Category: More News

LORD WILLIAMS’S students, families and staff had much to celebrate yesterday with the release of excellent GCSE results.

Eighty percent of students achieved five or more A* – C grades, with 69% achieving 5 or more A* – C grades, including English and Mathematics.

The following students all gained at least eight passes at A* and A:

Catherine Aitchison, Lauren Bailey, David Bruggink, Ellen Feuchtwanger, Timo Gaultney, Sophie Gedge, Josephine Glover, Edward Goggs, Jane Ho, Matthew Hopgood, Gabrielle Jackson, Ben Kelsey, Tom Lowe, Phoebe Macgregor, Helena Mann, Hannah Pinnells, Sacha Rond-Alliston, Abby Salter, Thomas Scraton, Madeline Shott, Ruth Underwood, Lucy Wenzel, Gemma Williams and Helen Wray.

Headteacher, David Wybron, commented: ?These are exceptional results by any standard. Students have worked very hard and they have been supported in their endeavours by so many dedicated teachers and support staff. I am also delighted to report that 98% of students achieved 5 or more passes at A* – G. We are proud of the achievements of our students at all levels.

“Whilst we celebrate today, there is also sadness because one of our year 11 students, Jack O?Donnell tragically died during the holidays; our thoughts are certainly of him and with his family today.”

FOLLOWING the natural disasters in Pakistan and China, there are now millions of people in need of water and shelter, a need that has touched the hearts of The Rotary Club of Thame.

On Saturday, August 21, the group made an appeal to the local community to support Rotary’s charities, ShelterBox and Aquabox, collecting from the public in front of a ShelterBox tent outside the Thame Town Hall.

The ten-person tent is designed to withstand extreme temperatures, high winds and heavy rainfall. Internally, each tent has privacy partitions that allow recipients to divide the space as they see fit.

Also on display was an Aquabox which is a robust, plastic tank with water purification tablets and packed with essential welfare items for a disaster situation. Each AquaBox can be used to purify up to 1,100 litres of polluted water, which is enough for a family of four people (drinking 10 cups per day) for about four months.

Many people from Thame and the neighbouring villages showed their support including Lionel Morbey, Thame Town Councillor (pictured in front of the ShelterBox tent on the left, with Bob Livings on the right).

Bob Livings, Chairman of The International Committee at the Rotary Club of Thame: “I would like to say a “Big Thank you!” to the people of Thame and villages who were so generous in donating for the Pakistan and China Appeal. The total raised was

THAMES Valley Police have announced that Ian Abbott will serve as the new chair for the Oxfordshire Police Committee, a body which seeks to assist the police in monitoring performance and scrutinising services at a local level. All meetings are open to the public.

The position will come alongside Mr. Abbott?s current duties as a member of the Audit, Governance and Risk Committee. He is said to be very pleased with the decision, insisting that it will give him the chance to ?work with the Thames Valley Police in the challenges they face in meeting the expectations of residents in our area.?

THAMES’s landmark hotel, The Spread Eagle, has, by its own admission, been known a being a little stuck in the past. But there’s nothing old fashioned about its newly refurbished bar and restaurant.

Now the new management are exploring new ways to attract new diners and have ventured into the world of social media and now have a presence on Facebook.

Anyone joining The Spread Eagle page on Facebook will get get a

THAME and District Day Centre hopes soon to be learn whether or not its peppercorn rent will be quadrupled in April, following the arrival of a long-awaited letter from NHS Buckinghamshire PCT.

The day centre has been waiting for the information since it first enquired in March this year, and now has the information from the PCT is needs, to write to the relevant person at Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust to help the committee plan the day centre’s future funding needs.

For background see: LINK

PHOTO: A member of Thame & District Council watches a demonstration of paper flower making during one of her regular visits.

POOLICE teams in Thame, Chinnor and Watlington are running an operation working with partner agencies, including Oxfordshire County Council to target rural crime such as hare coursing.

PC Ian Kent, based at Thame police station, said: ?We have previously had a few problems with hare coursing but it is not just the act of putting dogs onto the hares that we are concerned with but this combined with the total disregard that the hare coursers have for other peoples? property.

?They cause criminal damage to crops, fences and buildings and in addition, those responsible are very often in breach of various traffic laws. The hare coursers in our area are also illegally using and damaging the surface of The Ridgeway National Trail.”

Sgt Steve Hookham, also based at Thame police station, said: ?We are lucky to live in an area of outstanding beauty and want to make sure it remains this way.

?I would like to reassure both farmers and landowners that we are taking any incidents of rural crime seriously and will be conducting extra patrols and doing all that we can to prevent and deter any further incidents from taking place.

?Since we have increased our patrols and temporary barriers have been installed on the Ridgeway, we have had no further offences of rural crime in the area.

?This is an excellent achievement but we will not get complacent and the neighbourhood policing team will be using our 4×4 where necessary to help us effectively patrol the more rural locations.”

Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport Implementation, Rodney Rose, said: ?It is imperative that we stop vehicles engaged in illegal activity from using The Ridgeway, which is one of the most popular walking and riding routes in the county. We are willing to take the measures necessary to ensure that the route can be enjoyed by legitimate users.?

LINK to video showing police police in action against rural crime.

Anyone with information which could help the police should contact PC Ian Kent at Thame police station via 0845 8 505 505, or if you don?t want to talk to the police or give your name, call the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.

PHOTO: Police officers patrol the Ridgeway on bikes, passing through temporary blocks which have reduced drastically the number of 4 x 4 vehicles accessing and damaging the Ridgeway.

12/08/10

TWELVE voluntary groups have received grants from Thame Town Council in recognition of their benefit to the community.

A total of

AS thousands of people descended on the Oxfordshire & Thame County Show recently, international aid and development charity, World Vision, invited them to experience life through the eyes of one child in Africa.

FIRST OF ITS KIND

Oxfordshire & Thame County Show marked the debut for Step Into Africa, a walk-through exhibit in which participants experience a day in the life of seven year-old Ayie as she navigates the hazards of living in poverty in rural Sierra Leone.

Using individual MP3 players, interested show goers were led through African style huts as Ayie talked about the risks she faces each day, from silent killers such as malaria.

?In so many ways, Ayie?s daily life- dealing with chronic poverty, deadly bouts of diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria- is a world away from ours, which is why we wanted to bring it closer to home at events like the Oxfordshire & Thame County Show,? said Sarah Lisowiec from World Vision?s Experiential Marketing Department.

?Step Into Africa gives us the chance to remind and illustrate to the UK public how they can so easily make a difference in the lives of children like Ayie.

After experiencing the exhibit, people had the chance to talk to World Vision staff about their work, and any of the issues they came across, and had the chance to sign up to the charity’s campaigning work or to sponsor a child like Ayie.?

World Vision UK hopes that Step Into Africa, constructed by Hertford-based set designers and experiential agency Scene 2, will highlight what it calls ?the greatest silent emergency of our time?; the millions of children under the age of five who die each year from easily preventable causes, such as diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia.

PHOTO: The Mosquito is a vecta of malaria, a”hidden killer” in Africa

NEW horse-friendly gates at Chinnor railway crossing,
one of the busiest sections of bridleway in the county, is being used as a trial for a brand new type of horse-friendly gate.

Oxfordshire County Council?s Countryside Service worked in partnership with Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway to install the new gates by the Keens Lane railway crossing at Chinnor in the Chiltern Hills.

This section of bridleway is well-used as it connects Chinnor village with The Ridgeway nearby.

Slow-closing gates

The new bridlegates have been engineered to be slow-closing, giving horse-riders plenty of time to pass through. The gates will be tested for the first time in Oxfordshire at the Chinnor site.

Steam train event

The gates were installed in time for people to watch the 100th anniversary celebrations of what is now the Chiltern Railways line through Bicester North. A special Centenary Steam Express service ran from Banbury to Princes Risborough and on to Chinnor to commemorate the event.

Philip Capron, a volunteer with Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway said: ?We are very pleased to have helped enable the installation of the latest bridlegate technology at this key site for railway enthusiasts as well as other users of the countryside. It was a stroke of luck that the gates were installed in time for the Chiltern Railways Centenary Special steam train event on 3 July.?

Making life easier

Councillor Rodney Rose, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport Implementation, said:
?We have long been aware that gates of any kind make access to the countryside more difficult for horse-riders.
“We are hoping that this new type of bridlegate will make life easier for those on horseback and we welcomed the opportunity to work with the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway to trial the new gates.”

Bridleway 45 crosses the railway line on the east edge of Chinnor and leads to The Ridgeway.

CARE AWARDS. In the year in which the Haddenham Abbeyfield, Stonehill House, celebrates its 25th anniversary, the committee, with the support of residents, their relatives and staff, nominated its original and only manager Lindsey McGibbon for the Great British Care Awards. Lindsey was delighted to win the South-East region Registered Care Home Manager of the Year award ? a lovely crystal award ? but, sadly, was unable to enter for the national awards as she was away on holiday. The award is given to the ?Registered Care Home Manager who has demonstrated a high level of expertise together with exceptional skills in managing the complex business of running a care home. A Manager who shows vision in developing person centred care and supporting staff to meet the ever changing needs of the residents.?

METHODIST CHAPEL. The Rev Derick Chambers took his last service at Haddenham Methodist Chapel on July 25 and was due to conduct his last service at Christchurch, Thame, on Sunday 1st. He and his wife, Debbie, are now moving to Warwick, where he will take up a new position. Some re-organisation of the circuits is due to take place at the end of this month, when the Thame and Watlington circuit ends and Haddenham, Thame, Chinnor and Cuddington will join the new Vale of Aylesbury circuit, which officially begins on September 1. The Rev Fred Ireland, who is currently serving in Fairford Leys, will move to Thame and have oversight of these four churches.

DAY SERVICES. A public consultation document on the Future of Day Services in Buckinghamshire was launched at the beginning of June and comments are to be made by August 25. The Haddenham Red Cross Day Centre will be included in the review and there?s a chance for you to have your say at: http://bucksconsultation.buckscc.gov.uk . The transformation of adult social care was discussed at the June Local Area Forum / Neighbourhood Action Group meeting.

Tues. Aug 10th Dementia Forum. The 2nd of the monthly open forums, for people suffering with dementia or caring for someone who does, will take place at the Haddenham Medical Centre on Tuesday (2.30-3.30pm). There?s a chance to ask questions or express concerns to professionals (Carers Bucks in association with Brendoncare Chiltern View) and others with experience of potential problems.