Archive

  • Heathrow reopens second runway

    Stranded passengers at Heathrow airport have been warned not to expect normal service to resume immediately after the airport's second runway reopened on Tuesday afternoon. Thousands of people have endured uncomfortable nights in the airport's

  • Woman goes missing in Oxford

    Police today appealed for help in tracing a woman who has been reported missing from Oxford. Ann Powles, 74, was last seen at an address in Water Eaton Road at about 6pm yesterday, when she left to walk her dog. She was reported missing by her family

  • Health group fights

    HEALTH chiefs have hit out at plans to cut maternity services at their local hospital. Banbury’s Horton Hospital would no longer have doctor-led births if training leaders remove most trainee doctor posts at the hospital’s maternity unit. Mums would

  • City park gets a makeover

    CHILDREN in Headington have been braving the cold weather to enjoy an early Christmas present. The ageing play area in Girdlestone Road has been completely overhauled in time for the holidays. The £55,000 revamp, which took six weeks to complete, was

  • SNOW: Cotswold Line rail replacement buses cancelled

    LATE-NIGHT rail replacement buses due to run in place of trains on the Cotswold Line tonight have been cancelled, due to difficult road conditions. Although trains ran between Oxford and Worcester last night instead of some of the buses, First

  • SNOW: Vehicles crash into jack-knifed lorry at M40 junction

    Two vehicles crashed into a jack-knifed lorry close to junction 10 of the M40 near Ardley in the early hours of this morning. A six-wheel articulated lorry jack-knifed after skidding on black ice at about 1.24am. A van and a people carrier then collided

  • Soccer copper Huw gets a major award

    A POLICE FOOTBALL spotter has been praised for his role in helping to stamp out English football hooliganism abroad. Dc Huw James, who used to be Oxford’s football intelligence officer, was handed a Presidential Commendation at a Thames Valley

  • Birdsong 'may banish winter blues'

    Spending five minutes listening to birdsong may help beat the winter blues, scientists have suggested. Tuesday marks the Winter Solstice - the shortest day of the year - and this darkness, combined with the ongoing weather misery has left many people

  • Firefighters called to Blenheim Palace

    Fire broke out in the roof of Blenheim Palace, in Woodstock, today. Firefighters were called to the blaze shortly before 1.30pm. More than 40 firefighters from Oxford, Woodstock and Kidlington tackled the blaze and crews said it was

  • Vandals attack ten cars in Cowley

    Police are appealing for witnesses after a number of cars were vandalised in Cowley. Between 3.30pm and 5.30pm on Thursday, ten cars had paint thrown over them in Reliance Way. Police only released details today. Cowley Neighbourhood Officer

  • Thame lollipop lady is 'top of the pops'

    A LOLLIPOP lady who has helped almost 1.5 million children safely across a busy Thame road is marking 20 years in the job. Linda Chown has been stopping traffic in Kingsey Road, near to Lord Williams’s Lower School, since December 2, 1990,

  • Local shares (PM)

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  • Woman attacked in North Oxford

    A woman walking her daughter through North Oxford was threatened and attacked in an attempted robbery. At about 4.45pm yesterday, the woman and her daughter were approached by a man in Norham Road. The man assaulted the woman, aged in

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  • Chipping Norton pupils bid farewell to a first class head

    PUPILS have bid a fond farewell to the principal who turned their struggling special school into a successful institution which has praised by education inspectors. The children, who have multiple learning difficulties, held up painted banners and sang

  • 'Don't fear the Oxfordshire countryside'

    ARE you “terrified” of the countryside? If so, there is help. Countryside businesses in Oxfordshire are being urged to help ‘townies’ get back in touch with the great outdoors after the National Trust suggested that people in towns were becoming scared

  • Snow: Travel chaos continues amid ice

    Christmas travellers have been facing up to spending the festive holiday away from their families after forecasters said there is no thaw in sight before Boxing Day. Heathrow was operating no more than a third of scheduled flights with just one runway

  • Local share prices (AM)

    AEA Technology 6 BMW 5386 Electrocomponents 269.5 Nationwide Accident Repair 98.5 Oxford Biomedica 5.6 Oxford Catalysts 68.5 Oxford Instruments 702.5 Reed Elsevier 528.5 RM 168.5 RPS Group 232.5 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

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  • Man charged with theft of Harry Potter book

    A 40-year-old man from Oxfordshire has been charged with stealing a first edition copy of a Harry Potter book from an art gallery in Woodstock. Kevin McGirr, of Oxford Road, Kidlington, was charged with theft today after a rare copy of Harry Potter

  • Parents thank public as missing Oxford girl returns

    THE parents of a missing teenager last night thanked the public for their help after she returned home. Kimberley Hughes was missing for five days last week, but reappeared at her uncle’s home in Owen’s Way, Cowley on Friday evening.

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  • Anger over plans to merge Oxford schools

    PARENTS, staff and governors at a Botley nursery rated outstanding by Ofsted have attacked plans to merge it with a nearby primary school. When inspectors visited Elms Road Nursery School two months ago, they said children made “exceptional

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  • Free Trial - Esporta

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  • HOCKEY: Taking shape

    A major redevelopment project has begun at the Banbury Road North Sports Ground in north Oxford to build two new floodlit artificial grass pitches. The ground is the home of Oxford Hawks Hockey Club, who have been developing the project for

  • ON YER BIKE: Cycling still the best way to get around

    For some people cycling and winter don’t mix. It’s generally cold and wet and if it snows like recently it can make it difficult and tiring. However, it can still be the best way to get around, even in these long dark months of winter, especially when

  • Iced birthday cake

    I would like to share a rather surreal moment with readers from the horror that was the A34 on Saturday. Our family was travelling from Gloucestershire to celebrate my granddaughter’s 12th birthday with us. After several stationary hours, hunger began

  • We need big society

    In response to Mrs Pressel’s letter (Oxford Mail, December 17) concerning public spending cuts, she needs to understand that the real test of local politicians will happen much sooner than she clearly expects. If we are to see libraries and youth clubs

  • Blame lies locally

    I expect that most of your readers will be as sick and tired as I am of county council leader Keith Mitchell lecturing us from his high horse. His latest letter (ViewPoints, December 16) follows his usual line of blaming previous Labour governments

  • Defend our libraries

    COUNCILLOR Mitchell (ViewPoints, December 16) accuses me of sitting on the fence, when I point out how important libraries are to the county’s avowed priority of breaking the cycle of deprivation. He seems to think it perfectly fair to plan to save £2m

  • ASK THE VET: Does my dog need a test

    Please can you put my mind at rest. My 12 year old yorkie terrier has had high protein levels in her urine and now our vet wants to run a special urine test to determine what might be going on with her. Any suggestions as to what it could be?

  • DARTS: Shepherd is out of luck

    Oxfordshire's former finalist Kirk Shepherd suffered a first-round exit at the hands of 13th seed Wayne Jones in the PDC Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace. Shepherd won the opening set, but an erratic display from there on saw

  • DARTS: Leaders' run smashed by Butchers

    Butchers Arms A smashed Florence Park Community Centre A’s unbeaten record as they fought back from 4-1 down for a surprise 5-4 victory. The ladies Premier section leaders started well, with Tina Hamilton winning the opener against Sue Poyser only for

  • Bulman to sign up for Crawley

    Midfielder Dannie Bulman will not be returning to Oxford United, it has been confirmed. Blue Square Premier high-fliers Crawley Town have agreed to sign the 31-year-old on a free transfer in January. Bulman, who has been on loan at the Sussex club since

  • SNOW: Heaps of fun in Oxford park

    WHILE many were struggling to get to work yesterday, some families in Oxford were enjoying fun in the snow. Dozens of families flocked to South Park to enjoy sledging, snowball fights and, in one case, some skiing. Having fun in the snow were the Chippendale

  • D'Ambrosio signs for Virgin F1

    The Marussia Virgin Racing Formula One team has signed rising talent Jerome D’Ambrosio to partner Timo Glock in 2011. Last month, the 25-year-old Belgian successfully concluded an evaluation role with the team, which saw him take part in free

  • Thame lament United call-off

    Thame United’s friendly game against Oxford United to officially open their new £3m ground tonight has been called off because of the arctic conditions. The pitch at the Meadow View Park stadium is covered by seven inches of snow and with the weather

  • SNOW: Motorists criticise state of Oxford's roads

    OXFORD’S roads remained hazardous for a third day as Oxfordshire County Council said it did everything it could. Snow and ice continued to make driving difficult on the city’s main routes as city centre businesses complained of a huge drop

  • SNOW: Night mail plan to beat backlog

    HUNDREDS of Christmas deliveries for homes in Oxfordshire have been delayed or cancelled after the heaviest December snowfall in years. Postmen and women will be making extra deliveries into the evening until Thursday to try to clear the backlog

  • Cuts will price young out of further study

    Many thanks to the Oxford Mail for giving such excellent coverage to the Government’s plans to axe Education Maintenance Allowances (December 15). The two local further education colleges are right to protest when such a large proportion of their students

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  • 10% Off - Bathe In Beauty

    Offering 10% Off all beauty treatments Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer and must be only be used on treatments of £10 and over, valid for 12 months only from January 1st 2011 Ozone Leisure Centre The Kassam Stadium

  • COMMENT: We may all pay for youth service cuts

    The fight to save the county’s youth centres steps up a gear today. Young people have told the Oxford Mail about the important role the centres play in our communities. But today Thames Valley Police has also spoken out against Oxfordshire

  • Snow: Jackknifed lorry causes A44 delays

    Jackknifed lorries and crashes continued to cause problems on Oxfordshire's roads today. The A44 Woodstock Road northbound after the Peartree Interchange, north of Oxford, is reported blocked by a jackknifed lorry. Other jackknifed lorries

  • SNOW: First Great Western update

    First Great Western has cancelled all high speed services to London Paddington but is offering two stopping trains an hour to the capital instead. Departures from Oxford will leave at 7 minutes and 37 minutes past the hour. Services on the Cotswold

  • Police in Oxfordshire called out every 20 minutes

    POLICE are called by members of the public about antisocial behaviour almost every 20 minutes in Oxfordshire, the Oxford Mail can reveal. Figures released by Thames Valley Police show 25,871 incidents were reported between April 2009 and March

  • Crime rise fear over Oxfordshire youth centre cuts

    CHILDREN will be pushed towards crime if council youth centre funding is axed, police have warned. Thames Valley Police has spoken out against Oxfordshire County Council’s plans to stop funding 21 youth centres. The council is calling on

  • SNOW: Chiltern Railways update

    Chiltern Railways is running a reduced special timetable from Bicester North and Banbury stations to London Marylebone and Birmingham because of the freezing conditions. After 8am the operator is running just one train an hour from Bicester to Birmingham

  • SNOW: Stagecoach update

    Many Stagecoach bus services are still not running across Oxfordshire while others are only serving the main part of their route. From this morning the complete list of services including cancellations, alterations and diversions are:

  • SNOW: Oxford Bus Company update

    Oxford Bus Company services are returning to normal as the snow clears. However some services are still unable to travel along their entire route and there continues to be no service to the Northway Estate in Oxford, Elms Rise estate in Botley

  • SNOW: Latest forecast

    The Met Office was this morning predicting a return of snowy showers this evening. Predictions are for light snow showers from around midnight until 9am on Wednesday. Meanwhile, temperatures are today not expected to lift above zero degrees Celsius.

  • MOTOR RACING: World champs fete F1 boss Williams

    Former world champions Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill led the tributes to Sir Frank Williams after the Formula 1 team principal was honoured at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards. The 68-year-old founder and manager of the Williams

  • Snow: UK 'to freeze until Boxing Day'

    Travel misery is likely to blight the UK until after Christmas, with the long-awaited thaw not expected until Boxing Day. Forecasters predict sub-zero temperatures will persist over the coming days, hampering efforts to free up Britain's frozen

  • Incinerator plan faces scrutiny

    AN incinerator plan that would see 84 extra lorries go around Bicester’s ring road will be reviewed. A Buckinghamshire County Council committee will scrutinise the plan for Calvert, near the Oxfordshire-Buckinghamshire border. The incinerator would

  • Generous Oxfordshire folk bring festive joy

    THE people of Oxfordshire have been thanked by a national charity for filling 18,100 shoeboxes with Christmas gifts for vulnerable children abroad. Shoeboxes packed for Operation Christmas Child were checked by teams of volunteers at the charity’s processing

  • Reminder over Vale bin changes

    RESIDENTS of the Vale and South Oxfordshire are being reminded that waste collection dates are changing over Christmas. Tags are being left on all bins in both districts in the run up to Christmas to let people know when their revised collections will