Category: More News

LOCAL resident, Helen Johns, set herself a challenge a few weeks ago – to cycle 100 miles on her indoor exercise bike during May and raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Society as part of their Cycle for Dementia Challenge. The 100-mile target was far more than she normally cycled.

Well, she did it! It was 111 miles to be precise, but having achieved this much, she thought she couldn’t leave it there – so she decided to repeat the challenge in June, cycling another 100 miles to raise funds for dementia. By June 30, Helen had cycled a grand total of 213 miles! 

The Cycle for Dementia campaign is helping the Alzheimer’s Society fund the cost of care for dementia sufferers and fund research for a disease that affects 850,000 in the UK and for which there is currently no cure. It is estimated that 1.6 million people in the UK will suffer from this cruel disease by 2040. 

Helen has been spurred on by the fantastic donations made by friends, family, and business contacts. An amazing £1,525 has been donated to date! Helen commented: “This is an amazing figure, but if you haven’t made a donation yet, I hope you will support my Cycle for Dementia Challenge and help raise funds for the vital work the Alzheimer’s Society is doing to help dementia sufferers. It’s easy to make a donation by visiting my Just Giving page, and you can continue doing it until July 31. Every donation helps the Alzheimer’s Society continue their important work!’”

Offline donations can be made by sending a cheque payable to the Alzheimer’s Society c/o 11 Swan Gardens, Tetsworth, Thame OX9 7BN. 

For more information www.alzheimers.org.uk on 0330 333 0804,  at challenge@alzheimers.org.uk, on facebook.com/alzheimerssocietyuk or on twitter.com/alzheimerssoc.

THAME and District Day Centre, which has been a well loved and respected part of the Community for the past 34 years, has undergone a rebrand and is now known as Thame Senior Friendship Centre.

In a statement, the Trustees said: “Thame and District Day Centre has experienced many changes during those 34 years. The most significant change before the current pandemic was the move to the new Cricket Pavilion from Thame Community Hospital. The hospital needed more clinical space and having a larger space for the Charity would provide an opportunity to support a larger number of members.

“Over the last year after a significant amount of discussion at the Trustees meeting and AGM, it was an opportune moment to look at the name and branding of the centre. When the Day Centre started it was part of Age Concern and since then there have been significant changes in health care in conjunction with the needs and expectations of the elderly community of Thame. Now the centre is an independent Charity it is important to continue to reflect our members’ needs to ensure they continue to live independently. The new name of ‘Thame Senior Friendship Centre’ will help us do this.

“Unfortunately, as many of you know ,we closed on March  17, due to Covid-19 and unfortunately, we have no date for reopening due to current restrictions. We know that when we do re-open the way in which we operate will change significantly. However, whilst we have been closed, we are in contact with all our members to make sure they are fit and well. The staff, volunteers and trustees have continued to work during the closure to support those isolated within the community and this has also afforded us the time to rebrand, print new leaflets and create a new website which will allow forms to be completed online.

“Via our website you will see links to join the South Oxfordshire Lottery, donate via Givey and via purchases from Amazon smile. 

“The aims, and values of the centre are the same as the day it started in 1986. A friendly space in which to socialise is the key to helping tackle one of the biggest challenges as we grow older – loneliness. Thame Senior Friendship Centre provides a welcome to everyone on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and we can arrange transport through volunteers and much more. On arrival, members get a cup of tea or coffee and a chance to catch up with and interact with other members. Some of the members like to chat and do puzzles, jigsaws or some like to play games like indoor curling. At lunchtime members are offered a glass of sherry and a 2 course lunch followed by afternoon entertainment.

“Providing this key service to our older community cannot exist without the support of the rest of the community in the form of grants, donations, volunteer helpers and drivers and we hope that this will continue for many years to come.”

FOLLOWING the wave of demonstrations that began in the USA after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and then spread to almost all corners of the globe, the anti-racism movement has been revived and re-energised here in the UK.

The call from all those linked to, or supporters of, the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign is for an end to systemic racism. Full stop. 

In the past few months, most of us were leaving our houses on Thursday evenings to clap for front line workers and especially for those on the front line of the NHS. We have become acutely aware, if we hadn’t been before, that 44% of the NHS workforce is from BAME communities – without them the NHS simply could not survive.

We have also seen the images and statistics on the TV that make it abundantly clear that those NHS employees of BAME heritage have been dying in disproportionately high numbers.

It is no longer possible for anyone who has seen all this unfolding during the pandemic to deny that immigrants have enriched our society by forming the backbone of the NHS, a national jewel of which we are all, almost universally, so proud.

If anyone doubts that systemic racism still exists in the UK, they only need to watch the BBC dramatisation of one of the Windrush generation, Anthony Bryan and his nightmare experiences at the hands of the Home Office (‘Sitting in Limbo’ – BBC 1 – Monday June 8, at 20.30 – still available on iplayer). Despite Theresa May delivering an apology to the victims of her ‘Hostile Environment’ in 2018 (with promises of compensation) and 12,000 people having finally been given documents proving their right to live in the UK, only 60 claims for compensation had been settled by May 2020.

Anyone interested in joining the anti-racist movement in this area can check the Facebook page of  ‘Thame Against Racism‘ (TAR).

TAR is holding a “Fourth of July Mass Micro Protest” this Saturday July 4. Groups of six, socially-distanced protesters will take the knee all over Thame, simultaneously at 11.00. Meet near the Citizens Advice centre from 10.30, to be dispatched in your groups. ALL WELCOME!

A brand-new initiative in the form of a competition has been launched to help make lives and landscapes greener, healthier, more beautiful and wilder.

A prize to Transform the Future (www.prizetotransformthefuture.org) is calling for optimists to help visualise a hopeful and possible future for the London City Region, which includes the Chilterns.

The Coronavirus pandemic is changing the way our country looks and feels. Our communities and neighbourhoods look different now, resurgent community spirit offers hope for a different way forward.  Symbols of shared support for our NHS have presented in rainbows in windows, more people are accessing their local green spaces and ideas are bubbling across the country to use this crisis as an opportunity to make life better. 

That’s why the Chilterns Conservation Board has come together with National Parks, other Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), the London National Park City, Culture Declares Emergency and Ordnance Survey to launch the Prize to Transform the Future. 

The Prize is a bold and exciting opportunity for optimists to help visualise a hopeful and possible future for the London City Region by sharing ideas to make our lives and landscapes greener, healthier, more beautiful and wilder.

What might the London City Region look like 20 years from now? Now imagine what it could and should look like. What if it was radically greener, healthier, wilder and more beautiful? What would it look like? What would it be like?

The Prize to Transform the Future is a call to artists, architects, cartographers, imagineers, optimists, realists, landscape architects, master planners, conservationists, graphic designers, farmers, film-makers, ecologists, illustrators, geographers, students, politicians, professionals, writers, modellers, pensioners, weavers, idealists and bankers. In fact, it’s for anyone and everyone.

Dan Raven-Ellison, founder of the London National Park City, said “I hope lots of people will be inspired to rise to this challenge. This may not be a financial prize, but the potential reward is something much greater, deeper and longer lasting than that. We are currently facing a number of urgent wake-up calls. Our health, our ecology and our climate are all entwined in states of emergency that threaten our lives and livelihoods. We need bold and positive visions that we can get behind to restore our futures and make life better for ourselves and future generations.”

Dr Elaine King, Chief Executive Officer at the Chilterns Conservation Board said: “We’re living through unprecedented times and the need for access to greener and wilder spaces for our health and well-being has never been greater.  The Prize couldn’t have come at a more pivotal moment and we hope that people will be encouraged to think about how a greener, healthier London City region might look.” 

Discover more about the Prize to Transform the Future, including how to enter by visiting www.prizetotransformthefuture.org  and join the conversation at #PrizeToTransformTheFuture

SOUTH Oxfordshire District Councillor, Jo Robb, has been appointed to the new post of Thames Champion after Green Councillors pushed for the creation of the role. 

The Thames Champion will network with river users, councillors and neighbouring councils to improve access to, and protect and enhance the biodiversity and water quality of the river.

A first challenge will be to stop Thames Water releasing raw sewage into the river and, in the meantime, to ensure that river users and communities have access to real-time information about when this happens. 

“All rivers should have bathing quality water – waters fit for swimming.,” said Jo, who is herself a very keen wild swimmer, and a member of the Henley Mermaids. Jo was the Green Party candidate in the May 2019, General Election.

THE latest report showing how the district council’s CCTV cameras have contributed towards deterring crime, reducing the fear of crime, increasing crime detection and protecting vulnerable people in the district, has recently been published.

The total number of CCTV supported incidents for Thame for the six month period October 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020, stood at 277 – up by 93, compared to the previous 6-month period. This latest report includes outcomes of 13 arrests and two Section 34 orders (allows the police to move someone from a specified area for a period of up to 48 hours if they believe the person poses a risk of anti-social related disorder). There are also seven ‘other’ incidents counted (‘other’ usually means that the police either gave verbal advice or a non-recordable sanction).  

Of the most commonly monitored types of incidents in Thame, 18 were for Missing Persons, 17 for Fear of Welfare and 13 for Fighting or Affray.

Examples of Thame incidents involving CCTV

A CCTV operator heard of an altercation taking place in the High Street and was able to monitor the situation while police were on route. The operator continued to monitor as the situation deteriorated. Altogether, two men were detained for resisting arrest and one for assaulting a police officer. The operator subsequently produced an evidence pack to assist the police in following up this incident. 

The police control centre requested the operator to look out for a man who had shoplifted from a local supermarket and attempted to steal a bike. From the description given, the operator was able to locate the man and guided officers as they arrived at the location. The man was subsequently arrested. 

A call had come into the police control centre – staff in a local supermarket had concerns for a man who seemed confused and finding it difficult to cope with his shopping. Having heard the description given on air, the operator was able to alert officers attending to the exact location of the person they thought was the man in question. Having established that this was indeed the man, officers were able to spend some time with him. Satisfied that he was all in order, they were able to help him on his way. 

How many cameras?

The report covers the four towns that have had CCTV installed; Thame (15 cameras) Didcot (nine cameras), Henley-on-Thames (20 cameras) and Wallingford (13 cameras). Reports are provided on a half yearly basis to each town council and other stakeholders.

The CCTV operators, based in Abingdon, supported in total 930 incidents during the period, across the district, 54 evidence packs for possible court proceedings and carried out 40 reviews of CCTV footage (a review is undertaken as a result of a written request) as well as supporting 58 arrests.   

To read the full report, which includes comparisons with the other three South Oxfordshire towns, Henley, Didcot and Wallingford, visit http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/services-and-advice/community-advice-and-support/community-safety/cctv 
and click on the download on the right hand side.

THE campaign group, A Better South Oxfordshire is calling upon South Oxfordshire District Council to boycott the inspection process of its local plan which is due to begin on-line in July.

The appointed inspector, Jonathan Bore, is the same inspector who recently approved the Oxford City Council local plan despite controversy over the accuracy of Oxford City’s projected housing need. A Better South Oxfordshire is also asking Oxford City Council to delay any decisions they may make about the adoption of their local plan, pointing out that any legal action appealing against the decision could be costly to the council should they vote to adopt it.

A Better South Oxfordshire, in a statement, said that they are concerned about the integrity of SODC’s upcoming inspection on several grounds: –

• Arrangements for the inspection to be held on-line in a virtual meeting are not public consultation.
• The virtual inspection procedure should be postponed until such a time that a full public session can be held.
• Inspector Jonathan Bore undertook the recent inspection into Oxford City’s local plan. Some of his conclusions in relation to Oxford City’s supposed housing need were baffling and inconsistent with some of the evidence presented.
• Inspector Bore’s interpretation of Oxford City’s housing need will have considerable influence upon evidence submitted about South Oxfordshire. Mr. Bore will then have pre-judged this issue.
• The neutrality and objectivity of the inspection process has been undermined by the past actions and pronouncements of the secretary of state Robert Jenrick. His written communications with South Oxfordshire District Council demonstrate he has already made up his mind about the outcome he wishes to achieve.
• Actions undertaken by the secretary of state, specifically the unlawful decision he made to grant planning permission to a property developer in Tower Hamlets, the granting of recent contracts without open tender to the company Faculty and his breaking of Covid 19 lockdown government rules undermine his trustworthiness and show a lack of judgement.
• The local plan inspection process is not fit for purpose and is essentially an exercise to pretend that local communities have an input into decisions that have already be taken by the executive.
  
  Finally, stated A Better South Oxfordshire,:”The procedure is a sham.”