Archive

  • Image of hospital sex attacker issued by police

    POLICE want to speak to this man in connection with a sexual assault in Bicester. The victim, in her 20s, was attacked in the car park of Bicester Community Hospital, in Kings End, at about 8.45pm on Saturday. Her attacker is white, in his mid-20s or

  • Firefighters battle to rescue horse from river

    Firefighters were battling to save a horse from the Thames last night. The animal had fallen into the river close to the Southern Bypass between Hinksey Roundabout and Heyford Hill Roundabout, Oxford. Fire crews from Rewley Road and Kidlington were

  • Documentary puts spotlight on Cowley Road

    FROM a medieval leper colony, to a Victorian workhouse and the scene of some of Oxford’s most famous protest movements, Cowley Road has always reflected social change in Oxford. Now a documentary film is being made telling the history of the road, traced

  • Teenagers take centre stage at UN

    Two young actors from Oxfordshire took centre stage at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Monday. Martha Schofield, 17, from Oxford, and Fred Kirby, 16, from Witney, took part in a performance of the Gaza Monologues, a play highlighting the

  • School leaver guide goes online

    YOUTH workers have reacted angrily after Oxfordshire County Council stopped printing copies of a handbook to help school leavers. The 200-page Survival Guide for Young People which has been published since 1997, will now only be available on the Internet

  • End of the line for free taxi tokens

    MORE than 11,000 pensioners and disabled people could lose free taxi travel under cost-cutting plans, sparking fears that rural residents will be left isolated. But all county pensioners would be able to use free bus passes from 9am, instead

  • Teenager charged with manslaughter over David Cox death

    A 17-year-old boy has been charged with manslaughter following the death of an Oxford University kitchen porter. The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will appear at Oxford Youth Court on Wednesday, December 8. The charge relates to the

  • Local shares (PM)

    AEA Technology 5.5 BMW 5100 Electrocomponents 268.5 Nationwide Accident Repair 97 Oxford Biomedica 9.2 Oxford Catalysts 61.5 Oxford Instruments 592.25 Reed Elsevier 514.25 RM 154.25 RPS Group 224.8 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

  • Youngsters start building their own homes

    WORK has started on the county’s first self-build project that will see 20 unemployed teenagers construct homes that ten of them will move in to. Banbury’s MP Tony Baldry used a mechanical digger to make the first cut at a former allotment site in Miller

  • Pupils to march on Westminster

    OXFORDSHIRE pupils are to march on Downing Street in a bid to get axed school sports cash reinstated. They will join thousands of youngsters calling for sports partnership funding to be spared from a Government spending axe. Pupils from Blessed George

  • Police renew road death appeal

    Police are reappealing for information after a 48-year-old pedestrian died after being struck by a car in Banbury. The woman was lying down in Gatteridge Street at 6.34pm on Saturday, November 13 when the collision with a Toyota Corolla happened, police

  • Family of man crushed in dumper truck raise £2,300

    FRIENDS and family of a man who was crushed to death in a building site accident have raised almost £2,300 for two charities in his memory. The cash was raised at Royston Dean’s funeral and other events, and has been donated to Dogs for the Disabled

  • Sandwich shop to train young

    A CHARITY has opened a sandwich shop to train young people to earn their own bread. On a Roll opened in Church Walk, Banbury this week thanks to a £450,000 Big Lottery grant to the Banbury Young Homeless Project. The funding will run out after five

  • Libraries and youth services go as cuts bite

    YOUTH centres and libraries in Banbury will close under money-saving council proposals, unless volunteers come forward to run them. Oxfordshire County Council has announced plans to stop funding 20 of Oxfordshire’s 43 libraries from next year, to save

  • A fitting new home for a genius of the stage

    It had not occurred to me until the other day that I have been a regular visitor to Elisabeth Scott’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre for more than half of its existence. It was completed — the first major public building by a woman architect — in 1932

  • AA worker seriously injured in ice crash

    Police are appealing for witnesses after a breakdown recovery worker was seriously injured in a collision on an unclassified road in Hook Norton. A 47-year-old man from Buckingham, who works for the AA, suffered serious chest injuries in the collision

  • Brasserie Blanc: Walton Street, Oxford

    The opening party at Le Petit Blanc in the summer of 1996 remains vividly in my mind all these years later. This is not surprising, perhaps, since it became a champagne-drenched affair eventually to involve a substantial stretch of Walton Street

  • How to make brandy trifle

    The earliest recipe for trifle dates back to 1596. Over the centuries it has evolved from a mere cooked cream, to the many-layered extravagance we know today. In Trifle (Prospect Books, £9.99) Helen Saberi and the late Alan Davidson guide us through

  • Maldonado joins Williams F1

    The Grove-based AT&T Williams F1 team today confirmed that Pastor Maldonado would contest the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship for them. The appointment finalises the team’s line-up for next year following confirmation in November that

  • Ideal festive gifts for the foodie in your life

    Another Christmas — another pile of delicious books for the cook in your life, and friends who like to cook, but need encouragement and inspiration before they pick up a wooden spoon. Tiffany Goodall’s First Flat Cookbook (Quadrille, £9.99) is

  • Anne Hyde of Cornbury: the wife of a future king

    Only two English girls have married either an heir presumptive or an heir apparent to the English throne in the last 500 years or so — and neither went on to be queen. One was Lady Diana Spencer when she married Prince Charles in 1981, and the other

  • Monsters and Megamind

    James Cameron please take note: you don’t need to spend $200m to smack an audience’s gob. British writer-director Gareth Edwards challenges the conventional thinking that bigger is always better when it comes to special effects-laden science fiction

  • Graham Rice: Cuckoo Lane Art Studio

    Visitors entering Cuckoo Lane Art Studio, Cuckoo Lane, near North Leigh, would be forgiven for assuming the pictures on show have been painted by several different artists. This is not so. The eclectic mix of works are all by Graham Rice, who has been

  • Preview of Frank Turner and Dive Dive at The Regal, Oxford

    Oxford’s Dive Dive will complete a strange three years when they support Frank Turner at the Regal on Sunday. Made up of singer Jamie Stuart, guitarist Ben Lloyd, drummer Nigel Powell and bassist Tarrant Anderson, the band released their debut album

  • Love and Money: O'Reilly Theatre

    David (Jeremy Neumark Jones — pictured) is sitting in his flat, chewing his nails. He stares at his laptop: what’s he going to say to Sandrine, his new French girlfriend? Inspiration dawns: he will initiate a discussion about British sandwiches

  • Treasure Island: The Watermill Theatre, Newbury

    They came brandishing cutlasses, wearing black eye-patches and tricorn hats flaunting that potent emblem of the pirate’s trade, the skull and crossbones. Well, fliers had urged us to put on suitable attire for the Watermill’s Treasure Island, and

  • Ariadne auf Naxos: Welsh National Opera, The New Theatre, Oxford

    Among other accolades —including a degree from Oxford University — Richard Strauss was made an honorary citizen of Naxos. This was in thanks for the “consummate work” in which he gave artistic expression to the Greek island’s myth (the Naxians generously

  • Oxford Philomusica: Sheldonian Theatre

    Two 19th-century masterpieces, and a whiff of the 21st century were on offer at this sell-out concert. The whiff was of fresh paint — the Sheldonian’s rather severe new colour scheme has been completed. But the biggest shock comes from the lighting. Gone

  • Musical Theatre Oxford: Du Pre Building

    There was a touch of Broadway and West End glamour at the JDP when Musical Theatre Oxford — a new training academy for those wanting to pursue a career in this enduringly popular genre — showcased a selection of songs from hit musicals, from the 1920s

  • Greg Davies: The Glee Club

    Greg Davies is best known as Mr Gilbert, the fearsomely whipsmart teacher in E4’s wonderfully puerile sitcom The Inbetweeners, but he’s also a rising stand-up on the comedy circuit. As well as being part of daft sketch collective We Are Klang,

  • Cinderella: Birmingham Royal Ballet

    David Bintley’s new take on Cinderella is a darker account of the tale than the jolly panto story it often is. It must have been hard for him to put out of his mind the celebrated Ashton version, in which he himself danced, and to do so he has gone for

  • Dante in the Chapel: Mansfield College

    This hour-long evocation of the spirit of Dante’s Divine Comedy was first performed in Cambridge two years ago, but its arrival in Oxford is appropriate for several reasons. First, the reader was Prof Robin Kirkpatrick, a Dante scholar, quoting from his

  • Beauty and the Beast: Chipping Norton Theatre

    Do you like snow? Well, you can be sure of the real thing if you visit Chippy panto. As Ma, her family, and their poodle Chipie set off to try to rescue Beauty from the Beast’s castle, real, wet snowflakes descend — not only on the intrepid rescue

  • Oxfordshire dealer to supply Nissan Leaf

    West Way Nissan, at the Oxford Motor Park, is one of the network of dealers who will be supplying the 2011 European Car of the Year, the 100% all-electric Nissan LEAF, when deliveries start in March 2011 in the UK. The outlets will be equipped

  • E-fit issued after Bicester sex attack

    Police today issued an e-fit of a man they want to speak to in connection with a sexual assault in Bicester. At about 8.45pm on Saturday, a woman in her twenties, was attacked in the car park of Bicester Community Hospital, in Kings End.

  • Future of Abingdon's Guildhall is secured after £1million deal

    THE future of Abingdon’s historic Guildhall has been secured in a £1m deal, civic leaders have revealed. An agreement has been reached that will see Abingdon Town Council take over the loss-making Abbey Close venue from Vale of White Horse District Council

  • U's extend Steve McLean loan

    OXFORD United have moved quickly to extend the loan spell of striker Steve McLean. The on-loan Plymouth forward has looked a class act - and got off the mark as United shocker League Two leaders Chesterfield last week. He will remain with the club until

  • SCHOOL FOCUS: St Nicholas' Primary, Old Marston

    JEDWARD lookalikes jumped across the stage, a gifted violinist played a solo in front of her peers, and an incredible 10-year-old breakdancer wowed his classmates. This was Goat Factor – St Nicholas’ School’s annual talent competition to raise

  • SCHOOLS' FOOTBALL: Cherwell march on

    Cherwell School (Oxford) marched on in the ESFA Under 16 Girls Schools’ Cup with a 2-1 home win over Maiden Erlegh (Reading) in the fifth round. Katie Fleming and Daisy Tuckwell netted to take Cherwell into the last-16 draw on Monday. Cherwell’s boys

  • SCHOOLS' FOOTBALL: Headford boosts Oxon

    Luca Headford’s double helped Oxfordshire to a 3-1 win over Bedfordshire in the ESFA Under 14 Inter County Trophy second round at The Arena, Baldock. Playing on an artificial 2G pitch, Oxon dominated the first 20 minutes and took the lead when

  • FOOTBALL: Wanderers off bottom

    Witney Wanderers beat the weekend freeze to see off Hanborough Res 2-0 and move off the bottom of Witney & District FA Division 1, writes ANTHONY BARLOW. With the majority of the programme decimated by bitterly cold weather, Wanderers produced

  • SCHOOLS' FOOTBALL: Vale smash perfect ten

    Vale of White Horse overwhelmed Jersey 10-1 in the ESFA Under 15 Trophy fourth round on Tuesday. The match was switched from Milton United to the artificial 3G pitch at Swindon’s Greendown School. And after a sticky start, which saw Vale fall behind

  • FOOTBALL: Berinsfield bomb on

    Division 4 leaders Berinsfield extended their 100 per cent record to nine matches by defeating Didcot Casuals Res 3-1 in the North Berks League. Mark Ingram scored twice for Berinsfield, with Chris Owens grabbing the other. Dan Knapp replied. Andy Sutherland

  • FOOTBALL: Srawley stars for Wootton

    Tom Srawley’s double helped Wootton & Dry Sandford see off North Berks League Division 1 rivals Harwell International 3-2 in the Berks & Bucks Intermediate Cup third round, writes Phil Annets. Wootton went ahead inside five minutes when Shaun Bray collected

  • Don't cut sport says Olympic visitor

    YOUNGSTERS took part in a rowing workshop with some Olympic leadership. Miriam Batten, who won silver at the 2000 games and represented Great Britain for 11 years, introduced pupils at Carterton Community College to the sport. The visit

  • FOOTBALL: Great Dane calls in at Kidlington

    Former Liverpool and Denmark star Jan Molby was guest speaker at Kidlington annual sportsman’s dinner. The event included an auction of signed football shirts, with Paddy Walsh of Walsh Haulage Oxford making a winning bid for a signed Chelsea top

  • Hairy way to raise cancer charity cash

    YOU may have noticed a strange increase in the amount of men sporting facial hair over the past month. It is not because of the colder weather – it has all been part of ‘Movember’, a month-long event to raise money for the Prostate Cancer Charity. Across

  • Local share prices (AM)

    AEA Technology 5.5 BMW 4988 Electrocomponents 266 Nationwide Accident Repair 97.5 Oxford Biomedica 9.25 Oxford Catalysts 61.5 Oxford Instruments 591 Reed Elsevier 512.25 RM 154.5 RPS Group 224.5 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

  • 'Help us bring our son's body home'

    “We have lived with this nightmare for over eight years... we do not have any closure and it’s difficult to move on with our lives this way.” Those were words of an Oxford family who last night pleaded for help to find the body of their son. Jonathan

  • Gas leak closes A415

    A gas leak today closed the A415 Abingdon to Witney road. The leak occurred between the A338, at Frilford, and Digging Lane, Kingston Bagpuize. The road is closed in both directions and emergency repairs are under way.

  • Force faces action over stop and search tactics

    POLICE in Oxfordshire could face enforcement action for disproportionate use of stop and search powers. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has written to Thames Valley Police and Leicestershire Constabulary warning them about possible action

  • Wednesday, December 1: Boris kicks of Badvent month

    POLICE are hoping to wish some of Oxfordshire’s shady suspects a very “Merry Christmas” this year... face to face in the police station. The Oxford Mail is today unveiling its first ever Badvent Calendar featuring mugshots of people officers

  • Police issue plea over A34 cyclist death

    Police today appealed for witnesses after a cyclist died following a collision on the A34 near Oxford last night. The cyclist was on the southbound carriageway of the A34, a quarter of a mile from the Pear Tree interchange, when he was involved

  • FOOTBALL: Josh McEachran heading for the top

    CONSIDERING he is being talked about as one of England football’s future stars, Josh McEachran is remarkable relaxed. The 17-year-old, from Kirtlington, is the envy of almost every teenager in the country. But despite his meteoric rise, here is somebody

  • Heating hints

    I WOULD like to give some advice to your readers who are about to or recently had plumbing and heating work carried out on their properties, to make sure that they engage a competent person or company. While I can only speak on behalf of members of the

  • Valuable service

    It is understandable that the budget for libraries must be cut, but there are many costs that can be cut other than closing branches. These include shortening the hours open, cutting the number of days open, not purchasing as many or any new titles, or

  • Half-cock scheme

    Your news item about the proposed electrification of the Paddington-Didcot-Oxford railway (Friday’s Oxford Mail) is appropriately less enthusiastic than the comments from rail user groups. It really is a case of two cheers only, perhaps not that. The

  • No clothes for fuddy-duddies

    MRS J Hill (Last Friday’s ViewPoints), hit the nail right on the head. Of course there are no clothes for the likes of us old fuddy-duddies. Everything centres on the young these days (some of us still do snail-mail). Dear lady, get on a number 10

  • SASSY & SINGLE: Special moment at Brize Norton

    On any given day in Oxfordshire, while you and I are going about our normal lives, something very special happens at RAF Brize Norton. It’s something most of us will never get to see but on Monday I was privileged enough to witness this event. It’s not

  • FOOTBALL: Barrett hammers super treble

    Aaron Barrett smashed a hat-trick as Corner House cruised to a 5-1 win against Fairview in the RT Harris Oxford City FA. Mark Barrett and Delroy Nanton were their other marksmen. Ryan Taylor was the hero as he hammered in a late winner for Nuffield

  • FOOTBALL: Hawkins bags last-gasp win

    Perry Hawkins notched a late winner as Middleton Cheney beat the big freeze with a 3-2 win at Broughton & North Newington in Division 1 of the Oxfordshire Senior League. In one of only a few matches to survive the cold snap, Broughton took

  • Jobs boost for Travelodge

    Twelve jobs are being created at the head office of budget hotel chain Travelodge in Thame. They are part of 200 new staff being recruited across the country as the company opens six new hotels in Maidenhead, Chichester, London, Horsham, Paignton and

  • A Christmas Carol: Cratchit if you can.........

    Ventured out last friday night to Lain’s Barn to witness the Domino Players take on A Christmas Carol. What finer production for this time of year? Review herewith: A Christmas Carol, the timely seasonal offering from Domino Players centres

  • Economic fantasy

    SO Chris Robins thinks Keith Mitchell lives in Cloud Cuckoo Land (ViewPoints, November 22). Having read Mr Robins’s elementary summary of how a major economy works, I imagine he must still believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. Paying people from

  • Early Christmas

    Perhaps the Rev Jane Sherwood (Last Thursday’s The Issue) should take advice from some of her colleagues. While on holiday in Cornwall, we visited Truro Cathedral on September 14 and were amazed to see a shop set up in one of the aisles, complete with

  • County 'has enough salt to deal with snow'

    “YES, we have enough salt” – that is the message from Oxfordshire County Council as residents brace themselves for plummeting temperatures. A light blanket of snow cloaked much of the county yesterday and more of the white stuff could fall before the

  • COMMENT: Standards slide

    WELL, we had the first sprinkling and once again people refuse to take heed on the roads. The A roads are fine but the minor roads, despite so little snowfall, are slippery. Yet too many motorists are refusing to heed the conditions. They might deserve

  • Dog walker has lucky escape after falling through ice

    A POLICEMAN was recovering last night after plunging through ice on a frozen lake while trying to rescue his Labrador dog. The off-duty officer suffered severe hypothermia after being trapped in Radley Lakes for almost an hour before firefighters were

  • Crash pilot in court over kill threats

    THE pilot in the election-day plane crash which injured UKIP leader Nigel Farage has appeared in court accused of threatening to kill the politician. Justin Charles Oliver Adams, 45, of Glenwood, Buckland, near Faringdon, appeared at Oxford

  • Student protesters lay siege to city

    SCHOOLCHILDREN and sixth formers stormed County Hall yesterday, in a day of anti-tuition fees protests that saw mounted police forced to defend high street shops. Two even reached the building’s roof, before pupils took their protest around

  • More speeding drivers go back to school

    Speeding drivers in Thames Valley are being given greater opportunities to attend educational courses as an alternative to prosecution from today. Thames Valley Police will be offering Speed Awareness Courses to motorists travelling at greater

  • COMMENT: A time and a place for protesting

    CHENEY School headteacher Jolie Kirby is right to fire a warning to her students not to get carried away with the uprising against increased tuition fees. There is a time and place for schoolchildren – for that is what they are – to protest quite properly

  • Britain braced for more icy weather

    Fresh snow showers and sub-zero temperatures will continue to blight Britain as the icy weather that has gripped the country over the past week shows little sign of easing. About 15cm of snow is expected on higher grounds with strong 30mph

  • Oxford United fans offered chance of a lifetime

    Oxford United are offering their biggest prize draw in recent history for those buying tickets to their Christmas games. One supporter will get the prize of a lifetime – meeting manager Chris Wilder, the coaching staff and players at United’s training

  • Danger fear for play area

    COUNCIL managers have been criticised for building a £11,840 climbing frame – just yards from a busy road. The rope-and-timber climbing frame at the Ladygrove estate is too close to Cow Lane and the Cow Lane tunnel, said South Oxfordshire district

  • Save our services

    COMMUNITY leaders are being urged to save Wallingford Youth Centre and libraries threatened with closure. Oxfordshire County Council has proposed an end to funding for the centre in the town’s Clapcot Way and another youth centre run at the

  • Deal secures future of town's Guildhall

    THE future of Abingdon’s historic Guildhall has been secured in a £1m deal, civic leaders have revealed. An agreement has been reached that will see Abingdon Town Council take over the loss-making Abbey Close venue from Vale of White Horse

  • Policeman rescued after falling through ice on lake

    A POLICEMAN was taken to hospital in a serious condition after falling through ice on a frozen lake while trying to rescue his dog. The off-duty officer suffered severe hypothermia after being trapped in a former gravel pit at Radley for almost

  • 'Poshstock' finds a picturesque new home

    IT IS one of the most beautiful villages in Oxfordshire, if not the whole of England. And from this summer it will also host the county’s classiest music festival. After months of speculation, the organiser of Cornbury Festival has revealed the event

  • Charity backs fit-for-work tests review

    A CITY charity has welcomed a Government pledge to improve the tests which determine if someone is fit for work. In September, the Oxford Mail reported that a number of people were being declared ‘fit for work’ when they were not. It included a 28-year-old

  • Let your hair down with Creation's Rapunzel

    THEATRE-GOERS will be letting down their hair this Christmas with a fairy tale being staged at the Mini factory in Cowley. Creation Theatre has unveiled its latest production, Rapunzel or the Magic Pig, being staged in the 100-year-old Mirror Tent at