Archive

  • Runners at the ready to revive ‘estate mile’

    AN OLD Blackbird Leys tradition is to return, with help from hundreds of local children. The Blackbird Leys Mile, which took place in the 1980s and 90s, will see 500 residents running a route through the estate. It forms part of the Pegasus Olympics

  • Driver fled without paying for fuel

    A man suspected of driving off without paying for petrol in Banbury is being sought by police. Officers have released a CCTV image in an attempt to trace the man who drove off from Sainsbury’s in Oxford Road on April 24. The motorist had filled up a

  • Trio admit their links with garden centre burglary

    TWO women and a man have admitted assisting a burglary at Burford Garden Company. The trio, plus another woman on a separate charge, changed their pleas from not guilty to guilty on the second morning of their trial at Oxford Crown Court yesterday

  • City firm designs app for Cornbury extravaganza

    VISITORS to the Cornbury Music Festival can have an instant guide to events at their fingertips, thanks to an Oxford firm. Web design and digital marketing company Obergine, based in Park End Street, has designed an app for iPhone users which will allow

  • Gates open on some glorious village gardens

    NINE private gardens in Letcombe Regis will open to the public at the weekend. The village near Wantage is raising funds for St Andrew’s Church and entry is £5 for adults and free for accompanied children. The event runs from 2pm until 6pm on Sunday

  • Join gravel protesters in 'Murder by the Bunkline'

    CAMPAIGNERS in Wallingford want residents to jump on board their protest against gravel extraction, at a fundraising day of action. On Sunday, Communities Against Gravel Extraction (Cage) will join forces with the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway

  • Unusual attire for a recital at Covent Garden

    Still on matters musical, a question I have been meaning to raise for some months now concerns a curious practice of The Times relating to opera singers. They are reported to be giving ‘recitals’ of their roles. This occurs most weeks in the Saturday

  • Youngsters blow up a storm at Christ Church

    All involved in Sunday’s wonderful Jubilee concert at Christ Church by the county’s young musicians — and, of course, principally the youngsters themselves — deserve our heartiest thanks for such a spiffing evening. “What a pity the Queen isn’t here

  • Get writing on food and pocket £7,500

    Descriptions of food and drink can create unassailable hungers and unquenchable thirsts when the pen is in the hand of a master wordsmith such as Charles Dickens. The food he weaves into his novels also creates an aura of wealth and opulence or

  • The Stag & Huntsman, Hambleden

    Most people are familiar with the village of Hambleden, near Henley, even if they have never ventured within 50 miles of it. Its unspoilt brick and flint cottages, its church with lych gate and its village pump have supplied a backdrop to big budget

  • How Oxford grew in size and status

    That dangerous debunker and radical, William Cobbett (1763-1835), conducting his Rural Rides into Oxfordshire in the 1820s, spent much of his time denouncing exactly the same social changes that many grumpy old men enjoy complaining about now. During

  • Storage 24 and Joyful Noise

    The good old days when E.T. simply wanted to phone home are long gone. Now, if aliens descend on Earth, they don’t want to sit contentedly in the basket of a child’s bicycle and soar serenely across a perfect moonlit sky. Otherworldly visitors want to

  • Preview of Romeo and Juliet: Tomahawk Theatre, Oxford Castle

    Tomahawk Theatre, an Oxford company long noted for the high quality of its work, returns to the wonderful setting of the Oxford Castle courtyard next week for a new production of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the stage’s greatest tale

  • Cosi fan tutte: Opera Holland Park

    ‘The play is charming, and both men act their parts very well.” The comment from Don Alfonso (Nicholas Garrett) over the deception being practised by his friends Ferrando and Guglielmo on their respective girlfriends, the sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi

  • Democracy: The Old Vic

    Michael Frayn is a playwright with a name so instantly associated with the supply of entertainment that it appears on theatre billboards in the same size print as the title of the work being performed. At the Old Vic, last year’s hit production of his

  • Contemporary sculpture: Waddesdon Manor

    A giant House of Cards stands on the parterre at Waddesdon Manor. Its four sheets of steel lean one against the other, the precarious balancing act of American artist Richard Serra’s work sustained by weight and pressure alone. On the other

  • Far From the Madding Crowd: Birmingham Royal Ballet

    David Bintley has revived his ambitious danced version of Thomas Hardy’s novel Far from the Madding Crowd. It’s a country tale of passionate Bathsheba Everdene, and the three men who desire her: decent farm-hand Gabriel Oak, rich, obsessive William

  • The Parson's Pirates: Cornerstone, Didcot

    With Opera della Luna, you have to expect the unexpected — and that was certainly true with director Jeff Clarke’s inventive recreation of The Pirates of Penzance. This is a revival of an early company production, and although not quite as cleverly reworked

  • Oxford Philomusica: Christ Church

    ‘And the band played on . . .” — OK, this is actually from the Titanic, but the phrase popped into my head on Saturday night as the heavens opened and the Oxford Philomusica played resolutely on, with conductor Marios Papadopoulos managing to appear blissfully

  • Kiri Ti Kanawa: Christ Church

    Massive stacks of loudspeakers, two giant screens, and a big covered stage: it looked like the setting for a pop concert. And pop concert is a good description of the first of Christ Church's Jubilee Concerts in Tom Quad, for there are few more popular

  • The Mikado: Boarstall Tower

    By no stretch of the imagination does Boarstall Tower look as if it’s a Japanese pagoda. But on a lovely, sunlit evening, its glowing stonework provided a beautiful backdrop to an outdoor performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado — mounted as part

  • Oranges on the Brain: Pegasus Theatre

    On our arrival at the Pegasus, the front of house staff gave everyone an orange with the instruction “do whatever you want with it”. So with curiosity well and truly raised, we settled down to watch Delirum Theatre Company’s Oranges on the Brain. Joe

  • Made in Heaven: North Wall Arts Centre

    Made in Heaven is easy to understand at the start. As we file into the theatre, Eleanor Duval is sleeping on the stage. She continues for 10 minutes, her restful pose increasingly punctuated by spasms of frenetic twitching. She is dreaming. Eventually

  • Katya Kabanova: Longborough Festival Opera

    Between Mozart’s The Magic Flute and the mid-July opening of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung — the fourth and final step on a remarkable journey towards next year’s complete Ring cycle — Longborough this week offers a thrilling, sometimes emotionally

  • The Real Thing: Oxford Playhouse

    Henry is in a bit of a fix. A successful playwright, he has been invited to appear on Desert Island Discs, but doesn’t know much about any sort of music: luckily the girl in his life, Annie, is able to disabuse him of the idea that Bach pinched

  • Local shares (PM)

    AEA Technology 0.2 BMW 4325 Electrocomponents 199.8 Nationwide Accident Repair 63 Oxford Biomedica 2.4 Oxford Catalysts 56.8 Oxford Instruments 1221.5 Reed Elsevier 491.9 RM 75 RPS Group 204.4 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

  • Solar farm shares for sale

    A share offer which allows people to buy a stake in a solar “power station” at Watchfield was launched by Wantage MP Ed Vaizey. Hundreds of people from across the UK attended the launch which was part of an energy and sustainability fair held at Westmill

  • Ben Hur: The Watermill Theatre, Bagnor, near Newbury

    ‘Can this cockpit hold the vasty fields of France?” The question posed by the Chorus in Henry V might be framed, with other locations, to cover the challenges faced by Patrick Barlow throughout his theatrical career. As one half of the National

  • Cheeky monkeys tea party a hit with all ages

    CHILDREN sang fun animal songs, danced and marched as a Cheeky Monkeys tea party got under way. About 40 children, from babies to three-year-olds, and their parents and grandparents took part in the National Childbirth Trust event at the Children’s Centre

  • Waste burner could heat homes

    HOMES and businesses in Bicester could have something in common with properties in Copenhagen – they could be heated from an incinerator. Talks are continuing to use heat produced from the planned Ardley incinerator, run by waste firm Viridor

  • Artist stages first solo exhibition in her home city

    OXFORD artist Jenny Saville has opened her first solo UK exhibition in her home city. The exhibition will run at Modern Art Oxford, Pembroke Street, and the Ashmolean, Beaumont Street, until September 16. It features Red Stare Head I

  • Thursday, June 28: £15 off a Fire and Ice medical facial

    AS part of our giveaways to celebrate The Oxford Times' 150th anniversary, we are offering a discount at three skincare clinics. Get Thursday's edition of The Oxford Times for the voucher that will enable you to have £15 off a Fire & Ice medical facial

  • Parking fines remain unpaid in signs dispute

    ELEVEN parking fines, dished out in the months after a council introduced controversial new fees, have still not been paid despite being chased by bailiffs. Last April Cherwell District Council put up parking fees and fines, introduced new

  • OAPs stuck as transport charity folds

    A Banbury community transport service has closed, leaving about 100 OAPs and disabled users stuck for buses. Banburyshire Community Transport Association (BCTA) shut on Friday after two decades serving Cherwell residents. Bosses said

  • Thursday, June 28: Book of the month - Gold by Chris Cleave

    JULY'S Book Club book of the month is Gold and you can get it for half price at Waterstone's. Author Chris Cleave has produced a cracking novel about the world of track cycling and the pressure top athletes come under as they prepare to compete on the

  • Olympics costs ‘set to hit £8bn’

    OXFORD: A study by Oxford University has shown that the 2012 London Olympics will be most expensive games yet held. Researchers at the Said Business School, in Frideswide Square, say they expect the games will cost £8.4bn in real terms, twice the initial

  • OAP in gas alert

    OXFORD: A 90-year-old woman was taking to hospital yesterday after inhaling gas at her home in Headington. Fire crews were called to the property in Headley Way shortly before 12.30pm and turned off the gas at the mains. She was taken to the John

  • University open days bring traffic warning

    THOUSANDS of prospective university students will descend on Oxford today and tomorrow as Oxford University stages two open days. Similar events in recent years have led to traffic problems around the city. The university has urged those coming to

  • Developing ideas to help Afghans rebuild

    AN OXFORD company director has travelled to the war-damaged capital of Afghanistan to help plan its regeneration and future development. Zaki Ghiacy, of Botley-based property and construction consultants McBains Cooper, has just returned from a fact-finding

  • CRICKET: Tew in scouting mission

    GREAT & Little Tew skipper Andy Harris hopes a scouting mission will pay off when they travel to Gloucestershire for their first national round clash in the Yorkshire Tea Village Cup on Sunday. Last Sunday, they watched Applerley beat Corse & Staunton

  • Man abused and harassed woman

    A pensioner who harassed his cleaner has been ordered to pay her compensation. Peter Bareham was sentenced at Oxford Magistrates’ Court last week having earlier been convicted of harassment. Ann Sawyer-Brandish, prosecuting, said the

  • Local shares (AM)

    AEA Technology 0.2 BMW 4308 Electrocomponents 198.5 Nationwide Accident Repair 63 Oxford Biomedica 2.35 Oxford Catalysts 56.5 Oxford Instruments 1219.5 Reed Elsevier 487.4 RM 75 RPS Group 204.9 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

  • Man charged with GBH after incident outside shops

    Police have charged a 27-year-old man with causing grievous bodily harm with intent following an incident outside shops in Peachcroft Road, Abingdon. A 30-year-old man suffered cracked ribs and an injury to his ear after the incident on Sunday, June

  • CRICKET: Rowant’s rapid ground work bags award

    ASTON Rowant’s creation of a new ground in five months has seen them receive The Cricketer magazine’s G&M Club of the Month award. Rowant’s second ground is now up and running, next to their original facility, after a farmer’s field was levelled. The

  • Man arrested on teen sex assault

    A 40-year-old man has been arrested after a sexual assault on a teenage girl in Oxford. The victim was walking along a footpath off Barns Road, near Blackbird Leys bridge, at about 6.30pm on Monday when she was attacked. She was approached by a man

  • Mourners say farewell to 'lion-hearted' priest

    HUNDREDS of people gathered in East Oxford to mourn a “lion-hearted” priest who led the city’s Indian Punjabi Christian movement for nearly 50 years. The Rev Masih Dass Gill died on Saturday, June 9, at the age of 90 after suffering with a

  • OLYMPICS: Hatti hoping to make a big splash in Helsinki

    HATTI Archer has a final chance to make the Olym-pics in this week’s European Championships in Helsinki. The former Radley athlete finished second in the Olympic Trials for the 3,000m steeplechase at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium on Sunday, but did

  • Union leader expects hundreds at march

    In yesterday's edition we reported on a union protest march due to take place in Oxford. City council leader Bob Price said he had been told up to 10,000 people would turn up for the march on Saturday, July 14. It is expected that the

  • AUNT SALLY: Baker and Adams make pairs semis

    Favourites Kevin Baker and Philip Adams (Cricketers) powered into the Greene King Oxford & District League's pairs semi-finals without dropping a leg, writes ANDY BEAL. They recorded 2-0 wins over Graham Hambridge and Gary Pether (Bullnose

  • CRICKET: Quick wickets dent Oxford University's bid

    OXFORD University lost three wickets in five second-innings balls as their bid to win the Varsity Match suffered a setback in The Parks yesterday. Going into day three with the visitors resuming on 129-3, the Dark Blues took wickets at regular intervals

  • Fashioning a fine future in the rag trade

    STUDENTS were strutting their stuff on the catwalk this week to celebrate the end of their college year. Fashion students at Oxford & Cherwell Valley College presented work at a special show for family and friends. Among them was Lucy Treadwell, above

  • Ambulance trust also looking for a partner

    AN AMBULANCE service which covers part of Oxfordshire is looking to merge with a foundation trust. The Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust, which covers the part of Oxfordshire roughly west of Faringdon, is going through the process of merging

  • NHS trust takeover will put jobs at risk

    A HOSPITAL trust which cares for people with learning disabilities across Oxfordshire looks set to be taken over by a Southampton-based NHS trust. This could lead to job losses at the Oxfordshire Learning Disabilities NHS Trust, but the trust

  • CRICKET: Lashings stars set for Oxford

    PHIL DeFreitas is promising a fun day when he brings his Lashings World XI to Oxford next week. DeFreitas will captain the famed former players’ side in two Twenty20 matches at Magdalen College School where he is the cricket professional on

  • Still producing cars to be proud of

    THE unveiling of the Alec Issigonis Way road sign (Friday’s Oxford Mail) was a great day for all those with an interest in Alec Issigonis and his designs. I would like to thank Goodman, the park developers at the Oxford Business Park North, for their

  • Inefficiency adds to bills

    No wonder our utility bills frequently rise without us being aware of increased costs. Recent examples of two of our largest utility companies operating inefficiently only add pounds to our bills. British Gas, which operates my electricity account,

  • Money wasted decimating roadside flowers

    It is such a pity that in these days of slashed budgets councils still prioritise the decimation of flora on roadside verges around Oxfordshire. In Chilton a flourishing colony of pyramidal orchids has recently been eradicated and a thick mulch

  • A tad early for Christmas?

    WOULD it be so critical of me to think that Christmas Markets Extravaganza (Reader Travel Offers, Friday’s Oxford Mail) was just a tad too early? We have just had the longest day of the year – mind you, where has the summer gone? Christmas already

  • Barton bypass schemes had nothing in common

    DERRICK Holt (Monday’s Oxford Mail ViewPoints) is quite wrong to suggest that Thomas Sharp’s proposed road north of Barton (outlined in Oxford Replanned, 1948) bore any resemblance to the so-called Barton bypass from the then Conservative Government’s

  • CRICKET: Rain has final say as Oxfordshire clash is washed out

    LESS than two hours of play were possible on the final day as Oxfordshire’s Western Division match with Dorset fizzled out in an unsatisfactory draw. The game, which had the entire first day’s play washed out, was halted at 12.20pm. The teams watched

  • Time to think of insects

    Over the past month I have enjoyed seeing bees and other insects thriving on the thousands of clover flowers that have flourished on the communal grass areas of Shilton Park in Carterton. It was therefore so sad to see West Oxfordshire District Council

  • Money down the drain

    HORSPATH Parish Council, having spent several years talking about draining the village burial ground, recently spent several thousand pounds having the area drained. Despite this expenditure, I found on a recent visit to the burial ground that the end

  • THE DISABLED SPACE: Transport is not an equal experience

    You know the word ‘public’? Well, I googled a dictionary definition. It reads: ‘for the community as a whole; open to all persons’. So you get the idea. Now add the word transport and it all changes if you have a disability. I have been burning the

  • Johnson facing early Oxford United rematch

    OLI Johnson is set to face Oxford United in the opening month of the npower League Two season after signing for York City. The 24-year-old was not offered a new contract by the U’s when his short-term deal expired last month. But the former Norwich

  • £180,000 boost for ovarian cancer project

    TWO Oxford University researchers have been given nearly £180,000 for their work on ovarian cancer research. Target Ovarian Cancer is presenting Dr Ahmed Ashour Ahmed and Prof Stefan Knapp with £179,997 for their research proposal. It will investigate

  • CRICKET: Moore’s moment in the spotlight

    A SCHOOLBOY seized an opportunity to impress for Oxfordshire with both hands after taking two catches while on as a substitute against Dorset, writes DAVID PRITCHARD Ryan Moore was given the chance to accumulate some valuable experience after Ian Crosby

  • Five generations help Hetty celebrate her 100th birthday

    IT takes a special occasion to bring together five generations of a big family. And they don’t get much more important than celebrating a matriarch’s 100th birthday. Henrietta ‘Hetty’ Corbett, who swears that doing a daily crossword has kept yer young

  • Drayton parents overturn refusal of free school bus

    PARENTS at an Abingdon school who protested after council leaders cut their children’s free bus travel have won their appeal. Oxfordshire County Council stopped the free service from Drayton to John Mason School in January when the three-mile journey

  • COMMENT: Parents want reassurance

    The number of crimes reported on school grounds will worry parents as much as they clearly worry headteachers. It is important to stress these are reported crimes and it is unclear how many were substantiated. However, they give an indication of the

  • Victims of flats fire to return before Christmas

    A BLOCK of Didcot flats gutted by fire on Good Friday will get a £400,000 refit so that housing association tenants can move back in time for Christmas. Dozens of people were forced to leave the block in Venners Water on the Ladygrove estate

  • COMMENT: Glorious return

    IT was great to see Cassington Bike Night return after a year’s break. The 2011 event was cancelled due as new requirements for road closures could not be dealt with in time. Too often red tape scuppers community events. But the bike night is a great

  • Town councillors to think again about sports ground

    A DECISION on the future of a sports ground in Witney could be made in October, councillors have said. Witney Town Council has a policy of selling West Witney Sports Ground in Burford Road to fund new facilities across the town. But a change in leadership

  • Bike Night attracts thousands of riders

    A NORMALLY-peaceful Oxfordshire village was taken over by the smell of petrol and the sound of roaring engines. Thousands of bikers, and their machines of all shapes and sizes, descended on Cassington on Monday for the annual bike night.