Category: Thame news

A MESSAGE from the Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, The Right Hon. Hugo Brunner.
THE Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will celebrate the anniversary of their Diamond wedding on Tuesday, November 20.
On that evening, at 6 pm, there will be a special service in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, at which the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd John Pritchard will preach.
The public are warmly invited to come to the service and the Dean and I would particularly welcome the presence of Oxfordshire couples who were married on the same day, 20th November 1947, as the Queen and the Duke.
We should be grateful if all such couples would contact us so that we can make it easy for them to get to the service and to the seats allocated to them.

Hugo Brunner, Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire,
01865 316431 or HMRBrunner@googlemail.com

Photo: The Lord Lieutanant of Oxfordshire (right) Hugo Brunner, with the Mayor of Thame, David Bretherton, at the official opening of Thame Museum earlier in the year.

THE couple that won a Thame eating house in the recent TV Series, The Restaurant, have been meeting the locals today.
Jane and Jeremy Hooper, who have now moved to Thame, today invited members of the local business community, members of the Press and local people who would like to join the couple and work at ‘Eight At The Thatch’ (formerly The Old Trout), to meet them at the Swan Hotel.
Jane told ThameNews.Net: “After all the media attention and the training we have been doing with Peach and Raymond Blanc, we just can’t wait to get into the building and actually start doing what we have been chosen to do. We are recruiting local people wherever we can to work with us and shall be sourcing ingredients locally too.
“We do so want to become part of the local community and contribute to the life of Thame.”
Although Jane discovered that she was pregnant just a month after the series began, she is confident that, although she will probably take a couple of months off “to get used to being a mum,” she still intends to take a full and active part in the business.
Chatting about children and family life, Jane said that she and Jeremy fully intend to be a family-friendly establishment where people can bring children at most times of the day, but that they will also have a separate section for private dining and somewhere where those who want to eat undisturbed can do so.
There will also be a bar and the lunch-time menu will be quick-to-prepare food suitable for business lunches.
For the time being, the Hoopers will not be running their establishment as a hotel, but will use the rooms on the first floor as staff accommodation. (Jane hadn’t heard about the ghost that is supposed to inhabit one of the bedrooms, and said that she was unlikely to tell staff members about it!)
As part of their prize, Jane and Jeremy will be financilly backed and mentored, for a year, by Raymond Blanc, who runs Le Manoir aux quat’ Saisons, at Milton Common, just outside Thame.
Throughout the afternoon, a television crew were filming at The Swan, making a follow-up programme about the Hoopers, to be shown sometime next Spring. The filming included an interview with the Chair of Thame First (formerly The Chamber of Commerce), Alun Rowe who welcomed the Hoopers to Thame, saying that their arrival with such a high profile enterprise, he was sure would be good for the town.
Eight At The Thatch is expected to open sometime in November.

Photo: Jane Hooper interviews two local young chefs, keen to work at the new ‘Eight At The Thatch’ restaurant in Thame.

THE Police are appealing for witnesses and information after a car and heavy goods vehicle collided on the A418 Aylesbury Road, at the junction with Church Way, Haddenham.
At 10.40am on Thursday (18/10) two vehicles, a blue Vauxhall Mervia and a white DAF articulated heavy goods vehicle, collided. The vehicles were travelling on the main road between Aylesbury and Thame.

The 53-year-old driver of the Vauxhall Mervia was transported to Oxford JR2 Hospital by air ambulance. She sustained serious injuries, but is stable and improving.

The surrounding roads were closed for approximately three hours.

If you have any information or witnessed this incident, please contact PC Mark Edwards at Aylesbury Roads Policing. He can be reached via the 24-hour Police Enquiry Centre on 0845 8 505 505 or, if you don?t want to talk to police or give your name, call the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.

You can also give information to the police in person by visiting any police station. To find out the opening times and location of your local station please call 0845 8 505 505 or visit: www.thamesvalley.police.uk/bcu/buckinghamshire/bcu-info/stations.htm

A MAN who was killed in a collision with a car near the M40 Services at Wheatley, has been named.
The victim of the collision, which happened last Saturday evening, was 27 year-old Gary Simon Pitt, of Thame.
It appears that at around 8.25pm on the night of the incident, Mr Pitt was walking along the A418 Oxford Road, towards junction 8a services of the M40, when he was in collision with a Peugeot 206.
The female driver was uninjured but was treated for shock.

LIVESTOCK MARKETS at Thame will return to normal this Friday, October 26.
This welcome news for Thame Farmers Auction Mart Ltd, which runs Thame cattlemarket, comes afer the government has reduced the Foot and Mouth High Risk Zone, allows for the movement of livestock in our area.

AFTER two Thame mums asked the town council to do something to improve the much run-down, Southern Road Recreation Area, the town council?s appointed Project Officer, Adam Barnes, has been gathering information from local school children about what they would like in the area.
In a recent informal, email update, Adam said:”Having spent the best part of a month collecting all the data from the schools of Thame (I visited all three primary schools and part of three year groups from Lord Williams), I have spent the last few days putting the data into graph and spreadsheet form for analysis so that I can give a presentation to the children showing them what they chose etc.
“This data will be used to draw up the specification for the tender that will be sent out just before or after Christmas.
“The next stage for us now is to identify and start applying to the various funding opportunities available for the play area redevelopment. We will, at the same time, be doing some site visits to various parks and play areas around the local area to get some ideas of what does and does not work. I have already been to Marlow and Wheatley and Chinnor will soon follow.”
Linda and Adam thanked you all the people who left comments at the consultation meetings and say that the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

Regarding Thame Guide HQ, Linda Newton,who is the District Commissioner for Thame Guiding, has reported the following:
?THE new Girlguiding Headquarters project is also gaining pace. The wealth of supportive comments given at the consultation sessions were fantastic. I have read and considered all the feedback given and would like to thank all the people who left comments at the meetings.
?I understand the need to address issues such as car parking, child safety and access for all: these will be addressed as part of the new Guide HQ.
?The next stage is the planning process and this will start shortly. This involves a planning application to South Oxfordshire District Council which will be considered both in Wallingford (SODC) and Thame.
?Whilst that is going on, the building team will continue to look at the best way forward in terms of design of the building, from both a materials and sustainability point of view. one important aspect will be to try and incorporate as many environmentally friendly aspects as possible.
?The new Guide HQ is an important community facility that needs to support the continued growth of Girlguiding in Thame.?
Linda and Adam are both keen to point out the following:
“Anything we say here is merely to keep people informed and as such we cannot commit to definite details on all subjects. Thank you all for the on-going support and we look forward to hearing from you.

A THAME man in his Twenties was pronounced dead at the scene, after apparently being hit by a car near the M40 Services on the A418, near junction 8a.
Police officers were called to the scene at 8.25pm, on Saturday evening, where it appeared that the man had been walking along the road, when he was struck by a Peugeot 206. The woman driver was treated for shock.
The A418 was closed for five hours to allow officers from the Collision Investigation Unit to examine the scene.
The man?s next of kin have been informed.

Anyone who witnessed the collision or saw the man walking in the area and have not yet contacted the police are urged to call PC James Holstead at Bicester Roads Policing via the Police Enquiry Centre on 0845 8 505 505.

If you don?t want to talk to police and don?t want to leave your name, call the Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555 111.

THE Thames Valley Police area has the fifth lowest number of Registered Sex Offenders in England and Wales, according to figures released today.
Local figures released today (22/10) show that the Thames Valley has the fifth lowest number of registered sex offenders per 100,000 people in England and Wales.

Publication of the sixth Thames Valley MAPPA report ? Multi-Agency Public Protection Agreements ? show that there were 982 registered sex offenders in the Thames Valley, which equates to 46 per 100,000 people in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire, up to 31 March this year. The national average is 57.45.

The figures are broken down into the five Basic Command Units (BCUs) and are as follows:

Oxfordshire 323 (out of a population of 631,900)

Berkshire West 227 (out of a population of 445,400)

Berkshire East 152 (out of a population of 370,500)

Milton Keynes 130 (out of a population of 224,800)

Buckinghamshire 150 (out of a population of 487,300)

The number of other offenders, including those convicted of violent offences, covered by Multi-Agency Public Protection Panel (MAPPPs) in the Thames Valley totalled 980 between April 1, 2006 and March 31, 2007. This brings the total number of offenders who came under MAPPA during those dates to 1,962.

MAPPA places a duty on Thames Valley Police, Thames Valley Probation and the Prison Service to assess and manage risk posed by offenders in the community.

This work is done in partnership with other agencies, including Primary Care Trusts, the Youth Offending Service, mental health, local authority housing and social services.

Paul Gillbard, Director of Offender Management for Thames Valley Probation, said: ?We have worked hard to revise our local MAPPA procedures in line with the expectations from central government. In the Thames Valley, we feel confident that we have a workable system which should provide the local community with confidence that sex offenders and potentially dangerous persons are being managed properly and safely.

?The fact is, however, that such persons always have been and will continue to be released into the community. Recent changes in the law and working practices of all the agencies involved in MAPPA now mean that such people are monitored far more closely than in the past.?

Det Ch Insp Tim Price, Public Protection Officer, said: ?The annual report demonstrates the success of MAPPA locally. Robust and comprehensive multi agency public protection plans have provided safety and reassurance to past and potential victims as well as the general public.

?By successfully identifying offenders, sharing information with other key agencies and working closely together on public protection plans, dangerous offenders are well monitored and risks to the public are minimised.

?The very fact that we can illustrate these figures in this report tells you that we know where these offenders are and we are working to protect you from them.?

PLANS for the demolition of the Pied Pedaller in North Street, Thame, and its replacement with a two-story library building, are now available to be viewed by the public.
The plans, for what is described as ‘a Learning Centre’, can be inspected at Thame Town Hall as part of a public consultation exercise.
Oxfordshire County Council are making the application for planning consent, and say that it envisages that the building will be used for meetings and other community uses, as well as the town’s library.
The plans include a ‘glass box’courtyard to be used as a children’s library.

FIVE people have been arrested in connection with a serious assault in Wellington Street, Thame.
A 25-year-old man was left with a fractured cheek bone, broken nose and bruising following the attack near Ludsden Grove at around 11pm on September 14.
The Police are still eager to speak to anyone who saw a group of youths in a silver Renault Clio acting in a disorderly manner in Thame that night, or anyone who saw the assault take place.

Four boys aged between 15 and 16 years-old from the Aylesbury area, and a 41-year-old woman from the Thame area, have been released on bail pending further enquiries.

If anyone has any information they are requested to contact PC Flello of Thame Police on 0845 8 505 505 or alternatively they can contact Crimestoppers.