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  • Commonwealth Games Medal For Local Swimmer

    Ex-Lord Williams’s student, Simon Burnett, was just pipped at the post in the 200m Freestyle swimming event at Melbourne this morning.
    Simon was beaten into silver medal position by only 9/100ths of a second, by his team mate, Ross Davenport.
    The 21-year-old from Derby was in fourth place at halfway but moved up into second at the final turn. He then stormed down the final 50m to claim the gold in a time of 1:47.29 secs.

  • Computers For Developing Countries

    THAME computer support company, SoundByte Response, have joined forces with a London-based charity to send obsolete computer equipment to schools and charity projects in the Developing world.

    Soundbyte have agreed to act as a collection point for all suitable hardware and will bear the cost of getting the machines to London where volunteers prepare them for use overseas.

    Computer Aid International has already shipped more than 60,000 PCs to 99 different countries. Of those 60,000 shipped, over 45,000 have gone to educational institutions and the remaining to community organisations working in fields as diverse as HIV/Aids, environment, human rights, and primary healthcare.

    Soundbyte Managing Director, Simon Gray, explained:
    “We have been supporting ComputerAid since the Thame Festival last year but didn?t have the space to act as a collection point for them. But now that we?ve moved to larger premises in Wellington Street, we can help forward this hardware rather than it ending up in landfill.”

    As Computeraid themselves stress, not all equipment is suitable:”We are currently able to make use of any Pentium III or IV machines and any related peripheral equipment. Importantly we also need your mice, keyboards, modems, cables and power leads, memory and other peripheral parts.?

    Soundbyte are also accepting monitors, as long as they are working and are not larger than 17? but make a nominal charge for testing and shipping. Soundbyte can also clean all the existing data from your machine prior to donation.

    If you have equipment to donate then you can take it to Soundbyte?s computer clinic at Avon House, 82 Wellington Street, Thame, during office hours or call 01844 216981 for more information.

  • Thame Company Helps Bring IT To Poor Countries

    THAME computer support company, SoundByte Response, have joined forces with a London-based charity to send obsolete computer equipment to schools and charity projects in the Developing world.

    Soundbyte have agreed to act as a collection point for all suitable hardware and will bear the cost of getting the machines to London where volunteers prepare them for use overseas.

    Computer Aid International has already shipped more than 60,000 PCs to 99 different countries. Of those 60,000 shipped, over 45,000 have gone to educational institutions and the remaining to community organisations working in fields as diverse as HIV/Aids, environment, human rights, and primary healthcare.

    Soundbyte Managing Director, Simon Gray, explained:
    “We have been supporting ComputerAid since the Thame Festival last year but didn?t have the space to act as a collection point for them. But now that we?ve moved to larger premises in Wellington Street, we can help forward this hardware rather than it ending up in landfill.”

    As Computeraid themselves stress, not all equipment is suitable:”We are currently able to make use of any Pentium III or IV machines and any related peripheral equipment. Importantly we also need your mice, keyboards, modems, cables and power leads, memory and other peripheral parts.?

    Soundbyte are also accepting monitors, as long as they are working and are not larger than 17? but make a nominal charge for testing and shipping. Soundbyte can also clean all the existing data from your machine prior to donation.

    If you have equipment to donate then you can take it to Soundbyte?s computer clinic at Avon House, 82 Wellington Street, Thame, during office hours or call 01844 216981 for more information.

  • Pipe Laying In East Street

    SOME restrictions may be necessary in East Street, Thame, while Southern Gas Networks are laying pipes between March 14 and 20.

  • Council Decides To Keep Hanging Baskets

    IN the light of a hose pipe ban in the area, as from April 3, Thame town councillors have decided to go ahead and plant summer hanging baskets around the town centre.
    At Tuesday’s meeting of the Culture, Leisure and Recreation Committee, it was agreed that if Thames Water’s ban continued for some time, the Council would ask local businesses and residents to take responsibility for watering the baskets with recycled water.
    The decision followed several alternative watering solutions suggested by councillors, including filling a bowser from Cuttlebrook, collecting the town hall’s ‘grey’ water in a tank and among the more fanciful suggestions (tongue firmly in cheek with this one), collecting residents’ bath water.

  • Solo Exhibition For Contemporary Artist

    LONGWICK artist, Ali Cockrean’s Solo Exhibition will run at the Obsidian Art Gallery, from Wednesday, March 29 until Sunday, April 2.

    Ali Cockrean?s show at Obsidian Art is the third in a series of intimate viewings for 2006. The exhibition will include a sequence of three newly released contemporary works, which includes cityscapes, landscapes and metallic abstracts. More than 50 originals will be on display.

    Her inspiration lies in exploring and interpreting how colour, line and form influence our reactions to familiar places or objects. Working primarily in acrylic on canvas she seeks to discover how far it is possible to abstract an image while retaining the essence of the original. The emotion and mood generated by a specific event and the visual or auditory experience is her driver rather than the event or experience itself.

    Based at Longwick, near Princes Risborough, Ali?s work features in collections in Europe and Canada as well as the UK. Born in 1962, Ali first exhibited in the late 70?s and has studied at both Slade School of Fine Art and Central St Martins College of Art and Design.

    In the last year Ali has also begun presenting to local art groups on understanding and appreciating abstract art. Richard Warner the Organiser of Thame Art Group comments ?Ali is passionate and inspirational and has had a great influence on the way we think about contemporary art. Her enthusiasm rubbed off on all of us.?

    As well as preparing for further shows this year, Ali is also co-authoring a book which will aim to demystify and make accessible abstract art for the wider public. Although maintaining a busy schedule, Ali also finds time to offer private tuition on building fundamental drawing and painting skills, including experimenting with oil, acrylic, pastel and charcoal.

    The gallery is opens from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. at weekends. Alternatively relax with a glass of wine and have look round on Thursday 30th March between 7 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. Further information about the exhibition is available from Obsidian Art on 01296 612150.

    Ali can also be contacted direct by emailing alicockrean@gmail.com

  • Boris Injured In Cycling Accident

    THAMES’s Member of Parliament, Boris Johnson, will be in Thame next Friday for his Surgery, despite being injured when he ran into a tourist in London yesterday.
    Boris was treated for a sprained wrist at a London hospital and is not expected to be seen on his bike for some time.
    Read the full story in the Daily Telegraph

    Photo: Boris with his bike pictured at the inauguration of Art on the Phoenix Trail in Thame.

  • Jane Follis’s Monthly Gardening Newsletter

    MARCH is finally here. I begin to get really excited at this time of year. The bulbs are shooting up, the primroses line my path to the office and each morning I see something new pushing its way through the earth.The clocks go forward in just over a week which mean longer hours of daylight.
    My apologies for sending this out somewhat later than normal, but my father has just undergone major heart surgery and I have been preoccupied with daily trips to London and organising his after care. After a shaky start and a bout of kidney failure (which resulted in dialysis for five days) I can now report he is in a care home just around the corner from me and has started to get back on his feet ? quite literally!

    SEASONAL TIPS
    March is one of the busiest times in the garden, but due to the cold snap we are having some jobs will have to wait a little longer. The days can be lovely and warm, but the nights can still bear some very harsh frosts.

    Continue to cut down the stems of perennials and clear the borders of weeds. If you didn?t do it last month, now is a good time to sprinkle a blood, fish and bone fertiliser around the roots of all plants and hedges and top up the borders with a mushroom compost mulch. (Country Supplies 01494 562406).

    Cut back, almost to the ground, any shrubs grown for their winter bark such as Cornus (dogwood) and willow. This will promote growth. Larger shrubs and roses can also be pruned back. Remove dead, weak and straggly shoots from roses and shorten the less vigorous shoots by about a half. The newer shoots should be reduced by about a third. Always cut back to a healthy OUTWARD pointing bud ? this encourages the rose to grow outwards rather than inwards and gives the bush a far better shape.

    Tie in any climbing roses. I have started using Flexi-tie as it is more durable than string and doesn?t cut into the stems as wire does. www.flexi-tie.co.uk.

    Begin to cut the grass regularly. Set the mower to high for the first few cuts. This is a good time to scarify the lawn using a spring-tined rake. Top dress with a general fertiliser.

    Stake herbaceous perennials. At the moment there will only be the slightest growth at the bottom of the plant, but by staking at this time it saves a lot of trouble later when the plant will grow quite vigorously in a very short space of time. There are plenty of attractive stakes available in garden centres. It would be worth investing in some. If anyone needs any advice on this subject, please do contact me and I can come out and show you what you need to do.

    This is a good time of year to split perennials. Gently fork around the root and lift the entire clump. Using two spades, back to back, cut through the roots and divide into smaller clumps. Discard any old bits from the centre and tease out any persistent weed roots, such as couch grass. Decide on where you want to re-position them and re-plant. If you have no space, pot them up and save them for the next village fete, or school function. Plant stalls are always very popular.

    Plant summer flowering bulbs, such as Alliums, Lillies, Agapanthus, Nerines, gladioli, Camassia, Freesia, Galtonia, Crinum, Leucojum, Zantedeschia and Ixia.

    Prune summer flowering shrubs.

    This is a time when it is not just the plants that are putting on growth, there will always be the weeds. If you have any persistent problems, with bind weed for instance, one of the best remedies is to buy a systemic weedkiller and a paint brush. Although laborious, if you go out every time you see a new leaf coming through and paint it with the liquid, it should kill not just the weed, but also the root system.

    With spring on its way there are other predators coming to life, just waiting to chomp their way through any new leaf growth – slugs and snails in a nutshell. I am against using pellets which can be damaging to pets, birds and children. My son had to have his stomach pumped at the tender age of two having decided the blue things were ?very tasty Mummy?. There is an alternative. If you visit www.organiccatalogue.com they offer an advanced slug killer at

  • Ex Chinnor Rugby Player In Commonwealth Games

    AN ex-Chinnor Rugby Club player was part of the team that beat the Cook Islands this morning in the Commonwealth Games.
    David Seymour, who is now a team player at Saracens, has played for the England 21s and this is his second trip with the England 7s.
    He appeared on TV this morning at 2am, when the match was shown, England beating the Cook Islands 35 to 5.
    David worked his way up at Chinnor from an early age. His dad, Ian, too was a very well respected player and Brothers Adam and Pip also play.

    The picture shows David playing for Chinnor against Clevedon.

  • Seasonal Best For Chinnor (Contributed)

    ARGUABLY Chinnor’s best performance this season. They
    used their attacking options well and their defence was well organised and rock solid. Basingstoke showed they were no pushover as their third place in the league would indicate. They are a well drilled and pacy outfit as their prolific points scored record indicates. This meant that Chinnor needed to
    be fully focused and on their mettle to get the result they needed to keep momentum in their title chase.
    Chinnor’s Tongan duo, Sam Soane and Rodney Mahe were side-lined with injury which necessitated Rewi Tolich moving into the centre and Jamie Hiscock going onto the wing. Ed Rixon came in at open-side.
    Chinnor were on the score sheet two minutes into the
    game when, after consistently going down the blind-side, they created an opportunity for Rewi Tolich to go over almost unnapposed to score under the posts. Matt Buckley added the conversion. Basingstoke responded immediately when, afer a sustained bout of pressure, they were awarded a penalty for a
    Chinnor offside with Simon Humberstone making no mistake with the ensuing kick. Chinnor increased their lead some five minutes later when the alert
    Morgan Thompson exploited a gap to once again go over near the posts.
    With Buckley again adding the conversion, Chinnor had made the most positive of starts. A second Tolich try at the 30th minute mark, with Buckley adding
    the conversion, gave Chinnor an interval advantage of 21pts to 3.
    With the referee playing the advantage law to good
    effect, the second half flowed from one end to the other. Strong cover tackling by both sides kept the scoreline static. Eventually an error by
    Humberstone, in the 73rd minute allowed Hiscock to field a wayward clearance to set up yet another try for the supporting Tolich with Buckley converting. A try by Carl Saunders for Basingstoke, in the 3rd minute of extra time was the final act of the game. This was an excellent game of rugby football from two sides who were prepared to play positively from the word go.
    Matt Buckley was outstanding for the home side in
    both attacking and defending modes. Ed Rixon was again all over the park and with Hennessy and Maxwell formed an effective back-row unit. A word for
    skipper Craig Burrows whose jumping and securing of the ball from the line-out was imperious.

    Chinnor 28pts Basingstoke 8 pts
    Photo: Chinnor Fly Half & Man Of The Match Matt Buckly