THAME Town Cricket Club (TTCC) successfully launched a second year of “All Stars Cricket”, last Friday (May 11) at Church Meadow in the centre of Thame.
All Stars Cricket is an ECB-led initiative, designed to be a fantastic, fun first-taste of the whole cricket experience for children, aged between five and eight years-old.
Club Spokesperson, Andy Jinman, said: “The club was heavily involved in the scheme’s inaugural season in 2017, which proved to be a huge success. After Friday’s first session, the reactions of the children and parents were really positive and we’re told they can’t wait for week two of eight to come around!”
Such was the race to sign up this year, the club’s All Stars group is already full, with almost 50 children taking part.
Andy thanked the ECB and all the TTCC volunteers who helped out.
THAMES Valley Police is warning residents in the Thame area to be vigilant following a series of courier fraud incidents, which have involved offenders posing as police officers.
Scams are constantly changing and becoming ever more complex and harder to spot. Fraudsters are very convincing and recent reports in the Thame area have seen them requesting your assistance to ‘help catch a thief.’
On Friday, May 11, an 80-year-old female resident in Thame received a phone call from a man claiming he was a Superintendent from the Metropolitan Police, advising her that there had been a fraudulent transaction on her account and £4,800 had been withdrawn. The man went on to say that this attempt had been intercepted and all funds had been returned to the victims account. He then suggested to the victim she should call 999 so that she could be satisfied that she was not being scammed.
Offenders will often use this call-back trick to gain your trust, leading you to believe you have ended one call and redialled a new number. However, the offender merely leaves the line open so unfortunately you are still speaking to the original fraudster.
The victim was then asked to withdraw £4,600 from a bank on Thame High Street so that the bank notes could be checked to see if they were counterfeit. The offenders then arranged to collect the cash from the victim’s house using a code word.
It is unlikely that this money will ever be recovered.
Another Thame resident received a phone call on Friday, April 20, telling them that they owed a large amount of unpaid tax from a previous year. They were warned that if it was not paid immediately a warrant would be executed for their arrest. The victim was understandably very frightened. They were instructed not to contact any third parties, especially the police, and briefed on how to engage with bank staff.
The victim attended the bank on three separate occasions and transferred over £12,000 to the fraudsters account before bank staff became suspicious. Bank staff then contacted the police who were able to stop two of the transactions. As a result, most of the funds were retrieved.
There is a Banking Protocol where banks have agreed to notify the police of all suspicious and out of character withdrawals made by individuals, but fraudsters are attempting to avoid this detection by briefing victims with bogus stories. Fraudsters will often have access to genuine, large corporation bank accounts with worldwide links where fraudulent funds are moved and transferred undetected across the world at the press of a button.
Your bank or the police would never ask you to meet them at a location and hand over money or anything valuable.
Your bank or the police will never call you asking you to verify your personal details or PIN by phone or offer to pick up your card by courier. Hang up if you get a call like this.
If you have any doubts regarding the legitimacy of the call please disconnect your telephone at the wall, plug the phone back in and call 101.
For more advice about how to protect yourself against fraud and identity theft from Thames Valley Police please visit the LINK HERE
THAME Paper Boy, Dominic Mutero, met with town councillors and sponsors of the Thame Town Awards on Wednesday, May 16, to receive his Service with a Smile Town Award, at a unique location for award presentations!
L-R – Resul Atalay, Dominic Mutero, Mayor of Thame, Ann Midwinter and Jennifer West, Dominic’s grandmother
As Dominic had been unable to attend the Town Awards ceremony earlier this month, his award presentation by the Mayor of Thame, Ann Midwinter, took place at Atalay’s Kebab Van in Thame, the Atalay family being the sponsors of the Service With A Smile award this year. Resul Atalay also presented him with a voucher to celebrate the Town Award’s tenth birthday this year.
Family and friends of Dominic came along to celebrate, along with Thame Town Cllrs Dyer and Champken-Woods, and Annette from The Chocolate Box, where Dominic works.
Dominics citation read: “Dominic was described as having an admirable work ethic by his customers – unfailingly reliable, polite and always smiling. As a newspaper-deliverer for The Chocolate Box in Thame, he completes his newspaper round in all weathers (including in this winter’s snow) before going to college and almost never misses a round or runs late. Furthermore, he goes above and beyond expectations to help his customers where he can.”
Ataly’s Kebab Van is itself familiar with Award ceremonies, having won twice in two years for its owners, the UK Kebab Van of the Year Award !
JUNIOR fencers From Thame Duellists Fencing Club competed in the British Fencing Youth Championships in Sheffield over the recent Bank Holiday weekend.
Hal and Rebekah Seed
The event, the centrepeice of the the season for under 18s fencing, took place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
Hal Seed, competing in his third British Championships, finished tenth in his age group in the épée discipline on the Saturday and followed that up with a twenty-fifth place finish in the foil event on Sunday.
His top ten finish after a hard day of competition in the epee event could have been even higher. He was eventually knocked out at the last-16 stage, losing 15-14 in an incredibly tight fight which could have gone either way. The only down side to his épée success was that some of his foil opponents on Sunday had not competed in the heat of Saturday’s épée event and so were fresher than he was in the foil competition.
His sister, Rebekah Seed, secured 36th place in the foil competition for her age group. Her performance, in her first British Championships, got stronger through the day; she ended up with three wins out of six in the group stage of her event, despite being drawn in a group containing two opponents who had already represented their country.
Club coach, James Kingston, said: “Over the course of the two days, Hal showed real technical and tactical awareness under pressure. During his final épée bout he was sporting enough to acknowledge an invalid hit that the referee had not spotted properly and would otherwise have awarded to him, which really impressed me. A top ten finish, his best ever British Champs result, was a great reward.
“Rebekah showed that she was also capable of working out how to deal with more experienced opposition as well as the resilience to come back from a really tough start to the day, having to fence two opponents who went on to place in the top ten. I was very proud of both of them.”
TWIST is a stylish comedy thriller by Miles Tredinnick and directed by award-winning Adam Morley. Presented with echoes of ‘Pulp Fiction’, it will be edgy, slick and cool.
Tarantino meets British farce in this rip-roaring comedy thriller that will have you guessing until the shocking end! This will be the first time Twist has been toured professionally in the UK.
Baroque Theatre are delighted to be collaborating once again with Miles Tredinnick, having toured with his hilarious Up Pompeii in 2014. Miles (who is also known as Riff Regan, lead singer for the band London) is a rock musician as well as a stage and screenwriter. He wrote stage and TV material for Frankie Howerd and was also a writer for Birds of a Feather. His stage plays have been performed worldwide.
Twist is a play about David Woods, a mild-mannered accountant who sees a sensational way of making a fortune by writing a kiss-and-tell biography about his bitchy wife Sarah, the nation’s favourite actress from the hit soap Doctors and Nurses. He then realises that his book will do even better if she is murdered first! Unfortunately a few obstacles get in his way…
BAROQUE THEATRE presents TWIST on Saturday, May 26, 2018 – Tickets £12 (concessions £10) from Spear Travels, 01844 217228 or online
from www.thameplayers.co.uk
WHILST debate over Brexit rages on over much of the country, here in Thame French and English people were enjoying a weekend of culture-sharing, fun and friendship.
Linda Emery (L) dances with Ann Gillet (Image courtesy of Michel Cojean)
After 17 years, the twinning between Thame and the Parisean suburb of Montesson, in France, reached a milestone on Sunday, May 13, when a delegation from the two towns, including a teacher from John Hampden primary school, met to launch a twinning partnership between JHS, and a primary school in Montesson.
Plans were set in motion to welcome some of the pupils and families of the Thame school to visit the Montesson stall at the lights switch-on event in Thame at the end of November, and in the future to hopefully organise exchanges of emails, drawings, photographs and music CDs between the two towns’ schools, and even for skyping sessions.
Members of the meeting between Montesson and Thame, to begin arrangements for a ‘twinning’ between the two towns’ primary school pupils who study each others’ languages
The inaugural meeting, which took place in Costa Coffee, included Laura McRonald, who teaches French at John Hampden School, the Mayor of Montesson, Jean Francois Bel and his wife Andrée, Huguette Fouché, a Deputy Mayor of Montesson, the Deputy Mayor of Thame and Chair of the Thame and District twinning Association, Linda Emery, the President of the Montesson Twinning Committee, Anne Gillet, Phillipa Town of the group, Thame for Europe, Elisabeth Charriere who works with students of English at the Montesson primary school, her partner Michael Gitlin and Sonja Francis.
The group from Montesson arrived by coach on Friday evening (May 11), to be greeted by their Thame host families before going home with them to share an evening meal, and to bed to rest for a busy weekend of activities. These included a guided tour of the Oxford Colleges in the morning on Saturday, before eating a packed lunch in the old Court Room, courtesy of the staff of Oxford Town Hall.
Montesson residents, Jacques and Huguette Fouché, admire the water plants at the famous Botanic Garden in Oxford
During the tour of the winding, narrow lanes that the visitor to Oxford rarely sees, the visitors were shown the Radcliffe Camera, the Sheldonian Theatre and library, Brasenose College where David Cameron was educated, the house of Halley – of Comet fame, and most of the famous colleges that make up Oxford University.
Later that evening, a meal together and a Barn dance was organised in the stunning medieval barn attached to Towersey Manor, courtesy of Marie Jean Barnett. English traditional barn-dancing proved to be quite challenging for the French – and many of the English too! But everyone had great fun trying!! The band, TRACTION provided the music and the ‘caller’ showed great patience and tact towards his pupils!
And, did you know? The expression ‘Do-si-do’ in barn dancing, actually originates from the French ‘dos à dos’ meaning ‘back-to-back’ ?
A cake, celebrating three significant birthdays among the two twinning groups, was made by Norma Laver of A Piece of Cake in Thame, who with her husband, David, a staunch supporter of Thame Twinning, mingled with the guests, mysteriously closely resembling the royal couple, due to marry next Saturday!
Anne Gillet, speaking on behalf of the Montesson contingent, said: “Everybody – unanimously- spent an amazing weekend; rich with joy, friendship, discoveries and much fun!
“Every moment was just perfectly organised and the dance evening was a real highlight! In the coach we all shared our recollections of barn dancing. That was just fantastic !!! The dinner was excellent and the atmosphere so great. We’re looking very much forward to coming next year again ! On the shuttle back home, we shared pieces of Norma’s wonderful and delicious EU cake!”
In September, members and friends of Thame and District Twinning Association will make the return visit to Montesson for a weekend that will include festivities for the annual fête du pâté à la Carmen.
Linda Emery, for Thame Twinning, was delighted with the way the weekend went, and said: “There have been many links between the residents of Thame and Montesson over the last 17 years; this is the first time we have had a Barn dance! We danced away to a wonderful ceilidh band for most of the evening and apparently, our guests are already talking about coming back next year!”
For more information about Thame and District Twinning Association, go to here LINK HERE
A man from Thame, who spent time in prison after an incident in a Thame pub, has been awarded compensation from the police regarding, what he described as ‘an unlawful search’of his vehicle.
Peter Butler
Peter Butler, formally of Glenham Road, Thame, was found guilty of Actual Bodily Harm (ABH), and two counts of common assault in March 2016.
On January 24, 2016, Mr Butler’s vehicle was parked in a private car park in Swan Walk, Thame. A police officer, PC Aaron Walker, was handed a car key that belonged to Mr Butler, that had been dropped during an incident in the Swan Hotel, Thame. He then went to Mr Butler’s vehicle, entered and carried out a full search without Mr Butlers knowledge or authority.
Mr Butler said: “when I was handed back my car keys by Thames Valley Police I was shocked to find when I went to pick it up that it had been ransacked with the belongings that where in a locked glove compartment all across the front seat and foot well. The boot has also been searched and my property disturbed. PC Aaron Walker had admitted searching my car although he had no authorisation, nor lawful reason to do so. I informed the Chef Constable of Thames Valley Police that I was prepared to take legal action for trespass and seek compensation.”
A Thames Valley Police spokesperson told Thame.Net: “We compensated Mr Butler £150 but did not accept liablity.”
Previous police apology
Back in In March 2017, Mr Butler complained to Thames Valley Police, saying that there were various inaccuracies in a press release they issued after Mr Butler’s sentencing, which stated that Mr Butler had punched a woman in the head ‘multiple times’.
In November 2017, Thames Valley Police responded to the complaint, accepting that PC Walker’s comment (that Mr Butler had punched a woman in the head multiple times), was “a wrong choice of words.”
Mr Butler was not satisfied with the outcome of Thames Valley Police’s investigation into his complaint, and mounted an appeal.
In December 2017, Thames Valley Police rejected Mr Butler’s appeal, but stated: “It has been accepted that a mistake was made in this matter, in the wording of the press release, and that the service provided to you has fallen short of that which I would expect, for which I offer my apologies.”
Whilst Thames Valley Police did not accept that there was any evidence of deliberate misconduct by PC Walker, they confirmed that ‘strong words of advice’ had been given to him.
LAST year Thame and District Rotary met with some local business leaders to discuss how they might work together to support the local community. A suggestion from Andrew King, Director of Richardsons Accountants, resulted in the concept of the Rotary’s Business in the Community Programme.
Thame business supports Rotary volunteering project at Blue Cross
The scheme involves volunteers from local businesses joining employees from other businesses, during company time, to undertake community projects. Rotary identifies projects through its links with local authorities, local charities and other similar organisations, projects which are generally of a practical nature requiring a different skill set to those used during the volunteer’s normal work.
Andrew King said: “We are thrilled that so many other businesses in Thame have chosen to support our initiative. It was created as a result of us being founder members of Reciprocate, which is a group of businesses that are working together to improve the lives of people in Oxfordshire. The formation of the group grew from an idea from Tony Stratton, during his term as High Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 2014/15, with the official launch of Reciprocate on March 15, 2016 at the Ashmolean in Oxford. It is a great idea from Reciprocate, but none of it would have happened without the enormous support of John Singer, Thame Rotary’s President, who has worked relentlessly with the businesses and community in Thame to make this such a success.”
John Singer himself said: “I was overwhelmed by the response from businesses I visited, as almost all of them immediately confirmed their support. In fact, I soon stopped as there was a danger we would have too many!”
The companies who are supporting the scheme this year are Kubota Ltd, Lightfoots Solicitors, Lucy Electric Ltd, Oxfordshire Golf Hotel & Spa, Richardsons Chartered Accountants and Waitrose and from their employees volunteering to do the work.
The first project undertaken was at Lewknor’s Blue Cross where two very enthusiastic groups of volunteers from Lucy Electric Ltd and from The Oxfordshire Golf Hotel and Spa, Lightfoots Solicitors and Richardsons Chartered Accountants redecorated the staff room and vets’ offices on April 19 and 20. During the first day the rooms were prepared including removing wall fixings, repairing walls and sandpapering. During the second day the walls were repainted with emulsion and radiators glossed.
Clare Cruttenden, Centre Manager of Lewknor Blue Cross, said: “We’re really proud of the facilities that we have for our pets, but the areas used by the team for breaks and to work in were looking tired. Having these rooms painted makes a huge difference to the dedicated team of staff and volunteers who work hard to care for homeless pets, giving them more pleasant places to work and take well-earned breaks. We’re very grateful to Thame and District Rotary and the volunteers from local companies for making this possible.”
The monetary value of this first project is estimated at around £2,000 to Blue Cross however, the benefits have not been solely financial. The community has benefited by their being an additional voluntary resource, businesses have been able to contribute to their own community, volunteers have networked with colleagues and employees from other local companies and some have even learned new skills.
“We pride ourselves in being proactively involved in the local community, commented John Griffith, CEO at Lucy Electric and are delighted to be able to support the Thame and District Rotary Club by providing a team of volunteers to support this worthwhile initiative.”
Jack Armstrong and Bill Heritage of Richardsons Chartered Accountants working on Blue Cross said: “It was great to get involved with this fantastic cause. You don’t always appreciate how volunteering can make a difference, especially when the staff are so dedicated to providing such excellent care to the animals. It’s evident what great work Blue Cross are doing, as a couple visited all the way from Southampton to adopt a dog that had been cared for by the team. We were more than happy to help. “
John Singer added: “The programme has exceeded all his expectations. It seems to have been of great value to the community, and attractive to local businesses and their employees. Thame and District Rotary, with its established links in the community, was ideally positioned to facilitate the programme. This is a perfect example of how Rotary and Businesses, working together, can make things happen and we intend this will be a regular event. This programme is unique in as much that the teams of volunteers are formed from employees from different companies.”
John concluded:” We are looking forward to undertaking our next two projects at Chilworth SEN School and Thomley. In the future we plan to promote the scheme to attract additional companies and would invite charities and similar organisations who have suitable projects to contact Rotary on www.thame.rotary1090.org or connect with us via www.facebook.com/thamerotary .“
SATURDAY’s Friends if the Earth Green Living Event presents a great opportunity to swap goods, sell or buy a second-hand bike, swap seeds or plants and enjoy a variety of information and presentations on Green Living.
Organiser, Maureen Dyroff, of Thame and Chinnor FOE explained: “A Swap Shop is a unique way of recycling and reusing unwanted goods, things that you don’t use anymore but you don’t want to see ending up in the landfill site. Most of us will have items that we don’t want or use, but they are just too good to throw away. Here is your chance to see them being used by someone else, which is much more satisfying than throwing them out.”
ONLY GOOD CONDITION ITEMS WILL BE ACCEPTED. Just take along your unwanted items – good condition only – on the day, and take away anything you see that you want. You can just bring or you can just take. You don’t have to bring to take or vice versa. Everything is free. Everything is donated. Suitable items could include good condition toys, books, CDs, bric-a-brac, linen, clothes, baby equipment, kitchenware, small electrical items, unwanted gifts. It is requested that no items are taken along after 1pm. Small electrical goods with CE mark only accepted.
Goods left over will be taken to charity shops or clothes banks or recycled if unsuitable for reuse.
BIKE EXCHANGE and Bike Repair unit
There will also be a Bike Exchange on the day. If you want to sell a bike or want to buy a second-hand bike, then go along in the morning to see what is on offer. Bikes to sell can be brought along from 9.30am, clearly labelled with your name, contact details and the asking price. Friends of the Earth charge £5 for every bike sold.
PLANT AND SEED /SEEDLINGS SWAP
Bring a plant or seedlings or seeds or sundries to swap or make a small donation if you have nothing to swap.
GREEN LIVING displays and information will be on show, as well as free craft activities for children.
You can also deposit any of the following items for recycling on the day:
Household batteries, CDs, used postage stamps, foreign coins, mobile phones, printer cartridges and old reading glasses.
Refreshments available throughout the day, including cakes and drinks and a selection of home-made soups.
ENTRANCE FREE
Organised by Chinnor and Thame Friends of the earth. Saturday 12th May, Mill Lane School … 10am – 2pm
UPDATE – 10pm – The outgoing Mayor of Thame has sent a message to the people of Thame relevant to this report. Cllr Tom Wyse, through Thame.Net, said: “I would like to thank all the lovely people of Thame who helped me during my year as Mayor.”
“Due to your generosity we managed to collect a total of £11,748 which will be shared equally by Thame and District Day Centre and The Red Kite Family Centre.
“Thank you again; it has been a privilege to be the Mayor of the town I was born in!”
THE chosen charities of the out-going Mayor of Thame, Tom Wyse, has benefited from his fund-raising events to the value of in excess of £11,000.
At the Annual Meeting of Thame Town Council on Tuesday, May 8, Cllr Tom Wyse presented Amy Spicer and John Hulett from the Red Kite Family Centre, and Alison Champken-Woods from Thame & District Day Centre with a cheque of £5,874 each, making his fundraising total an impressive £11,748.
Throughout his year in office, the Mayor held many fundraising events in aid of his charities, including a cinema evening, music concert, golf day, bowls match, and a snooker tournement.
