Category: Missed a ThameNews story?

  • Bombs and Romance – an evening with the Joneses

    PEOPLE who live in Thame and the surrounding area have been invited to spend a unique ‘Evening with the Joneses’.

    Ian Jones will relate stories of his time as a Bomb Disposal Officer and his author wife Catherine, will tell of her experiences writing and publishing novels.

    Ian Jones

    Ian Jones said: “I thoroughly enjoyed most of my time in bomb disposal and am delighted to have this opportunity to tell my story in support of local charities.”

    You can read about Ian’s book, London: Bombed, Blitzed and Blown Up: The British Capital Under Attack Since 1867 HERE  and Catherine’s extensive back catalogue of books (including Romantic fiction written under the name of Fiona Field) HERE

    Catherine Jones

    Tickets cost £10 each for this unusual event which is on Wednesday, October 30, at the Players Theatre on Nelson Street in Thame. Tickets available online at thameplayers.co.uk, from the box office and at Spear Travels in Greyhound Walk,Thame on 01844 217228.

    The event has been organised by Cllr David Bretherton, Chair of South Oxfordshire District Council and all the proceeds will go towards his chosen charities – the Red Kite Family Centre in Thame and the Earth Trust based at Little Wittenham.

    Cllr Bretherton said: “It’s a great honour to be Chair of the council and being able to raise funds for two very worthy local charities has spurred me on to do as much as I can during my serving year. I’m very much looking forward to welcoming everyone to this, what promises to be, an entertaining event.”

  • International interest in Thame Chamber Choir’s Contest

    THAME Chamber Choir’s 20th anniversary Choral Composition Competition has attracted more than 60 entries from as far afield as the USA, Canada and Australia.

    Judges Bob Chilcott, James Burton, Duncan Aspden and Anna Markland now have the difficult task of picking a winner, whose piece, a setting of a poem by former Thame resident W.B. Yeats, will be given its world première at the choir’s concert in St Mary’s Church on Saturday, October 19, as part of the 2019, Thame Arts and Literature Festival.

    This concert, Poetry in Motion, which marks the start of the choir’s 2019-2020 season, will be followed by its ever-popular Christmas concerts on December 21, in which it will be joined, not only by Thame Children’s Choir, TCC2, but also by local schoolchildren in the culmination of a project supported by a grant from the Midcounties Co-operative Community Fund.

    Next March there will be a concert of music written in honour of St Mary – to be given in St Mary’s Church – and in June the choir returns to Exeter College, Oxford for a concert in celebration of flowers.

    In the meantime, Thame awaits a puff of white smoke to indicate that the judges have selected their winner!

    www.thamechamberchoir.org

    SOURCE: Contributed

  • Leave your car at home and win a prize!

    THE district council is offering drivers the chance to win a prize – if they leave their vehicle at home for a day.

    Sunday, September 22, is the 25th World Car Free day, and South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils are encouraging towns and villages to take the opportunity to raise awareness of air pollution and air quality by encouraging people to leave their cars at home for the day and choose alternative forms of transport. World Car Free Day has been running for 25 years.

    Since Clean Air Day on June 20, both South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils have been urging drivers to turn off their engines if they are stopped for a minute or more as part of their joint anti-idling campaign called Turn It Off. Now the councils are suggesting that drivers turn off their engines for a day!

    If drivers in the districts pledge not to use their cars on World Car Free Day on September 22, and then tell the councils how they got around instead – on the train? bus? cycling? walking? kayaking? they will be entered for a draw for travel vouchers worth £50.

    Read more about World Car Free Day and how to enter the competition here: LINK

    NB Don’t forget that Thame has its very own World Car Free Day event on September 22, the Community Pedalling Picnic – lots of opportunities there to take photographs and enter the district councils’ competition. LINK here for details and how to register for the Pedalling Picnic.

  • Thame man’s murder trial continues

    A Thame man, Safeen Karimi, 27, is among four defendants who have denied murdering a 22-year-old man who, a court has heard, was run over by a car and stabbed repeatedly in “retribution” after an earlier fight.

    Safeen Karimi, is accused of the murder along with Michael Yemane, 20, and Welid Solomon, 25, from Oxford, and Sasan Khalid, 19, of no fixed address.

    The victim was Luciano Dos Santos Almeida, from Southampton. He was attacked in Oxford on February 27, 2019, and died at the John Radcliffe Hospital on March 6.

    Read the full report from the BBC New website here: https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/17887150.murder-trial-luciano-dos-santos-almeida-continues/

  • Narrow defeat for Oxfordshire in County cricket battle hosted by Thame

    OXFORDSHIRE brought their season to an end in the Unicorn Minor Counties Championship on Tuesday, September 3, with a narrow, three-wicket defeat at the hands of an impressive Cheshire side, on a good batting track at Church Meadow, Thame.

    Oxfordshire squad before for the match

    The highlights of the game were two centuries in Cheshire’s first innings of 338 on Sunday (R. Sehmi 145, S.Perry 103), a century for Thame’s very own Ollie Burland (133), which formed the backbone of Oxfordshire’s second innings, and the hostile pace bowling from Cheshire’s Michael Finan (6 wickets in the match) and 7 wickets for Gareth Andrew on the home side.

     

    Ollie Burland returning to the clubhouse after a brilliant 133 for Oxon that almost turned
    the match

    This was the first time that Thame Town Cricket Club had played host to Oxfordshire for over 20 years. There was a substantial crowd at Church Meadow on Sunday, including visitors from as far afield as Kent and Surrey and the club’s ground, clubhouse and facilities came in for universal praise over the course of the three days.

    TTCC spokesman, Andy Jinman said: “Congratulations to Ollie Burland and Cal Russell (not forgetting 12th man Dan Patey of course) for their contribution to an Oxfordshire recovery that came so close to rescuing the result.

    “Thame Town CC would like to thank all the people of the town and the surrounding area who came out to support, to the volunteers who helped stage the match and finally to Hamnett Hayward for their help with the publicity. We hope to be able to welcome back the Oxfordshire team to our club next season!

    SOURCE: Contribution by Thame Town Cricket Club

  • Campaigners in Thame have some questions for their MP

    SUPPORTERS of the People’s Vote Campaign in Thame have said that they have some serious, unanswered questions for their MP, John Howell.

     

    “Crashing out of the EU without a deal will cause serious damage to investment in local export industry such as the Cowley BMW plant and put medical supplies at risk,” claims Open Britain Thame. The group, which campaigns for a ‘People’s vote’, further states the following:

    “In a recent blog, John Howell has asserted that there is nothing unusual about the Prime Minister proroguing Parliament, yet we now know, through documents forced to be published in a court case, that Mr Johnson was plotting to prorogue Parliament at the same time as he allowed his cabinet colleagues to publicly dismiss any suggestion that there were plans to do so.

    “In replies to constituents’ concerns over crashing out of the EU without a deal, John Howell has said that Mr Johnson had personally assured him that he did not want a no deal exit from the EU, and discussed progress that had already been made in getting a deal with the EU27. The same day that John Howell was making these reassuring statements, we had the President of the EU Council of Ministers stating categorically that there had been no new proposal from the UK on the Irish Backstop or any other aspect of Brexit.”

    Roy Motteram, a spokesperson for Open Britain Thame, said: “We know from the leaked Operation Yellowhammer report that the impact on the UK as a whole of crashing out of the EU without a deal will be significant. We know from the recent whistleblower that the supply of vital medicines will be at risk. We can imply from Jacob Rees-Mogg’s attempt to discredit the whistleblower that the government want us to ignore this concern. We know that Mr Johnson is happy to use his colleagues to mislead the public.

    “We know that Mr Johnson’s comments about how well the negotiations are going are incompatible with what the President of the Council of Ministers has said. We know that one of these two people has history when it comes to telling lies.

    “We know that John Howell has publicly stated that he does not want to see a No Deal Brexit.

    “Given all of this; given the undoubted damage that crashing out of the EU without a deal will cause to local industry such as the BMW plant and all of the small local firms that supply it; given the damage that it will cause to our local NHS, what we want to know from John Howell, is Why?

    “Why, when given the opportunity to block a No Deal Brexit once and for all, did you choose to walk into the lobby with Mr Johnson and Mr Rees-Mogg? Not once, not twice, but three times.

    “We will be holding our usual stall outside of Thame Town Hall on Saturday, between 2pm and 4pm – perhaps John could come down and explain his actions.”

    ED. John Howell MP was unavailable for comment but you can read his latest blog post on the subject of prorogation HERE

    NB The difference between a recess and proroguing Parliament is stark:
    *MPs decide whether to have a recess and for how long
    *During a recess, Select Committees continue to do their work of holding government to account
    *When Parliament is prorogued, it is the PM’s choice, all Parliamentary work ceases, and Ministers take on new powers

    SOURCE: Press release

  • Reminder of road works in Chinnor and surrounding areas

    THE road closures prohibit the use of the highway by all motor vehicles during the closure times. (limited access for emergency services and for residents within the closed section of the road – subject to progress) More information call OCC on 0345 310 1111 or log into: www.roadworks.org

    • 9th September to 13th September – B4445 Thame Road closed from junction of Station Road down to Sydenham Junction for road improvements and resurfacing

    This closure is from 8am to 5pm each day.

    • 16th September to 19th September – Station Road to Lower Road junction closed (also Thame Road is a possibility) for road improvements and resurfacing

    This closure is from 8am to 5pm each day.

    • 30th September to 4th October – Sydenham Road from junction of the B4445 to Stert Road junction – closed for drainage works
    • Traffic lights will be on Estover Way from 9th September to 17th September for road surface improvements
    • Traffic lights will be on Church Road from 18th September to 20th September for Thames Water repairs.

    Update from Carousel Bus – Link 40 public bus route from High Wycombe to Thame via Chinnor and vice versa..

    Week commencing 9th September 2019 (Thame road closure week 1)

    Carousel Bus – Link 40 to Thame – has now confirmed to CPC that there will be no planned change to the schedule for next week during the Thame Road closure.

    They are planning on running to the current timetable and have been able to adjust the route and will be going through Chinnor and Longwick / Kingsey into Thame.

    https://www.carouselbuses.co.uk/

    • Changes to school buses during our road closures

    (Please ignore this message if your child(ren) do not use the Redline bus service for transport to secondary school.)

    Week commencing 9th September 2019 – All services this week will run 10 minutes earlier to accommodate diverting via Longwick.
    RL01 – this service will change to start from Chinnor.

    RL02 – Start from Estover Way 07:40
    RL04 – start from Oakley Lane at 07:45
    RL08 – start at Estover Way at 07:45
    RL09 – start at Estover Way at 07:45

    Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

  • Bus diversion: Chinnor road closures

    THERE are several road closures and diversions coming in Chinnor during the next few days. That involving the Thame Road will mean a diversion of the buses. https://www.chinnorparishcouncil.org.uk/index.php/news/#.XXD2Cn9cOM8

    During the current closure for road improvements and resurfacing at the Mill Lane Junction of Thame Road, from the Red Lion stop, the Link 40 bus will divert left (instead of going to Springfield Gardens stop) and the next stop will be the Thame Road Shops.

  • Second chance for popular TAL tickets!

    THERE’s a second chance to buy tickets for several, popular authors and speakers at Thame’s Art and Literature festival in October, as the organisers open the Box Office with extra tickets for sale.

    Victoria Hislop, Anna Pasternak and Alice Roberts

    Million copy bestseller Adam Kay, former doctor turned author, comedy writer and comedian; Andrew Lownie, top-selling literary agent and acclaimed biographer; Michael Rosen, one of Britain’s foremost children’s poets and writers and a regular presenter on BBC Radio 4, are among the illustrious visitors to this year’s TAL over the weekend of October 17-20, 2019.

    Other speakes include Andrew Graham Dixon, famous art historian, broadcaster, novelist, journalist; Award-winning novelist and children’s author, Dame Penelope Lively and Angela Gallop, one of the world’s most eminentleading forensic scientists.

    Visit the TAL website for the full weekend’s programme and line-up – there’s something for everyone.

    TAL Box Office, Thame Town Hall.
    Open each Tuesday 9.30am – 4.00pm.
    Friday and Saturday 9.30am – 1.00pm
    Closed during Thame Fair weekend

    Over the Festival weekend –
    Thursday and Friday 9.30am – 4.00pm
    Saturday and Sunday 9.30am – 1.00pm

    If you’re unable to get to the Box Office in person, just ring 07885 48 44 06.
    Be aware the line may be very busy.

  • Grant award means roof repairs for Thame theatre

    REPAIR work has now been completed on part of the roof at the Players Theatre in Thame, following the award of a £5,000 grant made by South Oxfordshire District Council earlier this year.

    The grant was awarded to Thame Players Theatre Company, a registered charity run entirely by volunteers, as part of SODC’s Community Councillor Grant Scheme 2018/19, which allows each district councillor to award up to £5,000 for projects or services offering community benefits in their ward.

    The grant, which was match-funded from Thame Players Theatre Company’s own resources, was necessary to repair the entire length of a flat section of roof, part of a 1980s extension made to the theatre, which had been requiring attention for some time. These essential repairs mean that the roof is now secure and there is no risk to passers-by beneath who are working or performing at the theatre. The completed work was inspected at the end of August by Councillor David Bretherton, Chair of South Oxfordshire District Council and also a Thame Town Councillor.

    He commented: “It is very good to know that our grant scheme enables necessary practical work to be undertaken, improving the safety of members of our community and contributing to the future sustainability of community resources such as the Players Theatre, a valuable entertainment facility in the town. This is exactly the kind of project the scheme was designed to enable.”

    Cllr Bretherton was taken up to the roof to inspect the work by Steve Lambell of Thame Players. Steve commented: “We’re delighted that the grant from South Oxfordshire District Council has enabled us to get this essential repair work done, ensuring the safety of those that work or perform in the space below, and removing concerns about the condition of the roof for the future. We look forward to maintaining our excellent relationship with the district council; they have assisted us with grant-funding on a number of previous occasions.”