FOLLOWING last month’s hugely successful, fifth birthday bash, Thame’s First Thursday Music Club will this month, maintain the momentum by featuring The Nikki Loy Trio in its much coveted 10 o’ clock spot.
Nikki Loy
Nikki is celebrating the release of her album ‘Naked – Part 1’ as the first of four solo albums that will feature the results of her self-imposed challenge to write a new song every week for a year. She is now 30 weeks into the challenge and writes a new song every Tuesday. She then records the song, videos it and uploads it by the evening!
Each of the tracks on the new album were then rehearsed and polished to make them part of this intimate but exquisite solo acoustic album, showing songs in their naked forms. Nikki will appear at First Thursday Music Club’s regular venue, The Stables at The James Figg in Thame, on March 5, with bass guitarist Pete Sherman and drummer Phil Heard.
Another big crowd is expected and will be entertained throughout the evening by over 15 different acts producing sounds from across the music genres. A fantastic evening of live music is guaranteed – and it’s all FREE!
Anyone can play by signing up at the venue before 7.45pm. Check out the First Thursday Music Club on Facebook HERE
THAME Valley Police is appealing for witnesses following theft from vehicles in Thame.
Between 6pm Saturday (21/02) and 8.30am Monday (23/02) offender(s) gained access to an insecure vehicle parked at a property in Towersey drive. Golf balls and a golf cap were stolen.
Between 9am Saturday (21/02) and 7.45am Monday (23/02) offender(s) gained access to an insecure vehicle parked at a property in Towersey drive. A rucksack with personal items was taken.
Between 8pm Saturday (21/02) and 12pm Sunday (22/02) offender(s) broke into a vehicle parked at a property in Towersey drive. Cash, GARMIN sat-nav and charger, APPLE IPod and other personal items were stolen.
If you have seen any suspicious looking people or vehicles in the area or have any information relating to this message please call the police on 101.
Alternatively if you have any information but wish to remain anonymous, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online @ crimestoppers-uk.org. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.
THAME Barns Centre will quite literally becoming alight to celebrate like never before, as it plays host the town’s first ever fire walk to mark International Women’s Day.
Lottie Moore, fire walking
Multi award-winning local business woman, and founder of WISH Women, Lottie Moore, will be leading both women and men over hot coals as a way of marking International Women’s Day on Sunday, March 8,
March, a day that is celebrated around the globe, focusing on women’s achievements while raising awareness for the need for a global call for equality.
Lottie has arranged a spectacular day for women, with world-class speakers, and exhibits from local women in business, before the men are invited in for the final seminar and the Fire Walk finale.
Lottie, who has walked over 100 fires in one evening, explained: “There are lots of reasons for people to fire walk, whether it be to build their self-confidence, motivate change, gain focus, or breakthrough fear, but with the theme of this year’s Women’s Day being Make It Happen, it seemed the perfect way to close the event.”
The event will also be supporting the Haddenham-based Christian charity, The Dignity & Hope Foundation Cambodia, that partners with groups in Cambodia, including those working with women and children who have experienced trafficking.
Lottie continued: “I know that the day will bring incredible opportunities for those who attend, as well as the huge challenge they will face when preparing to walk the fire. Fire walking is usually a really scary thing for individuals to face, but the huge sense of elation and achievement that you experience after the walk makes it all worthwhile. To face fear head on and step through it is an amazing experience – I think everybody should have the chance to fire walk at some point in their life.”
Lottie launched WISH Women three years ago to provide a space where all women could come together to recognise their unique qualities and strengths, and she hopes that Fire Walk event in Thame will inspire all those involved to ‘start living their lives with renewed positivity, passion, and purpose’.
Having previously led groups of women to the rooftop of North Africa for International Women’s Day, Lottie sets out to put on a truly unique event each year, ‘to celebrate all that women can achieve, and enable them to look beyond their personal limitations, to allow them to recognise the global impact they can have when they step out of their comfort zones with a fresh challenge’.
Pirate treasure aboard the good ship ‘John Hampden’ for Artsweek 2015
ARTSWEEK at John Hampden School in Thame, has been a swashbuckling affair with the pupils and staff enjoying a life on the ocean wave, on ‘The Jolly John Hampden’.
The pirate theme saw the school hall transformed into a desert island where ‘The Jolly John Hampden’ has been washed up and shipwrecked, spilling it’s cargo of jewels and treasures across the beach. The John Hampden shipmates attired themselves with homemade Pirate hooks, eye patches, swords, telescopes, compasses and even sewn their own parrots to look the part. They made their own pirate ships and filled class treasure chests with coins, jewels and pirate booty. They printed their own Jolly Roger flags to show their pirate intent, and formed clay skulls and fish to litter their sunken treasure under the sea.
The school’s Arts Co-ordinators, Jackie Nichols and Clare Field, have been very involved in organising ArtsWeek, which also involved finding out about the ‘not-so –romantic’ real pirates who roam the oceans of the world today.
They reported: “Yet again John Hampden has seen an army of parents, grandparents, governors, guardians, teachers and teaching assistants, old and new, volunteer to support the children in their pirate artwork, with a multitude of helpers (over 60!), who came to bring our ideas to life!
“Our PTFA provided the booty to fund the week, with a generous donation which enabled the school to provide a wealth of artistic experiences and resources for the children to enjoy. These have ranged from a woodwork project to make a pirate shipwreck, a mysterious, mod-roc skull cave, a sew-off of felt parrots, fish and jellyfish, a junk modelled challenge to create recycled pirate boats and much, much more!
“The staff also set the children the challenge of identifying which golden coin belonged to which member of staff, by matching the coin head’s profile to the right staff member in the ‘Treasure Trove Quiz’, with an arty prize for the winning entry. We dared all to enter our pirate world at the end of the week, to follow our treasure maps through shipwrecks and sand dunes, past beautiful mermaids and fearsome pirate folk, to find the jewel of our artistic endeavours at the Artsweek Fair-trade Café as a Friday finale.
“The week proved to be a voyage of pirate discovery and it took half-term to recover from our pirate antics, but we can enjoy our hall in weeks to come as a reminder of our swashbuckling adventure!”
THE plans for a proposed housing development on land at The Elms, in High Street, Thame, and proposals for changes to Elms Park itself next door, will be considered by Thame Town Council on Tuesday, March 10, at 6.30pm . All the documents associated to these applications can be downloaded HERE and hard copies of the plans are available to view on request at the Town Hall Information Centre.
The consultation period ends on March 11, 2015. To comment, downloadable form at:http://tiny.cc/9uldux
SOUTH Oxfordshire District Council has agreed to reduce the amount of council tax people pay for services it provides by three per cent. You can see details on its website by clicking this LINK
PARKING issues in Thame will be discussed by the town council at its meeting on Tuesday, February 24, at 6.30 pm. Also on the agenda will be to consider an independent study of the impact of a supermarket development on the viability of the High Street; whether to support a Community Charter; to hear a presentation about a draft Sports Facilities Strategy; to review information provided by Chinnor Rugby Club enabling an agreed community loan from the town council for building development work to be released (Chinnor Rugby Club wants to extend its club house and carryout extensive other building work and facilities improvements, and has asked Thame Town Council for a £500,000, interest-free loan towards the work); to consider the town council’s response to a consultation on a One Way Traffic Order for Nelson Street, Thame, and to decide whether or not to appoint a replacement Town Crier following the fall from grace of Anthony Church.
UPDATED options for how new homes could be distributed across the district are the focus of a new consultation and SODC wants local people to let it know their views. In its existing adopted Local Plan South Oxfordshire District Council has already planned for where 11,400 homes will go. But, following the publication last year of the Oxfordshire-wide Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) the council says there is now the need to find the best locations for at least another 3,600 new homes between now and 2031. To see all the details and have your say, visit the website: LINK
THAME Swimming Pool Swimming pool is to close for repair work from 5pm on Saturday, February 28, and will be out of action for around eight weeks. You can see details on SODC’s website by clicking this LINK
TED Talks have become a global phenomenon, attracting over a billion views on the internet. From science to art, psychology to design, TED Talks inspire, enlighten and entertain.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organised events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organised events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx programme, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)
Shappi Khorsandi
The feisty and hilarious comedian, Shappi Khorsandi, is coming to Aylesbury on May 9, as part of the first ever TEDxAylesbury at the Waterside Theatre, being organised by a team of enthusiastic local volunteers including Shellley Ghazi from Thame. You can see who the others are at www.tedxaylesbury.com/meet-the-team.
The theme of TEDxAylesbury 2015 is ‘Misfits and Pioneers’. Shappi will speak about her own experience of feeling like an outsider and how that sparked her creativity, no doubt with her inimitable blend of razor-sharp wit, softened by warmth and boundless charm.
THE SPEAKERS
TEDxAylesbury will feature other celebrated speakers too, as well as lesser-known speakers who deserve to be heard, each with an ‘Idea Worth Spreading’ to share with the audience. These include:
Karen Blackett OBE, CEO of Mediacom. Karen was recently named ‘the most influential black person in Britain’ in the Powerlist 100 (beating Oscar winning director Steve McQueen, a Google executive and several MPs)
Roy Bailey, well-known folk singer and patron of the Towersey Festival, who will be sharing songs about misfits and pioneers
David Neita, a barrister and poet, performing poems that make us think
Team leader Devi Clark: “Tickets go on sale at the end of February, and we expect to sell out quickly. To be informed by email about when tickets are available, sign up to the mailing list at www.tedxaylesbury.com
“To find out more about the event please check out our preview video on our website at: www.tedxaylesbury.com/about
ABOUT TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 30 years ago, TED has grown to support its mission with multiple initiatives. The two annual TED Conferences invite the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes or less. Many of these talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sal Khan and Daniel Kahneman.
The annual TED Conference takes place each spring in Vancouver, British Columbia, along with the TEDActive simulcast event in nearby Whistler. The annual TEDGlobal conference will be held this October in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TED Talks are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world get help translating their wishes into action; TEDx, which supports individuals or groups in hosting local, self- organized TED-style events around the world, and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.
A DATE has been announced for repairs to Thame’s skate park, following its sudden closure by the town council ten days ago, for safety reasons.
Repairs will start on Monday, February 23, and are expected to take up to two days. Users and parents have been asked by the council to adhere to the ramp closure, which has been enforced to maintain public safety.
The council has stated: “Notice will be given when the facility is once again fit for use.”
TOWERSEY festival has a track record for attracting musical legends to this gem of music festival, and this year, 2015, they come up trumps again, with the amazingly talented, singer-songwriter, Joan Armatrading.
Joan Armatrading – Image courtesy of Rainbowwomen.co.uk
Among the many accolades rightly showered on this influencial performer, are that Joan Armatrading became the first female UK artist to debut at Number One in the Billboards Blues chart, and the first ever female UK artist to be nominated for a Grammy in the Blues category. And she has an MBE.
MATCH REPORT (Contributed) : Newbury & Thatcham Ladies 4th – Thame Ladies’ 3rd – SCORE 3-1
A sluggish start from Thame allowed Newbury & Thatcham to take the advantage, but Thame produced much better play in the second half.
Library image
THAME Ladies 3s played Newbury, away, on Valentine’s Day! It was an early start, as so many of the team mentioned, but the squad of 13 gave it their all.
Despite some sluggish play in the first half, Thame kept the ball in their possession for most of the time, but conceded three unlucky break away goals. Thame’s goalkeeper, Emily, held her ground but unfortunately the goals were scored from excellent shots into the corners of the goal. The defence put up a great fight but Newbury’s players made a number of fast breaks through the middle and occasionally slipped into the gaps with a straight run to goal. At half time the score was 3-0 to Newbury but Thame weren’t prepared to give up easily and came out fighting.
Going into the second half, Thame woke up, stayed strong, improved their passing and returned to the team they were the week before, managing to score a goal with all the forwards pressuring strongly to get the ball into the D, which was then expertly pushed into the corner of the opposition’s goal by Danielle.
With great determination, especially from Hattie at left half and Emily who stopped a number of short corners (nice dives Emily!), the team carried on defending strongly. We made some strong attacks in the second half pressuring the opposition’s goal on a number of occasions but were unfortunately unable to score any further goals. However, it was a great team effort and a great match.
The player of the match was deservedly Kate who managed to produce a fantastic performance despite being injured.
Follow Thame Hockey Club to keep up to date with the latest press releases, media appearances and club news: @ThameHockeyClub on Twitter and Thame Hockey Club on facebook.
About Thame Hockey Club
Thame Hockey Club is a thriving club in Thame, Oxfordshire. The club’s aim is to run a number of competitive, but fun hockey teams in local leagues and to ensure that all members have the opportunity to play at their chosen level of ability.
After a strong first half, Chinnor faded in the second and Clifton’s growing dominance saw them win 32-29.
Chinnor got off to an explosive start with a 1st minute try from Fatialofa. Keohane added the extras. Clifton came back with a penalty goal from Foley followed quickly by a try from Woodward after a neat midfield inside pass. Another try from Mackay on the 30th minute, converted by Foley, put the visitors ahead 15-7. Chinnor came straight back from the restart with Haile scoring in the corner. A few minutes later, Chinnor pressure in the Clifton 22 paid dividends with a try from Camereri to put Chinnor 17-15 ahead at half time.
The second half belonged to Clifton for the most part. An early penalty goal from Foley was followed by perhaps the turning point of the match when referee Paul Kimber contoversially awarded a penalty try to Clifton for a single Chinnor scrum offence. Foley’s conversion put Clifton ahead 25-17. In the 61st minute, a long penalty touch finder by Chinnor was converted into a fast rolling maul with To’oala touching down for the try. Keohane’s conversion brought the home side back to within a point, 24-25. Chinnor then dropped the ball at the back of a promising rolling maul on the half way line. From the ensuing ruck, Clifton’s Pomphrey scooped up the ball for an unopposed dash to the posts. Foley again converted to put Clifton 32-24 ahead with 7 minutes to play. Chinnor then pulled a try back, Tyas going over in the corner. The attempted conversion missed and a minute later the whistle sounded for a Clifton victory by 32-29.
Teams
Chinnor: George Blewitt, Ashley Smith, Jack Hayes, Junior Fatialofa, Reuben Haile, Ed Keohane, Reece Boughton, Ricardo Cano, Joe Pickett, Guido Cambareri, Ben Manning, Christian Ostberg, James Tyas, Ryan Long, Alfie To’oala (c)
Interchanges: David Coutts, Andy Tibbatts, Matthew Bolwell, Frank Jones, Jaryd Robinson
Clifton: Charlie Foley, William Pomphrey, Sam Harrison, Dan Wells, Jordan Kelly, James Mackay, George Thomas, Lovejoy Chatawama, Paul Fincken, Charlie Bullimore, Joe Quinn (c), Andy Cannock, Rob Penhale, Max Woodward, Ali Bone
Interchanges: Tom Harrison, Ben Christie, Louis Wolf, Fergus Manner, Marc Koteczky
Another big crowd is expected and will be entertained throughout the evening by over 15 different acts producing sounds from across the music genres. A fantastic evening of live music is guaranteed – and it’s all FREE!
