TIES between Thame and our twin town of Montesson, in France, continue to be strong despite the difficult national conversation currently gripping the country over our future relationship with Europe.
A group representing Thame and District Twinning Association have just returned from an excellent weekend in France, to take part in Montesson’s Christmas market.
Thame twinner, Sue Mottram told Thame.Net: “The weather was cold but fine and we were as usual very well received by a good number of customers, some of whom are now becoming regulars! The first sale was to one such customer, eager to avoid the disappointment of missing one of the now anticipated, popular carrot cakes that one of our members makes every year!
“We are very grateful to all our members who supplied the cakes, biscuits and pickles which all sold for very good prices and contributed to the total net profit of £380, which is a few pounds more than last year. Other members supplied jam,tea and Christmas puddings.”
The few things left over from the market will go into the tombola on Thame’s Twinning stall at the Christmas light switch-on on Friday, November 30, in Thame, and others will be used in the ‘lucky dip’ on Saturday evening at the Associations Christmas party.
“If both of these activities go well,” said Sue, “our total profit from the Christmas market goods should be in the region of £500.”
The money raised by Thame Twinning Association, together with the funds raised from their recent quiz, go towards hosting a group of French friends from Montesson iin Thame, in May 2019.
Six Montesson friends will arrive early on Friday afternoon to set up outside Thame Town Hall, ready for the Christmas lights switch-on. They will be making crêpes – always a highlight of the Thame Christmas lights event – and selling a range of other French produce. Thame Twinning Association will have a stall next to the French with a tombola and a other gift and craft items. The event starts at 3.30 and ends at about 7pm. FULL PROGRAMME HERE
POLICE Officers working to locate Florence Waters, 33, who was reported missing from Thame on Monday (19/11), yesterday evening (22/11/18) found a body.
The late Florence Waters
Although formal identification has not yet taken place, it is believed that the body is that of Florence Waters. The body was found on land near Oxford Road, Thame. She was reported to have last been seen at her home in Osney, Oxford, at about 9am on Monday, November 19.
Her next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specially trained officers at this time.
The death is not believed to be suspicious and a file is to be prepared for the coroner.
Florence was a Freelance and contributed articles on the visual arts, film and books to the Daily Telegraph. Florence’s own artwork is advertised for sale on the Saatchi and Saatchi website.
CELEBRITY Chef Raymond Blanc led a delegation of over eighty local business leaders, gathered at his Black Horse Pub Brasserie in Thame, in order to show support for the now community-run Oxfordshire charity, the Red Kite Family Centre.
Red Kite Children’s Centre Leader, Amy Spicer
The Centre provides a wide range of activities, support and advice services to all parents with children up to four years old in the Thame and Chinnor area. It also helps young children and their parents prepare for their school years which follow. Well over 80% of parents in the area make regular use of the Centre and the trustees are determined to ensure that the £70,000 a year needed to fund its upkeep is secured for the coming years.
Image: Courtesy of Paul Wilkinson Photographt – Raymond Blanc cooking with a pupil from Haddenham St Mary’s school
Speaking during the event on Tuesday, November 20, Raymond Blanc offered his personal endorsement for the centre’s work and encouraged everyone present to show their support through practical and financial means. Mr Blanc said: “The family centre is heavily relied upon within the local area. Therefore it’s critical that the centre retains the help and assistance of all of us in this room and throughout our wider community.”
Amy Spicer, the family centre’s Leader, provided a number of striking examples of the real difference that the centre is making to the lives of many families with young children in the area, ranging from children with disabilities through to a new mother with postnatal depression. Amy ended by saying: “We want to be there for every family.”
Tony Stratton, Deputy Lieutenant of Oxfordshire also attended the event and gave his support before thanking Amy and her team for the invaluable work that they are doing.
John Hulett, the centre’s Chair of Trustees further added: “With support from local business and the wider community we can ensure that the centre continues to provide this vital lifeline to families in our area.”
As part of the evening, a new ‘Friends of the Red Kite Family Centre’ scheme was launched, with ‘a menu’ of sponsoring and support options, for providing support. The scheme is open to everyone and details can be found on the Red Kite Family Centre website. LINK HERE
The importance of early years ‘building blocks
John Hulett welcomed everyone to the Black Horse, and thanked particularly the Family Centre’s main sponsor of the evening, and the staff of the Black Horse. He told guests how he was inspired to help the Red Kite Family Centre, after retiring as Head of Barley Hill School in Thame, where he came to notice how good ‘building blocks’ during children’s early lives gave them a flying start. For those not fortunate enough to have those early advantages, there were issues they had to deal with. “So please,” he asked. “Do take the opportunity to help, because we know that the early years of a child’s life are so vital.”
Raymond Blanc, who had just flown in from Bankok on his way back from China, spoke of his own early life and joked about how he had taken on English characteriseltics like waiting in queues and that most English of things, being able to laugh at himself, after 46 years living in Great Milton. Now he was a publican, he proudly declared, and a hotelier, working ethically and responsibly, and importantly, training young people!
‘With success comes reponsibilities’
“I’m a business man,” he said, “..a papa; just a guy who has had the benefits of success. But with that comes a responsibility that people like us should all get involved and give back to the community. To be able to taken on the extraordinary role of helping kids who may not have had the best start in life is both a duty and privalege.
“So much has been taken away for support and development of these young people, so as I see it, it is the responsibility of us all to help. We must be active players in ensuring that Red Kite Family Centre is successful and able to get to those kids and help to give them the very best start in life.”
A supporter, Iain, added his praise and thanks to the Trustees and staff of the Centre who do so much to provide ‘a huge service’ that is no longer supported by Government, and ‘are adding enormously to the communtiy we all live in’.
Still here thanks to a great team!
Centre Leader, Amy Spicer, recalled how, two years ago, she took a call from Oxfordshire County Council telling her that she would have to tell all the staff and families that early intervention services were going! “Two years on, and we are still here!” she said to loud clapping and cheers. “Behind what we do is an amazing group of Trustees who have done so much to get funding fron here, there and everywhere to enable us to keep going and make such a difference to so many lives. This team works tirelessly,” she said, “And I can tell you that the team would do anything to help our families.”
TV drama mirrors life
Amy then mentioned the recent TV drama, The Cry, where we see a beautiful, high-flying young couple, who on the outside, have perfect lives. Then a baby comes into their lives. Mum, with no support with a crying baby, begins to crumble. “Red Kite is here too,” she explained, “for those people who look like they have it all but need help. We are also there for the more vulnerable in our community and work with partner agencies to make sure we reach all families.”
Amy spoke movingly of one mum who fled a violent relationship; she had four kids under six, had no carpet, no trumble drier etc. “We helped her find the agencies to help, we got her food parcels, some carpet and other things she needed,” recalled Amy. “one month after that, she had gained enough confidence to come in to the centre. Now, that same mum comes to the centre three times a week and has now started as a volunteer! That’s what we are about – making sure that those sorts of families have a chance.”
Over a thousand children helped in two year!
More than 1,600 children have registerd with the centre since it became a charity, and over the last year, 942 children have been seen – 74 of them have come from the most vulnerable part of Thame. As well as thinking of the needs of children, the centre supports young families; it has helped 35 unemployed parents, 30 lone parents and 300 fathers through the men’s Breakfast events.
Feedback reported by Amy
“Its made a massive difference to myself and my son who is autistic. The girls who work there are lovely and my son has settled. It’s nice not feeling judged or stared up; it makes me more confident.”
“I have made so many new friends since I started coming here.”
” The staff alway have beaming smiles on their faces!”
“I suffer fron anxiety and low self-esteem, but going to a group of others similar to me, I have been blown away by the level of professionislm and I’m learning new skills.”
The centre closing would be a ‘tragedy’
Tony Stratton, the Deputy Leiutenant of Oxfordshire, said of Amy: “What a little Star!” Those of us who can should support this organisation. It would be a tragedy for children and families and the town it couldn’t carry on.” He then called for a toast to Amy and the her team and John Hulett presented her with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
The Red Kite Family Centre is a former Oxfordshire County Council children’s centre. OCC ceased funding this and many other centres across the county in March 2017 as part of budget savings. Since April 2017 the Centre has been run by a community-based charity. Its Mission statement – To be there for every child – and it does all that on £70,000 per year. It’s three-year business plan ends in 2020 when it expects to run out of money which is why the Red Kite Centre is now reaching out to the business community for their support and working together.
THE Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust is issuing a claim in the High Court against the government regarding the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway.
The Trust has stated yesterday, November 21, that it is challenging the government because Highways England failed to commission a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) or a Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA) as part of the process of selecting a ‘Growth Corridor’ within which the Expressway and associated housing will be built.
“This is required under European law for schemes that impact on the environment such as this,” the Trust has said. “This means the true environmental impact has not been properly considered, and the public has been denied the opportunity to fully scrutinise the comparative economic, societal and environmental impacts of the options.”
The Trust believes that The Court will consider the case’s merits and anticipates that there will be a Judicial Review hearing in the New Year.
The corridor will be broadly aligned with the proposed East-West rail route from Abingdon to south Milton Keynes via Winslow. It is yet to be decided whether the route will pass west or east of Oxford.
Follow the LINK to read BBOWT’s full statement and related new stories HERE
IT’S exciting times for 19 year-old heptathlete, Alice Hopkins, from Thame, whose. Her talent was first noticed in her Barley Hill school, year six, sports day.
Alice Hopkins
Alice has since trained with Oxford City Athletics club and is currently first in the UK and sixth in Europe for under 23s long jump. She is now hoping to qualify for the under 23s European Championships in Sweden in July 2019, but to help her on her way, Alice needs the support of some sponsorship. Therefore, she would be very grateful if any local companies are able to help her to get there. You can contact Alice via aliceann5@hotmail.com
POSITIVE news on crime in the Thame area has been delivered by the town’s Local Neighbourhood Sergeant, Sergeant Neil Anns.
Reporting in person to Thame Town Council, Sgt Anns said that crime figures were down with a year-on-year reduction of 20% in violent crime and a 41% reduction in anti-social behaviour. During the summer months, he said, there had been a targeted effort by his team resulting in a number of offenders being arrested and charged. Some have received custodial sentences and others restraining orders preventing them from visiting the town.
Shoplifting offences down
The officer reported that burglary from dwellings was down, bucking the national trend and that vehicle crime figures remained stable. Also, much work had been done to reinvigorate Shop Watch and as a consequence, there was evidence that there had been a marked reduction in shop lifting in the town. He said that the the number of Officers in the Neighourhood Policing Team had increased, and that there was now two PCs and seven PCSOs. The increase in numbers allowed the police to have a more visible presence and to deal more effectively with criminality. (Ed. PCSO Ryan Dollery has left the Thame Neighbourhood team and begans his training for his new PC role with TVP on Monday, November 5)
Warning of ‘huge impact’ of police pension changes
Sgt Anns acknowledged an increase in Precept (the force’s share of the Community Charge money raised from households across the district) this year for police funding of £432m. On a less positive note however, he said that recent information suggested that the Government intends to change the way the counting and collecting of police pension funds takes place which, if agreed, will equate to a cut of £450m in police budgets. Considering 92% of police budgets goes on staffing this will have a huge impact, he said. (See LINK)
Working with youth
Sgt Anns said the police were working the Thame Youth Projects Group and supported their ambitions for an outreach worker and to have a permanent home at Southern Recreation Ground. The police had also provided funding for the group.
Cllr questions police’s ‘disproportionate’ response to Park Street collision
Cllr Mike Dyer asked Sgt Anns about the police response to an incident in Park Street, Thame, recently, when a pedestrian was in collision with a taxi. Cllr Dyer praised the quick actions of residents and the prompt response of the Emergency Services, but ask whether to appearance of ‘at least seven police cars was a little disproportionate!’ Sgt Anns replied that he would be very surprised if that number of police cars had been available that night, but that an investigation into the incident is on-going and that there was a suggestion of criminality associated with the incident, to which there is ‘more than meets the eye’. The pedestrian is fine, he confirmed when asked about the man’s medical condition.
A crime-free Thame fair
The Mayor of Thame, Cllr Ann Midwinter, congratulated the local policing team on a crime-free Thame fair this year.
Parking enforcement
Sgt Anns reported that in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire the local authorities are responsible for on-street parking enforcement, and that South Oxfordshire District Council is currently looking into taking over parking enforcement from the police in our district. The officer said that he would expect the change to happen within the next 18 months.
NB The local police have made it clear in the past that, because of a lack of resources and pressure to deal with more major criminality, illegal parking in the town has not been a priority for them. (See LINK)
Meet the local policing team to talk about any policing concerns you may have – The next sessions are being held at the Co-op Thame: 06/12/18 at 10am and at Waitrose Thame: 21/11/18 at 3pm & 14/12/18 at 11am
THAME Town Council wants community involvement in making its next annual budget, and is hosting a drop-in session at the Town Hall from 5:30pm until 8pm, on Tuesday, December 4, 2018.
The event will give an opportunity for any resident of Thame to discuss the draft budget in detail with the Town Clerk and members of the Budget Working Group. There is potential then for the Budget Working Group to refine the budget still further, in response to feedback from the community of Thame.
In 2019-20, if there is no further change to the current draft budget, the average whole household (i.e. Band D) will contribute just under £3 per week (through the precept portion of Council Tax) towards the funding of all the projects, functions and services that Thame Town Council provides for the community.
If anyone has any comments on whether £3 (or a different amount?) is a reasonable amount, or suggestions on where the council should spend more, or less, or the same, it wants to hear them.
You can read the whole statement on the town council’s website HERE
THAME Town Council has said that it will not support a planning application for an indoor sports and leisure complex, including squash courts and a gym, proposed at the site of a former carpet warehouse on the industrial estate in Wenman Road, Thame.
The Wenman Road site where a news sports & Leisure centre is proposed
Much of the evidence of need presented in support of new indoor facility like this ‘is anecdotal’, said councillors and that no details had been submitted regarding highways or transport matters. They were concerned that commercial vehicles would be maneuvering within the shared car park area with people of varied ages and mobility.
What IS needed
What Thame DOES need, said councillors, is a Climbing Wall, and other councillors said that they had been lobbied by enthusiasts for a Boxing Club in the town, boxing facilities being part of the proposal for this site. Cllr Paul Cowell said that he thought the town did need another gym because that at the Thame Leisure Centre was too expensive.
He raised the possibility that the area could be left with an empty building that might eventually come up for housing, and that some advice about what might be more acceptable should be given to the applicant. Councillors heard that there had been three or four other offers for the building, some to sub-divide the space, but that the building’s owner had not been keen. This application stated that an electrical installation company would use at least part of the office space on the site.
Thame jobs
Maintaining the ‘integrity’ of the Neighbourhood Plan is vital, suggested Cllr Bob Austin, in that the town must not lose employment sites, though an updated Employment Needs Analysis was needed. He added though; “There is a job for anyone who needs a job in Thame, apparently.”
Cllr Mike Deacock said that although ‘there are holes in the application’ it should not be discounted completely. Although the planning committee as a whole voted to recommend refusal of the application, last year’s Mayor of Thame, Tom Wyse, voted against the recommendation.
More Planning News
FOLLOWING representation from a residient, Thame Town Council will not support an application to enlarge a block of apartments which the developer has claimed is not vacant – despite the fact that none of the flats had been sold.
Speaking at Thame Town Council’s Planning & Environment committee, Mr Allan Ruxton and Mrs Patricia Ruxton said that if this new application, for the erection of a second floor extension to the existing two storey block of flats, comprising 2 x 2 bedroom and 2 x 1 bedroom flats at Milton House, Station Road, were to be approved, it would result in four balconies overlooking their property and neighbouring properties.
Neighbours not consulted
Mrs Ruxton had alerted nearby residents to the proposals as they had not been included in the consultation and said that they were ‘horrified’. Mrs Ruxton had written to the District Council to raise her concerns and offered a copy of her letter to the Town Council as it had not yet been published on the District Council’s website.
The planning committee concluded that the proposals, if approved, would be visually overbearing; there would be loss of privacy and daylight; there would be light pollution; the design was poor and not in keeping with the character of the area and the height would be greater than the current tree level. The comittee also concluded that parking provision was inadequate and would result in on-street parking in an area that was already busy and congested, and that the increased traffic would have an adverse impact on vehicle and pedestrian safety.
It was noted at the meeting that if the additional flats were built, the consequential increased number could be subject to the 40% affordable housing policy and CIL (Community Infrastructue Levy) contributions.
The full planning application can be seen HERE
New women’s wear shop for Thame?
THE women’s wear clothing brand, Mint Velvet, is applying for planning permission to make alterations to 5, Upper High Street, (formerly Green’s Furnishings). The plan has the support of Thame Town Council, provided there are no objections from the District Conservation Officer.
A planning application for a restaurant at the site had already been approved by South Oxfordshire District Council. See LINK
DID you know that 1 in 3 people rescued from house fires in Oxfordshire are rescued from cooking fires? Or that distraction is the main cause of cooking fires?
It’s easy to get distracted – the phone rings, someone’s at the door or a TV show catches your attention. Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service are currently running an awareness campaign about the dangers of cooking fires and have issued the following advice:
If you need to leave your cooking, even for a couple of minutes:
* Turn down the heat
* Set the timer
* or ask someone to watch it for you
Or could find that Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service firefighters join you for dinner!
EX Mayor of Thame, Cllr Don Butler, joined the town’s friends from the Thame’s twin town in France,in the pouring rain, to lay a wreath during Montesson’s Armistice Remembrance service.
Don Butler lays a wreath at the base of the War Memorial in Montesson, France
Recalling his visit, Don said: “The Mayor of Montesson, Jean Francois Bel, contacted our twinning association and asked if we would like to represent Thame at their Armistice Remembrance service and ceremony on November 11. Also invited was Dr Willi Linkens, the Mayor of Montesson’s German twin town, Baesweiller, so, all three countries were represented on this very special occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the end of World War I.
“It was a privilege to lay a poppy wreath on behalf of the Thame Twinning Association, in remembrance of our own fallen, and also those of France and Germany, who never made it back home. It was a very poignant occasion and a great honour to be there, united in our thanks to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for us all.”
Back in Thame, members of Thame and District Twinning Association laid wreaths on behalf of both its organisation and Montesson Twinning Committee, during Thame’s commemorations on November 11.
