Chocolate retailer Thorntons is to close up to 180 UK stores. It declined to say whether the nine stores and concessions in Oxfordshire would shut. Up to 120 outlets will close as leases run out, with 60 more under threat over the next three years.
FORTY pupils from Oxfordshire schools were told to think small during hands-on investigations into nanotechnology at Begbroke Science Park. Pupils aged from 12 to 14 from Kingham Hill School, Matthew Arnold School, The Marlborough School, Oxford Academy
A MAN lured a student to his friend’s bedsit before sexually assaulting her and preventing her from leaving. Hakeem Shittu befriended the 22-year-old Oxford Brookes University student on the pretext of helping her with coursework before pulling down
TRAIN services between Oxford, Didcot and London Paddington are getting back to normal after repairs to a signal fault were completed. A lightning strike this afternoon knocked out signals at Southall, in West London. Network Rail engineers have now
A-LIST celebrities are expected to pour into an Oxfordshire village when supermodel Kate Moss gets married on Friday. The 37-year-old is rumoured to be saying ‘I do’ at her £2m home in Little Faringdon. Business owners in nearby Lechlade were keeping
CREATIVE people in Blackbird Leys had plenty to crow about after going scarecrow crazy. Residents made about 80 scarecrows and paraded them to the Holy Family Church in Cuddesdon Way, where they found music, a bouncy castle and plenty of food
GIANT puppets, alien dancers and robot visitors were part of a special fringe festival at Windmill Primary School, Headington. The school put on an afternoon of song, dance and creativity after artists created the creatures with pupils during an art
COGGES Manor Farm Museum, in Witney, will open its doors to the public for the first time in two years on Sunday, July 17. The museum had been run by Oxfordshire County Council, but it withdrew funding in 2009 after making losses. Volunteer-run
THE headteacher of Oxfordshire’s only Church of England secondary school has pledged to keep religious education at the heart of the curriculum after concerns from the Bishop of Oxford. Julie Fenn, headteacher at the Marlborough School, Woodstock, said
DISRUPTION to train services between Oxford, Didcot and London due to signalling problems will continue during the afternoon peak period. Passengers are being advised to check their trains are running before setting out to stations and to allow
HUNDREDS of young people entertained the crowds as the County Music Service held its summer festival on Saturday. Musicians from Chipping Norton, Banbury, Kidlington and Oxford’s Saturday music schools staged group performances, while Oxfordshire County
OXFORD in Bloom judge John Alcock offers readers a few tips on how to make the best out of their gardens as the deadline for this year’s Oxford Mail-backed contest draws near. Mr Alcock, 65, of Littlemore, has been involved in Oxford in Bloom since it
VILLAGERS have questioned the need for a giant slurry lagoon to store waste residue. A row over recycling company Agrivert’s plans to create a pool, bigger than two football pitches, on land between Yarnton and Cassington is gathering momentum. Cherwell
An historic printing company founded in 1925 by Lord Nuffield has gone into administration with the loss of 53 jobs. Administrators from accountancy firm BDO arrived at the headquarters of Nuffield Press in Abingdon on Monday and told early shift workers
AEA Technology 3.75 BMW 6107 Electrocomponents 263.4 Nationwide Accident Repair 96.5 Oxford Biomedica 5.5 Oxford Catalysts 84 Oxford Instruments 910 Reed Elsevier 544.5 RM 154.75 RPS Group 240.5 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon
TRAIN services between Oxford, Didcot Parkway and London Paddington are being disrupted by signalling problems. A reduced service is operating at present, due to a fault at Southall, in West London. First Great Western is warning passengers that cancellations
VILLAGERS said it with flowers to celebrate the wedding of their kind postie. As well as delivering mail to Launton’s residents, Clare Willson always goes out of her way to help villagers. She checks on the elderly and even did the ironing
IT WAS the day Oxfordshire stood up and saluted the work of British troops around the world. Armed Forces Day has grown in profile since it was first set up in 2009, and this year marked Oxfordshire’s biggest celebration yet of the work carried
IT was when Andrew Johnson’s marriage started to break down that he began turning to drink. Now, some five years later, he’s completely kicked his habit and is ready to start his life afresh. Mr Johnson was one of 30 pupils taking part in a rather different
A YOUNG singer and an Irish dancing barman were the winners of Abingdon’s annual festival of hidden talent. They beat 17 other acts, including a body bop dancer and a singing grandfather, to win the fourth Abingdon’s Got Talent. The
CREATIVE people in Blackbird Leys had plenty to crow about after going scarecrow crazy. Residents made about 80 scarecrows and paraded them to the Holy Family Church in Cuddesdon Way, where they found music, a bouncy castle and plenty of food and drink
Former Chipping Norton school pupils Ryan Hanks and Michael Nurden have been taken on as apprentices at car dealership Jaybee Motors Renault in Bodicote, near Banbury. Mr Hanks, 17, has started as a parts apprentice while 20-year-old Mr Nurden has just
Accountants and financial advisors Critchleys has acquired Finmor Financial Planning Oxford-based Critchleys director Jason McGuigan said: “We saw the opportunity to help a small high quality financial planning practice, with the same ethics and ethos
WE’LL give the best show we can – that’s the message from internationally acclaimed rapper Roots Manuva. The rapper was last night gearing up to play at this Saturday’s Fiesta in the Park. Roots, real name Rodney Smith, said he could
Oxford Stadium celebrates its biggest event of the year with the £8,000 Betfair Pall Mall Stakes over 450 metres tonight, writes John Gaisford. Hoping to trump his rivals in the big race will be Chris Allsopp’s Ballymac Ace. The Monmore-based black
Cumnor climbed to the top of the MP Sports Cherwell League Division 1 table for the first time in the club’s history courtesy of a six-wicket win at Oxford & Bletchingdon Nondescripts. A partnership of 159 for the second wicket between skipper Sam Jones
BEDBLOCKING in Oxfordshire’s hospitals has got drastically worse in the past six months, new figures show. The Department of Health figures put the number of patients who were well enough to go home but couldn’t because the correct care was
Oxford Downs were knocked off the top of the MP Sports Cherwell League Division 1 table for the first time this season when they suffered a second successive defeat on Saturday – at home to Buckingham Town. Andrew Fletcher top-scored
AEA Technology 3.6 BMW 60.99 Electrocomponents 262 Nationwide Accident Repair 96.5 Oxford Biomedica 5.4 Oxford Catalysts 84 Oxford Instruments 895.5 Reed Elsevier 540.25 RM 154 RPS Group 242 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon
THE use (and misuse) of figures and league tables to hold our public services up to scrutiny is becoming an increasingly frustrating exercise. After Oxfordshire County Council contradicted the findings of its own report about the profit it is raking
BOATERS were splashing around in the Cherwell over the weekend to seek much needed relief from the baking hot sun. But their joy was set to be short lived with storms expected to hit Oxfordshire last night. Student Sam Adcock, 22, said
It was a film that sparked the great love affair between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Now Antony and Cleopatra is set to be brought to life in Oxford – the city which found great favour from the Hollywood legends who gave their names to the Burton
RESIDENTS warn they will “form a human blockade” to stop a major new housing development. People in Northway, Oxford, say the Barton West scheme of up to 1,200 homes, will “destroy the identity” of their area – and insist they don’t want to become an
An amazing 11 maximums were recorded in Riley Social Club’s 7-2 win at Goodlake Arms in the all-Premier clash. Ron Anderson put Rileys ahead when he defeated Dave Exell, but the home side levelled when Preben Krabben (2x180) got the better
REGARDING David Diment’s letter (Oxford Mail, June 17) concerning the bogus phone call he received about his “recent car accident”, I had a similar phone call – which is interesting, as I am not allowed to drive and never have done so. I made a note
I WOULD like to urge your readers to take the fundraising plunge for Cancer Research UK. I lost my mum, Marie, to cancer in 1998, so I know just how important it is to raise vital funds for the charity’s lifesaving research, and help more people to
AS A lifelong vegetarian, I applaud the efforts of the Dutch government to ban ritual slaughter, as this move represents a glimmer of decency in the murky and morally bankrupt world of meat production. However, it seems that Jews and Muslims have suddenly
I DO not think that there is such a thing as a ‘best bus driver award’ but, if there was, then Oxford bus driver, Richard Wigg should win this hands down, as this gentleman goes way and above the call of duty. We visited Oxford last Wednesday and took
IN recent decades successive governments have taken an increasingly market-driven approach to the provision of public services, which has meant a growing dependence on profit-driven companies rather than on public infrastructures paid for by all
Matthew Darley returned the remarkable figures of 4-1 to help Abingdon Vale 2nd thrash Sandford St Martin 2nd by 142 runs in Division 6 of the MP Sports CherwellLeague. Chris Butcher led the way with 51 not out, while Jordan Ford added 42 and Matt Chown
Tiddington thrashed Banbury 2nd by nine wickets to soar to the top of MP Sports Cherwell League Division 2 for the first time this season. Sam Hollingshead was the Tiddington hero, taking 5-36 as the visitors slumped to 114 all out. Their final score
Horspath 2nd crushed Cublington by eight wickets to supplant them at the top of Division 5 in the MP Sports Cherwell League. James Leggett and Paul Tomlinson made 53 apiece in Cublington’s 195 all out, Ceri Holmes taking 4-28. Joe Todd (45) and Adrian
Joe Cockroft took 6-29 and Chris Panter 4-21 as Wallingford were walloped by Shipton-under-Wychwood 2nd in Division 4 of the MP Sports Cherwell League. The hosts were rolled over for only 51 in reply to Shipton’s 159 all out, Tim Senior making 62 and
Kingston Bagpuize beat Oxford Downs 2nd by two wickets with three balls to spare in Division 2 of the MP Sports Cherwell League. Matthew Warner gave the Kingston the perfect start by taking 3-4 from his first seven overs, before going on to finish with
Oxfordshire face a long, hard slog if they are to avoid defeat to Devon in their Minor Counties Championship Western Division clash at Great & Little Tew today. They trailed Devon by 405 runs with nine wickets in hand when bad light stopped
The OSO’s season ended on Saturday with a pair of composers that, at first sight, appeared to have little to do with each other: the great Romantic composer Richard Strauss and his near-contemporary, the little-known Hungarian Miklós Rózsa. What linked
ABINGDON: A 59-year-old woman has appeared in court charged with slavery offences. Eileen Conners of Oaks Caravan Park, Abingdon, was arrested alongside two men after a police raid on a travellers’ site near Southampton on Friday. Yesterday
THE PARENTS of rare sextuplet babies have spoken about the “hardest and happiest” year of their lives. Vicky and Andy Lamb, from Abingdon, became the first parents in 17 years to give birth to six siblings in Britain. But only four of the babies would
The main point of interest at Burford Singers’ summer concert was the UK premiere of The Mission Chorales by former Beatles producer Sir George Martin. The seeds for this ten-minute work were sown back in the 1980s when Sir George wrote a series of sketches
Chris Wilder aims to steal a march on the opposition by ensuring his Oxford United players are in peak condition when they kick off their npower League Two campaign at Rotherham on August 6. As Oxford’s players returned for the first day
MYSTERY continued to surround the death of a top Tory official last night, as it was revealed his body may have lain undiscovered for up to 10 hours. Christopher Shale, 56, a close friend of David Cameron, was discovered slumped in a cubicle
UNION officials say they know of more than 30 schools that will fully or partially close because of teachers’ strikes on Thursday. Last night, negotiations between the Government and the National Union of Teachers and Association of Teachers and Lecturer
MONMORE trainer Chris Allsopp’s double handful in the £8,000 Betfair Pall Mall paid off handsomely as his second string Brittons Empire (6-1) caused a surprise in the big race at Oxford Stadium last night, writes John Gaisford. Allsopp’s other runner
INDIAN food, music and dance entertained members of Oxfordshire’s Hindu population in a summer Mela. More than 350 people attended the fete on Saturday at Sandhills Primary School in Terrett Avenue, Headington. This is the second year the fete has been
AN innovative project to take children at St John Fisher Catholic Primary out of the classroom to grow their own fruit and veg could be taken to a new level if it wins the School Build competition. Charity Roots Allotment has been working with the school
A COMMUNITY raising £80,000 to run its own “Big Society” youth club fears it will be held up by County Hall’s redundancy timetable. Wolvercote Youth Club’s funding will cease this September, a victim of Oxfordshire County Council cuts. The club’s trustees
The ‘Oxfordshire School of Futsal’ have put Oxfordshire firmly on the UK Futsal map. Their flagship team ‘The Oxford Lions’ playing under their previous name of ‘Passlona’ have progressed through to the FA Futsal Cup National Finals in July at the International
On Saturday 9th July, Dorchester Abbey will be ringing to the music of George Fredrick Handel, and the organisers have issued an open invitation to local singers to come and perform with them! Dorchester Abbey is one of Oxfordshire's premiere classical
