Category: More News

THAME has become one of the first towns in England to permanently fly the Union flag from a public building, following the recent lifting of restrictions on flag flying, “to boost national identity.”
The idea to fly flags from the town hall came from Cllr Mike Dyer, who brought the suggestion to a recent meeting of the town council’s Policy and Resources committee.

The restrictions to fly flags on only 18 named days in the year, had been in force since 1924.

From today, both the Union ‘Jack’ and the European Union flag will be flown every day and other flags, such as the St George flag and the French flag, flown on other relevant days.

THE Lib Dems election candidate, Stephen Kearney’s campaign for Henley has signed up to Good Energy, a supplier of 100% renewable energy, for their headquarters in Thame.
The new headquarters in Bertie Road, Thame, was officially opened at the weekend by the President of the Liberal Democrats, Simon Hughes MP. Mr Hughes was joined by a large team of activists in supporting Stephen Kearney’s campaign for Henley.

Simon Hughes MP said: “The Conservatives will under-estimate the Liberal Democrat challenge at their peril. We have a fantastic team here led by Miranda Roberts who have been campaigning for many weeks already. Stephen Kearney will make a fantastic MP for the local area, he will be a strong voice for local people and will really listen to local communities.
“The Liberal Democrats are the clear challengers to the Conservatives in this election. Just two years ago the Liberal Democrats achieved a 14% swing from the Conservatives. If we do the same here in Henley we will take the seat.
“I would urge all Liberal Democrat members to make a visit to our fantastic headquarters. Already the Liberal Democrat by-election machine is in full swing, Nick Clegg has sent out a survey to local residents and thousands of replies have been flooding back to the HQ. There are lots of local leaflets and surveys being distributed already and many more are being produced.”
The Liberal Democrats are taking a series of environmentally friendly measures as part of their campaign in order to highlight the simple steps people can take to reduce their impact on the environment.

Liberal Democrat Campaigner, Stephen Kearney said:
“There are so many little things that we all can do to help safequard the future of the planet by signing up to Good Energy we are trying to do our bit.”

For further details of the Liberal Democrats’ environmentally friendly actions visit Web Link

THE OXFORDSHIRE Green Party has re-selected Mark Stevenson as their candidate for the Henley Constituency by-election expected within the next couple of months.
When Boris Johnson resigns as MP for Henley, Mark Stevenson will be the Green candidate in the subsequent by-election. The local Green Party were impressed by his track record both in elections and as a parish councillor.

Sid Phelps, Chairman of Oxfordshire Green Party, said ” With Mark you see Green politics in action. His projects have helped invigorate the local economy, have improved recycling and environmental awareness in his parish, have encouraged local food production and he has championed a local vision on planning issues. We believe he would make a great MP for South Oxfordshire.”

Many Dorchester and Berinsfield residents would seem to agree with Mr Phelps. In last years District Council elections for the Berinsfield ward Mark came second to the Conservatives, well ahead of the Liberal Democrat and Labour candidates.

In the 2005 General Election Mark was the only candidate other than Boris Johnson to improve his Party’s share of the vote. His work on planning and environmental issues has earned the respect of his colleagues on Dorchester Parish Council.

Mark also instigated the Dorchester Carbon Project, run by a group of residents to reduce the community’s carbon footprint, and led the team that set up the successful new weekly Local Producers’ Market in Wallingford.

He said “I am greatly honoured to be selected to stand for the seat again. Most people know that lack of vision and understanding has inhibited other political parties from properly integrating our modern environmental understanding into all areas of policy, they fail to see that it is not just an environmental issue but social and economic too. By contrast our positive vision for a twenty first century politics based on thriving local communities makes the election of Green MPs increasingly likely. I already work to bring about that vision here in South Oxfordshire, now I want to take that vision to Westminster.”

Mark Stevenson,49, lives with his family in Dorchester on Thames and together they run an organic market garden. A former teacher, he was Head of Maths at an inner city school and has a research degree in philosophy from Oxford University. He joined the Green Party in1997 and first stood for parliament in 2001 in Witney against an unknown David Cameron.

FRUSTRATION turned to joy this week as live images of a red kite nest with three chicks were finally beamed to a local garden centre.
Red Kite Nest Watch, organised for the last five years by the Chilterns Conservation Board, uses CCTV technology to bring the public ?up close and personal? with a pair of red kites as they rear their chicks, but this year?s project nearly didn?t happen because last years? unsuccessful nest was abandoned.

Just in the nick of time a new nest was located and the cameras moved. Live pictures of the nest are now being beamed into the coffee shop at the Studley Green Garden Store on the A40 near Stokenchurch.

?We?re extremely relieved? says Cathy Rose, who manages the project. ?After the parents didn?t return to last year?s nest and we couldn?t find where they?d moved to, we?d almost resigned ourselves to Nest Watch not happening this year. When members of the Southern England Kite Group discovered a new nest with three baby chicks, we were absolutely delighted and got straight to work relocating the camera!?

You can view the live Nest Watch images at the Studley Green Garden Store until late July. You can also watch video clips on the website: www.redkites.net

The Chilterns Conservation Board is looking for volunteers to help staff the Nest Watch stand at the garden centre over the next 8 weeks. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Cathy Rose on 01844 355 506 or Helen Olive on 07795 428 806.

Photo: By A Freeman

THE schedule for this autumn’S Haddenham Horticultural Society show will not be available for a few weeks but, if you want to get started with taking photographs over the Bank Holiday weekend, the subjects for the photography classes have now been announced.
They are: A Castle or Folly, A Sporting Event, Shadows, and Wild Flowers.

The subject for the junior classes is An Animal or Animals.

AFTER being without a permanent vicar for several months, it has been announced that a new vicar has been appointed for St Mary’s, Thame and the team of churches.
Out of 16 candidates, including two women, Rev Alan Garratt, a former Banker, from Hertfordshire, has been appointed by the Parochial Church Council.

Rev Garratt is married to Tricia and has two teen-age children. He will commence work in Thame in about two months time.

THAME and District Round Table is once again staging a charity duck race to raise funds for local charities.
This year’s race will take place on Saturday, June 7, at 11 o’clock.
Ducks will be on sale in local schools in the run up to the race, and all funds raised will go to the Thame Football Partnership for their new stadium and facilities, and the new Headquarters building in Southern Road for Thame’s Guides and Brownies.

THAME and District Twinning Association is holding its AGM tomorrow, Thursday, May 22, at Thame town hall at 7.30pm.
Everyone is invited to go along, be greeted with a glass of wine and take the opportunity to find out more about our twinning partners – Montesson, near Paris.

For more information please contact Jeannette Matelot Green at jm@telot.wanadoo.co.uk

Photo: Thame ‘twinners’ David and Norma Laver with friends from Montesson, Bernard and Miriam.

A PROLIFIC charity fundraiser from Oxfordshire’s Fire and Rescue Service is turning to pedal power once more in his latest bid to raise cash for a life-saving cause.
After cycling the length of Britain and raising more than

A THAME Town Councillor, who was elected for the first time just a year ago, is Thame’s new Deputy Mayor.
Cllr Jeanette Matelot Green succeeds Cllr Nigel Champken-Woods.
Cllr Owen Davies congratulated Cllr Green on her appointment and said how appropriate it was for the town, which is twinned with Montesson, in France, to have a French speaking Deputy Mayor.
Deputy Mayor Green responded appropriately, saying: “Merci beaucoup!”