate about helping members grow in confidence and helping them create shows each term,” said Paige Fox! “We need enthusiasm and passion!”
AT mid-day, on July 8, on the Main Stage in Thame town centre, music legend Tony Hadley will formally open the inaugural Thame Town Music Festival, setting in motion one of the most exciting, new, annual events to happen in Thame.
Tony lives locally and can be often seen around the town, and is a huge supporter of local charities and events but, as lead singer of Spandau Ballet, formed in 1978, and one of the pioneers of the ’80s New Romantic movement, Tony has earned the accolade of being one of pop music’s greatest vocalists.
Gold, True, Only When You Leave and the iconic Through the Barricades are just some of the hits the band created. By the mid 80s, they were world-wide superstars. More recently, in 2015, a re-formed Spandau Ballet toured the planet for nine months playing at some of the world’s biggest venues.
Whilst not performing at the Thame Town Music Festival this year, Tony will be welcoming everyone before a whole host of artists and bands perform, not only on the Main Stage outside the town hall, but at seven other venues around the town too, where you can see and hear music genres from Rock to Folk and Classical to Americana, and all stops in between, being performed.
Put the date in your diary – Saturday, July 8! It’s going to be a FREE party with brilliant music, whatever your taste, plus comedy, food and lots more. To go with the road closures, car parking will be provided at the Southern Road Recreation Ground as well as all the other existing car parks in Thame.
Thame Town Music Festival is a not for profit Community Interest Company, run by a team of volunteers, and its aim is to enhance Thame and get live music thriving in the town.
Check out all the Venues and Line-ups and all you need to know about the festival at: www.ThameTownMusicFestival.org
DID you know that during the Spanish Civil War, fifty Basque girl refugees were housed at Rycotewood, Thame?
Find out about how they lived, how they were looked after and what happened to them, by booking tickets for Liz Woolley’s talk No Other Way – Oxfordshire and the Spanish Civil War 1936-39, at Thame Museum on Thursday, June 22, 7.30pm.
Full details HERE
JUST in case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few months, or you are a complete social media avoider, you will not have heard that THE first, FREE, Thame Town Music Festival will be held in the town centre on Saturday, July 8, 2017.
This adventurous development in Thame’s growing calendar of festivals and celebrations, led by Festival Director, Johnnie Littler, with the full support of Thame Town Council, means that Thame will be closing the roads and holding a FREE, multi-venue, multi-genre, town centre celebration of live music – not for profit, but for the love of music!
There will be eight venues all over Thame including a Main Stage in front of the Town Hall in the Lower high Street carpark. Headlining will be the legendary GLEN MATLOCK (founder of the Sex Pistols and writer of Anarchy in the UK, and God Save the Queen) and Friends (including Slim Jim Phantom from the Stray Cats and Neal X from Sigue Sigue Sputnik). Also on the main Stage will be the brilliant Rusty Shackle, Van Susans, Nikki Loy, The Dung Beatles, Emma Stevens, The 27 and Highway 51.
The other seven venues; The Birdcage, Jack and Alice, The Stables at James Figg, The Black Horse, The Cross Keys, The Snooker Club and the Leisure centre, will feature another 50 different bands, artists and comedy acts. Just as an example to get your musical juices trickling, at the Jack & Alice Wine Bar in Buttermark, Double Bassist Tim Dawes is curating a bill of some of the coolest Jazz from performers including Nathan Allen – Amy Winehouse’s drummer – and Tim Lapthorn, one of the most in-demand piano players in London.
Other highlights include Acoustic Folk from Wilford Social, at The James Figg, Bluegrass, Country Music, Blues and Classical choral music from Lord Williams’s Festival Chorus at the Leisure Centre.
The Cross Keys pub in East Street, will feature top Comedy from an awesome line-up including Cecilia Delatoria, Katie Pritchard, Rasputin’s Lunchbox and Stuart Woodings.
The other venues will feature a whole spectrum of music genres from Rock to Folk, and Classical to Americana – and all stops in between – and it’s all FREE!
To make this a truly special day, there will be a very cool Street Bar, lots of food stalls, merchandise stands and American classic cars in town.
Put the date in your diary – Saturday, July 8! It’s going to be a FREE party with brilliant music, whatever your taste, plus comedy, food and lots more. To go with the road closures, car parking will be provided at the Southern Road Recreation Ground as well as all the other existing car parks in Thame.
Thame Town Music Festival is a not for profit Community Interest Company, run by a team of volunteers, whose sole (or should that be soul ?!) aim is to enhance Thame by promoting original, live music and to help it thrive in the town.
Check out all the Venues and Line-ups and all you need to know about the festival at: www.ThameTownMusicFestival.org
FOR an inspiring and delightful day out, take the once-a-year opportunity to explore the local studios and venues of Bucks artists as they open their doors to the public for Bucks Open Studios across the weeks of June 10 – 25.
This is a great opportunity to learn more about art and crafts in your area, talk to the artists and buy a unique gift for that special person (who might be you!). https://www.bucksopenstudios.org.uk/
Among the local artists taking part is Mark Stallwood who is opening his studio in Chearsley over the weekends 10th/11th, 17th/18th and 24th/25th June. He works in oils specialising in portraiture (animal and human), still life and cameo pictures. Visit Mark’s website: www.imagineoils.co.uk. Find him at Orchard House, Lower Green Lane, Chearsley HP18 0BZ.
Another local artist taking part is Jackie Innes who lives in Princes Risborough. Thame.Net editor, Sonja Francis, was lucky enough to be invited along to Jackie’s house recently and try the art of Batik. So she pedalled her way along the Phoenix Trail to meet Jackie for a taster of this ancient art of wax resist fabric decorating – and homemade cake!
Jackie explained: “Batik is an art form originating from the Far East, using wax resistant dying processes and techniques. I love the contrast between the fine lines obtained by the canting (the tools that are used to drip or trickle the melted wax onto the fabric, usually silk) and the more abstract brush strokes and crackle effects achieved with the wax.
“The wonderful part is watching the design emerge from the process of waxing and overdyeing until the final colour and design is revealed when the wax is removed. It’s not always exactly what’s planned or expected, which adds to the fun and therefore each piece is unique.”
The most difficult part for Sonja was having to think in the negative, because unlike painting, you have to imagine where the colour DOESN’T go. She eventually got the hang of using the ‘cantings’ and brushes of different texture, and then came the exciting bit -putting the fabric in a the dye. The coloured powder is mixed with cold, salted water and then in goes the fabric. Once the dye has taken, and the required colour is reached, the fabric is then plunged into boiling water to remove wax, and then plunged into cold water.
The final stage is to iron flat your masterpiece – as Jackie’s Thistle design pictured, and mount the design in a frame.
You can read more about the process and what inspires Jackie’s work HERE
Jackie will be demonstrating at The Tythe Barn, Manor Farm, Haddenham, HP17 8AH, June 17 – 25, 2017, 12-5pm, and her work is currently for sale at fitch & fellows, in Buttermarket, Thame.
Visit: https://www.bucksopenstudios.org.uk/ to discover all the artists and craftspeople taking part in Bucks Open Studios.
THIS week’s film to be shown by Thame Cinema 4 All, on Friday, June 9, is GRADUATION, a Romanian film, made in 2016. It’s a 15 certificate is is 125 minutes long. Graduation is directed by Cristian Mungiu and stars Adrian Titieni, Maria-Victoria Dragus, Rares Andrici, Lia Bugnar, Malina Manovici and Vlad Ivanov.
Synopsis – Romeo Aldea is a middle aged doctor with a complicated life: an ageing mother, a demanding mistress, a disinterested wife, and a daughter, Eliza, who is about to leave high school. On the eve of an important final exam – one that will decide whether or not she gets a scholarship at a British university – Eliza is assaulted by a stranger near her school.
Badly shaken and injured, her participation in the examination is under threat. Romeo is far more threatened by this than his daughter. Having left for the west and returned some years earlier, he has regrets about what might have been, and his daughter’s possible future will be his redemption as much as it is her opportunity. He has a choice to make. A man who considers himself far more principled than the society he is part of, Romeo has to decide whether to compromise those principles and engage in the kind of corruption that he normally holds in contempt. He knows people in the right places, games that can be played and strings that can be pulled to help Eliza.
Mungiu’s film, like many contemporary masterpieces of post Soviet European cinema, examines the legacies of the past: the ghosts of the old regime haunt the present such that the wide-scale corruption of the old society has translated into individual moral and spiritual corruption that people struggle to resist.
You can view trailer HERE – Tickets £5 each, are available on the door or online- Click HERE
Doors open 7.30pm for an 8pm start. Licensed bar.
BOOKING is now open for tickets to this year’s Thame Food Festival. And there’s prizes to be won for ‘early birds’.
Every early transaction enters the buyer automatically into a prize draw to win a Magimix Patissier machine worth £500.
Book HERE
OXFORDSHIRE Past 2017 will be held on Saturday, June 17, at The Barns Centre, Thame from 10am to 4 pm. This enjoyable annual event in the Oxfordshire calendar is for anyone interested in history, buildings and archaeology.
Stalls and exhibits will be open throughout the day. Attendance at Oxfordshire Past costs £7 and must be booked in advance. This includes tea/coffee but not lunch.
To book, you need to pay online at the website http://oxfordshirepast.org/ which can be used by both OAHS (Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society) members and non-members OR send a cheque for £7 payable to ‘Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society’ to Jill Hind, 99 Wellington Street, Thame OX9 3BW. If paying by post, please assume receipt as no acknowledgement will be sent.
Oxfordshire Past is organised by OAHS in association with other Oxfordshire societies and organisations www.oahs.org.uk
