Category: More News

AS Conservative leader, David Cameron, recovers from a damaging row over scrapping support for new grammar schools, he has been threatened with another internal revolt – over housing policy.
Tory plans to build more housing in the South East have come in for criticism from Conservative councillors who have warned of a ‘grammar school-style’ row if a big extension in construction is backed.

Oxfordshire County Council and the South East England Regional Assembly leader, Keith Mitchell, said: “My message to the leadership is that if you push the numbers too far, you get to a situation where the roads and rail seize up, schools are overcrowded and hospitals can’t cope.”

Conservative member of the Commons Communities and Local Government committee, Sir Paul Beresford, also warned that: “The party’s way forward has to involve both encouraging more building in the North where the jobs are needed, as well as building in the South that does not encroach on greenfield sites or gardens.
“We need to stand firm on our plans to tighten up the rules to stop garden-grabbing, which is becoming a real issue. But mimicking Prescott’s approach would be wrong.”

According to the webside, ePolitix.com, the shadow housing minister, Michael Gove, has sought to play down the concerns and is quoted as saying:
“As David Cameron, Caroline Spelman and I have made clear, we need to build more homes to help first-time buyers on to the property ladder but unlike Labour we will work with communities, not against them, to provide organic growth that respects the environment and protects valuable green space.”

SUNDAY, June 24, was the anniversary of the death of the Civil War hero, John Hampden, known as ‘The English Patriot’, who met his end in The Greyhound Inn, Thame, over 300 years ago.
There is a John Hampden Society, formed by people with an interest in the man, which aims to
encourage wider knowledge of this great 17th century
Parliamentarian, his life and times.
On Saturday, June 23, the society held its annual dinner at The Spread Eagle Hotel, Thame, the day prior to the 364th anniversary of the Patriot’s death from wounds received at the Battle of Chalgrove.

The Society marks this anniversary each year by laying a wreath at the monument at Chalgrove and holding their annual dinner on the Saturday nearest to 24th June.
Anthea Coles, the Honoury Secretary of The John Hampden Society, told ThameNews.net: “The dinner this year was extremely well attended and amongst those present was Dr. Paul Hooper, the author of the Society’s most recent publication, ‘John Hampden in The Short Parliament’. Dr. Paul Hooper lives on the Isle of Wight and had travelled to Thame in order to give the after-dinner talk, which brought a fitting end to another enjoyable evening at The Spread Eagle”.

Dr Hooper’s book, along with others listed on the society’s website
, is available by contacting the Society direct.

RADIO Two DJ, Ken Bruce, who lives at Towersey, presented awards to the winners of John Hampden school’s Tiny Turner Art Competition at the Thame school’s Open Day last Friday, June 21.
This year is the school’s centenary and other celebrations have included an Edwardian tea party.

EVER wonder how life would be if we travelled in ways that benefited our health and our environment? We’d have safer roads, cleaner air and a better quality of life.
Sustrans, the UK’s leading sustainable transport charity has just launched its brand new ‘Change Your World’ campaign and is asking you to swap just one car trip during the week 1st – 7th July, and choose something that’s better for the planet and you instead.

And guess what? If we all give up one car journey that week we’ll reduce car traffic by 10%. Fancy giving it a go? Sign up now.

Visit Web link
to tell SUSTRANS you’ll swap and for the chance to win a bike worth

IMAGINE standing in the middle of a Chilterns wood, listening to the birds singing and watching badgers, all without walking out of your front doors.
You can now experience a ?virtual? Chilterns wood in an exciting new section that has been developed on the website for the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Visit a woodland through the seasons, or travel back in time to meet the people who lived and worked in the woods over the centuries.

Beautiful artist?s illustrations bring to life the woodlands from past history and reveal how local people relied on them to earn a living. Characters like William the pig herder and Jacob the sawyer are pictured hard at work. Via interactive ?hotspots? on the illustrations you can listen to audio clips of the characters talking about their daily lives and what the woods mean to them.

On the wildlife pages you can learn about all the plants and animals that live in the woods and what you can see in each season. There are audio clips of bird song and information on which woods are good to visit at different times of year.
There?s also a children?s competition with lots of woodland goody bags up for grabs.

Log on to LINK

and experience the wealth of wildlife and history in our local woods.
This new section was funded by the Forestry Commission.

OXFORDSHIRE’s County Council?s online catalogue of local and family history resources has just got better.
‘Heritage Search’ now includes a database of 5,000 oral history recordings made since the 1960s by county council staff, volunteers and BBC radio. They cover a vast range of topics, from piecework at Cowley to wartime rationing, from horse trams to cinemas.

A search for any person, place or topic will now bring up a list of relevant recordings in addition to the lists of images, related publications, documents and artefacts already available – enabling history sleuths to see what is available and where without having to make a special visit to Oxfordshire Studies in the Central Library, Oxford.

Malcolm Graham, Head of Oxfordshire Studies, said: ?This will be a huge boon for local and family historians and will very much enhance public access to material that provides history first-hand, recalled by the people who were there.

Visit LINK

AS usual, it is all change in the way that services are delivered to children. You may have heard of Sure Start, but what about Every Child Matters, Children?s Centres, Extended Schools? The new initiatives continue but you don?t have to be an expert in all things educational to become a fantastic Independent Parental Supporter.
Children don?t change; they still need to go to school and get the best education they can. Parents don?t change either; can you remember how you felt before parents? evening? Wondering what you would hear this time?

Sometimes parents need support in sorting things out for their child, especially if their child has Special Educational Needs.

As a Volunteer Independent Parental Supporter you can make a real difference; parents and schools will appreciate your supportive approach. You can help by going with a parent to a meeting, maybe taking notes or possibly by writing a letter or making a phone call.

Free training is given for this rewarding and varied role, all expenses paid. How much time you give depends on you but you will be left in no doubt about the value of the support you offer.

Interested? Contact Parent Partnership Service on 01865 810516 or e-mail: parentpartnership@oxfordshire.gov.uk

BORIS Johnson MP reccently asked a written question in the Commons of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on the future of the Green Belt in Oxfordshire.
Boris Johnson MP ? ?To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her policy is on building on the green belt in (a) England and (b) Oxfordshire?

Yvette Cooper MP (Minister of State, Housing and Planning, Department for Communities and Local Government) ? ?National planning policies on green belts are set out in Planning Policy Guidance note 2. Strict planning controls on green belt land are in place and there is a general presumption against inappropriate development within green belts. Decisions on individual planning applications for development in the green belt are a matter for the local planning authority. The designation and review of green belt boundaries in Oxfordshire, within the national policy framework set ut in Planning Policy Guidance note 2, is the responsibility of planning authorities, through the development plan process?.

Illustration: Courtesy of CartoonStock

A TEAM from John Hampden Primary School has won this year’s Thame Festival Schools Quiz, described as “great fun – and a lot noisier than the adults’ quiz” by one of the school staff.
The four members of the winning team (‘Wild Goslings’ of the future?) were: Jessica Leak, Lucy Storey, Lauren Price and Zo

THE South Pole may be thousands of miles away but the Atkins Schools Energy Education Project is launching a competition for the best Antarctic scene design to feature on the British Antarctic Survey website!
Foundation, Years 1 and 2 children across all Oxfordshire schools have the chance to design a scene of the Antarctic featuring the animals they would find there. They can use pens, pencils, paint, fabric, foil – anything they can think of to make their design stand out. The winning entry will be posted up on the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) website and the winner will also receive a BAS goody bag. Second and third places will also receive polar inspired prizes provided by Eynsham-based consultants Atkins.

Picture: Digitally manipulated photo by Alice Ramirez

The competition will run from June 11 ? july 4. Further information and entry forms for the designs can be found on www.schoolsenergy.com/kids.htm . Pupils can research animals at the South Pole at http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/About_Antarctica/Wildlife/index.html

The Atkins Schools Energy Education Project team visits 57 schools across Oxfordshire to spread the word about energy saving and its effects on the environment as part of a funded initiative by Oxfordshire County Council. Pupils as young as five learn how global warming can affect the habitats of polar animals and the idea of this competition is that it helps to remind them in a fun way.