AT 15:23 today (20/08), the Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service was called to a report of a smoke alarm going off and a smell of smoke at Horton Close, Thame. The call had been made by a neighbour who, when hearing the alarm, went to make sure it was not a false alarm and smelling the smoke, she called 999.
Smoke Alarm Alerts Neighbour to Kitchen Fire
Crews from Thame and Watlington Fire Station were quickly on the scene where they found an unattended frying pan that had been left on an electric hob. Firefighters dealt with the situation swiftly before ventilating the property.
CM Steve Lockwood from Thame, said: “The occupant was very fortunate that his smoke alarm alerted his neighbor. This situation could have been far more serious had a working smoke alarm not been installed.”
He went on: “I would also use this opportunity to remind everyone to take care whilst cooking and to ensure everything is switched off when finished.”
More tips on fire safety in the kitchen include:
• Consider using a thermostatically controlled deep fat fryer rather than a frying pan to cook your food.
• Never leave your cooking unattended. Even if the phone or doorbell rings.
If you do have a chip pan fire or a fire involving oil:
• call the Fire and Rescue Service on 999 immediately
• don’t take risks
• have a clear escape route
• never move the pan
• only turn off the heat (if it’s safe to do so)
• never use water on chip pan fires, as this will cause the oil to boil over and burn you.
THAME’S Tuesday market yesterday (19/08) was a hub of activity as the regular market traders once again held their annual Market Fun Day to celebrate all that is good about local markets.
As well as street entertainers, including a big, hairy, friendly lion, children could have their face painted, or have a go at one of the side-show games, whilst the grown-ups could discover more about local organisations and charities from Thame and around the villages promoting their activities.
The community stalls included the Long Crendon Day Centre, Thame’s Citizens Advice Bureau, Thame Players Theatre, Rethink Mental Illness and the Thame Museum.
Chris Hurdman, who runs the Biscuit and Sweets stall, said: “Several of the local organisations have contacted me to say that they had a fantastic day. Not only did they raise a lot of money for their causes, but they raised the profile of their organisations.”
Did you know that Thame market was originally a medieval cattle market and has been held here since 1227?
THAMES Valley Police has received reports recently of some people posing as planning or building control officers to gain access to people’s properties under the pretence they’re looking into enforcement issues etc. When challenged, they’ve said they were from “planning” and left immediately.
Thames Valley Police Alert
Planning officers can often turn up to a site unannounced, especially planning enforcement officers. However, they will always have photo ID on them, and are always happy to be asked for it and to explain the reason for their visit. Their identity can also be verified by calling the planning office on 01491 823740 or by contacting the Customer Service Manager Duncan Grainge on 01491 823711 or email: duncan.grainge@southandvale.gov.uk
Residents are asked to be extra vigilant about this kind of activity and to ask for ID from anyone who visits unannounced from any organisation. Please report suspicious activity to the Police via the 24 hour non-emergency telephone number 101 or call 999 for crime in progress.
The Police would appreciate your help in passing this message onto family, friends, work colleagues and other residents living in the area, thank you.
THE people of Thame have been thanked for their generosity in supporting the Oxfam Bookshop’s Emergency appeal for the victims of Gaza.
Oxfam Bookshop volunteer, Peter Soya
The shop’s manager, Dick Jennens, said: “The appeal was launched on August 7, and has resulted in a massive outpouring of generosity from the people of Thame. I would like to personally say a big ‘Thank You’ to our donors.
“As well as a number of large cash donations to the shop, we have received an extraordinary large number of donations of books and CDs etc.
“We have been overwhelmed with the generosity of our donors, the number and quality of the donated stock has been exceptional, so much so, that the volunteer team have been working extra hard to sort, price and present them for sale.
“During the past weeks we have sold over a thousand items each week generating much needed funds for our work with the refugees.
“We are now planning to recruit more volunteers to process the high level of donations and to increase our trading hours by opening on Sundays.
“We are seeking volunteers to cover our planned Sunday opening of 11.00 – 3.00, volunteers to support the shop by shelf filling and looking after our customers and a volunteer who knows about sheet music and also to help with data entry for the Oxfam ONLINE SHOP!”
For more information contact Dick on 01844 214645 or call into the shop in Cornmarket, Thame.
THAME United were unable to bring an end to Flackwell Heath’s 100% record on Tuesday evening (19/08) as The Heathens ran out 3-1 winners to go top of the table.
The pattern of the match was similar to the opening game of the season against Highmoor Ibis, with United unable to make early chances pay, only to then find themselves chasing the game. As early as the first minute Conor McDonagh was put through on goal but was unable to get his shot away before and five minutes later the same player saw a 25-year shot tipped over the bar by Rob Bullivant. The next chance fell to Danny Jones on 15 minutes whose drive from the edge of the box was well saved by Bullivant.
The game changed in a five minute spell around the half hour when Flackwell went in to a two goal league. First, Mitchell Woodward finished from close range following a cross from the right and four minutes later Jeff Brown found himself unmarked on the edge of the six yard box and beat Cockerill with ease with a well placed header in to the corner of the goal.
If it was for United to chase the game in the second half, it was Flackwell Heath who started the brighter, with Cockerill getting down well to save low to his right on 47 minutes. Ten minutes later and former Holyport winger, Dan Rapley, curled the ball just over the bar.
United got back in to the game on 63 minutes when Luke Ricketts drove the ball in to the back of the net, via a deflection, from wide on the left. However, Flackwell Heath restored their two-goal advantage only two minutes later when Rapley got clear of his marker to chip the ball over the diving Cockerill. The next opportunity fell to captain Adam Morris whose effort from the edge of the box flew just wide.
Flackwell Heath then had the opportunity to open-up a three goal advantage when Adam Burows was adjudged to have fouled Woodward in the penalty area, but Cockerill, diving to his right, did well to save the spot-kick.
The result leaves United with 3 points from their opening three league games
RESIDENTS and visitors to Thame may have noticed a couple of very destinctive old Volvo cars around town lately and wondered who they belong to.
The head-turning vehicles will in fact be in the charge of a group of eight friends from Thame, High Wycombe and Princes Risborough who will be taking part in The Ramshackle Rally to Munich this year in Aid of Cancer Research UK, with the theme of ‘Zombie Apocalyptic Survivors’. The group, whose team name will be SFE Zombie DIvision, have so far raised over £400 in online and offline donations.
Karen Vaughan from Thame, who is a project administrator at SGM Management and design, explained: “Starting in England, we shall be driving the two beautiful old Volvos across to Annecy, France then to Bormio in Northern Italy. From there we shall be popping over to Innsbruck, in Austria. Our penultimate stop is Ljubljana in Slovenia and our last, but definitely not least trip, will be to Munich!
“Whilst the trip will be a lot of fun for all involved, we decided to take on this challenge by raising money for Cancer Research UK. Not many of us can say we haven’t been affected by Cancer, myself, Jaide and the others taking part in the rally included. By raising money we feel we’re fighting back and helping to fund research to eventually find a cure.”
The rest of the SFE Zombie DIvision team are Ben Jones, Lee Dearman, Courtney Cox, Karen Vaughan, Jaide Stone (a Customer Assistant in Boots, Thame) Mike Pearce, Will Wright and Mikey Kinnane.
NOW in its sixth year, the Chinnor Summer Beer Festival brings the whole village together for an afternoon of top quality local English ales and ciders, great food and awesome live music.
Muttz Knuttz entertain the crown at last year’s Chinnor Beer Festival
Entry is free and this year’s festival takes place from midday to around 7 p.m. on Saturday, August 23, at White’s Field, Mill Lane in Chinnor.
More than £20,000 has been raised for youth-related activities and projects in Chinnor from previous Beer Festivals, sometimes in support of an individual who wishes to undertake a project with community benefits, sometimes in support of local clubs and institutions, or as essential seed money for a larger local project.
Steve Bird, Chairman of the Chinnor Beer Festival, said: “The Festival is now an essential feature of the Chinnor social calendar and it’s been so successful that word is spreading to the local towns and villages. We’re proud to let them see what Chinnor has to offer and show what a great community pulling together can do to help support worthwhile local projects.”
Follow the Chinnor Beer Festival on social media, on Twitter: @chinnorbf or on the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ChinnorBeerFestival
THE strength of feeling against the proposed development of land at The Elms, Thame, for housing was made apparent at a packed public meeting on Thursday (14/08) called by the ‘Save The Elms’ group.
The large hall at the Thame Barns Centre begins to fill up for the ‘Save the Elms’ public meeting
It was standing room only for much of the meeting, lead by Tom Marianczar, with contriubutions from Richard Jeffries and Peter Webb, the leading promotors of a petition and campaign aimed at rallying opposition to the plan to build 45 homes on the site and associated plans to include a public space and alterations to the public park next door. The group wants the site completely removed from the Thame Neighbourhood Plan and the 45 homes allocated to other designated sites in the plan.
Tom Marianczar explained the main reasons behind the group’s opposition to the plans, including what he called, the site’s ‘questionable’ inclusion in the Thame Neighbourhood Plan, and his assertion that no town councillors were included in meetings that lead to The Elms being included in the TNP.
He questioned the validity of a ‘Heritage Statement’ submitted to the town council and the planning authority, and included in the assessment as to whether the Elms should be included in the TNP, that was commissioned and paid for by Rectory Homes, the developer that wishes to build on The Elms. He also questioned why a late letter from English Heritage stating that the proposed development at The Elms would be ‘deeply damaging to the setting’ of The Elms, was not drawn to the attention of town councillors at a meeting about the TNP in October 2012.
There was much discussion at Thursday’s public meeting about the proposed plan for changes to Elms Park itself, which the developer would pay for if planning permission was granted for the houses next door. Tom Marianczar explained that the local NAG group (Neighbourhood Action Group – now disbanded) had decided, after public consultation, to fence in the back of the park (the Windmill Road end) and so limit the entrance and exit points, to lessen opportunities for anti-social activity in the park. His contention was that providing another public entrance via The Elms, which is included in the plans, would negate this advantage.
Peter Butt, a previous Chair of the Thame NAG, was at Thursday’s meeting and keen to explain that, as there was no lighting in Elms Park then, the fencing provided the best value at the time. (See archive news report: https://www.thame.net/archives/5170)
Richard Jeffries added that he feared that opening up another public entrance to the park would result in an anti-social behaviour ‘free for all’, and that previous consultations by Rectory Homes at Thame town hall had shown two entrances to the proposed development.
Tom Marianczar drew the meeting’s attention to drawings showing the proposed changes to the Elms Park itself, which he said, failed to show clearly enough mounds which, if built, would hide important geological features of the site and which he suspected were ‘just a way to get rid of spoil’ from the building work at The Elms.
NB – Simon Vickers, who owns the land at The Elms, and is founder of Rectory Homes, the developer, speaking to Thame.Net for an earlier feature on the proposal, said: “It (the area of Elms Park) would only be used for this purpose if the Town Council, in consultation with the town, thought that mounds would be a good idea on the existing Park. If so, that would be a more environmentally [friendly] way of dealing with the spoils. There is however a substantial prospect that the details of improvements to the existing Park might not be agreed by the time we start on site. In which case the spoil would be taken away from Thame.” https://www.thame.net/archives/14513
Tom Marianczar then described how the plans for the park itself showed the removal of a belt of trees NOT in the park but in the Elms field itself, two metres from the proposed houses planned for on the boundary side. When he then produced, what he said was, an artist’s impression of what this row of terraced, three-storey properties would look like from the park, there was an audible gasp from the 90 or so people assembled there at the Thame Barns Centre.
Richard Jeffries also said that the proposals included the removal of 40 year-old, what the plans describe as ‘ornamental shrubs’. They would be thought, because of their 75 mm plus diameter, be the subject of a Preservation Order. If the plans went ahead, he said: “The treescape from the park would be replaced by an urban landscape.”
The other main areas of concern discussed during the presentation were vehicular access to the side from Windmill Road, extra traffic and consequent congestion in adjoining roads and junctions, car parking problems in roads around the proposed entrance, problems in Southern Road and Nelson Street created by large lorries shifting ‘thousands of tonnes’ of building materials during the building stage. There were also concerns about the effect on residents’ parking of a possible plan to make Nelson Street and Southern road one-way, from a resident of Southern Road, Chris Rees. Tom Marianczar replied that such a plan was only conjecture at the present time but was keen to remind the meeting that a previous application for seven new homes in Southern Road had been rejected by the planning authority in November, 2013, because of traffic problems.
Tom Marianczar then spoke about a recent statement from English Heritage, stating that it is against building houses ‘on the land to the south of The Elms’. “We are not able to support these plans as they currently stand as they would contravene the agreed Neighbourhood Plan and be harmful to the setting of this important historic listed building,” the statement goes on. (See archive feature: https://www.thame.net/archives/16271)
He concluded by saying that, although details of the plan were ‘unacceptable’, “We are not discussing the detail – we do not want it at all!”
TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW; Discussion around the environmental and economic impact following part two of the presentation by Richard Jeffries.
THE organisers of the Towersey Festival have reassured residents that connections with the village of Towersey will be maintained after the festival moves to Thame Show Ground next year.
Musicians jam at The Three Horseshoes pub in Towersey during the 2013 festival
Writing in the Towersey Village newsletter, Joe and Steve Heap said: “Your Towersey Festival will be picked up piece by piece and delivered to the Thame Showground for the 2015 festival from 28-31 August. A little bit more room, some good roads and infrastructure, easy access but most of all remaining your Towersey Festival and very much staying part of the Village.
“We plan to continue to run sessions and Dance at The Pub and run a constant bus service between the new site and the village for all kinds of link ups. We are also working closely with the committee to create a Village Area on the new site; a place where Village organisations can come and set up stalls and sell their wares, talents and promote the Village.
“So a new decade for Towersey takes us to a new, exciting venue, where we plan to continue to support the Village in every way we can and retain all the links and history. It won’t’ be easy but let’s work together to make it work for us all and continue this unique and special cultural event.”
This year’s Towersey Festival, the 50th, runs from Thursday, August 21 to Monday, August 25. Full details and programme HERE
WOULD you like to hear more about the government’s recently announced incentive to help small business grow?
The Late Breakfast – Monthly networking
If you are a small business, with up to 49 employees, you will want to hear about the pilot scheme that awards vouchers of up to £2,000 to contribute towards your business getting strategic advice in a variety of areas.
A presentation from Christine Rayner of Tangram Ltd, will be the focus of this month’s The Late Breakfast networking event at The Spread Eagle Hotel, Cornmarket, Thame, on Thursday, August 21, between 9am and 10.30am.
Christine Rayner is an accredited supplier of the government’s Growth Vouchers, will look at why your business might be eligible to apply for this type of funding, the benefits you might see and how the scheme works.
The event is in the Eden Suite at the rear of The Spread Eagle Hotel, 16-17 Cornmarket, Thame, OX9 2BW The entry fee is £12 (including light refreshments)
You can either book to attend at the Late Breakfast website HERE to be listed on the guest list, or just turn up.
