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  • Marlebone Station Closed This Weekend

    DUE to track improvement work this Sunday (26th), London Marylebone station will be closed to passengers all day. Train services will therefore be diverted to London Paddington. Alternatively, passengers with a Travelcard or other valid ticket can use connecting London Underground services.

    Before travelling Chiltern Railways is advising passengers to check for service alterations at their local staffed stations, by calling the Chiltern Railways enquiry line on 08456 005 165 (07:00hrs to 20:00hrs) or visiting www.chilternrailways.co.uk where full timetable information is provided.

    SERVICE SUMMARY
    Sunday 26 February
    Kidderminster – Birmingham – Stratford-upon-Avon – Leamington Spa – Banbury – London
    Aylesbury – High Wycombe ? London

  • Opposition To Town Hall Library Proposal

    SINCE the announcement that the people of Thame are to be consulted about converting their town hall into a library, the idea has not attracted much support locally.
    Local author, Sarah Hayes, who has written more than twenty books for children and was the originator of the “Fimbles”, has added her voice to opposers of the idea.
    She has written to the Town Clerk and the Mayor: “I write as someone who loves Thame and as a professional writer. In both capacities I urge Thame Town Council not to make a hasty decision about the siting of Thame’s long-awaited new library. The capital allocated by Oxfordshire County Council should be used to create a purpose-built library for the twenty-first century, not one that is carved out of an unsuitable nineteenth-century building. OCC has the ability to delay the allocated capital spend. It is vital, therefore, that our local authorities take time to achieve the most suitable site for Thame’s new library instead of opting for the ‘quick fix’ offered by the Town Hall or OCC’s two other preferred sites.

    The Town Hall is not appropriate for change of use to a library for the following reasons:

    1. National library surveys have shown a decline in the use of libraries in all areas of the country. In some counties library hours have been reduced; in others book buying has been cut. The places where libraries are thriving are those where libraries are new built and given added value or combined with other facilities and attractions to bring the public through the doors.

    2. Today’s successful libraries are busy, welcoming places, frequently offering an on-site caf

  • ‘Get Gadget Moved’ campaign

    FAMILY and friends of an injured Thame University student, whose family are travelling for up to seven hours a day to visit him in hospital, are campaigning to get him moved to Stoke Mandeville hospital.
    Martin Gadd, or ‘Gadget’ as he is known to his friends, is unlikely to walk again after breaking his neck in a fall during a night out in London recently.

    Gadget’s parents, John and Delina are unhappy about the delay to get their son moved to Stoke Mandeville’s Spinal unit from Kings College Hospital in Brixton. They travel by bus or train every day to be with their son, who has experienced many set backs since the accident including an undected blockage in a catheter and breathing difficulties.

    According to a family friend who helped organise a quiz recently to raise money for Gadget, twice Kings College Hospital has ‘lost’ the fax number for Stoke Mandeville hospital, adding to the delay in organising his transfer.

    The matter has now been taken up with the hospital’s Patient Liaison Officer and anyone who would like to help in anyway or keep up with Gadget’s progress, can visit a special website set up to help and support Gadget and his family. The address of the website is: www.davidanthony.co.uk/Gadget/news.htm

  • Help The Great Crested Newt

    If you would like to help the Great Crested Newt in the Aylesbury Vale Area, follow the link.
    Link

  • Library Friends Respond To Town Hall Proposal

    THE Friends of Thame Library have responded to the news that Thame’s town hall is being considered for conversion to a new library.
    In a statement today, the ‘Friends’ say: “We are pleased to hear that at long last there are further developments on the site for the town library.

    “In principle, the Town Hall would appear to be a site with promise. But it should be considered in the light of reasonable alternatives, such as the Pied Pedaller site.
    “However, it is not reasonable to give any further comment on the Town Hall option without further details being made available.

    “As the Friends of Thame Library have been urging for many months, the County, and more specifically the County Librarian, should ? just as her predecessors did ? be prepared to come and present sufficient details to the Friends of Thame Library and members of the public in Thame as well as to the Town Council.
    “In such ways members of the public will be able to give their voice. Further delay to this process of information and discussion is unacceptable for this key project for Thame.”

    Dr Hussein Mirza (Chairman)
    John Ansell (Vice-Chairman)

    Photo: The Friends of Thame Library, pictured when the group was formed around three years ago.

  • Business Network Goes From Strength To Strength

    A powerful new Network, set up to boost business in Oxfordshire?s towns, is celebrating another big jump in its membership.
    Witney & District Chamber of Commerce and The Henley Partnership Ltd have now agreed to join the Oxfordshire Town Chambers Network (www.otcn.co.uk), taking its total membership to 15 organisations across the county, including Thame Chamber of Commerce.
    Between them, these 15 organisations have more than 1,200 business members.

    The two newcomers join town Chambers or business groups in Abingdon, Banbury, Bicester, Burford, Carterton, Charlbury, Chipping Norton, Didcot, Faringdon, Oxford, Thame, Wantage, and Woodstock as members.

    OTCN co-founder John Naish says: ?This is a real boost for what is becoming an increasingly powerful and active business network for Oxfordshire. We?re delighted to welcome Henley and Witney to the Network to add their expertise and experience of working for the benefit of their town and its businesses, to that of the 13 town chambers and business groups already playing an active role with us.?

    Chairman of The Henley Partnership Ltd, Errol Facy says: ?The Henley Partnership is delighted to join the OTCN. We all do our best to support and develop our own towns, but there are matters that affect us all. The Network helps us prioritise and focus on the key issues with a collective voice. It also saves each of us re-inventing the wheel by exchanging what we’ve done and how we achieved things. ?

    Chairman of Witney Chamber, Lesley Semaine, says: ?Witney & District Chamber has joined the Oxfordshire Town Chambers Network so that we can give our business community more commitment on their behalf. Joining the other fourteen town chambers and business groups makes us stronger and with their help, we can be more influential in dealing with our members? issues.?

    The Oxfordshire Town Chambers Network aims to help its member organisations share ideas, best practice, and experience of common issues that they are tackling in their towns in Oxfordshire, and engage the groups in lobbying local authorities and other decision makers.

    Three events networks: The Oxfordshire Womens Forum, The Late Breakfast and Wantage & District Business Breakfast Club have also joined, while three other town business groups in the county are discussing membership.

    The Network has been launched with a web portal to promote its member groups and their websites at www.otcn.co.uk. It is encouraging its member groups to develop their online presence. Most recently Faringdon Chamber (www.faringdonchamber.com) and OX1 (www.ox1.uk.com) have new sites. OTCN has built a page for Charlbury and Witney Chambers on the Network?s own site.

  • Call To Join Pro-Animal Testing Rally

    A RALLY in support of animal experimentation for medical research, called Pro-Test, is to be held in Broad Street, Oxford, from 11.30 am.
    The Pro-Test march is on February 25, and aims to show support for the new, biomedical research laboratory currently being built in the city. The march will go via South Parks Road to Radcliffe Square.
    The Speakers will include (from 11.30am):
    . Professor Tipu Aziz, Neurosurgeon at the Radcliffe
    Infirmary
    . Professor John Stein, Professor of Physiology at
    Oxford University
    . Dr Simon Festing, the Executive Director of the
    Research Defence Society
    . Dr Evan Harris, MP for Oxford West and Abingdon
    . Pro-Test representatives

    Contact: protestoxford@gmail.com
    Join the email list by emailing: mailing@pro-test.org.uk
    www.pro-test.org.uk

  • Chinnor Win Despite Playing Conditions – By Peter Matthews

    Clevedon 3pts Chinnor 43pts

    A waterlogged pitch at Clevedon forced the game to be played at the local Comprehensive School.The playing area could hardly be described as level as it was at the bottom end of a hill where the local moles obviously enjoyed the environment! However it was credit to both sides that they adapted to the playing conditions.
    Chinnor were once again without Eric Brown, the League’s top try scorer, with Jamie Hiscock going on to the right wing and Rewi Tolich starting at left wing. Paul Hennessy came in on the bench with
    evergreen, Simon Matthews continuing at loose-head. Darren Oxley was a notable absentee tied in Thame with domestic duties. Ali Reekie deputised.

    Clevedon opened the scoring with a well struck penalty in the fifth minute from fly-half Dan Hawkes. This was nullified minutes later when James Hewitt
    slotted a penalty from 35 metres out. Chinnor went close several times but over-eagerness, leading to spilled passes kept them at bay. With Andy Milburn
    being denied a touch down from a rolling maul, following continued Chinnor pressure, it was only a matter of time before they were awarded a try from
    another maul when Rewi Tolich got into the act to gain the touch down. A fine touchline conversion from James Hewiit put Chinnor in the driving seat. Chinnor were still finding it difficult to put in the scoring pass on numerous occasions before eventually Sam Soane broke the defence and sent a well-timed pass to the young speedster, Jamie Hiscock saw him sprint 30
    metres to score in the corner for a well worked try. Another conversion by James Hewitt gave the score-line a more realistic reading at the interval.

    Raaki Maxwell set the tone in the second half when he took the kick off and tore into the Clevedon pack. With most of the play taking place in Clevedon territory, Rewi Tolich again inserted himself into forward thrusts to gain two more triesWith Hewitt adding conversions to both of these efforts Chinnor were well and truly in the driving seat.

    There were two fine individual efforts, one from replacement Richard Williams and the other from Matt Buckley, with Hewitt adding the one conversion, to make his strike rate six from seven, completed the scoring.

    This was a good all-round performance under difficult conditions. Chinnor could and should have been more patient on a number of occasions but nevertheless this was an emphatic win.
    Six games left with Chinnor needing to win the lot to make promotion a reality.

  • No Thrills For Thame United – By Bob Dixon

    Beaconsfield SYCOB 1, Thame United 0 – February 18.
    THAME United remain rooted to the bottom of the league after this disappointing result. They currently have several players injured and were without the pace of Darren More up front who ?phoned in sick? before the match.
    Ben Connelly donned the number 10 shirt, and played right midfield allowing Luke Fisher to join Alex Stewart in attack.

    This was a far from thrilling game which either side could have won with stronger finishing. United started brightly with Stewart meeting a good cross from Mark Boland, but his header was wide. Thame?s closest first half effort came after 15 minutes when a goalmouth scramble ended with Luke Fisher?s close shot being parried by keeper Julian Taylor. Beaconsfield?s ?Rams? mounted several good attacks and Paul Searl, in the Thame goal, was kept busy. Their striker, Allan Arthur, however squandered at least two good scoring opportunities.

    Thame dominated the first 10 minutes of the second half and put together some good moves but failed to really test Taylor. Before the match Beaconsfield had signed former Slough Town striker Matt Seedel. It was him who, on 80 minutes broke the deadlock by meeting a ball cut back from the by line with a well-placed shot. Thame pushed in vain for the equaliser and with 2 minutes remaining Stewart forced a good save from Taylor with a well-struck free kick.

    Thame United face some strong teams over the next few weeks and, unless they can regain that important habit of scoring goals, they will still be at the bottom of the pack at the end of the season.

    Thame United: Searl, N Rhodes, Hocking, Eason, Raja, Groves, Fisher, A. Rhodes, Stewart, Connelly, Bowland.

  • Division Title and Promotion For Thame Badminton Men

    AFTER two seasons with no success for any of Thame Badminton club?s teams, the men?s team playing in the Oxford & District league have achieved the divisional title and promotion.
    The final game of the season for the side was against Windrush of Witney.

    Ever present in the side, Chris Charman, paired with Trevor Walker, opened the match against the Windrush 1st pair. Chris and Trevor were forced to work hard but were still able to win in two straight games. Chris Daniels, another ever present team member, paired up with youngster Ben Cooper. After an initial hiccup, Daniels dominated the play and oversaw another Thame straight games win. The third pair was Keith Richards and Andy Scarlett. Despite Scarlett playing poorly, the pair was still able to beat the Windrush 3rd pair in straight games.

    The second round of rubbers saw Charman and Walker struggle against the opposition who managed to take a game off them. However, they stormed through the last game to win the rubber. Daniels and Cooper took on the Windrush 1st pair and surprisingly beat them with more ease than their first rubber. The 3rd pair of Richards and Scarlett again struggled to win in straight games. However, when both players completely relaxed they improved although it was strange to see Scarlett serving four successive high serves.

    With the match won, it was expected that all the pairs would relax and ease through the last round. However, it was only the youngest pair of Daniels and Cooper who did ease through their final rubber in straight games. Richards and Scarlett again were not playing well and their positional play was poor. Nevertheless, they were still able to complete a third straight games win. The final game for Charman and Walker again saw them being taken to three games before winning the rubber. Although Thame won the match nine rubbers to nil, some of the team felt that they had had to work harder than they had all season.

    The victory is one that Thame Badminton Club hope sees the return of higher playing standards for the club. One of the most pleasing aspects of the season for this team was that promotion was gained without ever being able to field the strongest side the club was capable of producing. Next season will see harder matches and the need to strengthen the club.

    Where possible, Thame Badminton Club likes to see existing members improving their play through coaching and play. Higher playing standards allow the club to improve the play of all its members. Improved play in turn leads to more enjoyable badminton.

    Contributed by Andy Scarlett