Category: Thame news

LORD Wiilliams’s School, Thame’s Sixth Form Opening Evening this year will be on Tuesday, November 6, 2018.

The evening will begin with a Presentation in the Thame Leisure Centre from 6pm-6.45pm for students new to the school, and 7.15pm to 8pm for LWS Year 11 students only. There will be an opportunity to talk with subject teachers and current Sixth Formes in subject areas between 6pm to 8pm.

For further information and to view the school’s prospectus/course details, visit www.lordwilliams.oxon.sch.uk or call 0144 210510

THAT’S the intriguing subject of a talk being given at the Thame Arts and Literature Festival (TAL) later this month to mark the 50th anniversary of one of sport’s most iconic moments.

Most cricket fans know that West Indian cricketing legend, Garry Sobers, became the first batsman to hit six sixes from six deliveries when he smashed 36 runs off a Malcolm Nash over at Swansea in 1968. But what happened to the battered ball? And was the one sold by Christie’s for a world record £26,400 at an auction in 2006 the real deal?

 

Freelance broadcaster and journalist Grahame Lloyd has investigated the controversial sale and his 2013 book, Howzat? The Six Sixes Ball Mystery, proved that the Duke & Son ball sold at auction was a wrong ‘un because it was the wrong make – even though it was accompanied by a certificate of provenance signed by Sobers.

The actual ball used in the over was manufactured by Stuart Surridge and BBC TV footage confirms Nash’s assertion that it was the only one he bowled – not the last of three as claimed by Christie’s – during the Glamorgan versus Nottinghamshire county championship match.

Lloyd will be recalling both the famous feat and the infamous fate of the ball in his illustrated talk, Fifty Not Out: The Six Sixes Revisited, at Thame Museum on Sunday,  October 21.

“I used the same ball for all six deliveries,” said Nash, “and it was charred, scarred and scuffed but never changed. It’s interesting to note that Christie’s have never bothered to ask me about the ball I bowled and how many balls were used in the over.”

After the Duke ball was withdrawn from a Bonhams sporting memorabilia auction in Chester in 2012 because of Lloyd’s “compelling and conclusive” evidence, the plot thickened. Lloyd then launched an 18-month investigation through which he traced the balls’ owner to India.  After appearing on BBC Radio’s Test Match Special programme to celebrate the Six Sixes’ 50th anniversary in August, he has now called on Christie’s to admit they sold the wrong ball.

“I unequivocally support Malcolm Nash’s contention that the ball isn’t genuine,” says Lloyd.  “I’ve tried to uncover the truth about its sale by Christie’s but with half the people involved in the auction refusing to discuss it, my search hasn’t been easy. I’m very disappointed that the unwritten 43rd Law of Cricket covering the exercise of common sense has been ignored by Christie’s. What happened to that ball in 2006 is ‘just not cricket’ and the 50th anniversary is an appropriate time to highlight the discrepancies in the sale and for Christie’s to do the right thing and admit they made a mistake. It’s a sad and disturbing tale of fake news.”

Lloyd is currently on a speaking tour of literary festivals with his hour-long talk: – “It’s not just cricket – a tale of mystery and intrigue which had our audience laughing, singing, questioning and clapping from the first ball bowled to the last.” (Cardiff)

“Frank, astonishing and delivered in a very easy, enthusiastic and delightful style” (Ilminster)

“A fantastic event and an excellent speaker (Swindon)

“Completely engaged the audience throughout, using the kind of versatile delivery that would have credited an international bowler” (Frome),

During his investigation, Lloyd discovered that

* Sobers didn’t profit from its auction at Christie’s and the former West Indies and Nottinghamshire captain describes himself as a “very innocent bystander.”

* Two former Christie’s sporting memorabilia specialists, David Convery and Max Dunbar, declined to discuss their part in the ball’s sale

* Glamorgan County Cricket Club’s archivist and the curator of the Museum of Welsh Cricket, Andrew Hignell, refused to answer questions about his role in the ball’s verification process

* Having re-investigated the 2006 auction, Christie’s stand by the ball’s original “good provenance” and the “signed certificate”.

Howzat? The Six Sixes Ball Mystery features extensive interviews with Sobers, his former agent, Basharat Hassan, Nash and Jose Miller, the former secretary of the Nottinghamshire Supporters’ Association, who sold the ball via Christie’s in 2006.

Nominated for the 2014 MCC/Cricket Society Book of the Year award, it has been described as “an unput-downable read, ranking with the best of mysteries, be they fact or fiction” (Welsh Books Council); “a terrifically dotty whodunnit, driven by one man’s relentless, borderline-psychotic quest for answers” (Wisden),; “the most original cricket book that has been published in years” (cricketweb.net);  “a cracking read and unhesitatingly recommended” (Cricket Society), “the
product of diligent and disciplined investigative journalism…a compelling read” (Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians) and “a skilfully crafted and highly absorbing book…a triumph” (Backspin magazine).

Grahame Lloyd’s talk, including DVD, poetry and song, takes place at 2pm on Sunday, October 21, at Thame Museum, 79, High St, Thame OX9 3AE. Tickets cost £7- LINK HERE

AFTER a jury at the Oxfordshire Coroner’s Court decided that the death of Stephen Buck, 58, was an accident, the Coroner, Darren Salter, said that the case should prompt a review of ‘dangerous’ construction site practices.

 

 

Mr Buck died after being struck by a reversing truck on a housing development building site in Thame, in April 2017.

The Coroner said that he would be writing to the two firms involved, ECL Construction, which employed Mr Buck, and David Einig Contracting, which employed the driver, about his concerns and to the Construction Industry Advisory Committee with a ‘prevention of future deaths report’.

SOURCE: bbcnews.co.uk/             Related article HERE

HOW come? Because – I’ve just finished reading Lydia Syson’s book ‘Mr Peacock’s Possessions’ – one of the two books I’ll be talking about with their authors, as part of the fabulous TAL – Thame Arts & Literature festival. LINK HERE

What can I say? Just WOW! The tantalizing description ‘An intimate, intense, beautifully realised novel of possession, power and the liberating loss of innocence’ really gives scant clue to the emotional, poetic, historically illuminating adventure that this book carries you into – with a climax so nerve-wracking and thrilling, that I had to stop and breathe before reading the final pages.

Obviously I want you to buy a ticket and come along to Thame library on Friday, October 19, at 10.30am, but REALLY – you have 12 days to scoot along to the Book House in Thame, buy a copy and read Lydia Syson’s book ‘Mr Peacock’s Possessions’ for yourself and I can assure you, that once you’ve left the volcanic (in every sense of the word) ‘Monday Island’ in the middle of the Pacific, and your pulse has returned to it’s familiar rythm, you’ll be so glad you did.

And now, I’m about to start my second interviewee’s book, The Story Keeper, by Anna Mazzola, ‘…..a sizzling, period novel of folk tales, disappearances and injustice set on the Isle of Skye’ ( Hmmmm – another island; there’s a theme emerging here).  I’ll let you know how I get on. In the meantime, nip on over to the TAL website  where you’ll find a huge variety of books, talks and other arts and literature goodies to take part in. But hurry – many are sold out and tickets for others running out fast. But, you know, just go for something you might otherwise have chosen and you never know, you just might enjoy a new author, find a new interest or at the very least, experience something unexpected. Hence TAL’s motto: Participate – Enjoy – Inspire

Can’t wait. See you there!

Sonja Francis

THAMES Valley Police is appealing for witnesses following an attempted burglary in Thame, Oxfordshire. Early this morning, October 4, 2018,  at 02:45, there was an attempted burglary at a property in East Street. No entry was gained.

 

 

If you have seen any suspicious looking vehicles or people in the area or have any information relating to this message, please call the police via the 24 hour non- emergency telephone number 101.

Alternatively, if you have any information but wish to remain anonymous, please call crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online via crimestoppers-uk.org. No personal details are taken; information is not traced or recorded and you will not be required to go to court.

THAME based OxBuck Wine Collective began in 2017 from a small group of locals with garden vines in their gardens. Now, in year two, the group have finished their 2017 ‘Vintage’ – a tasty little Rose which was co produced with the Tooting group and this year they set their sights high for a vintage of their own.

Founders Robin Butler and Ali Gray weighed in nearly 400Kg of local grapes from Thame and surrounding villages which were collected and weighed at Bucksum Farm Shop in Long Crendon. Bucksum then drove the grapes, with Robin, to Halfpenny vineyard near Dudley where they will be transformed into wine.

“We love growing things and hate food waste so this made perfect sense to us and with professional heavy duty scales, a van and some keen Buckinghamshire customers, we were glad to help,” said Tracy and David Newman.

Robin and  Ali will go and taste the wine in January and the 400 or so bottles will be shared amongst the collective with any excess hopefully being sold locally at Deli No 5 in Thame, by Easter.

SOURCE: Contributed