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  • Thame store window winner ‘Dressed to Impress’

    THAME High Street retailers showed off their creative sides last week, with eleven shops taking part in a competition that saw them styling their shop windows to tie in with the 1940s theme of this year’s Carnival.

    Part of Green’s 1940s winning window display

    Green’s Furnishings (4-5 Upper High St, Thame) was crowned the winner of the first ever ‘Dress to Impress’ competition, judged by Mayor Tom Wyse and Lucy Wyatt, one of the carnival organisers. This winning display used the 1940’s theme to both promote the Carnival and seamlessly link in with the extensive range of Haberdashery products that they sell. Austins of Thame and Thame Jewellery workshop both received Special Commendations, with the staff of Thame Jewellery Workshop going the extra mile and dressing in costume on the day, to match their display.

    Each year teams of volunteers work hard to run events in the Town Centre that engage the whole community. This competition aims to see Thame’s retailers joining in to make the sense of occasion even bigger.

    “It was great to see so many shops taking part in our community event,’ said Mayor Tom Wyse. “The competition entries were all of a very high standard, and are definitely worth the short walk around Thame to appreciate the effort and creativity that has gone into them.”

    The other shops that took part were Baban, Helen & Douglas House, Oxfam, Oxfam Bookshop, Piece of Cake, Shaw Trust, The Book House, and What’s Cooking.

    The next ‘Dress to Impress’ competition will take place in the run up to Thame Town Music Festival on July 8, so look out for some ‘music’ themed windows to amaze and inspire.

    If you are a shop owner and want to take part, please contact Becky becky.reid@thametowncouncil.gov.uk

  • Open letter from Thame LibDem candidate to Thame’s MP

    THE Liberal Democrat candidate, Laura Coyle, who stood in the recent General Election in the Henley constituency, has written an open letter to the winning candidate, John Howell. The letter reads:

    Laura Coyle

    The Honourable John Howell MP

    Congratulations on your re-election as MP for Henley.

    On June 8, the British people rejected the Hard Brexit advocated by Theresa May. But the right wing of your party and the Democratic Unionists will no doubt still try and impose a Hard Brexit on our country.

    When the results were announced Edward Vaizy, the Conservative MP for Wantage, called the vote a rejection of a Hard Brexit- remarks which I endorsed. Will you pledge now to stand by your principles and to stand with him and other Remain voting MPs of all parties in opposing any attempt by the right of your party to impose a Hard Brexit which would be a catastrophe for Henley and our country and in working for a deal which maintains as close a relationship as possible with our European neighbours.

    Yours sincerely
    Laura Coyle
    Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Henley

  • Music legends to play Thame town centre!

    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!

    Glen Matlock

    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

  • Meet the artists in their studios

    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/

    Mark Stallwood

    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.

    Jackie Innes

    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.

    ‘Silver Birch trees’ (Don’t give up the day job Sonja!)

    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.

  • Thame carnival fun recalls the 1940s

    BlazingJune w eather arrived right on call for Thame’s annual Carnival and fete on Saturday, June 10, attracting between two and three thousand residents who came together to enjoy a packed programme of arena events, a dog show and a variety of attractions provided by stalls offering everything from cake, pizza and Pimms, to champagne, cuddly toys, burgers, ice cream, egg races and welly-wanging!

    John Hampden School ‘evacuees’ with their specially-made steam engine.

    The Carnival was organised once again by a small band of volunteers, mostly members of 21st Century Thame, and committee member, Thame Music Academy’s Simon Markland, was obviously very pleased with outcome. He told Thame.Net: “This years Carnival was a wonderful and sunny event! The parade was spectacular with all the local schools and businesses providing wonderful 1940’s themed floats and costumes. We would like to thank all the participants and congratulate Thame Town Council on winning the ‘Best Parade Entry’ trophy this year!

    “As always the stalls, entertainment, food and drink provided for the fete was fantastic and the turnout for the day was huge! Also thanks to all our fantastic entertainment, classic cars, stalls, games and food and drink providers this year!

    “We hope to have raised a large amount of money for our charities this year and this is thanks to everyone who came along to support this wonderful community event.

    “Finally, thank you to all the hard working volunteers, without whom we would not be able to run the event. See you all next year!”

    The winners of the Welly-wanging tournament are due to be published by Racquets Fitness Centre later today (Monday) so visit their facebook page from time-to-time to see who won in the difference categories.

    The Thame Carnival Trophy was awarded to Thame Town Council’s carnival entry, depicting all the main characters in the popular and ever-green TV programme, Dad’s Army.

    Fete compare, Dan Blazer, presents Thame’s Mayor, Tom Wyse, with the Carnival Cup for best carnival entry

    The festival fun continued with a 1940s Dance night, to ‘The Glen Miller’ sound of the Velvet Tones and The Andrews Sisters tribute band, The Sisters of Swing, held in the evening at The Spread Eagle, Thame. Vic Winslade, who plays saxaphone in The Velvet Tones, said: “It was great night and we finished with the crowd calling for more! Lots of money was raised for Sobell House and the Fire-fighters’ charity.”

    AS the theme for this year’s carnival was the 1940s, it’s sobering to think about what was happening on June 10, 75 years-ago, in 1940.

    In France, German troops crossed the River Seine, and British troops began to evacuate from Le Havre and St. Valéry. Italy declared war on England and France and President Roosevelt made his first speech pledging aid to Britain, in a speech at the University of Virginia, where his son, Franklin Jr., was receiving his degree.

    Loads more photos from the carnival parade and fete HERE  – ALL images are copyright of Sonja Francis and may NOT be reproduced without prior consent. email: editor@thame.net

  • M40 Lane closures

    M40 northbound between J6 and J7 | Northbound | Road Works – 08-06-2017 01:29 PM BST – Location : The M40 northbound between junctions J6 and J9 . Lane Closures : Lanes 2 and 3 will be closed. Reason : Road repairs are planned. Status : Pending. Schedule : From 20:00 on 11 June 2017 to 06:00 on 12 June 2017. Lanes Closed : There will be two of three lanes closed.

  • Thame’s MP re-elected

    THE Conservative Party has won the seat of Henley in the General Election, with John Howell retaining the seat with a .6% decrease in his share of the vote compared to the last election in 2015. The turnout for the Henley constituency was 76.3% which compares to 70.3% for the 2015 election.

    John Howell is congratulated after his election is announced

    The official 2017 figures show that both the Labour and Lib Dems made gains, while the Green Party and UKIP reduced their share of the vote:

    GREEN PARTY             1,864      3.3%      (2015 –   3,815)
    LIB DEMS                      8,485     14.9%     (2015 –  6,205)
    RADICAL PARTY             392      0.7%           N/A
    CONSERVATIVE        33,749     59.1%     (2015 – 32,292)
    LABOUR                        11,455    20.1%    (2015 –   6,917)
    UKIP                                 1,154      2.0%     (2015 –   6,007)

    You can read the full statistics on the BBC website HERE

  • Thame swimmers shine in regional championships

    FANTASTIC swimming was in evidence across the whole of the Swim England South East Regional Championships across May 2017, so a massive congratulations to all the Thame Swimming Club swimmers.

    The 15 & over events were held for the first time at the Wycombe 50m pool and proved to be hugely successful for the swimmers:

     Jo Hewett was queen of the pool winning a fantastic five Gold medals out of her five races: 100 Free; 100 Breaststroke; 50 Free; 100 Back and 200
    Free.
     Marcus Birmingham swam up a storm in his 200 Fly to reach the final and PB’d with a fantastic time of 2.19.67. Marcus also came 7th in the region
    for his 400 IM and was reserve for the 200m Breaststroke final.
     Rory Pridmore was swimming for the first ever time at the Regional Championships and secured great times for his 200m Free and 400m Free
    races – no mean feat given it was also the first time Rory had swum these events long course.
     Elizabeth Humphreys swam strongly in her 50 Free race to gain a great PB of 29.52.
     Elliot Riley-Brown achieved a fabulous PB in his 50 Backstroke with a time of 31.43.
     Josh Williams, whilst swimming for Wycombe still has dual registration with Thame so it feels only right to mention his achievements. Josh won
    Gold in his 400 Free and is currently 18th in GB for his achievement. He also won Gold in the 4 x 200 Free relay; Silver in the 4 x 100 Medley relay;
    Bronze in the 1500m (with a 52 second PB), 200 Free and 100 Free events and reached the finals for 100 Back and 50 Back.
     Lucy Block was absolutely on fire qualifying for 3 finals out of 3 races – no mean feat  Lucy achieved 4th and 5th place in the finals for the 200
    Back and 100 Back finals and 6th in the 50 Back, taking a massive 4 seconds off her previous PB. Awesome swimming.
     Oscar North was also swimming at Regionals for the first time and swam strongly with great times in his 200 Free, 200 Back and 400 Free – all of
    which Oscar was swimming Long Course for the first time. Well done.

    Thank you to Sue Hewett for officiating at this meet.

    Thank you to Head Coach Ian Blyth who supported each and every swimmer across the whole of the Championships.

    SOURCE: Contributed by Will Hard

  • Thame photographer impresses ‘dragon’ Theo

    A Thame based photographer has received a business boost from Retail Entrepreneur Theo Paphitis. Last week, Mark Hewitson, owner of Mark Hewitson Photography, tweeted Theo about his business during ‘Small Business Sunday’ and was one of six weekly winners to gain a retweet by Theo to his 500,000 Twitter followers.

    Photographer, Mark Hewitson

    The weekly initiative, set up by Theo in 2010, now has 1700 Small Business Sunday winners and supports small businesses all over the UK.

    Business and retail entrepreneur and self-confessed Shopkeeper, Theo re-tweeted Mark’s message to his almost 500,000 followers and as a result, Mark Hewitson Photography  has over 150 more Twitter followers as well as a constant influx of phone calls and website enquiries about their photography services. They are also profiled on the #SBS website (www.theopaphitissbs.com) that is exclusive to all Small Business Sunday winners.

    Mark explained: “I create family, pet and commercial images at my studio in Thame and it is great to have support from Theo in raising my profile. I am delighted that Theo has recognised my hard work and has helped spread the word about what I do to his following. Since winning the phone has not stopped ringing and the emails are coming in thick and fast, I am absolutely delighted with my win.”

    Small business champion and Ryman Stationery, Robert Dyas and Boux Avenue Chairman, Theo Paphitis, said: “We are thrilled to welcome new #SBS members every week and highlight just how important it is to support our small businesses here in the UK.  My vision is that everyone who has ever won an #SBS re-tweet from me becomes part of a friendly club; like-minded individuals who can share successes and learnings. The website and shop #SBS will also give a valuable profile to the winners chosen and I wish Mark Hewitson Photography every success.”

    #SBS Winners also have access to the exclusive members’ selling platform www.shopsbs.co.uk where hundreds of winners are already selling thousands of products, from unique gifts and bespoke furniture to pet toys or jewellery. It is another opportunity for the #SBS winners to turn tweets into sales.

    Anyone looking for a re‐tweet from Theo should tweet him about their business on Sunday between 5 PM and 7.30 PM and include the hashtag #SBS. Six lucky businesses are re‐tweeted every Monday at 8 PM and then invited to enter their profile on the new website, attend the annual #SBS networking event and take advantage of the networking opportunities.

  • Chinnor re-signs Barnes

    CHINNOR RFC have announced the re-signing of Captain Danny Barnes, as well as the arrivals of Jamel Hamilton and Championship powerhouse Alex Dancer.

    Danny Barnes – Image courtesy of Brian Tempest

    Centre Alex Dancer, 26, holds a formidable frame at six foot four and 106kg. The former Cornish Pirate is no stranger to Chinnor having previously played two games on loan in 2015. DOR Matt Williams commented, “I’m delighted Alex has chosen to join us. He is one of the best ball carrying centre’s in the Championship and I’m really excited to see him team up with Danny! When losing a legend like Fats (Junior Fatialofa) to retirement and Bevon Armitage to Devon I needed to make a statement of intent. This is it! ”

    Former Hartpury College and England Students star, Alex added, “I’m really happy to be joining Chinnor and linking up with some quality players in what looks to be an exciting backline. I really feel Chinnor is the right place for me to begin the next chapter of my career. I’ve had a great 4 seasons at Pirates and I hope I can bring some new ideas to the team.”

    Having left Northampton Saints Academy, Jamel Hamilton went on to play an impressive 29 out of 30 league matches for Leicester Lions last season. Still at the young age of 19 Matt Williams believes Jamel has a bright future, “Jamel’s footwork and ball skills are impressive. He reminds me a lot of a young Joe Ansbro and I really believe he has a future in full time rugby. He will learn a lot from the likes of Jonny Bentley and Danny Barnes.”

    Jamel added, “Following my meeting with Matt the ambition and the obvious calibre of players in the backline made my decision easy. I really enjoyed my first season in men’s rugby with the Lions but I cannot wait to keep developing as a player!”

    Danny Barnes added, “After the disappointment of missing out on promotion I’m delighted Matt has asked me to lead the team again. We have unfinished business and the squad assembled this season is very exciting. We need a big preseason ready to hit Clifton with both barrels!”

    SOURCE: Contributed
    photograph courtesy Brian Tempest