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Category: Thame news

  • Pool Managers To Review Life Guard Training

    SOLL Leisure, which runs Thame’s Jubilee swimming pool, must review “on-going lifeguard training” at the Thame pool, according to an Improvement Notice served on it by South Oxfordshire District Council.
    However, both the district council and Thame Town Council, which owns the pool, insist that until an investigation into the drowning of a young boy at the pool last July, has been completed, it cannot yet be established that the serving of the notice and Nathan Matthews’s death, are linked.
    Thame’s Town Clerk, Helen Stewart, told ThameNews.Net, that in her opinion, if the Health and Safety Executive, who are carrying out the investigation, had any concerns about the safety of Thame pool, they would have closed it down before now.

    N.B. The small swimming pool at Thame Leisure Centre will be closed all day on Tuesday 12 April for essential repairs. For further information, please call 01844 215607.
    (These repairs having nothing to do with the improvement notice, but are part of necessary, on-going maintenance work.)

  • Thame Market Rents Too Low Says Report

    THE rent paid by market traders at Thame?s Tuesday market should rise by 41%, says a report by the District Valuer.
    However, following negotiations between the Town Clerk, Helen Stewart, and market traders? representatives, it has been proposed to raise the rent by 17% this year, and by 3% in the following three years. This will mean an increase this year from

  • End Of An Era For Thame Family Business

    HALF a century of caring for the cars of local people came to an end on Friday for a Thame family business.
    Bambrooks Garage, which began when Mrs Gwen Bambrook started the family taxi business in 1952, was officially closed and handed over to the new owner, Karl White, proprietor of the Thame Service Station on the opposite side of Chinnor Road.
    Roy Bambrook, who with his brother Ken ran the garage and taxi business after the death of their father, Jack (John) Bambrook in 1992, related the history of the family firm to ThameNews.Net:
    ?Early in 1952, mum and dad bought the property from a Mrs Hanse. They moved in and mum started her taxi business while dad worked at the Service Garage (where HSBC bank is now), run by Arthur Blanchard. Mother started to get very busy with the taxi work, what with weddings almost every Saturday and driving the likes of Vivien Leigh who lived at Knottley Abbey, and Larry Grayson among her clientele. Dad came to help mum out but, because he was such a good engineer, a lot of his customers followed him here. So dad built a workshop and got really busy mending cars.
    ?Dad was at that time also a member of Thame Fire Brigade but because he was so busy with the garage, in 1957, after 20 years of service, decided he would have to finish. I was 18 years-old by then and was working at the Service Garage myself. Because dad had left, there was a vacancy at the fire station and they persuaded me to join to replace him and shortly afterwards, the Service Garage was sold on and it was decided that I would come and work for dad ? that was in June 1958. Although the siren at the fire station used to go off to summon the brigade, as was common practice then, a bell was put in the workshop. We got so busy that by 1965, we needed to build bigger premises. Around that time, my brother Ken, who had been working at Haynes? Garage (where Barclays bank is now), joined the family business. Dad continued to work until his health failed and he died 1992, since when, Ken and I continued until the present day.?
    Roy retired from the fire service himself on News Year?s Eve, 1994, after 37 years.
    Gwen Bambrook, though frail, is still alive and being cared for in a nursing home in Stone, near Thame.
    It is an emotional time for most people coming to the end of their working life, but Roy said that although he felt sad at what is after all, the end of an era, he was looking forward to working on his retirement projects.
    ?It?s exciting in a sort of frightening way,? he admitted.
    Roy is a keen Radio Ham and photographer and enjoys computing.
    But it is Roy?s enthusiasm for his work that was always apparent to his customers, many of whom became his firm friends and will now have the difficult task of finding a reliable and resourceful engineer like Roy or indeed Ken, to look after their vehicles. But, as Roy admitted himself, he will still be tinkering around with cars one way or another for as long as he can hold a spanner.

    But what of the future of the site on which Bambrooks? has stood for so long?
    Karl White, the new owner explained:
    ?For many years we have sold cars, carried out MOTs and services, as well as valeting and repairing cars. The business is growing and we are running out of space. By acquiring Bambrooks?, we will be able to carry on doing all of that in a way that will be much more convenient for our customers.?

    Photo: Roy Bambrook hands over the keys of Bambrook’s garage to new owner, Karl White. Also pictured, Ken Bambrook and the two Mrs Bambrooks.

  • ‘Thame Music ‘ Launched By Top Orchestra

    THE world class, Orchestra of St John’s, will perform for the first event of an exciting new collaboration to form ‘Thame Music’.

    The concert will take place at St Mary’s Church, Thame, on Saturday, May 21, at 7.30pm.

    John Lubbock, OSJ’s founder, is the Artistic Director and the programme will include Christine Cairns, Mezzo-soprano, Britten’s Simple Symphony,Respighi Il tramonto, Walton’s Music from Henry V and the Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings. Tickets availabele on 01844 212834

    Since the OSJ was founded in 1967 by its Artistic Director, John Lubbock, it has built its reputation as one of the UK’s leading orchestras on world-class concerts at the finest festivals and concert halls combined with intimate music making in community settings. It commissions new music, produces recordings and is broadcast on radio and television, further ensuring its international profile and accessibility.

    OSJ Onstage (Leader: Harvey de Souza): Each year, OSJ performs concerts throughout the UK and overseas at leading festivals and concert halls, at its Residency bases and in community settings. Through its unique artistic policy, it presents innovative, integrated and audacious programmes that combine rarely or unperformed pieces with well-known repertoire. Its aim is to give audiences the opportunity to hear something new (unusual or previously unheard works by living composers or those from the past) alongside something familiar.

    OSJ Offstage – a partnership between OSJ and Create: OSJ is nationally acclaimed for its OSJ Offstage programme, run in partnership with Create, the dynamic new arts charity. OSJ OffStage takes a fresh, new approach to making music accessible to the widest possible audience. It promotes new experiences, fosters musical interests and talents, and stimulates participation, creativity and attendance at musical events. Activities include: creative music-making workshops in mainstream and special needs schools, with young offenders and with those who are homeless; concerts for children and for those with specific disabilities; cross-arts projects; informal performances for older people in residential homes and patients in hospices and hospitals; masterclasses; and major community events.

    OSJ Soundynamics – a partnership between OSJ and Create: Through their groundbreaking OSJ Soundynamics training initiative, OSJ and Create run bespoke creative music programmes to meet the training needs of both large and small corporate clients and other employers. Courses, ranging from graduate training programmes and management development seminars to large-scale conferences, use a series of interactive modules that enable participants to explore their creativity and develop sustainable skills including time management, teamwork, communication and leadership. Courses improve employees’ performance, motivation and job satisfaction.

  • County Council Call For Improvements Following Thame Drowning

    FOLLOWING the drowning of 11 year-old Natham Matthews at Thame swimming pool last July, Bucks County Council has been served with an improvement notice.
    See FULL STORY
     as reported by the Bucks Free Press last Friday.

  • Thame Land Mark Back In Place By French Visit?

    THE Pierce Memorial statue, which has been stolen twice from Thame Memorial Gardens, should be back in place by April 15.
    Work has begun on reinstating the bronze statue of a small boy, standing on a turtle, holding a big fish, which was the centre piece of the fountain in the gardens.
    The restoration of the War Memorial itself however, has been delayed by Thame Town Council until funding has been secured for the work. Unfortunately, this will result in the work not being done in time for the 60th Anniversary of the ending of the Second World War in July.

  • Chinnor Robery Appeal

    THE police are appealing for witnesses following a robbery at Unwins off-licence, Chinnor, yesterday, March 31.
    At around 8.30pm, a man entered the shop on Thame Road. As he went to buy a chocolate bar, he told the woman shop assistant he had a gun in his bag and grabbed cash from the till.
    DC Shane Harrison, of Didcot CID, said: ?The man had been in to the shop earlier and bought a paper. I appeal to anyone who knows this man or saw him running away from the shop at around this time of the evening to contact police immediately.?
    The man is white, aged between 40 and 45 years-old and of slim build. He had no front teeth and was wearing a woolly hat.
    Anyone with information that could assist police inquiries is urged to contact DC Harrison at Didcot police station, via 0845 8 505 505. If you don?t want to speak to police and don?t want to leave your name, contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

  • Thame Burglary Appeal

    THAME police are seeking information about a burglary that took place in Thame, during the early hours of last Saturday, March 23.
    Between 2am and 5am, thieves entered a rear door of a house in Chinnor Road, Thame, and stole property. Anyone with any information is asked to contact the police via the Enquiry line 08458505505, or anonymously on 0800 555111.

  • Long Crendon Murder Woman Bailed

    A Long Crendon woman, who has been charged with the murder of her Downs Syndrome son, was Conditionally Bailed by Aylesbury Magistrates yesterday, to appear at Reading Crown Court on April, 7.
    Wendolyn Shirlaw Markcrow, the wife of ex Bucks County Councillor, Paul Markcrow, was charged with the murder of their 36 year-old son Patrick on Tuesday.

  • Long Crendon Murder

    A Long Crendon man, found dead yesterday morning, Tuesday, was murdered, say police.
    They were called at approximately 10.50am yesterday to an address in Long Crendon, where they found 36 year-old Patrick Markcrow’s body.
    A 66-year-old woman, Wendolyn Shirlaw Markcrow, also of Long Crendon, has been charged with murder and will appear at Aylesbury Magistrates Court later this afternoon.