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  • Helen’s double challenge!

    LOCAL resident, Helen Johns, set herself a challenge a few weeks ago – to cycle 100 miles on her indoor exercise bike during May and raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Society as part of their Cycle for Dementia Challenge. The 100-mile target was far more than she normally cycled.

    Well, she did it! It was 111 miles to be precise, but having achieved this much, she thought she couldn’t leave it there – so she decided to repeat the challenge in June, cycling another 100 miles to raise funds for dementia. By June 30, Helen had cycled a grand total of 213 miles! 

    The Cycle for Dementia campaign is helping the Alzheimer’s Society fund the cost of care for dementia sufferers and fund research for a disease that affects 850,000 in the UK and for which there is currently no cure. It is estimated that 1.6 million people in the UK will suffer from this cruel disease by 2040. 

    Helen has been spurred on by the fantastic donations made by friends, family, and business contacts. An amazing £1,525 has been donated to date! Helen commented: “This is an amazing figure, but if you haven’t made a donation yet, I hope you will support my Cycle for Dementia Challenge and help raise funds for the vital work the Alzheimer’s Society is doing to help dementia sufferers. It’s easy to make a donation by visiting my Just Giving page, and you can continue doing it until July 31. Every donation helps the Alzheimer’s Society continue their important work!’”

    Offline donations can be made by sending a cheque payable to the Alzheimer’s Society c/o 11 Swan Gardens, Tetsworth, Thame OX9 7BN. 

    For more information www.alzheimers.org.uk on 0330 333 0804,  at challenge@alzheimers.org.uk, on facebook.com/alzheimerssocietyuk or on twitter.com/alzheimerssoc.

  • Re-brand for Thame day centre

    THAME and District Day Centre, which has been a well loved and respected part of the Community for the past 34 years, has undergone a rebrand and is now known as Thame Senior Friendship Centre.

    In a statement, the Trustees said: “Thame and District Day Centre has experienced many changes during those 34 years. The most significant change before the current pandemic was the move to the new Cricket Pavilion from Thame Community Hospital. The hospital needed more clinical space and having a larger space for the Charity would provide an opportunity to support a larger number of members.

    “Over the last year after a significant amount of discussion at the Trustees meeting and AGM, it was an opportune moment to look at the name and branding of the centre. When the Day Centre started it was part of Age Concern and since then there have been significant changes in health care in conjunction with the needs and expectations of the elderly community of Thame. Now the centre is an independent Charity it is important to continue to reflect our members’ needs to ensure they continue to live independently. The new name of ‘Thame Senior Friendship Centre’ will help us do this.

    “Unfortunately, as many of you know ,we closed on March  17, due to Covid-19 and unfortunately, we have no date for reopening due to current restrictions. We know that when we do re-open the way in which we operate will change significantly. However, whilst we have been closed, we are in contact with all our members to make sure they are fit and well. The staff, volunteers and trustees have continued to work during the closure to support those isolated within the community and this has also afforded us the time to rebrand, print new leaflets and create a new website which will allow forms to be completed online.

    “Via our website you will see links to join the South Oxfordshire Lottery, donate via Givey and via purchases from Amazon smile. 

    “The aims, and values of the centre are the same as the day it started in 1986. A friendly space in which to socialise is the key to helping tackle one of the biggest challenges as we grow older – loneliness. Thame Senior Friendship Centre provides a welcome to everyone on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and we can arrange transport through volunteers and much more. On arrival, members get a cup of tea or coffee and a chance to catch up with and interact with other members. Some of the members like to chat and do puzzles, jigsaws or some like to play games like indoor curling. At lunchtime members are offered a glass of sherry and a 2 course lunch followed by afternoon entertainment.

    “Providing this key service to our older community cannot exist without the support of the rest of the community in the form of grants, donations, volunteer helpers and drivers and we hope that this will continue for many years to come.”

  • Race Around The World – Chinnor v Powerhouse

    CHINNOR RFC Thame and Powerhouse Performance Club, who work together on the teams’ fitness at Kingsey Road, will be going head-to-head over the next month in a race around the world!

    Starting tomorrow, Chinnor and Powerhouse will use the GPS cycling and running app Strava to see who can cover the circumference of the Earth – 40,075km – first. 

    Chinnor RFC Thame Head of Community, Matt Goode said: “This is a new chapter for the Club and we would like everyone to work together. This is a great way to start a little bit of fitness before the season begins, but to also have fun and enjoy some healthy competition with our friends at Powerhouse. It is a fantastic opportunity to come together as a whole Club without physically being able to at the moment.” 

    Powerhouse Performance Club are based at the rugby club’s Kingsey Road ground, running small group personal training and outdoor bootcamps. 

    Co-founder Daz Oliver, who is also Chinnor’s Head of Strength & Conditioning, said: “I’m very excited about this challenge! Although the rugby club will have more numbers, we have a group of crazy dedicated members who are already excited to get started. It’s a perfect opportunity to get the kids off the computer and to get active as a family. Whether it’s a one-mile walk or 50-mile cycle, it all counts towards the total and everyone is improving their health and fitness along the way.” 

    While Chinnor and Powerhouse will be battling it out for supremacy during July 1-31, prizes will also be awarded for the top performers across the following categories: 

    • Powerhouse Performance Club Members & Staff 
    • Chinnor Minis 
    • Chinnor Juniors & Colts 
    • Chinnor Senior Players 
    • Chinnor Staff, Members & Supporters 

    To sign up, download the Strava app and register. Once you have done that, select ‘Explore’, then ‘Clubs’ and search for either ‘Chinnor RFC Around The World’ or ‘Team Powerhouse Around The World’.

  • Covid 19 forces postponement of Thame Food Festival to 2021

    LIKE most of Thame’s annual events, the Thame Food Festival for 2020, due to have taken place in September, has had to be cancelled due to the Corona virus.

    In a statement, the organisers explained: “Paramount in making the decision has been the safety of all those attending including visitors, stallholders, volunteers and chefs. The appeal of Thame Food Festival is the hustle and bustle which for obvious current social distancing reasons would be impossible to achieve. Plus, there would be significant additional expense to maintain the required cleanliness standards including more frequent cleaning, wash stations, hand sanitizer and extra security to ensure social distancing measures are not being breached. In addition, there is currently limited government guidance on how events of this scale should be managed, or if they should be held at all.

    “This has been a tough decision to make. However, we ultimately have to consider the health and safety of all those that join us. While a number of alternative options have been explored, including potentially holding the event earlier in 2021 it was felt the best solution was to postpone it until September 2021. Hopefully by this time there will be clarity on how events like these can happen. And so while we are extremely disappointed, we will be transferring many of the plans and ideas to next year and look forward to hopefully welcoming everyone then.”

  • Join ‘Thame Against Racism’

    FOLLOWING the wave of demonstrations that began in the USA after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and then spread to almost all corners of the globe, the anti-racism movement has been revived and re-energised here in the UK.

    The call from all those linked to, or supporters of, the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign is for an end to systemic racism. Full stop. 

    In the past few months, most of us were leaving our houses on Thursday evenings to clap for front line workers and especially for those on the front line of the NHS. We have become acutely aware, if we hadn’t been before, that 44% of the NHS workforce is from BAME communities – without them the NHS simply could not survive.

    We have also seen the images and statistics on the TV that make it abundantly clear that those NHS employees of BAME heritage have been dying in disproportionately high numbers.

    It is no longer possible for anyone who has seen all this unfolding during the pandemic to deny that immigrants have enriched our society by forming the backbone of the NHS, a national jewel of which we are all, almost universally, so proud.

    If anyone doubts that systemic racism still exists in the UK, they only need to watch the BBC dramatisation of one of the Windrush generation, Anthony Bryan and his nightmare experiences at the hands of the Home Office (‘Sitting in Limbo’ – BBC 1 – Monday June 8, at 20.30 – still available on iplayer). Despite Theresa May delivering an apology to the victims of her ‘Hostile Environment’ in 2018 (with promises of compensation) and 12,000 people having finally been given documents proving their right to live in the UK, only 60 claims for compensation had been settled by May 2020.

    Anyone interested in joining the anti-racist movement in this area can check the Facebook page of  ‘Thame Against Racism‘ (TAR).

    TAR is holding a “Fourth of July Mass Micro Protest” this Saturday July 4. Groups of six, socially-distanced protesters will take the knee all over Thame, simultaneously at 11.00. Meet near the Citizens Advice centre from 10.30, to be dispatched in your groups. ALL WELCOME!

  • Prize to transform the future

    A brand-new initiative in the form of a competition has been launched to help make lives and landscapes greener, healthier, more beautiful and wilder.

    A prize to Transform the Future (www.prizetotransformthefuture.org) is calling for optimists to help visualise a hopeful and possible future for the London City Region, which includes the Chilterns.

    The Coronavirus pandemic is changing the way our country looks and feels. Our communities and neighbourhoods look different now, resurgent community spirit offers hope for a different way forward.  Symbols of shared support for our NHS have presented in rainbows in windows, more people are accessing their local green spaces and ideas are bubbling across the country to use this crisis as an opportunity to make life better. 

    That’s why the Chilterns Conservation Board has come together with National Parks, other Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), the London National Park City, Culture Declares Emergency and Ordnance Survey to launch the Prize to Transform the Future. 

    The Prize is a bold and exciting opportunity for optimists to help visualise a hopeful and possible future for the London City Region by sharing ideas to make our lives and landscapes greener, healthier, more beautiful and wilder.

    What might the London City Region look like 20 years from now? Now imagine what it could and should look like. What if it was radically greener, healthier, wilder and more beautiful? What would it look like? What would it be like?

    The Prize to Transform the Future is a call to artists, architects, cartographers, imagineers, optimists, realists, landscape architects, master planners, conservationists, graphic designers, farmers, film-makers, ecologists, illustrators, geographers, students, politicians, professionals, writers, modellers, pensioners, weavers, idealists and bankers. In fact, it’s for anyone and everyone.

    Dan Raven-Ellison, founder of the London National Park City, said “I hope lots of people will be inspired to rise to this challenge. This may not be a financial prize, but the potential reward is something much greater, deeper and longer lasting than that. We are currently facing a number of urgent wake-up calls. Our health, our ecology and our climate are all entwined in states of emergency that threaten our lives and livelihoods. We need bold and positive visions that we can get behind to restore our futures and make life better for ourselves and future generations.”

    Dr Elaine King, Chief Executive Officer at the Chilterns Conservation Board said: “We’re living through unprecedented times and the need for access to greener and wilder spaces for our health and well-being has never been greater.  The Prize couldn’t have come at a more pivotal moment and we hope that people will be encouraged to think about how a greener, healthier London City region might look.” 

    Discover more about the Prize to Transform the Future, including how to enter by visiting www.prizetotransformthefuture.org  and join the conversation at #PrizeToTransformTheFuture

  • Chinnor RFC Winger to take hole-in-one challenge for mum’s hospice

    CHINNOR RFC winger, Josh Hodson, is setting himself a new sporting challenge by attempting a hole-in-one on Saturday, July 4, In aid of Michael Sobell Hospice, a cause close to his heart.

    The odds of an amateur golfer hitting a hole-in-one are estimated to be 12,500 to 1, hence Josh setting a massive fundraising target of £12,500 (of which £705 has so far been raised) for his challenge which will take place at Rickmansworth Golf Club, which has kindly prepared and allocated a special par 3 hole for the day’s event. 

    For every shot Josh takes he requires a donation of a £1 and each pound raised will go directly to Michael Sobell Hospice where his mum (Sian Hodson), who is terminally ill with cancer, is being treated and cared for. This money will make a huge difference to the Mount Vernon-based Hospice which is in need of financial help as a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

    “During these tough times with COVID-19, Michael Sobell Hospice Charity has lost up to 80% of its funding and is in desperate need of public donations,” explained Josh. “For everything the Hospice team has done to help my mum and others get through their own personal battles, I feel it is the least I can do to try to help keep their doors open.”

    Commenting on his challenge, mum Sian said: “My terminal cancer diagnosis just over four years ago had a massive impact on the family and both my sons immediately started individual fundraising attempts, with each of them managing to raise several thousand pounds for cancer charities. Michael Sobell plays a very important part in our lives. I have been an inpatient several times and as a result, it was suggested that I should attend their Day Centre which has helped me beyond belief.”

    Sian added: “When Josh realised that the Hospice was suffering a deficit in their fundraising income this year, due to COVID-19, he knew he had to do something to raise as much money as quickly as possible, whilst hopefully attracting as much attention as possible from local businesses and residents who might be in a position to donate some money to enable him to try and hit a hole in one.”

    To donate to Josh’s challenge and help raise funds for Michael Sobell Hospice, please visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/hole-in-one-for-michael-sobel

  • Committee on climate to discuss ideas for future plans for South Oxfordshire

    A committee in South Oxfordshire that considers and advises on actions to address the Climate Emergency will be considering proposals that could form part of the district council’s long-term plans.

    South Oxfordshire District Council will produce a new Corporate Plan over the summer to direct the council’s work until 2024, and the Cabinet’s developing ideas on themes and illustrative projects for the plan will be considered by the council’s Climate Emergency Advisory Committee on Monday,  June 29.

    Addressing the Climate Emergency features strongly as a priority that cuts across many of the developing ideas, and the climate committee will provide any recommendations around the climate emergency for the council’s Cabinet to consider as it develops the Corporate Plan.

    Cllr Sue Cooper, Leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “It’s important we hear the Climate Emergency Advisory Committee’s thoughts and recommendations on how we should develop our thinking around the new Corporate Plan to ensure any decisions we make on the council’s direction have the Climate Emergency at their heart.”

    Cllr Andrea Powell, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, said: “The greatest challenge we face as a society is the Climate Emergency and our ability to adapt our lives and our behaviours to ensure a safe and resilient future. While statements and targets are welcome, the challenge for our district is to take action, transform our operations and inspire our residents and businesses to do the same.”

    As well as action on the climate emergency, other developing ideas for the Corporate Plan that feature in the presentation that will be seen by the climate committee include proposed themes around:

    • sustainable new homes and infrastructure that meet local needs
    • improved economic and community wellbeing
    • investment and innovation that rebuilds the council’s financial viability
    • openness and accountability
    • protecting and restoring our natural world.

    The council’s Cabinet will be discussing ideas around the new Corporate Plan in July when it will also consider any recommendations from the Climate Emergency Advisory Committee. The public will then have a chance to give their thoughts on proposals for the Corporate Plan.

  • ‘Thames Champion’ appointed by district council

    SOUTH Oxfordshire District Councillor, Jo Robb, has been appointed to the new post of Thames Champion after Green Councillors pushed for the creation of the role. 

    Cllr Jo Robb, (left) with other members of the Henley Mermaids, wild swimming group

    The Thames Champion will network with river users, councillors and neighbouring councils to improve access to, and protect and enhance the biodiversity and water quality of the river.

    A first challenge will be to stop Thames Water releasing raw sewage into the river and, in the meantime, to ensure that river users and communities have access to real-time information about when this happens. 

    “All rivers should have bathing quality water – waters fit for swimming.,” said Jo, who is herself a very keen wild swimmer, and a member of the Henley Mermaids. Jo was the Green Party candidate in the May 2019, General Election.

  • Christmas comes early for Thame Town Cricket Club groundsman

    CHARLIE Anderson, one of two groundsmen at Thame Town Cricket Cub (TTCC), took his new John Deere mower out for a spin for the first time recently.

    Whilst club Cricket matches have been suspended until August at the earliest, the grass continues to grow and TTCC’s ground team have been hard at work keeping the square and ground in the pristine condition that we have all become accustomed to. 

    Charlie, who turned 60 earlier this year was beside himself when the club’s management team announced that a new John Deere 7200A mower, which was sponsored by local business FAROL Ltd, would be entrusted to him to ‘cut the meadow’. 

    Since the lockdown, Church Meadow has been frequented by many people taking a stroll, enjoying a picnic and exercising whilst enjoying the backdrop of St Mary’s Church and the club’s new pavilion. All of whom are likely to appreciate the hard work that goes into keeping the ground so well groomed. 

    Whilst following strict government and ECB  (English Cricket Board) guidance, so far this season, the clubhouse has remained closed but the hard-standing and grass nets have been opened for playing members to use these facilities by themselves. The club is now looking to provide coach-led net sessions for members of the junior section, starting with under 15s from Tuesday, June, 30 . Plans and options are being discussed to see whether the club can also provide coach-led sessions to the other age groups from U13 down to All Stars age 5+. 

    Matt Swain TTCC Chair said: “within the safe limits governed by the ECB and the volunteer resource we have available, the club is determined to get as much Cricket on as possible this season. Groups of five juniors can be coached by one coach at any given time but when you have up to 60 kids in an age group this requires a lot of coaches and careful planning. As always if you would like to help, we would love to hear from you.

    “Thame Town CC would like to thank FAROL Ltd for their ongoing support and we look forward to welcoming them, together with all of our other sponsors, members and guests back to the clubhouse just as soon as we are able to…..watch this space!”

    For more information about Thame Town Cricket Club, visit thamecricket.org.uk, facebook.com/thamecricketclub & twitter.com/thamecricket