Category: Thame news

GROUPS campaigning for a People’s Vote will be out in force on Saturday, September 29, for the largest ever People’s Vote National Day of Action, with over 100 groups taking part across the UK.

Activists and supporters from the People’s Vote campaign will take to the streets in Thame this Saturday, as well as across the rest of the UK, in order to demand their right to a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal.

There will be over 100 local groups participating, with thousands of activists and supporters taking part, over 1 million leaflets ordered, and with street stalls due to be set up in towns and cities the length and breadth of the country, in areas that voted both Remain and Leave.

This People’s Vote National Day of Action follows on from the hugely successful People’s Vote Summer of Action, which saw mass rallies take place in Bristol, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Cambridge and Cardiff. This is all leading up to the People’s Vote March for the Future in London on October 20th, which is expected to be the largest Brexit-related march so far, larger than the previous People’s Vote march which was attended by over 100,000 people.

Robin Storey of Open Britain Thame said: “A botched, no-deal or bad deal Brexit will leave the constituency in a mess. We’re asking John Howell MP to take a lead and help find a way out from party infighting, along with other moderate MPs, by supporting People’s Vote. It’s no longer good enough to say things are fine with Brexit.
We’re going to Birmingham to make these local points about Brexit, outside the Conservative Party Conference.

“Nobody voted to be poorer, but constituents’ jobs are at risk. BMW mini in Cowley have warned publicly of the threat to their supply chain and have announced a shut down for a month from Brexit day.  High tech businesses around Oxford wonder why they are losing qualified EU staff, who no longer feel welcome.

“Commuters who live locally are worried. JP Morgan and many other firms have recently announced jobs moving out of the City, taking with them key parts of our tax base and capability.  All this affects the NHS and funding for all our public services over time, if the economy and tax base does less well, outside of the EU single market and customs union, with less comprehensive and efficient trade arrangements than we currently have.

“Already, staff shortages at the John Radcliffe are a problem, as EU staff return home, leading to ward closures. That’s why we’ve been calling on John Howell MP to support the Peoples Vote on the terms of the final Brexit deal and why we’ll be in Birmingham. ”

Anyone who would like to join Open Britain Thame at 2pm on Saturday, or on the 0900 from Haddenham to Birmingham on Sunday, September 30, is welcome to do so.

THAME Town Council is cautiously watching the progression of the county council’s Minerals and Waste Local Plan to 2030, for which sites being considered include land at the rear of the Ford Dealership in Rycote Lane – an area already busy with commercial vehicles likely to be made worse by the planned new cattlemarket close by.

The green field site has been nominated by the land owner, David Einig, and being considered for Inert construction, demolition and excavation (CDE) Waste Recycling including Recycled Aggregates, at a rate of 70,000 tonnes per annum.

Thame Town councillors have said that they will ‘maintain a watching brief’ on the situation. Full details of the plan, its stage of progress and other sites nominated, can be found at:
https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/environment-and-planning/planning/planning-policy/minerals-and-waste-policy/new-minerals-and-waste-plan

TODAY (27/09/18), Berks Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) and the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust (BCNWT) have initiated a challenge to the process whereby Highways England and the Department for Transport selected ‘Corridor B’ for the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway and associated ‘Growth Corridor’ which could include up to one million new homes.

Earlier this year the two Wildlife Trusts made a submission to the Highways England consultation in which we detailed our concerns about the potential environmental impact of the three ‘corridors’ that were then being proposed, and made it clear that we consider ‘Corridor B’ to be the worst option.

After making this submission, and participating in environmental stakeholder groups with Highways England, we are disappointed that the government does not seem to have considered the environment in equal balance with economic factors.

Highways England failed to commission a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) or a Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA) as part of the process of selecting a Corridor. This is required under European Law for schemes that impact on the environment such as this. This means the true environmental effect has not properly been considered and the public has been denied the opportunity to fully scrutinise the comparative economic, societal and environmental impacts of the options.

This failure forms the basis of the legal challenge that we are embarking upon today. A pre-action protocol letter has been sent to the Secretary of State for Transport, Rt Hon Chris Grayling, challenging the government’s failure to commission an SEA or HRA and lack of effective public participation in the decision. If there is no satisfactory response, a claim will be made in the High Court before the end of October, after which the Court will consider the case’s merits. It is anticipated that there will be a Judicial Review hearing before the end of 2018.

Estelle Bailey, Chief Executive Officer of BBOWT, said, ‘Earlier this year we told Highways England that the potential impact on biodiversity of Corridor B is so serious that the route should have been discounted entirely, and pressed them to conduct a Strategic Environmental Assessment. They ignored us. Today we challenge the Secretary of State for Transport to address the government’s failure to take the environment into account in its decision’.

The Environmental Law Foundation is supporting this action, with Leigh Day Solicitors and barristers from Francis Taylor Building providing pro-bono advice. Their support demonstrates the strong legal foundation for this case. We would like to acknowledge the work that Barrister Merrow Golden and the Horton cum Studley Action Group have undertaken up to this point with regard to challenging the lack of an SEA.

Tessa Gregory, Partner at Leigh Day, said, ‘It is important that decision-makers listen to local organisations and local people and imperative that environmental effects are properly assessed at the appropriate stage. Corridor selection is precisely the time for such strategic assessment to be carried out so that the environmental impacts of a plan or programme, such as the Expressway Corridor, are understood. It is disappointing that the Secretary of State has pressed ahead without such assessment, despite consultation submissions from the Wildlife Trusts’.

BBOWT’s most serious concerns are for the designated sites and nature reserves in Cothill Fen, Oxford Meadows, the Otmoor Basin, Upper Ray Valley and Bernwood Forest. If the A34 is widened west of Oxford the increase in traffic and pollution could affect sensitive areas such as Oxford Meadows, Cothill Fen and Wytham Woods. An alternative route around the south and east of Oxford would potentially impact on important areas for nature conservation including Bagley Wood, Sandford Brake, Brasenose Wood and Shotover Hill.

The area east of Oxford is characterised by a mosaic of ancient woodlands, species-rich grassland, open water, scrub and hedgerows, which form part of the former Royal Hunting Forest of Bernwood. It is one of the most undisturbed and wildlife-rich areas of Buckinghamshire. Upper Ray Valley and ancient woodlands in the vicinity of Calvert, including Finemere Wood, would also be at risk.

Corridor B also crosses the River Ouzel to the south east of Milton Keynes. The river and its associated habitats must be taken into account in the exact route choice following corridor selection. The Greensand Ridge includes a network of wildlife-rich sites including King’s and Baker’s Woods and Heaths. Rushmere Country Park, a popular public open space, would also be affected. Where the corridor moves towards the M1 around Woburn, there are woodlands which contain Wavendon Heath Ponds. Any route within this corridor would need to avoid these biodiversity hotspots.

SOURCE: Contributed (Press release)

THAME’S Music in the Park has donated £442 to the Thames Valley Air Ambulance (TVAA). A cheque was presented to the TVAA by Chris Fram, Chair of Music in the Park’s organising committee.

The money was raised from Music in the Park’s new 50p levy on plastic glasses used during the event at the XT Brewery Bar, Falcon Bar and Lord Williams’s School Pimm’s Bar. The objective of the levy was to reduce plastic waste at the event by encouraging re-use and to raise money for a good cause. Thames Valley Air Ambulance was chosen as this year’s good cause in memory of four-year old Barnaby Cork, who was attended by the Air Ambulance at his tragic accident at Thame Leisure Centre in December 2016.

Chris Fram said: “We’re delighted to have raised so much money for the Thames Valley Air Ambulance, while at the same time helping to make Music in the Park a more environmentally-responsible event.”

To keep up-to-date with news of next year’s Music in the Park event, visit the Facebook page LINK HERE  or website LINK HERE 

FORMER Thame Mayor, Nigel Champken-Woods and his wife Alison revisited Thame’s twin town in Romania recently, and had an unexpected encounter with a Prince, the former Prince Nicholae, the grandson of King Michael, Romania’s last king until 1947. He died in December 2017.

It was during a reception on the Saturday evening held by Vlad Oprea, the Mayor of Sinaia, in ‘The Casino’ used nowadays as an events venue. Nigel recalled: “With about three minutes notice I had to make a speech, but got away with it! We were next presented to Prince Nicolae of Romania and his fiance Alina Binder along with our host Felicia. It turns out that Prince Nicolae knows Thame as he went to school at Shiplake College just outside Henley-on-Thames. We joked about the rivalry between the two towns especially on the sports field!”

Sinaia is Thame’s Twin Town based in Prahova County, Romania. The two towns have been twinned since 2012, when as Mayor of Thame at the time, Nigel signed the twinning charter. Every September the town holds a festival Sinaia Forever, and it was to share this occassion that Nigel and Alison had been invited to return to Romania.

The Thame couple had been welcomed to the Town by Vlad Oprea, who accepted a letter from Ann Midwinter, the current Mayor of Thame, explaining that she could not attend as it clashed with her civic service. Mr Oprea understood and passed his best wishes to Mrs Midwinter and all the people of Thame.

On Friday, September 14, Nigel and Alison they were taken to the top of a nearby mountain by cable car. Since their visit in 2012, this has been much improved by the extension of the Telegondola (ski lift) to the top of the mountain. Nigel said: ” The views from the top are outstanding and must be amazing in the winter. There are 16 ski slopes of varying difficulty to choose from.

“The highlight of any visit to Sinaia,” he added, “must be Peles Castle and the Monastery, which we did on Saturday morning with Dan Manea. Dan Manea, an architect, is another friend of Thame, as he thoroughly enjoyed his visit to Thame, and presentation of his book, Sinaia Land of the Elites during the TAL Festival in 2017.”

Peles was the summer home of King Carol I of Romania and featured by the BBC in a recent Great Railway Journey with Michael Portillo. The Monastery was the first building in Sinaia to offer hospitality to travellers in the Prahova Valley.

Nigel continued: “We also visited Prince Charles’ home in Viscri, not what one would expect! It is however very unspoilt and indeed you can actually stay there. We then went on to Bran, the home of the infamous Dracula’s Bran Castle. Our last full day was again spent with Dan Manea, who took us to the Royal Meadow which is situated in the mountains above Sinaia and Peles Castle. The problem was it is situated at just over 4,000 feet and while we had been driven up, we had to walk down! A fitting end to a fantastic weekend.”

Nigel and Alison were hosted by Felicia and Nicu Mirza at their home in Sinaia. Felicia as member of ASPE, a local cultural association, and visited Thame during TAL Festival in 2017. The Thame couple noticed a dramatic difference of the look of Sinaia’s main street between the visits. Six years previously, all cabling was carried on poles along the main street which has been described as looking like a giant tangle of knitting. This has now been put underground and pavements replaced and widened, cleaning the whole area up.

Nigel concluded: “We would like to thank all involved in our visit. Vlad Oprea and his team at the Town Hall in Sinaia, the members of ASPE who looked after us, Dan Manea our guide and in particular Felicia and Nicu Mirza who welcomed us into their home.”

Anyone from the Thame and neighbouring villages interested in getting involved in family, cultural, or groups visit exchange projects between Thame and Sinaia are invited to get in touch with the Thame-Sinaia Friendship Association on www.facebook.com/thamesinaia or ring/text 07764 854949.

BREXIT may be on the lips and minds of many Europhiles but a group from Thame, who regularly exchange visits with Thame’s twin town of Montesson, have just spent a very convivial weekend across the Channel.

The group of 17 members from Thame and District Twinning Association, left Thame very early on Friday morning, September 14, arriving later that evening to a warm reception from their hosts. The next morning, they were treated to a guided tour of one of the most important collections of sculptures and other works by Rodin – him of the famous ‘The Thinker’ and ‘The Kiss’.

The tour over, the ‘twinners’ ate a splendid picnic lunch in the beautiful grounds of the Rodin Museum, formerly the Hôtel Biron, a mansion which Rodin used as his workshop from 1908, and subsequently donated his entire collection of sculptures (along with paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir that he had acquired) to the French State on the condition that they turn the buildings into a museum dedicated to his works.

Paris was looking its very best in the Autumn sunshine, with its many public and historic buildings open for free on this special Heritage weekend known as the Journées du Patrimoine – a sort of annual ‘open doors’ which includes the Élysée Palace if you don’t mind queuing for four hours!

The Thame group forewent that experience but went their separate ways exploring markets, art galleries, beautiful public gardens and for a lucky few, a peak inside the historic monument and art gallery, the Petit Palais (small palace). As well as exhibiting some amazing works of art, the building itself is spectacular, including a guilded, domed central porch and a triple arcade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That evening was the first event of the annual festival of the pâté à la Carmen, which has run for around 140 years – the eating of a special, small pastry encasing a kind of sausage meat, washed down with a particular Creme de Cassis based punch. From the festival marquee in the Parc des Sophiras, it was home with hosts for dinner, before rounding off the evening with a spectacular firework display.

Because of the need to leave Montesson in the early afternoon to take the tunnel back to England, the Thame visitors were unable to stay for the grand finale, a street carnival, but spent Sunday morning either visiting the traditional street market at St Germain, shopping for wine or exploring the evocative ‘île des Impressionnistes’ at Chatou, the village near Montesson, where the Impressionist painters, their friends and followers, would meet regularly to eat, drink, socialise, go boating and of course, paint.

The famous ‘Restaurant Fournaise’, the balcony of which features in the famous painting by Renoir, ‘Luncheon of the Boating Party’, has been completely restored and there is museum at the rear dedicated to the site’s history.

 

In the same location is a traditional boat yard where a group of dedicated craftsmen rescue ‘from the fire and the saw’ old wooden, traditional boats that have been replaced by glass fibre and carbon. One couple from Thame were lucky enough to have a ride in a steam-driven launch built in 1882. Througout the day, local people strolled about wearing replica costumes in the style of days at the height of the Impressionist period.

The Chair of Thame & District Twinning Association, Linda Emery, who gamely drove her happy band of travellers in a minibus, said afterwards: “Lingering over one or two ‘pate de carmen’ in a park in Montesson; relaxing after a day of strolling around the Rodin museum and marveling at icons like “Rodin’s Kiss” … ..the perfect Montesson experience combines leisure and liveliness with enough time to savor both an exquisite meal and fireworks at the park.

 

 

“We take away so much from this weekend, including memories of the fun people we met – and the lovely wine we shared.”

Despite arriving back in Thame just before midnight because they missed their slot for the Eurotunnel, the Thame Twinning group agreed that this visit, made during what is the 16th year of the Twinning charter, had been one of the best and are now looking forward to the Quiz on November 2nd, being held to raise funds jointly between themselves and the British Stroke Association. LINK HERE

MORE pictures from the Montesson visit HERE