Category: More News

OXFORDSHIRE County Council has joined forces with trading standards services across the South East of England to call on the food industry to give consumers the true picture on food labels.

A survey has revealed that consumers are cynical about the accuracy of pictures on food labels. They may not bother to complain about potentially misleading foods and this can make it difficult for trading standards services to challenge the food companies.

Nineteen authorities took 223 samples with experts judging that just over 10% of the pictures on the labels, when compared to the product inside, could have been misleading. The worst offenders were desserts, breakfast cereals and meat pies/stews.

Six of the worst offenders were then presented to ordinary consumers. One product picture was found to be misleading by 95% of the consumers surveyed with the other five being judged to be misleading by between 77% to 37% of the consumers.

However only 13% of the consumers who found the pictures misleading would complain to Trading Standards. Reasons varied from feeling that we have more important things to do to saying that the whole industry had to change its ways.

Trading Standards services would like to assure consumers that their complaints about food labels they feel to be misleading are taken seriously.

Although action may not be taken on every occasion, by complaining consumers are helping build a bigger picture so that we can challenge the food companies more effectively on these issues.

Head of Trading Standards Nigel Strick said, ?Pictures on food labels are important as food companies use them as a marketing tool. Consumers are entitled to expect them to be truthful. Whilst some leeway may be given for marketing it is a sad reflection that many consumers simply do not feel able to rely on the expectation created by the food industry on its packaging.?

THE Bernwode Amnesty Group is holding a BIG BOOK SALE in aid of Amnesty International.
The sale will be held on Saturday, February 17,
from 11am to 4pm in Brill Memorial Hall. The group’s spokesperson, Jane Bugg, said: “We have gathered together lots of secondhand books, from coffee table volumes to holiday reading, from specialist technical books to universal reading, classic and modern literature, fiction in hardback and paperback and much more. There will be a big section of children’s books, CDs, videos and DVDs.
“There will be storytelling for children in the afternoon, and with opportunities to browse and buy, together with home made refreshments and wine to drink, we hope it will be worthwhile visiting this attractive hill top village, worthwhile for the visitor and for Amnesty International!”

Any leftover books will be available for sale on Sunday, February 18, from 11am to 3pm in Temple Street, Brill.

EVERYDAY, the newspapers raise the issue of our environment and how we are destroying our planet with global warming, landfill sites and car emissions. We are encouraged to cut down on our exhaust by walking or cycling to work, catching public transport, and recycling whenever possible. But how can we be expected to recycle when the proper services are not fully provided?

In 1992, the average household produced 450 kilograms of waste per person, with only 10 kilograms of the waste being recycled. In 2004 the average weight of household waste was 500 kilograms per person, and 1/5th of this waste was recycled.

With recycling on the increase, the time has come for better recycling facilities in our local area.

We are a group of local students with the intention of influencing the local council to provide larger recycling bins. We feel this will promote recycling and allow people more space, as the small recycling bins provided are impractical and once filled, it is easy to fall foul of temptation and just bin the waste as usual.

If the council are willing to provide large brown bins for garden waste, even when unnecessary in the winter months, then why are there not better facilities for recycling?

If you have an opinion you would wish to voice, please e-mail us at: recyclinginthame@hotmail.co.uk

SCHOOL children from Barley Hill school in Thame, will meet Darth Vader tomorrow, where the Dark Lord of the Siths will be making a rare appearance at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford.
Better known for his military than his musical prowess, the Cyborg Human with psionic powers will hear the Star Wars Suite played by Oxfordshire County Council’s Central Music School Sinfonia.

Alongside Darth will be some 1500 children from 29 primary schools across the county, attending two rousing concerts the organisers hope will encourage them to learn an instrument.
Also on the programme will be John Williams’ Superman March, a trumpet fanfare and Night on the Bare Mountain by Mussorgsky,

The twice-yearly concerts, which introduce children to the woodwind, brass and other families of instruments, have been taking place for more than seven years and the children will, as usual sing a song accompanied by the full orchestra.

Oxfordshire county councillor Don Seale, Cabinet Member for Cultural Services, said: “The Sheldonian is a fantastic building, and with such powerful music being played in it the concerts should prove very exciting for both performers and audiences.
“For many of the children it will be the first time they have been to a concert. I hope the drama of the music and the excitement of the experience will inspire some of them to become young musicians and encourage those who already are to continue.”

GUIDEPOSTS Trust is a national charity that provides services for people with disabilities. The Trust has been made aware of a young man with a learning disability in the Tetsworth area who would welcome the chance to go out and socialize more.
To do this he needs to be accompanied by a volunteer for friendship and safety reasons.
He enjoys football, computer games and pool.

If you think you could give Guideposts Trust a couple of hours a month to socialize with this young man, please contact Nicola Oddy, Friendship Scheme Co-ordinator on 07894 256251, or email: noddy@guidepoststrust.org.uk

www.guidepoststrust.org.uk

WASTE managers at Oxfordshire County Council have added their voices to the current national calls for the amount of packaging on food and other consumer products to be cut.
Large amounts of cardboard, clingfilm and other plastics come with most goods that are bought in the shops. Environment Minister, Ben Bradshaw has invited people to take their own action and report examples of over-packaging to their local councils.

Andrew Pau, Head of Waste Management at Oxfordshire County Council, said: “I am glad to see that this debate is now taking off at a national level and in the corridors of power.
“People in Oxfordshire are great at recycling and getting better all of the time. We are among the best in the country. However the simple fact is that if there was less packaging on consumer goods the issue of what to do with waste would be less acute.
“This is all about tackling a problem at root. At the moment we create problems for ourselves as a society by allowing this kind of extravagant packaging to carry on as the norm.”

Councillor Roger Belson, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “Oxfordshire people are ahead in their thinking about these kinds of issues. The debate about packaging has been going on for some time in the county. It is pure common sense. Less packaging means less wasted resources and less waste to dispose of. There is no counter argument. It is about time we started to see some national direction on this issue with organisations compelled to do something about it.”

If you want to report a case of a ridiculously over packaged item, contact Trading Standards on (0845) 0510845.

WANT to know the 10 most expensive streets in Thame, the 10 cheapest and the 10 most transient?
Find House Price information about Thame by visiting OurProperty.co.uk

HELP would be welcomed by Sustrans volunteers who will be planting 80, Myrobalan Plum seedlings on the Phoenix Trail to create hedging.
Meet at Moreton Lane Trail entrance on Sunday, February 4, at 10am and bring tools and lunch.
For further information contact Ann Furtado 01865 205230, email: ann.furtado@sustrans.org.uk.

OXFORDSHIRE County Council us aiming to lead the way in the fight against climate change as part of its budget proposals for 2007/08.
The council’s cabinet has recommended a 4% council tax rise for the new financial year. The council had originally been planning a 4.25% rise. A meeting of the council will make a final decision on 13 February.

As part of the budget there will be a total of

Lord Williams’s Lower School is this year celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Year Nine exchange with the Marcel Gambier School in Lisieux in France.
Today, 24 French pupils visiting until January 26, and their teachers, were welcomed by the Mayor of Thame, Nigel Champken-Woods, and two of them got to try on the Mayoral chains.
Cllr Champken-Woods explained the responsibilities of the town council, its committee structure and spoke of the differences between English mayors and French mayors, the latter having a typical annual budget of 15 million Euros, compared with his own council’s of half a million pounds.

The visitors were particularly facinated with the story behind the town’s emblem on the Mayor’s chain, based on the design on an ancient ring, found as part of the so-called ‘Thame Hoard’. This collection of coins and rings is thought to have been the proceedings from a robbery centuries ago and then thrown hurriedly in the River Thame where it was discovered in the twentieth century.
See Link
for more information about the Thame Hoard.

During their stay with Thame host families, the
French pupils have visited London museums, the Roman Baths in Bath and other famous landmarks.