Category: entertainment and leisure news

BLUE skies and a sunny Thame welcome greeted campers and visitors this morning to the first Towersey Festival to be held on the Thame showground, since its move from its original home in Towersey itself.

The red Routemaster bus was busy transporting festival goers to and from the town centre, where the food shops particularly were doing brisk business supplying them with food and other necessities for a weekend of musical treats.

Families and visitors are able to enjoy a great day out this August Bank Holiday with a Towersey Festival Taster Experience ticket. The ticket grants a day’s entry to the famed Oxfordshire festival, which takes place from today, Friday 28, to Monday, August 31, 2015 at Thame Showground.

An annual highlight of the UK’s cultural calendar since 1965, the Visit Britain: Best of British Festival is headlined by legendary songwriter Joan Armatrading, multi-award-winning folk big band Bellowhead and Oxford’s much lauded Stornoway, plus Show Of Hands and Sally Barker.

A Towersey Festival Taster Experience ticket allows visitors to immerse themselves in a day’s worth of great music, inspiring workshops and demonstrations, entertaining performances, and good food and drink – all for just £8/£9 (adult) and £4 (child). They are available in advance from Thame Town Hall, High Street, Thame, or at the festival’s Box Office, on the day (from 10am-6pm).

Over 60 stalls offer gifts and goodies, from handmade soaps, unique jewellery and clothing, to garden herbs, while Towersey Real Ale and Cider Festival, well stocked with acclaimed and award-winning beverages from leading local independent brewers, presents the perfect accompaniment to the array of delicious street foods, courtesy of local artisan producers.

As always, there’s also a range of free performances and activities aimed squarely at families, with art, craft, science and circus workshops, face painting, games, singing, dancing, storytelling and more.

Among the free performances are Reckless Invention’s Comedy Waiters, Bite-Sized Circus’ Lukey Luck and Evie Mischievey, the unhinged Sid Bowfin, and ground-breaking dance company Folk Dance Remixed, whose performances fuse traditional folk dance with hip hop styles and live music.

The Showground Bar Stage also returns, with Thame’s First Thursday Music Club hosting a variety of invited guests, including The August List, Papa Truck and 2am Blue.

Towersey regulars will also see a number of changes to the new site, including a new Creative Quarter, improved site lay out and improved site access.

Car parking is free, while there’s also a red London Routemaster bus shuttle running regularly between Thame and Towersey throughout the festival.

If you are attending, why not also check out the festival’s big main stages with tickets from £30/£14 per day, or upgrade to a full festival ticket (£55-£135 with major discounts for Thame and Towersey residents) and enjoy such acclaimed acts as Joan Armatrading and Bellowhead, plus some great films, spoken word activities, and dancing. Under 5s are free.

Towersey Festival, Friday 28 to Monday 31 August 2015, Thame Showground, Kingsey Rd, Thame, Oxfordshire OX9 3JL. For further information, call 01629 827016 or see: www.towerseyfestival.com SEE WHAT’S ON – day by day, hour by hours: LINK HERE

Tickets:

Weekend Adult £135; Conc £110; Youth £95; Child £55; U5 free.
Day Tickets from £30 (Adult); £21 (Youth); £14 (Child); U5 free.
No booking fees. Discounts for Thame and Towersey residents – call for details.
Festival Taster Experience Tickets (showground only) £9 (on the gate) or £8 (advance from Thame Town Hall) & £4 (Conc, Child, Students) per day.
Car Parking: Free.
Bookings: 01629 827016.
Web: http://www.towerseyfestival.com

THE Towersey Fringe team will be outside Thame Town Hall on Saturday, August 22, selling tickets and to tell you about their event “Bands, Beer and Comedy!” taking place at Towersey Playing Fields from 2 pm on Sunday, August 30. This event is being staged to raise money for the improvement of the facilities at Towersey Playing Fields which are used by many people from Thame and surrounding villages.

Free entry to the afternoon event allows you access to local ales provided by XT, local bands providing live music, food stalls, retail stalls, children’s amusements and more. Tickets are available from the Towersey Fringe team on Saturday for the brilliant evening of comedy which follows with four of the country’s top comedians (contains adult humour!).

Headlining at what is the biggest comedy event to be staged in the area will be the fantastic Richard Herring who will be taking time out of his run at Leicester Square to perform at this fundraising event.  Joining Richard will be ‘A comedian who makes you feel glad to be alive’ (The Guardian) – Dominic Holland, stand-up songstress Carly Smallman and the outrageously French Marcel Lucont!

Entry to the site is free, as is parking.  The comedy begins at 7.00 pm and tickets for this are £20 each (discounts for multiple tickets).  (Sorry, but you will not be allowed to bring your own drink onto the site.) You can find out more about this event at www.towerseyfringe.co.uk

SOURCE: Contributed

DON’T forget to take the children along to Thame Market tomorrow for the Community Fun Day, organised by the Thame Market Traders.  Among the many local organisations and charities with their stall and activities, staff and supporters of the Thame and District Day Centre will be there with a few games for the children to play and some colouring to do related to parachute jumping, supporting Thame’s Mayor Nichola Dixon to promote her sponsored parachute jump.

Cllr Nichola Dixon’s jump, on Saturday, August 29, will directly help the day centre and raise funds for the Thame to Thame, Earthquake appeal too. To find out more about the Mayor’s brave challenge, come and meet her TODAY at Thame market, or to donate directly, visit: www.gofundme.com/mayorofthame

More information about Thame Market Community Day here:
https://www.thame.net/events/thame-market-community-day

THAME Town Cricket Club’s Open Day last weekend was such a success that at one point, they ran out of burgers and ice cream – and beer!

Thame residents of all ages took the opportunity to learn all about what Thame Town Cricket Club has to offer, when the club opened its doors, inviting them to join the fun in the sunshine at Church Meadow on Sunday, August 9.

As well as a six-aside tournament, Thame CC ECB qualified coaches offered visitors a chance to try out their batting and bowling skills in the nets which everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

Throughout the day there was a BBQ, music, a bouncy castle, a skittles competition, a cake Stall and a raffle. Matt Swain, TTCC fixture secretary, said: “We would like to thank everyone that came to visit us on Sunday making the event such a great success. Thanks especially to Waitrose for running the BBQ, the teams that took place in the six-aside tournament and all the Thame CC volunteers for helping out.

“The fact that we ran out of burgers, ice Creams and beer at one point just goes to show how popular the event was! The money raised will go towards the Jack O’Donnell Foundation, equipment for our junior section and the new clubhouse which we plan to develop in 2016/2017.”

BFS Records, based in Thame, has announced the release of the much anticipated debut album from local favourites, The 2 Strokes, on September 5.

The ‘scooter-pop’ trio signed to BFS Records in 2014 and after a year of hard work in the studio, the band are ready to share their endeavours with their loyal fanbase.

The 2 Strokes’ 11- track album, entitled ‘Don’t Look At Me, I’m Irrelevant’, perfectly encapsulates the band’s ferocious live sound, remaining true to the raw sound that they are locally renowned for. The three-piece will be officially launching ‘Don’t Look At Me, I’m Irrelevant’ at the Black Horse Hotel, Thame, where the band will be performing live, and physical copies of the CD will be available for purchase.

The band, who all come from Thame, consists of Brandon Coleman (Vocals/Guitar), Simon Cater (Drums) and Dave Lewis (Bass guitar) and they describe their main influences as being The Jam, The Lambrettas and Ocean Colour Scene, among others.

As well as playing regularly in Thame at The Black Horse, The Falcon, Astonbury Festival, Cowley Road Carnival, Thame Snooker Club and the Thame Players Theatre, The 2 Strokes have also played at venues around Oxford.

REHEARSALS for Thame Choral Society’s Christmas Concert begin on Wednesday, September 9, for this year’s Christmas concert, which will be on December 12, at St Mary’s Church, Thame. TCS will be performing Parts One and Two of Bach’s ever popular Christmas Oratorio. The concert will also contain Christmas songs and carols, some for the audience to join in, and seasonal refreshments will be available.

Rehearsals are held at Haddenham Methodist Church in the High Street, Haddenham, on Wednesday evenings from 7.30 pm until 9.30 pm and anyone with an interest in singing is welcome – auditions are not required!

Anyone who would like to explore and sing the sparkling choruses and sublime chorales in the first two parts of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, is invited to go to a special workshop at Haddenham Methodist Church on Saturday, September 19, arranged by Thame Choral Society under the leadership of their resident Director, Helen Swift. Professional singer Helen has an inspirational approach to directing choirs and firmly believes that ‘singing should be fun’.

The workshop, which runs from 10am until 4pm, costs £15, including refreshments, and copies of the score will be available to hire on the day for £2. For more information, email thamechoralsociety@hotmail.co.uk or telephone 01844 216801.

A ‘first’ for this year’s Thame Food Festival will be a charity pop-up restaurant serving food throughout the day.

The Belazu pop-up restaurant will be at Christchurch, in the Upper High Street, and will serve authentic Mediterranean food from breakfast at 9am, through lunchtime. Beer and wine will be available while chef Chris Wheeler from Stoke Park, cooks up a mouth-watering Mediterranean feast.

Two courses will cost £25 and three courses £30, with all profits going to the Belazu Foundation  to support the ISIS academy in Oxford and educate 120 children in Morocco, as well as the Thame Food Festival itself. Once the festival closes, a four-course dinner will be on offer for £35.

Book in advance HERE

SET in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, in 1918 towards the end of the First World War, Thame Players’ next production, Journey’s End, gives a glimpse into the experiences of the officers of a British Army infantry company in World War I.  The entire story plays out in the officers’ dugout over four days from March 18 – 21, 1918, during the run-up to the real-life events of Operation Michael

Thame Remembers is collaborating with the production on everything from set design through to props, uniforms, sound effects and pyrotechnics and has a special part to play in setting the scene at the start of the production.

Thame Players production of Journey’s End runs from September 8-12, at the Players Theatre, Nelson Street, Thame OX9 2DP

THREE years ago, Kerraleigh and Martin Child (The August List) were starting out their music career looking to play some local open mic’ nights to get some experience, and stumbled across the First Thursday Music Club in Thame.

Since then, they have become one of the club’s favourites and have featured there a number of times. They have gone on to play on the FTMC stage at Towersey Festival in previous years. But this year, and in recognition of their fast growing following, superb song writing and brilliant stage presence, The August List have been promoted to play the main stage at the iconic Towersey Festival.

In advance of Towersey later this month, The August List are the Feature Act at the next edition of The First Thursday Music Club in Thame on Thursday, August 6, at The James Figg, and will be on stage around 10pm.

In addition, at least 15 other artists and bands will be appearing in the Open Mic section in front of a crowd of around 200. Entrance, as always is completely FREE! First time amateurs through to full time professionals, and any genre of music, are welcome. The club has a full house PA system with keyboard, bass amp, guitar amp, cocktail drum kit all set up.

Just turn up and plug in! Player sign up is between 7.30 pm and 7.45pm.

Links for The August List:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theaugustlistmusic
Sounndcloud: https://soundcloud.com/theaugustlist
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoCIHXo01rA

SOURCE: Contributed

FINDING things for the kids to do in the summer holidays is always a challenge. What a treat it was then to be able to visit a children’s play day at the Southern Road recreation ground on Saturday. Not only did it have tasters of lots of activities available to children of all ages, it was free!

Hosted by the Red Kite Children’s Centre, Thame, there was a huge variety of things to do. Toddlers could practise their movement with the obstacles in the Kindergym with older children improving their sporting skills with RugbyTots and Ignite Sport which also included archery. The calm space of the Mini Yoga was in very sharp contrast to the ‘plank’ breaking that children could attempt at the Karate demonstration next door!

Kids could be creative with stalls run by Creation Station making sea creatures, modelling on a massive scale with Orinoco scrap store, natural resource art at the Tetsworth Outdoor Learning Centre and a large graffiti wall. Sparklers playgroup were busy helping children to decorate their own Minion biscuit. If parents were worried about the sugar in any of the sweets some of the stalls were giving away, the Health Bus was on hand to allow children to be dentists and learn all about teeth!

The staff and volunteers at all of the stalls were really friendly with the NCT stall even providing changing facilities and a welcome chair and shade for parents needing to feed their babies. A number of stalls also had play equipment out for the much younger children and babies too.

Despite the outfits being twice the size of my daughter, she was desperate to have a go in the sumo suits – as was I! She was soon distracted by being able to be very loud at the African drumming workshop.

One of the organisers, Melissa Lancashire, posted on the event’s Facebook page that they estimated around 700 families visited the Play Day. This is fantastic news to secure the event’s future. The weather was fantastic and made it very easy to spend a large portion of a Saturday trying a huge range of activities on offer. It would be great to see it permanently on the Thame calendar and allow it to expand. Well done to all of the organisers and volunteers.

SOURCE: Contributed by Kelly Hinton