Thame.net

Author: Sonja Francis

  • Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool

    THIS is the latest film to be show by Thame Cinema 4 All, this coming Saturday, March 24, at The Players Theatre, Nelson Street, Thame.

     

     

    UK 2017, 103 minutes, 15 certificate – Directed by Paul McGuigan, starring Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Stephen Graham, Kenneth Cranham

    Synopsis

    Gloria Grahame was a great star of the 1940s and 50s Hollywood cinema, with iconic roles as the blonde-bombshell film noir femme-fatale. Her life off screen was sensational, not least her notorious love life. But what you might not know is that in the 1970s, towards the end of her career, she spent years appearing on stage in regional English theatres, grafting away long after her cinema career had come to an end. And during this time she met and fell in love with Peter Turner, a young actor trying to get his break, who finds himself sharing Gloria’s shabby boarding house in north London.

    During their time together, Gloria spends time with Peter’s family in Liverpool, and loves the warm familial embrace of the small, suburban brick terrace and the no-nonsense affection of Peter’s parents (Walters and Cranham) who manage to overcome their dismay at the fact that their son is dating a Hollywood legend.

    Some time after a painful breakup, Gloria comes back into Peter’s life. She is taken gravely ill and, in need of someone to care for her, Peter and his family take her in, tucking her up under the chenille bed spread with a hot water bottle and some down to earth kindness. This is a beautifully tender love story, with Bening turning in perhaps a career best performance as the vulnerable, tough, sexy and hard working Grahame, reluctant to submit to the mysogyny of the industry, and determined to maintain her craft, long after the movie business has tossed her on the scrap heap.

    A great, strange and true story, and one that deserves your attention. View trailer here.

    8pm start – doors open 7.30pm – licensed bar – tickets are available on the door or online- Click here

  • Oh What a Lovely War – Auditions

    THAME Players are holding auditions for their production of OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR,  AUDITIONS. April 16 and 18, at 7.45PM

    The play is ‘an end of pier seaside show about World War 1. Pierrot costumes for one and all, short scenes and songs. There are no named principal roles; no family story and no set either, just a few chairs, some sandbags, hats, laughs, tears, back projection and a live band on stage.

    “Ignore the film,” says Pat Shepherd, of Thame Players; “The play is different and so will be the auditions! Everyone is welcome.”

    Contact Steve Lambell on 07958 7 19397 or slambell59@gmail.com

  • Litterpickers undeterred by ‘The Beast from the East’

    IN spite of the freezing weather in Thame over the weekend, nearly 70 people turned out to clear litter from the town on Saturday, March 17, and dozens of Moreton residents for the parallel, Muck Out Moreton.

    Residents of Moreton in the parish of Thame, inspect the huge amount of rubbish they collected during Much Out Moreton 2018

    Organiser of Thame Tidy, Rosemary Bryant, said: “The phoenix trail and the approaches to the town were in a particularly bad way and the volunteers did a fantastic job of making it look ‘spick and span’. ASM were a great help driving around picking up the bags and the Thame and District Lions club did a fine job all day, handing out litter pickers, maps and bags to everyone who turned up.

    “A lot of the litter is what is blown around from bins but most of it was litter dumped by inconsiderate people who just don’t respect where they live.”

    SUSTRANS’ Greener Greenways group were out in force on the Phoenix Trail on Saturday, one of them skillfully scything the long grass in the snow! Watch the video HERE. A spokesperson for the group explained: “As well as litter picking we undertook a little meadow management, cutting the grass, raking up the arisings and sowing some wildflower seed.” The sustainable transport charity is planning on re-igniting the Phoenix Trail volunteer group to carry out regular litter picks and conservation work along the trail, so if you love your local route, watch out for opportunities to get involved.

    Volunteer, Helen Fisher, posted on social media: “Really great to see the Phoenix Trail in Thame looking so much better after great litter picking by the hardiest of volunteers on Saturday. This photo doesn’t capture horizontal snow – what doesn’t kill you makes your stronger! Good day, thank you.”

    A group from Cornerstones Church in Thame, were due to go out on the following day, Sunday, to contribute to the great tidy up in the town too.

    Rosemary Bryant summed up the spirit of all those who were involved with Thame Tidy Day, when she posted on the Thame Tidy 2018 facebook page: “When a community comes together for the good of everyone, you know you live somewhere special.”

  • Cautious optimism for Thame hospital’s future

    THE establishment of the pilot scheme for the Health Hub at Thame Hospital almost a year ago,  means that, for the first time in years, the League of Friends of Thame Community Hospital says that it is feeling ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the future of their hospital. Indeed, the league believes that ‘there is growing enthusiasm for the project in the wider Thame community’.

     

    Previous ‘fear of the place being closed altogether’

    In a statement today, Sarah Taylor, of Rycote Park, near Thame, Chair of the League explained: “The hospital had always been associated with beds, originally used for a mixture of respite and patients needing overnight monitoring. Over the years, the number of beds had dwindled to a level that was not financially viable and the small number of beds meant that, more often than not, they were occupied by patients from outside Thame: they couldn’t be kept free on the off chance that a Thame patient might need one. Although there was a lot of activity at the hospital, we lived in constant fear of the place being closed altogether.”

    ‘A new lease of life’ for Thame hospital

    “The growing consensus that frail elderly patients should be kept out of hospital,” continued Sarah, “and at home for as long as possible has in fact potentially given our hospital a new lease of life. What we want is a hospital that is there for the people of Thame and surrounding areas and is, in modern parlance, sustainable. That is, it should have a role that is genuinely useful and affordable for the long term.

    “The current pilot scheme offers the vision of just such a role, combining as it does: the excellent CATS (community ambulatory treatment service) which assesses vulnerable patients and provides solutions to keep them at home and prevent admission to A&E; the existing physiotherapy service; the Day Hospital providing rehabilitation and preventative treatments; an increased number of clinics provided by consultants and other healthcare professionals coming from Stoke Mandeville and the John Radcliffe Hospital; input from the voluntary sector such as Carers Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire; support from the neighbouring GP practices; more diagnostic services in the community; facilities for the Day Centre. The Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust that runs the Hospital is working closely with stakeholder groups to adapt to local needs and break down barriers between Hospital and the Community.”

    ‘The hospital needs more investment’

    Sarah continued: “Of course, these are early days and all is by no means perfect. We must work hard to ensure that all the GPs in the locality use the services to help make them viable and that patients are aware of what is on offer and push to be referred to the hospital rather than have to go further afield for assessment and treatment. The hospital needs investment in better IT and better equipment. Recruiting staff in an area where housing is so expensive remains a perennial problem. The GPs next door are bursting at the seams and need bigger premises. The transition between healthcare and social care is desperately short of the mark. Keeping people at home only works if there is support for them and their carers. We all must work towards finding solutions to these problems.”

    She concluded: “We have been given a commitment that, should the pilot fail, the beds will be restored and the hospital returned to what it was. However, we all know that that is not viable in the long run. Therefore, as a League, we are keen for the pilot to be successful and to be confirmed as the policy for the future.”

  • What do you know about the Beaconfest experience?

    IF you’re reading this right now, it means you’re curious. Then let us take you by the hand and lead you on a short journey through the festival, it will only take a minute.


    Imagine a sunset! You’re thinking the Bahamas, Mauritius maybe? Well what if we told you that, that most beautiful sunset is much closer than you think, in fact right under your nose, here in Oxfordshire, near the longest day?

    Believe us yet? Then allow us to set the scene……

    Music is playing from the main stage; you have a huge smile on your face because you’re really enjoying this band (you never heard them before!). You have discovered some new, up and coming bands this weekend but this is your favourite. Your child is sat on your shoulders blowing bubbles and the soap keeps dripping on your forehead but you don’t mind; it’s making you laugh. Your partner is by your side having a little jig. Then a friend walks over with a beer for you and Mojito from the cocktail bar for your partner. You’ll probably get an ice cream for the littl’en in a bit when they’ve finished dripping soap on your forehead. Your stomach is full from sampling some fantastic food at the stalls; there’s probably still room for a bit of cheese later though?

    Your thoughts wander for a moment and you laugh to yourself at the thought of trying to put that tent up yesterday (why can you never remember how it goes up?). Then, after relaxing in the camping chairs for a moment and congratulating yourselves for finally putting it up, you take the children to go and play in the ‘kids zone’, all laughter and giggles. Then you wander round the stalls and buy yourself a bowler hat, it suits you, (or so you think?). Your friends arrive, so you pull up a hay bale, sit and chat and listen to the many varied acts whilst washing it down with a local cider from the bar.

    And then, there’s that sunset that we were talking about! It’s beautiful from this vantage point, just setting over the main stage and you can see for miles; you didn’t realise how far. Then they light the Beacon! And that smiles back again!!!

    Still curious? Then why not follow us to one of the best family music festivals in the Chilterns? You won’t be disappointed, we promise!

    Beaconfest 2018

  • Thame’s swimming talent hampered by lack of facilities

    THAME Swimming Club has been so successful that it has reached the limit of what it can do to take its talented young swimmers further forward into the world of serious competition.

     

     

    The facilities at Thame Leisure Centre and particularly the time slots available these days as so many groups, Lord Williams’s School and individuals are using the pool, that there are insufficient hours in the day for the club’s most talented swimmers to get the training in needed for them to progress.

    It is these concerns that led Thame Swimming Club’s Chair, Phil Evans, to attend Tuesday’s meeting of Thame Town Council’s Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Committee.  He asked the town council to work with the club, and other stakeholders, to develop a ‘vision for aquatics’ when/if both the Neighbourhood Plan and the council’s Sports Strategy are revised.

    Phil told Councillors: “We are losing good swimmers out of the sport once lessons have finished because of a lack of local facilities.” As well as the pool only having five lanes and the limit of only two-hour sessions at a time, the Spectator area is limited for galas etc and access not good for wheelchair users, he added.

    Thame Swimming Club has gone from strength to strength since it began in 2009, with a membership now of 130, from a catchment area including Long Crendon, Haddenham, Chinnor and Wheatley, and a waiting list. It has competed successfully at both regional and national level, with children starting at aged 7 years, and has an annual turnover of £120,000. In order to get pool time and training in bigger pools, the club has to utilise other pools in the area but these two have limited time slots available.

    Phil concluded: “We are now at the point where coaching has achieved as much as it can. We can go no further. Swimmers will just leave; one has already gone to High Wycombe.”

    Whilst the town council made no promises to the Swimming Club, Cllr Anne Midwinter suggested that they go to South Oxfordsire District Council in the first instance because it has responsibility for the pool, and tell them what the club needs.

  • New Police Sgt for Thame, parking, latest crime figures & officer numbers down

    THE Thame and Wheatley Neighbourhood Policing Team has recently welcomed Sergeant Neil Anns. Neil is the newly appointed Sergeant for the team whilst Sgt Hoskins was on maternity leave.

     

     

    PSCO Graham Davey is now the PCSO for Chinnor and Watlington. Graham has come from the Henley Neighbourhood team to support the Thame and Wheatley team.

    Police Officers’ report in person to Thame towb Councillors

    On February 27, SGT Anns had presented an update to Thame Town Councillors, the main points of interest being the following:

    • South Oxfordshire and Vale of the White Horse area has lost 14 police officers and 10 staff due to ‘austerity’ cuts, and the number of local neighbourhood police officers overall have been reduced, though there were also a number of vacancies for PCSOs awaiting recruitment.
    • Currently there are two PCSOs and two PCs covering the Thame area (104 sq. miles) plus an additional PSCO based in Chinnor / Watlington.

    • The team’s current focus was primarily on rural crime – Rural crime was also up 56%, this was in part due to the way rural crime was recorded and reports received, and the work by the police with the rural community encouraging them to report crime.
    • The anti-social behaviour around Southern Road Recreation Ground and Elms Park had received a firm response from the police and a number of convictions had taken place. This had resulted in a drop off in the number of calls reporting ASB in these areas. The Neighbourhood team was making good use of civil remedies to reduce crime around the town.
    • PSCOs had carried out parking enforcement in the town on a Tuesday recently, and issued 29 tickets. Sgt Anns explained that the enforcement involved a large amount of police time as vehicles had to be seen in-situ for two hours before a ticket was issued. The Neighbourhood team would, he told councillors, look at what could be done in the longer term about parking enforement.
    • Crime figures for burglary to dwellings was down 10% and burglary to non-dwellings (i.e. sheds, garages) down by 28%. Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) crime was also down by 6%.
    • The not so good news was that violence against the person was up 46%, a rise thought to be largely associated with a large number of anti-social behaviour incidents which occurred in the spring and summer of last year. The incidents had been dealt with positively and a number of people had gone through the criminal justice system, it was reported.

    Sgt Anns concluded that the Neighbourhood team appreciated that there was a general need for the public to see a police presence, but with two PCSOs and two PCs, the team was ‘thin on the ground with plenty of work to do’.

    Witness appeal

    THAMES Valley Police are appealing for witnesses following the theft of a Land Rover Defender in Chinnor, between 5.40pm ON Monday (5/3) and 7.33am on Tuesday (6/3).

    Witness appeal, drug-dealing suspect charged, and more – latest Community newsletter

    Thieves stole a red Land Rover Defender, index N***XCT from a driveway in Mill Lane, Chinnor. If you have seen any suspicious looking people or vehicles in the area or have any information relating to this message, you are asked to call the Police via the 24 hour non-emergency telephone number 101, and quote ref 43180068365.

    Also included in this month’s Neighbourhood policing newsletter, is a report of a male who is believed to have been involved in supplying drugs in the Thame/Wheatley area being arrested in Oxford in February for possession with intent to supply Class A drugs. He has since been charged and remanded for court.

    The Thame neighbourhood team ran an operation in Thame on Monday, March 12. Three suspicious vehicles were stop checked. One vehicle had no tax, another contained a male in possession of cannabis and another vehicle was on false plates. Enquiries are under way with the vehicle on false plates.

    You can read the whole of the latest Neighbourhood Policing newsletter HERE – including dates for ‘Have your say’ meetings with officers in Thame

     

  • Laughter, fun and music-making invitation

    THIS coming Monday morning, March 19, sees the Forget Me Knot Café host another of their bi-weekly sessions. Visiting musician, Heddi, will be coming along with all her instruments, and there’ll be lots of singing and making music together; lots of laughter – and fun! This will be followed by games such as balloon volleyball, beach ball football, hand tennis or flat football.

     

    Check out the Forget Me Knot Café facebook page:  www.facebook.com/forgetmeknotcafe

    All welcome – kicks off at 10.30 am at Chinnor Village Centre

    For more info contact Michele on info@holisticmassageuk.co.uk or tel 07779732097

  • Lord Bill’s Fun Run is back for 2018

    THE Lord Williams’s School Fun Run is back for a second year – bigger and bolder than before! A 5k run with obstacles and colour…loads of fun and a great way to support the school!

    When? Saturday, April 28, 2018 – 1pm start. Where? Lord Williams’s Upper School.

     

  • Young guitar ‘genius’ back for Thame’s Music In The Park

    LOCAL guitar-playing prodigy, Billy Watman, 16, will be back to entertain the crowds at Music in the Park 2018. Billy will thrill the audience with a genre-defying, fresh, new approach, featuring a repertoire spanning Classical, Flamenco and Pop, through to Electronic Trance and Classic Rock – all on one guitar. He’ll get you singing along to classic songs by artists such as Queen, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Tommy Emmanuel and The Eagles.

    in case you’ve not heard him before, Billy Watman is an award-winning Anglo-Brazilian classical / flamenco / fingerstyle guitarist, inspired by the likes of Rodrigo y Gabriela, Tommy Emmanuel, Mike Oldfield and Paco De Lucia. In early 2016, at the age of just 14, Billy successfully auditioned for ‘Guitar Star’ – a guitar-based talent show open to all ages and genres on Sky Arts TV in the UK. He stunned audiences with some extraordinary performances and the judges, who included Jazz legend George Benson, Classical Virtuoso Miloš Karadaglić, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, and David Bowie’s long-time producer Tony Visconti. Tony described Bill as ‘a little boy genius’.

    You can find more about Billy at www.billywatman.com

    You can buy tickets for Music in the Park, which takes place on Sunday, May 6, now, online at: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/427258. Tickets cost: Family (two adults and three children) £25; Adult £10; Concessions £7 (Plus 10% booking fee).

    To keep up-to-date with news of next year’s Music in the Park event, visit the Facebook page