Category: Thame news

THAME Police are appealing for witnesses following two assaults in Thame over the weekend.

At around 11.30pm on Sunday night, March 27, a man was assaulted as he left a pub in North Street, by a large white man aged 45-50 years old, 6ft 4ins tall, with a northern accent. He wore a white t-shirt and cream jacket.

Shortly afterwards another man was assaulted along the road by two white men both in their twenties. One is describefd as being of medium build with short blond hair, and wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans. The other is of slim build with a south African accent and wore a blue fleece.

Both victims were taken to hospital where they were treated for head injuries before being released.

Police are keen to speak to anybody who was in the area of North Street on Sunday at the time of the assaults and anyone with information that could assist police inquiries is urged to contact PC Daniel Haggarty at Thame 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.

THE Company that runs the Co-op supermarket in Thame, today denied that the shop is to close.
A rumour that the store was to shut has been rife in the town since the closure of the Co-op in Didcot last week.
A spokesperson for the company told ThameNews.Net: “There is absolutely no truth in the rumour whatsoever. Thame is a successfully trading store and we have no intension of either selling it or closing it down.
“Didcot was closed because it was badly effected by the arrival of Sainsbury’s in the town.”

THAME police are urging the public to be vigilant following a suspicious incident in the town on Monday, March 21.
At around 8.15am, an 11-year-old boy was walking alone in Queens Road when a black man driving a black saloon car pulled up on the opposite side and shouted to the boy to get into the car. When the boy refused the man asked him again. The boy then ran home.

PC Russell Hounslow, said: ?I advise school children to be on their guard when walking on their own. In this incident the boy was not harmed and did the correct thing running somewhere safe and reporting it to an adult.?

The man is aged in his twenties, slim to medium build and was wearing a black hooded top with the hood up.

Anyone with information that could assist police inquiries is urged to contact PC Hounslow at Thame 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.

FIRE Officers from Thame almost certainly saved the life of one of their ex colleagues, when they were first on the scene recently when he suffered a heart attack.
The fire crew’s action came only days after the launch of a three month pilot scheme which means retained firefighters in three areas of the County, being able to offer defibrillation treatment in the community.

Firefighters from Thame, Bampton, and Chipping Norton have been trained to administer CPR and/or defibrillation treatment to patients within a small radius of their fire station. Should they be mobilised, it will be after an ambulance and Paramedic crew has been dispatched. However, even arriving only a minute before the ambulance could help save a life.
Dick Tracy, the Oxfordshire Ambulance NHS Trust’s Community Defibrillation Officer, who has trained the fire fighters in conjuction with the British Heart Foundation, told ThameNews.Net: “When someone suffers a cardiac arrest, their chances of survival drop by up to 10% for every minute that passes so a speedy response is crucial. Performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can double a person?s chances of survival and having a defibrillator close to hand can further increase their chances by more than a third.

?Expanding the network of people suitably trained to provide such vital early treatment for cardiac arrest, is something the Trust feels very strongly about. The more people in the community who have this level of knowledge and can use it appropriately, the better for everyone.?

PHOTOGRAPH: Dick Tracy with Thame Fire Crews outside Thame Fire station with Sharon Wheeler, whose husband, Richard, died after a heart attack three years ago. Money raised from a Memorial football match to be held at Thame United on Good Friday, will be used to help purchase two defibrillators for Thame Fire station. (See Sports News section for full details.

THE long awaited and hard fought-for extension to the Phoenix Trail, is now partly open.
For the time being though, the tarmac stops at Cuttlebrook and only the section between Windmill Lane and Moreton Lane is open. SUSTRANS, who are building the extension, ask people to respect the privacy of the residents of the next section bordering Bates Leys Farm and not to use that part of the Trail until fencing is in place, possibly by Easter.

There are currently two problems with the next section from Cuttlebrook Bridge to the swimming pool:
South Oxfordshire District Council have requested detailed topographical plans for the railway embankment and these are nearing completion. Also, there are issues of ownership on parts of Hatchetts Lane that runs beside the playing field of Lord Williams’s school, that still need to be resolved.
So for the foreseeable future, progress is hampered for a continuous, safe route to the Leisure Centre and Lord Williams?s Upper School.
A spokesperson for SUSTRANS said:”We are currently seeking legal advice but remain optimistic that the full route will eventually be in place.”

A pedestrian who died following a collision with a car on the Thame Road in Long Crendon on Monday, March 14, has been formally identified.

He was 64-year-old Anthony Richard Heinink, of Old Mill Lane, Long Crendon.
An inquest into his death was opened and adjourned yesterday (17/3).

Police are still appealing for witnesses to the collision to contact PC Stephen Leatherisch at Aylesbury Roads Policing department via the 24 hour police enquiry centre on 0845 8 505 505.

NEW houses should not be built in Oxfordshire or elsewhere in South-East England unless the necessary infrastructure including transport, health and water resources is in place.
This was one of the key messages in a report endorsed by Oxfordshire County Council?s Executive today, as part of the consultation taking place at the moment between SEERA (the South East of England Regional Assembly), councils and other official bodies and the public about the Draft South East Plan.
The plan will determine how the region grows and develops over the next 20 years.
The Executive?s view agrees with that of SEERA itself which states in a summary of the draft plan: ?The Assembly attaches great importance to the provision of infrastructure (transport, schools, health facilities, green space, etc) taking place in a manner that meets the needs of new and existing development.?
The assembly has been asking people across the region whether they think 25,500, 28,000 or 32,000 homes per year should be built in the South East region.

In his report, Chris Cousins, the county council?s head of sustainable development, says that, in his view, based on the evidence provided to date, he cannot see a case for more than 28,000 new homes to be built in the south-east per year which is line with existing plans.

The Executive?s discussion of the SE Plan follows five public debates across the county which the County Council recently conducted, on behalf of SEERA, to ask for people?s opinions on the issues.
According to OCC, a common view at these meetings was that SEERA is ?a remote and unelected body based in Guildford? that should not have influence over the future of towns and villages in Oxfordshire. However, SEERA insists that, because it includes representatives from county and local councils and other groups, it is ?a representative voice of the region.?
To find out about SEERA and have YOUR say about the plan, visit its website at Link

POLICE are appealing for witnesses following a fatal road collision in Long Crendon.
A black Vauxhall Signum Elite hit a pedestrian on the Thame Road just before 6am this morning, March 15.

It is believed the pedestrian was either walking along the side of the road or crossing it when the collision occurred.

The pedestrian, a man in his sixties, was taken to Stoke Mandeville Hospital but later died as a result of his injuries.

The driver of the car, which was travelling in the direction of Thame, did not need hospital treatment but was badly shaken.

Anyone who witnessed the incident is urged to contact PC Stephen Leatherisch at Aylesbury Roads Policing department via the 24 hour police enquiry centre on 0845 8 505 505.

PRIMARY pupils from John Hampden School, Thame, doned red noses, red hair and red everything on Friday, to raise money for this year’s Comic Relief.
A special school concert included a specially written Mr Men story, ‘Mr Red’ by the children in Mrs Dunn’s class and a group reading of the moving story of a real-life African shoe-shine boy who just wants to make enough money to go to school so that he can become a doctor.
Demonstrating just how versatile primary school teachers have to be these days, some of the staff performed a very entertaining rendering of the very aptly chosen, Abba song, ‘Money, Money, Money – it’s a rich man’s world’ which included choreography – what a talented lot they are at JHS!

Photo: Just a selection of some of the imaginative Red Nose and Big Hair extravaganzas among the pupils.

A FAMILY who have recently moved to Thame, are desperate for any news of their cat, which went missing from their home in Wellington Street at the end of last week.
Sassy, a 12 year-old black and beige tabby, disappeared some time between last Thursday night, March 10, and Friday morning.
Jonathan Needs told ThameNews.Net: “Our daughter thinks she saw Sassy under a car at around mid-night on Friday but the cat ran off into a near-by garden.
“A builder also thinks he saw the cat on Saturday morning just beyond the Chinese Take-Away, towards North Street. The problem is Sassy is quite a nervous, timid cat and will probably resist being caught. She is probably hiding somewhere and unfortunately doesn’t have the skills to find her way home.”
Sassy is described as being a predominantly black tabby with beige stripes along her back, white paws and a white tummy with blacks flecks on it. She has a distinctly bald line around her neck where she used to wear a collar.
Anyone who has any information about Sassy is asked to telephone Jonathan and Sonja Needs on 01844 217922 or 07702027846