Category: More News

MORE than a quarter of people in Britain are expected to buy electrical goods as presents this Christmas. At the same time, research by Recycle Now has revealed that on average people have around three old, broken or unwanted small electrical goods items gathering dust in cupboards.

People who receive electrical goods for Christmas in Oxfordshire are being encouraged to recycle the old or broken cameras, mobile phones, televisions and other goods that gifts will replace, to avoid them being sent to landfill.

Oxfordshire County Council’s eight recycling centres each allow for such items to be recycled. Some electrical goods can be collected.

Where are the recycling centres?

The eight recycling centres are at the following locations in Oxfordshire:

Alkerton – Stratford Road, Alkerton, Nr Banbury
Ardley Fields- Brackley Road, Ardley
Dean – Grove Lane, Chadlington, Nr Chipping Norton
Dix – Linch Hill, Stanton Harcourt
Redbridge – Old Abingdon Road, Oxford
Drayton – Steventon Road, Drayton, Nr Abingdon
Stanford in the Vale – Faringdon Road, Stanford in the Vale, Faringdon
Oakley Wood – Henley Road, Crowmarsh, Nr Wallingford
When are the recycling centres open?
Over the Christmas period, the recycling centres are open on the following days:

Wednesday 24 December 8am to 3pm
Thursday 25 December Closed
Friday 26 December Closed
Saturday 27 December 8am to 5pm
Sunday 28 December 8am to 5pm
Monday 29 December 8am to 5pm
Tuesday 30 December 8am to 5pm
Wednesday 31 December 8am to 3pm
Thursday 1 January Closed
Friday 2 January 8am to 5pm

The closest recycling cenre to Thame however, is in Buckinghamshire, at Wigans Lane, Bledlow Ridge HP14 4BH.

Councillor Roger Belson, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “We all seem to know instinctively that we can recycle paper and glass, but when it comes to goods such as old CD players or kettles there still seems to be more of a national tendency to want to throw them in the bin.
“I would like to urge people who are treated to an electrical item for Christmas to make sure that the piece of equipment it is replacing is recycled properly. Our recycling centres are located conveniently for people throughout the county for people to use.”

THAME’S town council is running a competition to find a new name for the newly refurbished play area on the Southern Road Recreation Area, which opened on Tuesday.
Follow LINK
so see video footage of the event.

The prize for the chosen name will be a swimcard for 20 free swims at the Thame Leisure Centre.

Email your suggestions to: oss@thametowncouncil.gov.uk, or post them to:
Thame Town Council
Town Hall
High Street
Thame

Alternatively you can drop suggestions in to the Information Centre in Thame Town Hall.

Entries need to be in by Thursday, January 8.

Photo: Father Christmas gave sweets to children when they visited the rejunenated Southern Road Recreastion play ground on Tuesday.

JOHN HOWELL MP, has announced changes in his surgery days and times.
John’s surgeries will mostly take place on a Saturday mornings, between 10am and 12pm, instead of late on a Friday afternoons.

Thame surgeries will be held on the following dates, at Thame town hall:

Sat 7th Feb
Sat 6th June
Sat 5th Dec,2009

Chinnor surgeries will be held on the following dates at Chinnor Village Centre, High Street, Chinnor:

Sat 9th May
Sat 18th July
Sat 12th Dec, 2009

John Howell said: “The move to a Saturday morning will hopefully give more people the chance to raise concerns with me directly. This will be more convenient for those who work and those with young families for whom a late Friday afternoon was a non-starter.
“People don?t have to wait until a surgery comes near them; they can book themselves in to any surgery no matter where they live in the constituency.”

LOCAL residents are invited to GO to the police office in Wheatley, behind the Merry Bells pub, on Sunday (4/1) between 12pm and 4pm.
This will be an opportunity for members of the public to meet the local neighbourhood team.

Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Ken Cooney, said: ?I encourage residents to come and meet us. We will be security marking items like mobile phones and satellite navigations systems. You can also bring your bicycle along to be marked.”

People can also get crime reduction advice from local officers. This service is free and no appointment is necessary.

A GREEN Christmas roadshow will be visiting Thame, with tips about how to have a green Christmas and recycle more during the festive season.
South Oxfordshire District Council will be visiting the four towns in the district to spread the green Christmas message, and will be at Waitrose next

The council, working with the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership, is encouraging residents to think green this Christmas and recycle as much as possible, in a bid to reduce the amount of extra rubbish ending up in landfill.

Each year in the UK large, we produce large amounts of extra rubbish over the festive period. The council?s message is have a great Christmas ? but please recycle all the extra paper, card, cans and plastic in their green recycling boxes, and wherever possible, to take empty glass bottles and jars to the nearest recycling bank.

The council?s top tips for keeping green this Christmas include:

* Choose 100% recycled Christmas cards and wrapping
paper
* Donate old toys and unwanted gifts to charity or a
local Swap Shop
* Buy rechargeable batteries for children?s toys and
electrical goods
* Buy seasonal and local produce without the
packaging
* Start a compost heap for vegetable peelings
* After Christmas, if you have a brown bin, chop up
your tree for collection, or return it to local
participating garden centres for composting.

The council is offering extra Christmas recycling sacks, which people can collect from the their local Town Council One Stop Shops.

Cllr David Dodds, Cabinet Member for the environmental services said: “Christmas is a time of cheer and good will to all, but sadly it is also a time of excessive waste. Visit our Christmas recycling road show and find out how you can to do your bit for the environment, from buying ?green? presents to recycling your cranberry sauce jars and composting your Christmas tree.”

LOCAL conservation groups are increasingly concerned about the growing levels of noise pollution affecting the Chilterns countryside.
The Chiltern Hills are nationally-protected in part because they are one of the few areas in the crowded south east where people can find unspoilt, tranquil countryside. But growing noise levels from roads,
in particular motorways and trunk roads, and increasing numbers of aircraft flying overhead, are all destroying the peace and quiet of the Chilterns.

Noise is such an important issue that the Chilterns Conservation Board has included specific policies and actions in its new Management Plan for the Chilterns to try and deal with this growing problem.

“The Chilterns is protected as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,” said Steve Rodrick, Chief Officer of the Conservation Board. “There is a duty on all of us to care for it and the new Management Plan sets out how we can tackle all the issues facing it over the next five years, including noisy roads and aircraft. With increasing amounts of traffic and proposals for a third runway at Heathrow our tranquil countryside is under threat as never before.”

The new Plan also contains policies and actions on other issues of concern such as pressure for new housing, unsympathetic development in the countryside, increasing congestion on roads and the effects of climate change.

The Chilterns AONB Management Plan 2008 ? 2013 has been put together with the help of many local organisations including the National Trust, local wildlife trusts, The Chiltern Society and parish
councils. It contains policies and actions which aim to conserve the special features of this area and keep it a special place for many years ahead.

The Plan can be downloaded as a whole, or by chapter, from:
chilternsaonb.or

Copies can also be provided on CD.

THE SPREAD EAGLE HOTEL in Thame, has donated all its towels, line, bedding and bedroom furniture to the Oxfam shop in Cornmarket, Thame.
The General Manager, Peter Farquharson, for Bespoke Hotels Ltd, told ThameNews.Net: “Because we are to completely refurbish the hotel, we shall be replacing all our linen and the furniture in all the rooms. It seemed such a waste to just throw them away, so we decided that they could be put to good use by others less fortunate than us. We have already donated blankets to a local dogs’ home and after talking to the manager of our local Oxfam shop, Jane, we decided to pass the rest onto her.”

Jane said today: “This was a very generous offer from Peter who, since he arrived in Thame, has been very helpful to me – he is real friend to Oxfam. We shall sell some of the linen from the shop here in Thame, but the furniture and the rest of the linen will go to our shop in Watford which has much more space than we do.”

Photo: Two of Oxfam’s volunteers load hundreds of towels donated by the Spread Eagle, Thame, to the charity.

MIND Christmas Cards – The Mind Charity Shop at 118 Walton Street, Oxford now has a vast array of Christmas cards on sale.

Trek Ireland ? 26th ? 30th June 2009 – We have now set up our next trek which will explore the heart and sole of Ireland the Kerry Way! Itinerary – Day 1 – Depart London an afternoon flight to Cork. Met on arrival and transfer to Glenbeigh a small town on the coast of Kerry surrounded by Coomasaharn horse-shoe Mountains to the south, Seefin, and Curra to the east and west and Slievemish to the North for an evening meal and the first taste of the real Ireland! Day 2 – Glenbeigh to Glencar/Lough Acoose (11 miles/18km, 270m ascent) An acclimatising walk leads along a quiet lane high above the beautiful Caragh Lake. It descends down to the Blackstone?s Bridge then through the woods to Glencar, a tiny settlement nestled in the middle of the peninsula besides the McGillycuddy?s Reeks meaning ?The Black Stacks?, a mountain range stretching over 12 miles that includes the highest mountain in Ireland, Caeeantuohill at 1,039 metres. Before walking a little further to Lough Acoose. Day 3 – Glencar to Black Valley (13 miles/21km, 360m ascent) We set off after a good hearty breakfast and walk past Lough Acoose, the starting point for a memorable circuit of Ireland?s highest mountain, Carrauntuohill. Continue past the Lough and isolated farms to walk up through the Reeks on the old lack road and into the isolated Bridia Valley. Climb out of the valley via a second mountain pass through wild and rugged hills descending into the Black Valley directly underneath Ireland?s highest mountains. Day 4 – Black Valley to Killarney (14 miles/22.5km, 360m ascent) Our final day leads out of the Black Valley and back into the Killarney National Park. We will walk past the Upper Lake of Killarney, a site of one of Ireland?s unusual flora, the Strawberry Tree and continue to Lord Brandon?s Cottage into the Derrycunnihy Forest; an ancient oak woodland that is currently fighting a battle with the Rhododendron that is threatening to choke out the indigenous flora! Our final part of the route then joins up with Galway?s Bridge, where we follow the old Kenmare road past Muckross House to Killarney. Tonight we will experience true Irish hospitality starting with our traditional celebration. After this a visit to one of the lively pubs with traditional Irish Music would be a great way to wrap up the trip. Day 5 We have a free morning to explore Killarney and the surrounding area. Ross castle is nearby and worth a visit along with the nearby national park. In the afternoon we will transfer back to Cork Airport for our flight to London. The trek is planned for 26th – 30th June 2009 and the trek packs are now ready if you are interested in coming along. The registration fee will be

THE work of an Oxfordshire Fire officer on reducing environmental damage during incidents and training exercises, is set to benefit firefighters across the UK and beyond.
David Hanlon wrote a 400-page manual on the subject and organised a national conference at the Reebok Staduim in Bolton recently where 20 speakers gave presentations based on his work.

The manual, which tackles issues including how to avoid pollution of surface and groundwater supplies when tackling fires and chemical incidents, will now form the template for Fire and Rescue Services and environment agencies’ plans to prevent pollution caused by or during emergency incidents.

Great feedback

David, who is Technical Services Manager, was asked to write the manual by the Chief Fire Advisory Unit after submitting his masters degree dissertation to the Government.

He said: “The conference went really well and it’s extremely rewarding to see your work recognised on the national stage like this.

“The feedback was excellent and the whole thing has transformed what started out as an academic exercise into something that could have a really positive impact on the environment.”

Huge benefit

Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety Judy Heathcoat added: “There’s no doubt that David’s work will be a huge benefit to fire services across the UK.

“We always want our Fire and Rescue Service to be involved at the forefront of national progress, and David is a great example of that agenda-setting mentality.”

Photo: (left to right): Event organiser Kirsty Goodgame, Watch Manager and IT Technician Andy Ford (Thame), Finance Officer Hazel Dyer, Event Co-ordinator and author of FRS Manual Environmental Protection David Hanlon, Event Assistant Matt Carlile

THE BBC?s Nick Ross has given his backing to Oxfordshire’s ?Reducing the Risk Campaign’ which aims to increase the reporting of domestic abuse across the county.
Nick opened an event at the Unipart Conference Centre, in Cowley, today (25/11) where two domestic abuse survivors and speakers from a variety of organisation across the county, talked about the work taking place to tackle domestic abuse and to support victims.

The event coincided with ?White Ribbon Day?, the international day for the elimination of violence against women.

The aims of the four month campaign are to increase early reporting of domestic abuse and reduce repeat victimisation by asking the following:

? People experiencing domestic abuse ? Ask for
a way forward
? Family and Friends ? Ask the question
? Children ? Ask for help
? Young people ? Ask ?Is this love??

A new helpline has been launched which will be staffed by the Oxfordshire domestic abuse service, who will be on the end of the phone to help people suffering from domestic abuse and available to family or friends who think someone close to them is experiencing domestic abuse.

Advisers will offer support and advice and provide information about the services and the help available. A new website has also been launched with information and links to relevant agencies and organisations: LINK
or URL am I abused.com.

Leaflets, cards and the new gender neutral poster are being distributed throughout the county, and a bus advertising campaign promoting the new helpline and website will commence at the beginning of December.

Spearheading the campaign is the multi-agency Oxfordshire Domestic Violence Steering Group (ODVSG), with representatives from the county, city, and district councils, the police, primary care trusts, social and health care and voluntary organisations including Victim Support.

Romy Briant, Chair of ODVSG, said: ?Typically someone experiencing domestic abuse may go to as many as ten agencies before they get the help they needs. With Champions in the police, city and district councils, housing and health services, and voluntary agencies, survivors need only tell their story once to get that help.
“ODVSG are also working in partnership with FOX FM, where we will be running 20 second commercials through out the campaign. We will be leading people to make links to Fox Fm and am I abused.com (URL to our reducing the risk) website, there will be clear messages around abuse throughout the course of the campaign.”

Thames Valley Police Acting Assistant Chief Constable, George Wilson, said: ?Domestic abuse is one of the most unacceptable crimes in society. We are determined to play our part in seeking to change the attitude of offenders. At the same time we are taking a zero tolerance approach to those offenders and are working hard to bring them to justice. We now have a strict arrest policy that means more offenders are being brought into the criminal justice system and we have domestic abuse units where staff are specifically trained to deal with domestic abuse cases.
?Specialist domestic abuse courts have now been introduced in Oxfordshire and are starting to produce some positive results. In any domestic abuse case the best outcome has to be one that ensures the safety of the survivor and brings the offender to justice.
“By working in partnership and using specially trained people who understand the issues and complexities of a domestic abuse case we can offer survivors the extra support they need to help them through the court process. We hope the Specialist Domestic Violence Courts and the Independent Domestic Advisory Service will give survivors more confidence in the law and provide a service based on listening to them and what they want.
?We also recognise many people experiencing domestic abuse are reluctant to report offences to the police. These people still need help and this is why I am pleased to be backing the ?Reducing the Risk? campaign which will promote other ways of seeking that help and support from our partner agencies.?

The new helpline number is: 0800 731 0055