Category: Thame news

THE fireworks start early this November with an eclectic line-up at The First Thursday Music Club at The Stables in Thame on Thursday, November 1.

Finishing off the evening will be Get Loose who last appeared in Thame on the main stage at Thame Town Music Festival in July. Lee Castle (lead guitar and vocals), Darren Castle (drums) and Dom Allen (bass) will be kicking up a storm with their exciting brand of blues/rock.

John Buckley, who also appeared at TTMF, will also be featuring showing off his beautiful guitar playing and soulful voice. The Kiva Band will also be bringing a mix of powerful songs and beautiful harmonies. They write original material that draws on traditions as diverse as folk, pop, indie-rock and classical music.

The First Thursday Music Club still offers the opportunity for artists to play live in front of a warm and appreciative audience. The club maintains the Open Mic section of the evening where slots will always be available in the first hour on a first come, first served basis with player sign-up by 7.30. The club has a full house PA system with keyboard, bass amp, guitar amp and jazz drum kit (bring breakables!) all set up on stage and ready to go.

Another eclectic evening is guaranteed and, don’t forget, it’s FREE entry!

Get loose: https://www.facebook.com/GetLooseUK/
The Kiva Band: http://www.kivaband.uk/
John Buckley: https://www.facebook.com/john.buckley.73

AS part of the schools ‘Tomb Raiders’ topic, Year Four children at John Hampden School, Thame, had a very fun filled Ancient Egyptian day recently, consisting of four fabulous activities including solving riddles and cracking codes to escape.

The company Clever Cogs Learning were invited into the school to take the children on a puzzling adventure. They entered the three tombs and were asked to solve riddles and crack codes to escape. Encouraged to work well as a team, cooperating and using their listening skills, the children really pulled together to escape.

Looking for clues and avoiding traps

The second activity was with Mr Eyre who took the children on another adventure to find the resting place of Tutankhamun. This involved the children roaming the deserts of the school ground, solving clues along the way and deciphering inscriptions to unlock the tomb. They dodged many booby traps left by the crafty Egyptian engineers, who had set these to foil tomb robbers.

Next came the disgusting yet strangely enjoyable ‘dissecting poo’ activity. This gave the children a chance to gain hands on excavation experience and uncover evidence about the eating and living habits of Ancient Egyptians. Although a mucky task, the children were fascinated by what they found. After this activity they were given the opportunity to taste some Ancient Egyptian delicacies. Many of the children had also followed recipes for their homework and brought in their treats for the other children to try.

Drama and far away places!

The final activity was green screening. The children worked together in small groups to put together an informative piece of drama. They were then filmed acting this out in front of the green screen. A backdrop was later put into the video that appeared to take the children to far and away places.

To finish off their amazing day, the children got to look in Tutankhamun’s tomb (the Anderson Shelter) where they got to see the magnificent sight of Tutankhamun.

Teacher, Mel Schleising, said: “The day was truly magical and the feedback from the children was unbelievable. Thank you to everyone who made the day possible especially @CleverCogsMCR and Mr Eyre for many of the artefacts provided for the day.”

A report by Healthwatch Bucks found that many health leaflets and documents are difficult for people to understand. In fact, 43% of adults find it hard to understand health information. Healthwatch Bucks wanted to find out why.

Healthwatch Bucks looked at 15 different health and social care leaflets and documents. Then they tested the documents with the Flesch-Kincaid test, which tests how difficult a document is to read. They found that most of the documents were difficult to read and that only one was written in plain English. The main writing issues were complex sentences, long sentences, and impersonal wording. Also, lots of organisations assumed people knew things that aren’t common knowledge.

The report gives examples on how difficult sentences could be reworded to make them easier to read. For example, a leaflet said: “If you feel your concerns have not been resolved satisfactorily, will (Ed. We’ll?) guide you through [our] complaints process and provide you with information about external independent services who can assist you if you wish to make a formal complaint.” The report suggests: “If we can’t help sort things out, we can tell you how else to complain.”

Plain English

Thalia Jervis, Chief Executive at Healthwatch Bucks, said: “Patients can only get involved if they can understand the information they get. This report will help make that happen.”

Healthwatch Bucks recommends that leaflets aimed at patients should be written in plain English. Also, formal documents that are available to the public should contain a plain English easy-read summary.

Amarjit Kaur, Head of Engagement and Involvement at Bucks Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs Adult community healthcare, Outpatient services and Health visitors out of Thame Community Hospital, said: “Making sure all our patients can understand the information we give is so important. We’re thankful for this reminder from Healthwatch Bucks that medical leaflets can often be complicated. The extra effort to ensure they can be read easily is worth it. We will be recommending that staff use the Flesch-Kincaid test to help simplify patient documents and will be offering training to our new patient information panel, which will be set up soon. We will also be developing a new template for our patient leaflets to increase their readability.”

The full report can be found on Healthwatch Bucks website. If you have any feedback for health and social care services, you can get in touch with Healthwatch Bucks at info@healthwatchbucks.co.uk

Did you know?

• 43% of adults (aged 18-65) do not have good enough literacy skills to routinely
  understand health information (Rowlands, et al., In progress)
• around 5 million adults in England wouldn’t pass an English GCSE and have
  literacy levels at or below those expected of an 11-year-old (Okolosie, 2016)
• something like 7 million adults can’t read or understand simple instructions or labels
  such as on medicine bottles (Patient Information Forum, 2016)
•  half the population would be unlikely to understand cancer information brochures
  routinely used in hospital settings (Manning & Dickens, 2016)
• average reading age of the UK population is 9 years old
• The Sun is written for people with a reading age of 8
• The Guardian is written for people with a reading age of 14
• most adults in England are in the 11-14-year-old reading age group (Health Education
  England, 2017).
• NHS Direct (now NHS Choices), which is certified under the NHS England Information
  Standard, has a reading age of 10(Oxford Brookes University, 2016

POLICE are appealing for any witnesses to a burglary at the Post Office in Longwick, which occurred at around 02:00 am on Thursday – yesterday – October 18, 2018.

If anyone has any dashcam footage from around the time and location, or saw anything suspicious, they are asked to call 101, quoting reference 43180318236.

AS part of the commemoration of the centenary of the Armistice of World War One, there will be a series of special events and projects taking place in Thame.

As part of the national Beacon Lighting event, a Beacon will be lit at the Thame War Memorial at 7pm on Sunday, November 11, 2018. At 6.55pm the Last Post will be played there just before, followed by a ringing out of peace by the Church Bells. ring out for peace. This will be followed by music through the decades, starting with familiar songs from the First World War.

In partnership with the Thame Remembers project, poppies are to be displayed in the windows of houses in the town from which servicemen left to serve in World War One. The poppies, coloured by primary school children and members of the Scouts and Guides, will carry details of the servicemen. The centre will be coloured black in remembrance or white to denote their safe return home.

As part of the Trees of Remembrance Project, a partnership between Oxfordshire County Council and The Woodlands Trust, a tree sapling is to be planted at Southern Road Recreation Ground on its boundary with Cuttlebrook, and marked with a Commemorative Plaque.

Silhouettes will be placed in the churches of Thame and at the Memorial Gardens (at the Service of Remembrance) as part of the national ‘There but Not There’ project and a life size ‘Tommy’ will be installed at the Memorial Gardens during the National Poppy Appeal as part of the Royal British Legion’s ‘Thank you’ project.

A temporary art installation titled ‘Living Monument’ which will consists of 130 portraits of men currently living in Thame and the surrounding areas, will be placed at the site of the old station platform along the Phoenix Trail, representing each of the individuals who went off to fight in WW1.

THAMES Valley Police is appealing for help to trace a wanted man from Oxfordshire, who is know to have connections in Thame.

Lee Doyle, aged 33, of no fixed abode, is wanted on suspicion of committing three burglaries in west Oxfordshire in April this year. Items including money and jewellery were stolen from properties in Long Harborough, near Witney, West Oxfordshire.

Doyle is known to have connections in Thame and southern Oxfordshire. He is described as a white man, 6ft tall and of slim build, with short dark brown hair and blue eyes.

Investigating Officer Detective Inspector Paul Powell, of Abingdon police station, said: “We are appealing for help in locating Lee Doyle as he is suspected of committing burglaries. We would ask for anyone who believes they have seen him to not approach him and to contact police.”

Anyone with information is asked to call 101 and quote reference 43180127280, 43180127426 or 43180127704.

Reports can be made online at LINK HERE –  or you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

YET again, Thame Town Council has been defending the Thame Neighbour Plan against developers seemingly trying to persuade the council to support new developments in the town that are contrary to the plan’s policies.

Angle Property’s Executive Director, James Good, is the latest developer representative to be told that his company’s proposals, for 129 houses (none ‘affordable’), a 68-bed care home and 1511 sqm of offices, to be build on the ex DAF site at Kingsmead Business Park, cannot be supported by Thame Town Council.

Despite suggesgting that the proposals would bring over 170 jobs to the town and provide ‘a viable future’ for the site, which he said, had shown no market demand, councillors pointed out that this site is protected as employment land in the Neighbourhood Plan and that Thame has already met its obligation to the Local Plan, in housing numbers. Also, it is pointed out in a report by the council’s Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Officer, Grahame Markland that the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group have again objected to a care home on this site as the new facility would put pressure on an already stretched primary care service.

Cllr Mike Dyer said that any increase in the housing number requirment that may come up in the future, will have to be consider at that time. Cllr Bob Austin added: “The primacy and integrity of the Thame Neighbourhood Plan must be maintained.”

You can read Grahame Markland’s full report and recommendation to the council on Thame Town Council’s website HERE (scroll down to just below item 5 on the agenda)

NB A previous planning application for this site by Tesco for a foodstore, petrol filling station and offices was refused permission in July 2016. SEE LINK

THE Rotary Club of Thame and District was formed in 1968 when it received its formal charter on October 7, that year. On October 6, a celebration lunch, present members, representatives from other clubs, family and friends shared a celebration lunch. The guests of honour included Gillian Pearce, the District Governor for Thames Valley Rotary District, and Geoff Goodall, one of the founder members of the club, who recounted tales of ‘the early days’.

The entertainment included a magician who circulated amongst the guests as they settled. After lunch, the Thame Children’s Choir sang a selection of songs including the number one in the charts on October 7, 1968, Those were the days, sang by Mary Hopkin. A donation was made to them by way of thanks for their contribution.

Thame Rotary’s current President, Graham Colverson, said: “I felt it was only right that this milestone in our history should be recognised and I am delighted that everyone enjoyed themselves on the day. Whilst the club has experienced the ups and downs typical of many organisations, the principle of “Service above Self” has always been at the centre of what we do.

“Our focus has been to assist the local community and to provide selective and targeted help overseas. Children are often given priority when deciding how support should be distributed. Fundraising has been an integral part of our activities, although we do also provide hands-on assistance or make available facilities for the collection of items no longer wanted by their owners.

“We are supported by the local Inner Wheel Club and last year we inaugurated our first Interact Club at Wheatley Park School. Without their support, we would not be able to do many of the things we do, and I thank them for all for their involvement with the club.

“Our biggest challenge today is common amongst many clubs – how to secure new members to ensure future growth, service and friendship. This is something we are reviewing and will be working on over the coming months and years; but today, I would like to thank all members, past and present, who have enabled this club to continue serving the community of Thame, surrounding districts and around the world.”

To find out more about the Rotary Club of Thame & District or for more information about becoming a member, visit www.thame.rotary1090.org or follow the club on facebook at www.facebook.com/thamerotary