CONCERN has been expressed that the Victorian Cottage Hospital in East Street, Thame, does not appear to be a listed building.
Thame Community Hospital
Members of the Thame Conservation Area Committee noted in its most recent minutes: “This is a significant Victorian building, paid for by public subscription and is similar in importance as three other Victorian buildings in the Town paid for by subscription. i.e. The Town Hall. The old Magistrates Court, now the Town Museum and the Old Police Station, all listed. Is it possible to have this also listed? This building is still partly funded by the League of Friends of the Cottage Hospital.”
The town council has agreed to look into how best to protect the hospital building, including listing.
FOR the first time this year, two volunteer signers will be on stage at Music In The Park on May 5, interpreting song lyrics for hearing impaired people. Also, if neighbours agree, the use of the staging and marquees will be offered to community groups to use on the following day.
Also it is hoped that the event, which will be celebrating its 10th anniversary, will run an hour later to 10pm.
THAME Shed continue to look for a suitable location to base itself. Cllr Tom Wyse who has been instrumental in helping the members of Thame Shed fexplained: “The main problem is to get some land to put a shed on. I believe it would not be a great problem if it started off with something as small as a portacabin and then the Shed members could use their collective skills to construct a larger building. I know there have been approaches made to get a piece of land near the Rugby Club but for some reason this hasn’t been successful.”
TOWN Cllr Peter Lambert, who will not be running for re-election to Thame Town Council on May 2, has congratulated the council’s maintenance team on behalf of the Youth Memorial Trustees for the recent cleaning of the Youth Memorial and garden.
THE Town Council is continuing to look into the feasibility and costings to provide a Splash Pool on the Southern Road Rec. and are due to visit a similar facility in Hinskey Park, Oxford to further understand the operational and visitor requirements for such a pool. Watch this space!
THAME is to get a brand new Christmas Lighting scheme for Christmas 2019. The town council is about to send out tenders for the scheme.
A Piece of Cake, the baking supply shop in Thame, was today handed over to its new owner, by Norma Laver and Jenny Walker who are retiring from the business after 34 years.
L to R – Jenny Walker, Pauline Carr and Norma Laver
It was with mixed feelings that Norma and Jenny handed over the keys to the new proprietor, Pauline Carr. Many of the staff have been with Norma and Jenny for many years, including a young lady who wrote to them when she was only 13 years-old asking for a job; she’s now a grown and up working as cabin crew. She gave up her sleep today after working yesterday to share Norma and Jenny’s special day.
Flowers and cards were arriving at the shop all afternoon – and there was a rumour that a very special cake was on its way. A Piece of Cake is Pauline’s first business though she has lectured in Business Studies and says that she is very excited about starting her very own hands-on business.
Norma and Jenny’s baking supply shop attracts customers from all over the world ordering through the website, and many venture in person to the UK especially to take part in A Piece of Cake’s legendary Sugarpaste workshops which they regularly run in Thame.
Pauline will have the support of all the staff who will be keeping their jobs, and Norma and Jenny will be on hand to help her with advise while she gets to know the business, which will eventually move to the other end of the High Street, where the Bell Kitchen Showroom was until recently.
A Piece of Cake has been a very successful business with Norma and Jenny at the helm, keeping going through thick and thick, including during Norma’s illness nine years ago when she became very seriously ill with meningitis. Now, they will be taking a very well deserved rest. Norma hopes to start ticking off challenges on her ‘bucket list’ including learning to swim, and Jenny will be able to work more sociable hours working with her daughter in their cake-making business, Little Flower Cakes.
Both of them admit to having mixed feelings about handing on the business: “We will be leaving the business in the very capable hands of its new owner Pauline Carr expertly assisted by our knowledgeable staff. The business will continue as before but Pauline will be bringing new life and new ideas to it. We wish her every success and hope all our faithful customers continue to support her. We will be on hand to help with the change over and be on call should any help be needed.
“Thank you to all our customer over the last 34 years. We have made many friends and will miss you all but we are now looking forward to spending more precious time with our families.”
LORD Williams’s School in Thame has produced many alumni in recent years who have gone on to become famous, including Olympic swimmer Simon Burnett; Comedian Rob Deering; Internet personality Gavin Free; musician and television presenter Howard Goodall, and Paul Volley, rugby player.
Florence Savage
Soon, the name of an ex pupil from Sydenham may be added to that Hall of Fame, as a Miss England. Because Florence Savage has discovered, she says, that Miss England isn’t just a beauty pageant, but includes dedicating much of the contestant’s time to charity fund-raising and to becoming role models for young girls and other women. This year’s chosen charity is Papyus which helps young adults when they are in their darkest moments and is aimed at preventing suicide.
Racing and baking
Florence explained: “After doing some research into the competition after watching a movie about beauty pageants, I applied on-line as I’m very interested in helping charities and knew I would have a good time. I have applied to run the Great Manchester Run in support of Papyus and I’m also hosting a bake sale at University. I have also started a GoFundMe page called Saving Our Future.
“I was put forward for a public vote, but didn’t win. However, the judges decided to take me through to the next round, and my work place, Cumnor Hill House, a care home in Oxfordshire, sponsored me. I am now a contestant for my university town, as Miss Birmingham!”
Florence grew up in Sydenham and went to St.Andrew’s school in Chinnor and then on to Thame at Lord Williams’s.
Finally, Florence explained her belief that: “Beauty is on the inside; it is the kindness we have and use that makes us beautiful.”
About Papyrus
PAPYRUS is the national charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide in the UK. Suicide is the biggest killer of young people under the age of 35 in the UK. We believe that everyone can play a role in suicide prevention and we work towards a society which speaks openly about suicide and has the resources to save young lives.
THE New Foxtrot Serenaders will be making a welcome return to The Players Theatre, Thame, on Saturday, April 6, with what promises to be one of their best shows for years.
The New Foxtrot Serenaders
The much-revered Serenaders will be celebrating giants of the British traditional jazz scene from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Many of us remember growing up with legendary names like Chris Barber, Kenny Ball and Acker Bilk, and won’t want to miss ‘the hottest little big band in the south east’, when they bring their tribute to the very best of British Dixieland Jazz to Thame on Saturday! They’ll be performing some of the greatest songs of the era, such as Petite Fleur, Stranger on the Shore, Midnight in Moscow, At the Jazz Band’s Ball, Way Down Yonder in New Orleans, High Society, Hello Dolly and many more.
The Serenaders promise a lively, foot-tapping show that has been selling out at venues across the south of England. So, if you haven’t seen this great band before, come to The Players Theatre on Saturday for a real treat!
Tickets are £12 and available online from www.thameplayers.co.uk or from Spear Travels on 01844 217228.
‘The New Foxtrot Serenaders look and sound like the real thing. Their style is authentic and nostalgic, with a real feel-good factor. They’ve performed several times for the Big Band nights at the bandstand, and attracted large, enthusiastic audiences.’ Eastbourne Today
AN investigation into arson and the theft of lorries at the site of David Einig Contracting, in Rycote Lane, Thame, is on-going and so far no arrests have been made.
The fire appears to have begun in a portacabin used as an office and then spread to a two-storey industrial unit. (Full story
Anyone with information is asked to contact 101 quoting reference 43190074016.
THE Stroke Association and Rotary Clubs of Thame & District and Haddenham & District are calling on residents in the Thame area to help the two organisations conquer stroke by getting their blood pressure checked.
The number of people diagnosed as having high blood pressure has increased consistently since 2005. In England alone, more than five and a half million people remain undiagnosed and untreated for the condition – making them ticking time bombs for stroke.
Thame, Haddenham, Chinnor, Long Crendon and neighbouring villages residents can have a free blood pressure check on Saturday, April 13, between 10am and 2pm at the Co-Operative Supermarket in Thame.
Amanda Watkin, General Secretary at Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland, said: “Know Your Blood Pressure Day, on 13 April 2019, is all about raising awareness of the link between high blood pressure and stroke and getting people to have theirs checked. Rotary is supporting the Stroke Association with blood pressure events throughout April and the rest of the year. Stroke strikes every five minutes in the UK, but with events like these, we hope to change this. A blood pressure test is quick and painless, and it could save your life.”
Alexis Kolodziej, Deputy Director of Policy at the Stroke Association, said: “High blood pressure often has no symptoms, and yet it’s much more common than most people think. We know that most strokes can and should be prevented and that’s why we’re urging everyone to have theirs checked. A blood pressure check only takes a moment, and is a simple way to reduce your risk of stroke.”
The results of the 2018 Know Your Blood Pressure event in Thame were the following: 65 people had their blood pressure taken, of which 43 needed no further action, five required an urgent follow up with their GP within a week, and 17 required a follow up with their GP within a month.
In addition to the events taking place on Saturday, April 13, there will be blood pressure checks at community events throughout the year. To find your nearest blood pressure event, you can visit www.stroke.org.uk/kybp
THE final headline acts for Saturday night at this year’s Towersey Festival, and the the line-up for the August Bank Holiday Monday Roy Bailey tribute, have been revealed!
Newton faulkner
The acclaimed songwriter, guitarist and sometime actor, Newton Faulkner, is coming back to Towersey. Throughout his career he’s sold over 1.5 million records with 180 million streams, making him one of the UK’s most successful singer-songwriters this millennium. Recently, Newton’s been on the road with Jeff Wayne’s spectacular The War Of The Worlds UK arena tour, and he’s just released a new album, The Best Of … So Far, a career-spanning summary of his first decade.
See Newton Faulkner on Saturday, August 24, 2019. LINK
Without a doubt one of the best live bands in the UK right now, From The Jam featuring legendary Jam bassist Bruce Foxton.
From The Jam
With almost 1,000 headlines shows under their belts, they expertly recreate the incendiary live performances of the original band, whose enduring string of hits includes Eton Rifles, Town Called Malice, Start, Down In The Tube Station At Midnight, Going Underground, and more.
Without a doubt one of the best live bands in the UK right now is From The Jam, featuring legendary Jam bassist Bruce Foxton.
With almost 1,000 headlines shows under their belts, From The Jam expertly recreate the incendiary live performances of the original band, whose enduring string of hits includes Eton Rifles, Town Called Malice, Start, Down In The Tube Station At Midnight, Going Underground, and more.
For 53 years Roy Bailey played at Towersey Festival and for many of those he was the festival’s Patron. Roy passed away in December 2018, not many months after a brilliant performance at the 2018 Festival.
In honour of his countless achievements, both on and off stage, as well as his long-running association with the festival, the festival will present Roy Remembered: A Celebration of the Life and Times of Roy Bailey. LINK
An afternoon of music, stories and collaborations, the concert will feature an A-Z of friends and associates, all of whom worked closely with Roy over the years.
Among those appearing will be songwriter and BBC 6Music presenter Tom Robinson, Martin Simpson, Andy Cutting, John Kirkpatrick, The Wilson Family, Boff Whalley (Chumbawamba), Stephen Taberner (The Spooky Men’s Chorale), Ray Hearne, Kit and Max Bailey, Nancy Kerr, James Fagan, and Marc Block.
With host Steve Heap, they’ll be sharing their memories of Roy and performing choice songs from his vast repertoire.
Visit the Towersey Festival website HERE for the full line up! Book tickets HERE
NEARLY 100 local people in Thame, Moreton and Tetsworth turned out in glorious sunshine to collect litter on Thame Tidy Day, Saturday, March 30. This annual event provides residents of Thame and Moreton with a great opportunity to do their bit to keep neighbourhoods litter-free, and this year they were joined by residents of Tetsworth for the first time.
Rosemary Bryant with one of her little helpers!
Between them, Thame Tidy, Muck-Out Moreton and Tetsworth Takeaway collected enough litter to fill a large skip, brightening up streets and walkways in all three locations.
The event was held as part of Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean, running this year between March 22 – April, 23. Keep Britain Tidy want #LitterHeroes across the country to help improve the environment on their doorstep. To date over 52,000 volunteers across the UK have joined forces – in partnership with community organisations, businesses and the government – to collect and safely dispose of litter from our streets, parks and beaches, recycling as much as possible.
Rosemary Bryant, organiser of Thame Tidy, said: “We are delighted that people in Thame, Moreton and Tetsworth have pulled together to make such a fantastic difference to the appearance of our town and villages. It is also great to see our campaign spreading, this year joined by the village of Tetsworth.”
Rosemary continued: “Thame Tidy 2019 has been a huge success and a big thank you to everyone who took part. We are especially grateful to our sponsors and partners; particular thanks must go to ASM, UniCarriers, Thame Town Council and Thame Lions for their invaluable help. We’re also indebted to Bucks Recycling and South Oxfordshire District Council, as without their support we would not be able to run this event so successfully. I’d also like to thank the Six Bells pub in Thame for providing complimentary refreshments afterwards.”
Tina Fegent, who jointed in with Muck Out Moreton, told Thame.net: “We collected about 20 bags including loads of drink cans, two tyres, two huge plastic tubs, takeaway wrappers, crisp packets and the base of a traffic cone. We as a Community activity enjoy coming together and clearing the rubbish out of Moreton every year and we are surprised every year by what people have thrown away as they are walking or driving or cycling in Moreton. Of course the tea and homemade Moreton cakes and biscuits are the end are a bonus as well. Please keep Moreton clean!”
Helen Johns, organiser of Tetsworth Takeaway, said: “I’m really pleased Tetsworth rose to the challenge on this important day and that so many residents turned out to collect litter from the streets and footpaths in Tetsworth – it was a great result. We too are grateful for the help of Thame Tidy’s sponsors and partners, without whom the event would not be possible, but special thanks must also go to White Lion Residential, who were key to marketing the event in Tetsworth, and to The Swan at Tetsworth Restaurant, who provided complimentary refreshments to village litter-pickers afterwards.”
Sue Martin-Downhill, chairman of 21st Century Thame, under whose auspices this event is held, said: “We couldn’t be more pleased that this brilliant litter-picking campaign is getting more support from people in Thame and villages year by year. Our community is setting a great example by collecting unwanted litter and contributing to the pride many of us feel as responsible residents of our beautiful South Oxfordshire town and neighbouring villages.”
A less-than full house, compared to previous years, gathered at Thame’s anual Town Meeting on Tuesday, March 26, 2019, to ask questions of a panel of town, district and a county councillor, chaired by the Mayor of Thame, Ann Midwinter, subjects including the Cattle Market, supermarkets, parking, a dangerous junction and climate change.
In the open forum, resident, Colin Bignall, asked if the people of Thame would be able to have a say about what is provided on the current Cattle Market site, once it moves to its new site. The Town Clerk, Graham Hunt, replied that the town council wanted to make sure that the site was used ‘sensibly’ for Thame, and that the aspiration was for ‘mixed use’ including for community use.
“We are constantly asking SODC (Ed. who own the site) what their plans are, and us giving our views. The latest is the Head of Properties at SODC telling us that they are waiting for solid news about the Cattle Market’s move before talking to us.”
Cllr Nigel Champken Woods said that the Catttle Market was the only long-term parking space in Thame, and that the council would be doing all it could not to lose it.
County Cllr Nick Carter said that SODC had a legal obligation to make the most economic use of the site and would decide what would bring in ‘the most revenue’ for the community. The Mayor of Thame, Ann Midwinter, added: “I am sure the public’s opinion will be sought.”
Helena Richards, long-term member of Cmag (Cattle Market Action Group) said that, reading the district council’s Local Plan: “There is no mention of the Cattle Market site!” The Clerk assured her that he would pass her concerns on. The Mayor thanked Mrs Richards for what she and Cmag do for the town.
Cllr Bob Austin added: “The Cattle Market lease runs out in 2021. One hopes that the relevant officers (at SODC) talk to us because time is running out to get sensible in-put into it.”
Supermarket
Resident Paul Bradley raised the issue of a Supermarket on the Cattle Market site. The Clerk said that there was some idea of what should happen on the site, following a retail analysis from Carter Jonas four years ago (see LINK) which identified a ‘deep discounter’ as the least-worst option for the site, and a Tesco or Sainsbury’s as the worse. A mix of community use, retail and parking was the best option, the analysis had concluded.
Parking
County Cllr Nick Carter responded to a question about illegal parking in the town, describing it as ‘a plague’ for everyone. Currently illegal parking was a matter for the police, he explained, but that they had ‘other priorities. For the future he said, conversations were taking place about taking the responsibility away from the police which would need a legal procedure to take offences away from being criminal to a civil offence, thereby devolving responsibility to SODC. ‘Decriminalising’ parking would require discussions with Thame Town Council, he added.
The Clerk explained that the main options would be; to install parking machines to control the two-hour parking areas; to Decriminalise all parking in the town, which would mean Thame Town Council needing to have its own parking policy; if SODC took over parking, they would see it as a revenue stream; an increase in the Police part of the Precept so that they could deal with illegal parking. None of these options, suggested the Clerk, were likely to happen within two years.
Cllr Nigel Champken Woods said that Decriminalisation was within the RADA of SODC, and that there is money set aside to look at them taking over parking.
Pavements
A new, Oxford Road resident described pavements on the south side of the High Street as ‘disgraceful’ and ‘really atrocious’. Cllr Nick Carter replied that, now that the matter had been brought to his attention, he would ask the Highways Department to look at it.
The Mayor then read out questions that had been sent in to the council from residents who were unable to attend the Town Meeting in person. The first raised the problem of the flooding of the turning circle at Lord Williams’s Upper School, which has been a problem, the correspondent said, for 35 years.
Cllr Carter said that it was the responsibility of the school itself to take the initiative and level the land.
‘Dangerous’ junction
A member of the audience asked if it would be possible to build a round-about at the junction of Thame Park Road and Wenman Road, which they suggested was dangerous because it was difficult to see traffic approaching from the left, from Thame Park Road if one was wanting to turn right into town. Cllr Carter explained that the junction had been altered four or five years-ago deliberately to discourage traffic going through the town centre from Thame Park Road. “It has fulfilled its purpose,” he said, and that in his view, the junction worked fine. He did however, agree to get Highways to look at it.
Burial space
In response to a question about the fence between the new section of burial ground at St Mary’s Church that was part of the old allotments, the Clerk said that a hedge had been planted and that the new area had provided 15 more years of burial space. Although the town council has no legal resonsibility to provide burial space, he said, the council was looking elsewhere for additional burial space for the future, in the Thame Neighbourhood Plan.
Climate Crisis
The final question from the floor was whether the town council intended to follow the example of many local authorities, including Oxford City Council, who have declared a ‘Climate Emergency‘. The panel explained that the Green Living Plan would continue to develop its policies and that the council had taken several steps towards being more sustainable, including carrying out an ‘energy audit’ of the town hall and had gone ‘paperless’ regarding minutes and reports distributed to councillors before meetings, where tablets were used to access digital papers.
The questioner said that she hoped the council would look further at aspects of its own functioning, including its energy suppliers and where it invests the community’s funds.
Soha Housing, the 6,700 home social landlord with over 450 homes in the Thame area, has received an emphatic “thumbs up” from the Regulator of Social Housing.
Assessors visited the company in January and February to scrutinise it at a planned, In-Depth Assessment. This is a check which typically takes place with about six weeks’ notice every three or four years.
The Regulatory Judgement, as the Government’s official view of a social housing provider is known, meant retention of Soha’s status as a G1 (the best Governance rating) and V1 (the best rating for financial viability) housing association.
Kate Wareing, Chief Executive of Soha, said: “Soha is proud to be local and community-owned. We are owned by our residents, are a charity, and we reinvest all our surpluses in building new homes in our communities.
“This judgement provides reassurance to our residents and partners that we are well run and financially secure. It gives us the foundations to continue to improve services for our current residents and to continue to build good quality, affordable new homes for the huge numbers of people in our communities who are struggling with the cost of housing.
“I thank our residents, staff and partners for the hard work, energy and commitment that they put in every day to make Soha an excellent community housing association.”
