Category: Thame news

LORRY drivers who sleep in their cabs overnight in a Thame car park, are to be stopped.
South Oxfordshire District Council have been informed that some lorry drivers are using the designated lorry parking spaces in the Cattlemarket to park and sleep overnight.
Apparently this is not allowed within the Car Park Orders covering the Cattlemarket car park.
Thame Town Council states on its website: “Signs by the ticket machines incorrectly state that there is a weight restriction on vehicles using this car park. New signs will be ordered to rectify this error, and will also advise that no overnight sleeping is allowed. A new sign will also be erected on the wall to the right of the lorry parking spaces to remind drivers that overnight sleeping is not permitted. It is hoped that these measures will resolve the current problem.”

MOTORCYCLISTS, including some as young as five-years-old on mini-motorbikes, are causing a nuisance on Thame’s Phoenix Trail.
The trail is for walking, cycling and horses only, and incidents of illegal motorcycling along the path should be reported to the police on the anonymous Crime Stoppers line 0800 555111, or the Police Enquiry Line 0845 8505505.
The illegal use of mini-motorbikes on recreation land is a growing nuisance in many parts of the country and in some areas, these vehicles are being confiscated and crushed.

NB Sustrans’ Rangers are organising hedge-planting along the Phoenix Trail on Sunday, February 5, between Moreton Lane and Cuttlebrook. Anyone who would like to lend a hand would be welcome. Take your own gloves, spades and Thermos flasks.

THE friends of a young Thame man, seriously injured in a fall recently, have organised a quiz to help support him in his recovery.
Martin Gadd, better known as Gadget,is a former pupil of Lord Williams’ School in Thame, and was away at university in Canterbury when his accident occurred.
He is currently in the care of Kings College Hospital, in London.
Anyone who would like to take part and book a table for teams of six or eight, can call 01844 215813.
The Quiz Mistress will be Thame’s answer to Magnus Magnusson, Sue Boyle; Bring your own drinks and nibbles.

THAMES Valley Police has outperformed the national average in reducing crime statistics according to figures out today (26/1).

The Force also bucked the national trend with the number of robberies staying static and gun crime falling.

Home Office statistics for the three months from July 2005 to September 2005 show overall crime in the Thames Valley fell by three per cent compared to a national average of one per cent during the same period in 2004.

Virtually all categories of crime fell:
? Sexual offences were down by ten per cent compared to three per cent nationally
? Domestic burglary was down by three per cent and other burglary fell by seven per cent
? Thefts of and from vehicles were down by 11 per cent and other thefts and handling stolen goods fell by eight per cent
? The number of robberies remained the same compared to an 11 per cent rise nationally. No Local Police Area in the Force area appears in the ranked top 40 areas for robbery in 2005.

However, violence against the person in Thames Valley did increase by 11 per cent compared to a national average of four per cent during the three months.
Acting Chief Constable Sara Thornton said: “Most of the rise can be attributed to harassment, which is recorded as a violent crime, and low-level public order offences like the inevitable tussles that take place after pubs and clubs close.
“In Thames Valley, we have also been making increasing use of fixed penalty notices for disorder as a method of preventing minor disorders from escalating. Every time we issue one this is counted as a violent crime.”

Since September the Force has also launched a major campaign called Safer Streets specifically aimed at tackling violent crime.

Drugs offences in Thames Valley show a 25 per cent rise largely due to greater police activity in cracking down on drug dealing and drug possession, rather than because of any increased criminal activity.

Firearms offences also fell steeply in the region. Between October 2004 and September 2005 firearms offences fell by 13 per cent.
Those firearms offences resulting in injury fell by 27 per cent and the numbers of firearms offences due to serious injury or fatality fell by 50 per cent.

Ms Thornton said: “Overall crime in Thames Valley was down as of last September, bucking the national trend, and I am particularly pleased that we have not seen any increase in robbery because not so long ago it was an issue for the Force.
“We were already aware that we needed to do something about violent crime and have been working particularly hard to tackle this issue since the autumn.”

NEIGHBOURS in Mitchell Close and Southern Road, Thame, have protested to Thame Town Council about a proposal to redevelop the site of the old Thame ambulance station.
One resident of Mitchell Close, told the Planning committee that one of the two, three-bed houses proposed would face directly into his garden, from where, for ten years, he has enjoyed total privacy. In a letter, a resident in Southern Road said: “Both houses will overlook our garden and destroy our privacy.” Both men cited parking as already being a problem in the area, and considered that the proposal would make matters worse.
Cllr David Dodds said that there had been some dispute over ownership of the plot and that because of its shape, he thought ‘cramming’ two houses into it would “cause great anxt.”
The committee voted to recommend refusal of the plan on the grounds that:
. It was out of character with the area
. Would increase traffic generation
. Would be unneighbourly

A proposal to demolish a Thame landmark has been rejected by Thame Town Council.
Described as ‘planning anarchy’ by one objector, a proposal to demolish the Essex House Hotel and replace it with two, new buildings comprising 12 appartments, illicited strong feelings at a meeting of the town council’s Planning committee last night (Tues, Jan 24).
Several letters of objection were read out at the meeting, mostly from neighbours in Bridge Terrace and one from the Cionservation Area Committee Advisory Group who stated that the present building “forms a visual ‘stop’ to Chinnor Road, warning of a change in direction of the road.”

The concerns of objectors included:
. Uncertainty over ownership of some of the land
included in the proposal.
. Insufficient parking.
. Demolition of ‘a sound and attractive landmark’.
. That some of the Bay windows planned would look
into neighbour’s garden.
. That some bedroom windows would over-look
neighbour’s garden.
. That traffic generated would cause noise and
pollution.
. Loss of access to the lane.

In another letter, Simon Gray of Park Street, stated: “This important building of Victorian heritage needs to be preserved.”

Cllr David Dodds said: “This is a very substantially important site with an extremely difficult egress and one effect of this proposal would be to generate more traffic and cause problems where there is currently a bus stop.”

The building was originally built as The Railway Hotel, at a time when Thame Railway Station was intended to be in Chinnor Road, and Bridge Terrace was constructed as cottages for the railway workers.

The committee voted not to recommend approval of the plans and agreed to look into having both the hotel and Bridge Terrace listed with English Heritage.

RADIO Oxford was in Thame throughout this morning with their Outside Broadcast Unit, and interviewed several leading citizens about life in the town.
Those interviewed by Presenter, Danny Cox, included the Mayor, Cllr David Laver, Cllr David Dodds, Kieth Slater, Spokesman for Thame Chamber of Commerce, Cathy Gaulter-Carter of TWAC, Thame Walking and Cycling Group, Traffic Warden, Peggy Long and the editor of ThameNews.Net!
Keith Slater spoke about the Try Thame First campaign and continuing efforts to put Thame on the shopping and map. When asked what his one wish would be to change something about Thame, Keith said that he would move the Cattle market out of the town centre and build a much needed Community Arts Centre in its place.
Cathy Gaulter-Carter spoke about the need for more cycle parking in the town and her aspirations for a cycle path between Thame and Haddenham station.
Peggy Long spoke about the pleasure of receiving her MBE and about her hobby, belly dancing.
CCTV was quite a hot topic among interviewees. Thame’s Crime Prevention Officer, Leslie Nesbitt, welcomed the current installation of CCTV in the town, expressing her view that it would reduce the fear of crime in the town. Keith Slater’s view was that it would help deter shoplifters from targeting the town.

OVER 80 fire fighters, including two crews from Thame, spent a long and difficult night saving a thatched cottage from total distruction.
Fire crews arrived within five minutes of the alarm being raised by the owner of the cottage in Tetsworth near Thame.
Throughout the night villages used hot water to defrost pumps and provided the fire fighters with hot coffee and soup. Eventually, by making a trench across the thatched roof, the fire was brought under control and 50% of the roof and all the householders possessions were saved.

Phote for illustrative purposes only, Courtesy of Thatched Owners Insurance Service

THE latest craze to cross the Atlantic is knitting groups – but it aint nothing like your old grandma’s knitting circle!
Founded originally in New York by Debbie Stoller, Stitch N? Bitch is a fun group for knitters who are just starting out, and those who?ve been knitting forever. Since then groups of knitters, many of them young, professional creative women, have been meeting in living rooms, cafes and even on the London Tube to knit, chat, gossip, support each other and generally put the world to rights.
Now, Stitch and Bitch has come to Thame; to the Six Bells pub in fact. The idea to form a group in Thame was that of teacher, artist, Thame Twinner and prodigious knitter,Jeanette Matelot of High Street, Thame.
The group’s first meeting – working title, The Thame Twin-sets, is tomorrow evening, Tuesday, January 24, at 8pm. Anyone, female or male, who would like to swap patterns, learn to knit, share design ideas and spend a relaxing, fun evening, is welcome to attend.

NB Research has shown that knitting is good for you. In the states, the calming, therapeutic qualities of knitting has been recognised in prisons where they teach knitting to in-mates as part of Anger Management!

Knitting has seen a great renaissance in recent years, party influenced by celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker, Julianne Moore, Winona Ryder and Julia Roberts who have all been seen clicking away as an antidote to the stresses and strains of life in the spotlight.

So, go along to the Six Bells, High Street, tomorrow at 8pm and ‘spin a yarn’, gossip, chat and generally share in a great social event.

Photo: Courtesy of the BBC

A Man who was recently made redundant from Memec in Thame, has won