Category: Features

THAMENEWS.NET’S’s summer intern, Suzannah Smith, describes her meeting with local Rector, and war-time evacuee, Tom Farrell, who’s first book about his experiences during the second World War has recently been published:

AROUND three million people were uprooted from their homes and transported to alien environments. I remember my grandparents’ stories of being evacuated, but so much of the detail has been lost. I was therefore fascinated when I heard that Tom Farrell of Long Crendon had decided to record his experiences in his new book: Tim Oliver: Evacuee.

The story is about young Tim Oliver from Liverpool who is sent to live in rural Shropshire and it?s no secret that this is really an account of the author’s own adventures: ?Although a lot of the book is fictionalised, said Tom, “most of the action actually happened.? He talked about how he wanted his grandchildren to know what had happened to him, and how he would like all children to know about the experiences of war-time evacuees.

?I wanted to do the War justice,? explained Tom, ?but it is also for children. It?s from a boy?s perspective so children can relate to it.? And in general the story is very positive, but so many evacuees had unpleasant experiences. Was it like this for Tom I wondered?

?I have no bad memories of being evacuated,” Tom confessed. “I left out some bits; for example some of the village lads never took to me and I got up to a lot more mischief!? Yet overall being sent to the country was, for Tom, like being sent to a giant playground.

Although he confesses that he doesn?t remember everything from his evacuation, Tom said: ?I tried to give as true an account of people and places as I could.? Furthermore, the process of writing the book brought back memories and allowed Tom to revisit his childhood. ?There were a lot of tears,? he said sincerely, ?particularly about my late mother and sister, Shirley whose stories I tell in the book.?

Having worked as a rector for many years, Tom is used to writing into the night. ?I think I?ve got the Liverpool sense of humour. That helped me keep going,? Tom said with a chuckle.

As well as this new career as an author, Tom has worked as a school teacher, a Rector and is a former British Olympian. He competed in the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games as a hurdler. When I asked him how he thought the Games had changed, Tom said: ?The ethos is the same now as it?s always been, there?s just more hype.? He told me that the opening for the Melbourne Olympics was simply the Royal Marines performing a march around the stadium. When you compare this to the estimated

ANYONE looking for a good read, either to take on holiday or as a bedtime book, would do well to pick up a copy of a first novel by local resident, Elizabeth Bridges. Here, ThameNews.Net’s intern, Susannah Smith, reviews the book after reading it for herself and meeting Elisabeth.

?The Falcon and The Dove? is a new novel by local author, Elizabeth Bridges. This is her first published work even though she is retired and has great-grandchildren. The novel is a love story, spanning the lifetime of Tom Holt, a true gentleman of the 1930?s.

It is the perfect bedtime read, easy to pick up and put down at any point. ?I had a pen and paper by my bed,? Elizabeth says of her writing method. ?I would just wake up in the night with an idea and have to jot it down.? She even carries a notepad with her when gardening. Writing in an almost epic style, with bright theatrical characters, Elizabeth has a very straightforward narrative voice.

Originally a short story of an old man remembering his first love, Elizabeth took five years expanding ?The Falcon and The Dove? into a full novel. I was curious to know what drives someone to break into such a difficult career, so late in their life? ?I guess it?s about sharing knowledge, putting my ideas down. I like the fact I?m passing on something,? she admitted.

Elizabeth’s parents were missionaries in Taiwan, and she seems to have the same drive to impart her own personal experiences. Although she only spent a few years in Taiwan when very young, Elizabeth’s connection with the country has always been strong. ?When I first went there in later life, it was like coming home. Everyone was so welcoming. Although I didn?t grow up there, I grew up with my parents? love of the country.?

Now living in Thame in order to be closer to her family, having formerly worked as a gardener, Elizabeth has since revisited Taiwan numerous times, working as a volunteer.

?Everyone says: ?write what you know? and that?s true,? Elizabeth stated simply. ?I wrote about country life and country events, because that?s what I grew up with. Having lived most of my life in rural Buckhamshire, I can relate to this, and find the old countryside way of life fascinating.”

In her book, Elizabeth describes every event, from the harvest festival to the dances and celebrations, with familiarity and affection. The same can be said of her characters, none of which you can dislike. The novel is broken into four ?books?, which are defined by the time they span in Tom Holt?s life. Initially these were named after Tom?s love interests. Although these titles have been removed, the sense of romantic engagement remains. It almost seems that the novel is a series of love stories, interwoven throughout Tom?s life.

Elizabeth creates in Tom a complex character that epitomises the caring modern day male but is set in a less understanding era. This makes him very appealing to women faced with the harsh gender politics of the 1940?s. Tom?s father is a great influence; traumatized by World War One, he is determined that Tom should avoid the brutality of social conflict. Tom?s character is shaped by love and loss as the reader travels through his three determining, passionate relationships.

Most of ?The Falcon and The Dove? was written when Elizabeth was still working, and so had to be fitted around her busy life. ?Sometimes it?s hard to keep going,? she acknowledges. ?You have momentum at the beginning, and then you have to have the strength not to give up.? Yet determination seems to fortify Elizabeth, allowing her to accept advice without losing her own unique style. This appears to be her life motto and is a theme that runs through the book.

Having ?The Falcon and The Dove? published is a great success for Elizabeth and smiling she told me: ?it?s great to think ?I did that!? it gives you more confidence.? Yet she doesn?t pretend it was an easy experience. ?I sent ?The Falcon and The Dove? off to so many publishers.? She talked of the disappointment of unsuccessful attempts but never seemed to give up. ?You can?t get disheartened. That?s my biggest piece of advice.?

Still buzzing from the triumph of her novel, Elizabeth expressed copiously her thanks to her family for their support and help.

When asked whether she planned to write another book, she simply said ?We?ll see how this one goes.?

IF the company who sold you payment protection knew it was wrong for you, or didn’t check on your circumstances properly before selling it to you, (for example, the policy doesn’t cover self-employed people and you’re self-employed), you may be able to make a claim for mis-selling.

This means that the company has sold you a policy when they shouldn’t have done, and you may be able to cancel the policy and get a refund. If you think you’ve been mis-sold PPI for any reason, you can make a complaint to the company that sold you the policy.

You may want to get help from an experienced adviser to do this. You may also want to use our sample PPI complaints letter to help you complain about mis-selling. Go to the Citizens Advice website: www.adviceguide.org.uk for a downloadable copy.

If you don’t get anywhere with the company which sold you the policy, you may need to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You should use the complaint form on their website at: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

The major banks have written to customers they believe may have been mis-sold PPI. If you have received a letter, it will explain the steps you need to take next.

Finally, beware of companies offering to help you with a claim ? many such offers are a front for a scam designed to get you to hand over bank card details or shell out money you will never see again. Others do offer a service but this can be very expensive and can eat up all the compensation you get, or even leave you in debt. Some cold call or send text messages out of the blue ? these are best ignored and deleted.

Adviceline 08444 111 444 – 03 00 33 00 650 (Mobile)
Your nearest CAB is in the Market Square, Thame

IF the company who sold you payment protection knew it was wrong for you, or didn’t check on your circumstances properly before selling it to you, (for example, the policy doesn’t cover self-employed people and you’re self-employed), you may be able to make a claim for mis-selling.

This means that the company has sold you a policy when they shouldn’t have done, and you may be able to cancel the policy and get a refund. If you think you’ve been mis-sold PPI for any reason, you can make a complaint to the company that sold you the policy.

You may want to get help from an experienced adviser to do this. You may also want to use our sample PPI complaints letter to help you complain about mis-selling. Go to the Citizens Advice website: www.adviceguide.org.uk for a downloadable copy.

If you don’t get anywhere with the company which sold you the policy, you may need to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You should use the complaint form on their website at: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

The major banks have written to customers they believe may have been mis-sold PPI. If you have received a letter, it will explain the steps you need to take next.

Finally, beware of companies offering to help you with a claim ? many such offers are a front for a scam designed to get you to hand over bank card details or shell out money you will never see again. Others do offer a service but this can be very expensive and can eat up all the compensation you get, or even leave you in debt. Some cold call or send text messages out of the blue ? these are best ignored and deleted.

Adviceline 08444 111 444 – 03 00 33 00 650 (Mobile)
Your nearest CAB is in the Market Square, Thame

I got a parking fine after parking in a shopping centre car park. I had bought a ticket and displayed it on the windscreen but it must have fallen on the floor when I closed the car door as it was in the foot well when I got back. I can?t afford to pay the

WHEN I came across Lashlake Nurseries in Towersey I was faced with a dilemma – part of me wanted to keep it to myself, but then another side of me wanted to tell everyone.

The weather was so lovely last weekend that we decided to go for a walk along the Phoenix trail. At the Towersey turn off we noticed a sign for Lashlake Nurseries so as we came of the trail we turned right, instead of the usual left to the pub, and I?m delighted we did.

Lashlake Nurseries is nothing like your usual corporate garden centre. It has a homely and really personal feel to it which made us feel instantly welcome. We tied our dog to a post in the dog section and walked around the small farm area where there were two pigs dozing happily, lots of ducks and a few rabbits. Our little girl loved it!

There was a small gift shop lit up with fairy lights that was full off cards, jewellery and other girly things ? I was in my element. In addition to all the gardening type stuff (I?m not a gardener) they also had a little caf

IF you have taken out a Payday loan you may find that your lender is taking money from your account that you need to pay for essentials, like food or rent, so what can you do to stop this from happening?
There?s a common myth that once you?ve agreed to such payments, you have no power to stop them. This is not true.

When you give your credit or debit card details to a company and authorise them to take regular payments from your account, it is known as a ?recurring transaction? or ?continuous payment authority?. This is not the same as a direct debit.

To cancel a regular payment just phone your bank and tell them you are withdrawing your consent for further payments to be taken. You don?t need to tell the company taking the payments or confirm your instructions in writing for your bank to stop payments. Your bank should stop making payments as soon as you tell them you have withdrawn your consent – regardless of whether you have also told your payday lender – and you can do this verbally.

If you have contacted your bank in time, and a payment is made after you have told it that you wish to stop the payment being taken from your account, it will be regarded as an unauthorised transaction and your bank must give you an immediate refund, and put the account back in the position it would have been if the payment had not been made ? in other words refund any interest and charges applied as a result of payment being made.
If you?re still having problems get free, independent advice.

Citizens Advice website www.adviceguide.org.uk
CAB adviceline 08 444 111 444 or 0300 3300 650(mobile)
Your local CAB is in Montesson Square, Thame (Market Place)

LOOKING for ideas to make your mum feel special? Look no further than Lotte’s Kitchen – a wonderful little gem of a cafe near the Chinnor hills.

Lotte tells ThameNews.Net just what she’s cooking up for Mothering Sunday.

“We have some delicious Pink Plate Specials…. Our very popular Tomato and Red Pepper soup with Home-made Soda Bread, Lotte’s Fish Pie with smoked salmon and prawns!

As well as all our other lovely cakes, we are going to make a delicious Chocolate Roulade filled with raspberries and creme fraiche.

“It’s probably advisable to book and we are taking bookings now…

“We also have lots of lovely pressies here too to buy for your mums….foodie ones and glittery ones!

“In fact lots of lovely new stock in and more coming in all the time – a great place to pick up a gift for someone!”

Lotte’s Kitchen
2 Keen’s Lane, Chinnor, Oxfordshire
OX39 4PF

Opening times:
Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm
Sunday 10am to 4pm

PHOTO: Courtesy of greatcafes.blogsport.com

EVEN in a prosperous area like Oxfordshire there are many children who have trouble reading and a group of volunteers is making a huge difference to the reading levels of reluctant and struggling readers here in Thame schools.

But they need more willing volunteers to come forward to help them expand the service throughout the county. ARCh (Assisted Reading for Children in Oxfordshire, help children who have lost confidence because they?ve fallen behind, others who may be shy and don?t communicate well, some who have missed out on the development of vital skills in early childhood, children who may have difficulty concentrating, some who don?t speak English at home and others who just need a boost to help them catch up.

What do the volunteers do?

They help in a primary school for 1

WITH his distinctive beard and beret, Thame photographer, John Comino James, is a familiar sight around the town, often taking photographs of local characters and buildings with his trusty Lica 35mm.

Collections of John’s black and white photographs have been published in at least two books of local interest, including ‘Nearly Every Tuesday,’ a series of pictures taken of the characters of Thame market, between 1989 and 1994.

But, parochial he is not! For many years, John has been a regular visitor to Havana in Cuba and an exhibition of portraits of the people he has come to know and respect, in one particular neighbourhood off the tourist track, is currently the subject of an exhibition at Wolfson College, Linton Road, Oxford OX2 6UD.

The following, in John’s own words, explains the circumstances that led to this body of his work, and his attitude and approach to taking photographs in Havana:

I first visited Havana at the beginning of 2002: the photographs in this exhibition are selected from two independent bodies of work made during several visits over a seven-year period in two distinct areas of the city. Those made in the traditional 35mm format were made in Cayo Hueso, a part of Centro Habana, and those in panoramic format were all made in a single road, the Calzada del Diez de Octubre. Both are areas of historical significance although they are off the ?tourist beat? of Habana Vieja (Old Havana).

Havana has been described as a photographer?s paradise and from the very first I found much that was both unfamiliar and visually seductive: but it is precisely this initial novelty that must be, if not avoided, then at least worked through in order to gain a sense of the daily rhythms of life in the streets, to gain a sense of which are typical and which are unusual activities.

I have therefore been extremely fortunate in being able to return often to the city in the past seven years and continue my practice of photographing within defined and restricted areas. For without a developing sense of connection, of a relationship maturing beyond that first enchantment, without the opportunity to review my work in the months between visits, the photographs shown here and more particularly the books from which they are selected would not have come into existence.

I prefer to be open about the activity of photographing and, although I do make many candid photographs, I prefer to choose the rewards and take the risks of engagement rather than remaining at a distance. I have learnt that I feel more comfortable photographing where I am recognised and where something of what I am doing is known.

Each time I return I take not only extra copies of individual or group portraits to give away, but I also carry in my shoulder bag a sampler of my work; crude off-prints from scans printed three or four up on ordinary copy-paper, stapled into a cut-down manila folder. Because it seems to me only proper, a matter of courtesy to be able to show the way I photograph to anyone who asks, to show what I photograph, and to show how I represent to myself and thus to others a culture that is not my own. Often I have been unable to locate individuals who have entered my photographs, only to find that a person looking through my work has offered to pass the print on to someone they know or recognise. When this happens the picture leaves my hands and takes its chance entrusted to a stranger for the last part of its journey back to its source. More than once I have been stopped in the street and thanked for a photograph that has found its way home in this way.

Even before I knew that Cuba?s story would become part of my grandchildren?s cultural heritage, I became increasingly preoccupied with the need to learn something about the historical events that underpinned the life I was witnessing in the streets. I needed to establish a wider perspective in which to set the photographs for myself and to inform their presentation in books. More particularly, not to attempt this sort of understanding would, I felt, be disrespectful of the people I was meeting and the wider social context of my photographs.

I venture that it is not enough to regard the world as an orchard through which a photographer may pass picking freely the ripest visual fruit.

‘Fortunate Steps’ continues until February 24, and is open daily from 10am till 7pm, subject to College commitments.

Visitors are advised to ring the College Lodge beforehand 01865 274100.

John’s book, ‘Fortunate Steps’ is available from The Book House, Thame, price