TWO fire crews from each of Thame and Wheatley Fire Stations were rushed to the M40 earlier today near Junction 7 for Thame, where a car was reported to have been on fire.
Fortunately, they were able to eventually extinguish the fire but the vehicle was completely burned out. No casualties have been reported.
RACQUETS Fitness Centre, Thame, member Gillian Brannan, took part in the London Marathon this year along with four other lady members of the club, just 18 months after, as she admited, she was unable to run for even a minute!
In the recent London Marathon, Gillian completed the full 26.2 miles in just 6 hours 8 minutes. Just 18 months ago, Gill was totally unfit and two stone heavier. She said: “Taking part in the London Marathon and all the training and preparation that is needed for it is one the best achievements of my life.” She is so pleased with her achievement, that Gill has entered the ballot for 2020 !
What is the Culvert Trust?
Running for the Calvert Trust, Gill has so far raised £1,501.96. The Calvert Trust provides people of all ages and all kinds of disability with the opportunity, through its centres in Keswick, Kielder and Exmoor, to participate in all kinds of outdoor activities including riding, sailing, swimming, rock-climbing, canoeing and much else. “It’s not what you can’t do, but what you can that counts,” the Trust believes.
Helping another runner in distress
Not only did Gillian manage the whole 26.2 miles but she also stopped to help and encourage a lady 30 years younger to get all the way round. Gill’s new London Marathon friend was running in memory of her recently departed mum and was so emotional that she was struggling to run. With Gill’s support the lady managed to complete the course.
Thanks to a gym that ‘isn’t intimidating’
Gill would like to thank everyone who encouraged her in her achievement, including her personal trainer, Nig Pattison and Racquets Fitness Centre, where Gill said: “I’ve joined gyms before but Racquets is the only one that I don’t find intimidating.”
“We are all very proud of Gill and her achievement,” said Sue Martin Downhill, Joint Director of Racquets Fitness Centre and Squash Academy.
If you’d like to add to Gillian’s fundraising total, you can visit: to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gillian-brannan
THAME mum, Helen Flitton and her children and some friends, held there own School Strike for Climate Strike last Friday, outside Thame town hall.
Helen, who had written to the Head of her children’s school, explaining why they were striking, was joined by other mums including Rosie Pierce and Rachel Lowe, and their children.
Helen published a copy of the letter she sent to her children’s Headteacher explaining why she was taking her children out of school to hold their rally to draw attention to the Climate Change Emergency:
THAME has been in the national news recently because of the Town Council’s (rejected) proposal to erect red plaques commemorating the town’s fictitious involvement in a television series.
Thame does however boast several blue plaques featuring famous real people who lived in the town, one of whom, the poet W.B. Yeats, is the inspiration for Thame Chamber Choir’s recently-announced Choral Composition Competition.
Launched as part of the choir’s 20th anniversary celebrations, the contest asks entrants to set any Yeats poem of their choice to music. Entries will be judged by international composers and conductors, Bob Chilcott and James Burton, as well as the choir’s Musical Director, Duncan Aspden and professional pianist and singer, Anna Markland.
The winning composition will be premièred at the choir’s concert during the 2019 Thame Arts & Literature Festival, and the composer will receive a prize of £1000.
Full details of how to enter are on the choir’s website, www.thamechamberchoir.org
Soha Housing, landlord to around 6,700 households across South Oxfordshire and surrounding areas, including Thame, is among the best providers of housing for older persons in the country, according to judges of the UK Housing Awards, held yesterday, May 1.
This came in the same week that the Centre for Housing and Support, part of the Chartered Institute of Housing, rated Soha’s Independent Living service as “outstanding”.
Soha was shortlisted for the quality of its homes and services to older people. In a statement, Soha said: “The housing association offers homes to rent or buy from self-contained retirement apartments and bungalows to individual flats in the community or in the very popular Extra Care schemes. It makes sure its housing services are responsive and meet individual needs. The Independent Living team visit everyone over 70 regardless of where they live and help them access wider services.”
Resident Val Kir, Chair of Soha’s Seniors’ Group, has supported the initiative this year to become a dementia-friendly organisation, creating over 100 Alzheimer’s Society dementia friends, as well as the partnership working with Oxfordshire County Council’s Adult Social Care to embed an Occupational Therapy service in Soha. Mrs Kir said: “Soha really cares about its older residents and their independence, and as a mutual organisation – where residents can become shareholding members if they wish – residents are the real judge of their services.”
Maureen Adams, Director of Customer Service and Operations at Soha, added: “I’m thrilled that the hard work of residents, partners and our great team has been recognised nationally. We work with customers to make a difference to the quality of life for present and future residents.”
The UK Best Older Persons’ Housing Provider was Connexus of the West Midlands.
Image: Rachel Dredge with an elderly Soha resident
THAME Chamber Choir (TCC) has received a funding boost that will help the choir towards celebrating its twentieth anniversary, and the tenth anniversary of its children’s choir, TCC2.
Music in the Park has donated £500 to Thame Chamber Choir (TCC). The money will help fund a series of concerts to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Thame Chamber Choir by enabling it to engage professional musicians to perform at the concerts to enhance their appeal and bring them to a wider audience.
Thame Chamber Choir brings together many outstanding singers from Thame and the surrounding area, including professional musicians, singing and music teachers, former Cathedral lay clerks and ex-choral scholars from many cities. They blend their voices with others drawn by a passion for excellent choral singing. The Choir’s repertoire has included substantial works by Bach, Bernstein, Charpentier, Dvorak, Faure, Handel, Haydn, Kodaly, Liszt, Mozart, Rossini, Schutz and Vivaldi, as well as shorter works by a wide variety of composers from the Renaissance to the twenty-first century.
Thame’s Children Choir (TCC2) is the children’s wing of the Choir. It offers a special opportunity for boys and girls aged from seven years upwards to learn to sing and enjoy a wide variety of music.
Music in the Park Chair, Chris Fram, said: “Music in the Park is delighted to help Thame Chamber Choir in its mission to bring first-rate choral music to a wider audience.” Thame Chamber Choir’s Chairman, Peter Smith, added: “Thame Chamber Choir has been providing audiences with high quality musical performances since it began in 1999. We formed the Children’s Choir in 2010 and we are thrilled that this grant will help us celebrate these anniversaries in a fitting manner.”
STORM Hannah may have been doing her blustery best to hinder Saturday afternoon’s Lord Williams’s School (LWS) 5k fun run, but it didn’t stop 215 brave souls from taking part!
The event, the biggest fundraiser of the year for the school, saw BBC Radio 2 presenter Ken Bruce, setting fun runners off at just after 1pm – all superbly led by local Thame Runner, Faye Sharpley. Entrants took on the off-road route across the upper school field, which saw them negotiating tyres, hay bales, a cargo net and a colour station where runners were pelted with paint as they ran through.
The Lord Williams’s School PTA (LWPA) hopes to raise close to £4,000 from the event, which will help fund essential school equipment to support the school learning environment.
Commenting on another successful fun run, PTA Chair Karen Shardlow, said: “We’re really pleased with how the afternoon went, and hope everyone enjoyed being part of a terrific day of fundraising! It was great to see runners of all ages turning out in support of the fun run, which is now in its third year.”
She added: “A huge thank you must go to the LWS school team, including staff who ran on the day or helped by volunteering. Also, to local businesses Lucy Electric, TNS and iPad sponsor Abbey Business Interiors, for their generosity in donating and sponsoring items – we simply couldn’t put on this event without you.”
Headteacher David Wybron also took part and received a good coating of paint as he ran through the colour station section!
HIMALAYAN balsam is a pesky, invasive non-native plant, that has established itself along the River Thame and some of its tributaries. These plants bully their way into habitat, over shading and out-competing our native flora.
They are good disperses and can easily spread using explosive seed pods that shoot seeds several meters into the nearest watercourse.
Thankfully they are shallow rooted and easy to pull out and that’s where YOU come in!
What’s involved?
The River Thame Conservation Trust is inviting local people to spend a few hours walking lengths of Bear Brook, near Aylesbury, stream pulling out balsam plants before they can set seed, and help to clear space for native plants to grow.
What do you need to bring?
Bring wellies, a water bottle, lunch and maybe a sun hat. All other equipment, including gloves, will be supplied.
Location: Stoke Brook, Aylesbury – May 12 and 19.
Time: 10am-3pm – Tea and coffee supplied, but bring your own lunch.
Anyone interested in taking part cam email Hannah (hannah@riverthame.org) or call 07460 275627.
BUS users at three bus stops in Thame are set to benefit from new bus shelters, funded by Oxfordshire County Council developer Section 106 contributions.
Each shelter will display a town centre map, have bench seats with handles and will be suitable for Disabled access. The following bus stops are to get the shelters; Oxford Road (Thame bound) and two in Wenman Road (Warren Mead and Esingdon Drive – Thame bound).
