Archive

At first, I thought it might be a mirage… but, no,it really has been transformed. From bland to sand, a hidden oasis has sprung up in the courtyard outside Oxford’s sausage HQ. With 23 tonnes of golden sand, stripy deckchairs and palms blowing

Gig guy Matt Ayres on what our local bands are up to.... A gig on Saturday at the Hollybush Inn in Osney will raise money for the future of Wittstock Festival, an annual music event that raised nearly £2000 for local charities earlier this year

I did not imagine that the Grass Roots Stadium in Tring, Hertfordshire would be the venue for my first pre-season game this year. But it was. I was playing for Hendon, a part-time club from the Ryman Premier Division. I haven’t signed for

WITH its dreaming spires and educational prosperity, on the surface Oxford may appear to be a wealthy city full of people living rich lives. But some of the estates are among the most deprived in the country. Many people are known to be struggling

This weekend has produced the most singularly disappointing news in the world of athletics. Two of the greatest names of the last decade – maybe even the sport’s history – Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay, have failed drugs tests. Among my fellow

Richard Wilson looks at what is heading to the stage in the world of amateur dramatics Those of you looking for a theatre fix would be advised to book tickets now – August seems to be the month when every am dram group takes a well-earned break

While one welcomes the appointment of an inquiry into the infamous student blocks in Roger Dudman Way, pictured, it has to be asked as to how independent the working party will be. Three of the group are leading councillors and the Civic Society and

May I say how great the Wantage Market Place looks. Whoever arranges the flower baskets deserves a well-earned round of applause. Dick Brown, Charlton Road, Wantage  

I’ve just finished reading Jeff Clements’s remarkable book Remembered, the stories of the men on the war memorials of Witney, Crawley and Hailey. It was very moving to find out just what happened to the local men who died in the Great War. I warmly

I am writing concerning the Oxford City Council’s planning and housing policy scandal. Councillor Bob Price (‘This won’t meet needs, July 12) and Councillor Mary Clarkson (ViewPoints, July 12) fail to understand the impact of the council’s short-sighted

IT beggars belief: we are in the 20th century, and what I would like to know is, why aren’t there any toilets in South Parks? There are always loads of people, students, and more, who use the park when the weather is nice. Thousands of people go

NEW county councillor Nick Hards, pictured, must already be quite fed up with life at county hall. But it’s not the fact that cuts are set to rise to total more than £200m which will be making the Labour councillor grumpy. At a cabinet meeting

I WAS reading in the Oxford Mail, right, about Bicester’s new town. Good luck to the people of Bicester and the surrounding area. I just wish some of their luck would rub off on the residents of Kidlington. The new Bicester revamp is a joint venture

I WAS astonished to read Jeremy Smith’s criticism of transport between Oxford and Bicester, where he makes no mention of the excellent rail service. This is considerably faster and more comfortable than any bus. While there may be only 11 trains

I am writing concerning the Shores Green project. Before the Campaign to Protect Rural England and their cohorts get too excited in their orgy of self-congratulation, perhaps they should road test their own proposal. Many drivers who would use any

Fret-shredding guitar licks, bluesy rhythmic grooves and a gravel-gargling vocalist. Three elements that collide to make one of Oxford’s most dynamic underground bands, Desert Storm. On the surface, this Botley-based five-piece are as metal as they

ANYONE who has been to the opera at Bampton’s glorious Deanery garden will almost certainly have succumbed to its Glyndebourne-esque charm. What is extraordinary about Bampton Opera is that in a couple of decades it has grown from an amateur group

Last weekend I was in Cambridge (boo, hiss) for a party, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt so hot and harassed. By noon on Saturday I was sweating like a panda in a sauna. Trinity Street, home to two of the grandest colleges, had become a slow-moving

For some weeks now, a ribbon of stone chippings has been slowly advancing from Wolvercote towards Oxford alongside the railway tracks which link the city with Banbury and Worcester. It may not be much to look at now but this project to reinstate

Welcome to our fortnightly feature on amateur dramatics in Oxfordshire with me, RICHARD WILSON. There are a wealth of talented theatre groups in the county and we intend to give you the lowdown on what they have in store. Any groups who would like

Jon Treanor has been in business for more than 35 years in a career that has taken different directions. Currently the entrepreneur and former top boss of Oxford-based computer hardware firm Celoxica heads a successful business, the Mindfulness

A MAJOR business win has led an Oxford firm to relocate and quadruple its workforce. Information technology security specialist Quadsys is the first in the country to be named a Sophos Gold Solution Partner. The new partnership allows the company

PRIME Minister David Cameron has given his seal of approval to a new, state-of-the-art green building in his Witney constituency. Mr Cameron officially opened the headquarters of Polythene UK in Station Lane, Witney, which has a range of green

BELINDA Allan, who helped establish the Refugee Studies Centre of the University of Oxford, has passed away, aged 77. Born Belinda Keown on June 17, 1936 in Hampstead, London, she attended Benenden School in Kent. From school she went straight

OXFORD has the potential to overtake Cambridge as a global centre for hi-tech business. That is the opinion of top academic Professor Peter Dobson who believes the city and county in general has a winning combination of world class universities

TWO budding entrepreneurs have snapped up a chance to sell their products thanks to an Oxford company that is teaching business skills to young people. Liam Munt, 18, and Nicola Hall, 16, both traded from their own stall at Gloucester Green Market

SHE travelled the world, studied archaeology at Yale and even claimed she once performed an emergency tracheotomy while taking a doctor’s instructions over the phone. Cassandra Barrington-Harness, wife, socialist and archaeologist, died on July

WHEN Barbara Shaw began volunteering at her local Citizens Advice Bureau in Witney 18 years ago, she never imagined she would end up running the place. Now, as chief executive of west Oxfordshire and Banbury branches she manages 40 paid staff and

THIS artist’s impression shows what Didcot Parkway railway station will look like when a £7.7m revamp has been completed. Work on the 15-month project to transform the station began in September last year. The scheme to transform the forecourt

HI-TECH engineering firm Williams Advanced Engineering has been given a cash boost for its groundbreaking technology. The Grove-based business that commercialises Formula 1-based technologies is developing one of 30 green energy projects that will

THE number of apprenticeship vacancies in Oxfordshire is outstripping available candidates, latest figures have revealed. While the number of 16 to 18-year-olds starting apprenticeships has continued to increase in the county despite a national

AN AWARD-WINNING youth football coach and BBC Sports Personality of the Year nominee has died. Richard Owen lost his battle with cancer on July 4. He was 71. He died peacefully at home in Wallingford. His daughter Louise, 44, said: “He

CHARLIE Ede, widely regarded as Mr Oxfordshire Rugby for more than 30 years, has died aged 85. Mr Ede worked and lived in Oxford, owning 14 Windsor Fish and Chip shops around the area, which enabled him to indulge in his real passion which was

The Australian musician Chris Latham travelled to Oxford last week in a pilgrimage to one of his country’s most romantic war heroes. Frederick Septimus Kelly, who died attacking a German machine gun emplacement in the last days of the Somme campaign

Strictly Oxford is back on Sunday, bigger and better than ever before. More brave local celebrities and dignitaries, including our very own MD Shamus Donald, don their dancing shoes in aid of Vale House, a local care home for Alzheimer’s and dementia

Hadley Freeman is a strange hybrid in many ways, not least because she’s an American living in England, but also because she’s a journalist who fell into fashion. Talking about both of these conundrums when she visits Blackwells next Thursday, the

Writer Laurence Marks tells MATT OLIVER about the inspiration and the serious issues behind his new play In the 1960s Britain was caught in a moment of infectious optimism and cultural revolution. The country had finally emerged from the grasp

Macky's tasty nuggets of foodie news from around Oxfordshire Popped into the new-look Oxford Wine Cafe, formerly the Summertown Wine Cafe, last week and it’s different but the same. Less French and relaxed, maybe, less squashy sofas, more contemporary

THE queen of Middle Eastern cuisine, the noble kebab gets a bad rap. While the chattering classes wax lyrical about Spanish, Indian and Thai cuisine, the crowning culinary glory of the Eastern Mediterranean is haughtily dismissed by foodies as

An interesting menu and good food impress HUW FULLERTON during an ‘express’ dining experience at a new city restaurant THE new Roosters Piri Piri in Gloucester Green is a blatant take on Nandos, and one that’s spreading all over the country like

MY name can never be revealed. I was trained as a chef in a top secret government facility and sent out to the corporate high street restaurants. I promptly escaped from this maximum security stockade to the cheffing underground, known today as the

Festival   TRUCK Hill Farm, Steventon Friday-Saturday Weekend camping tickets are £78.15 incl booking fee from truckfestival.com   It’s not just Oxfordshire’s best festival of

One man's view of starting up his own restaurant - this week: St Giles' Cafe An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more that he can chew, hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it” – Roy Ash. The opening of the new St Giles’ Café is the

We theatrical types can be a superstitious lot, and one of the most common things to be wary of is to not utter the name of “the Scottish play” inside a theatre, for fear of invoking bad luck. So it’s a good job that Tomahawk Theatre’s upcoming

Farmer Alan Binning tells TIM HUGHES about preparations for this year’s homegrown event ALAN Binning is a busy man. For most of the year he is a farmer, tending 350 head of cattle and 500 acres of pasture, wheat and barley. But for one weekend

A CONTROVERSIAL application to build 160 homes in south Abingdon has prompted renewed calls to improve the A34. Vale of White Horse District Council’s head of planning Adrian Duffield refused the application in January on several grounds, primarily

A MAN who admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply has avoided jail after claiming he was only a “custodian” of the drugs. Clive White, of Samphire Road, Blackbird Leys, was caught in possession of an amount of the Class B drug worth

OXFORD MAGISTRATES GARY WEBB, 49, of Cotman Close, Abingdon, admitted causing criminal damage worth £1,132.54 to four car tyres in Abingdon on May 25. Fined £183 and told to pay £359.85 compensation, a £20 victims’ surcharge and £85 costs.

A BICESTER branch of a pizza takeaway chain is set to become the second in the country to get a licence to deliver alcohol with food. Dominos Pizza, in Buckingham Road, was granted the alcohol licence by Cherwell District Council and said it would

Inform-Educate-Entertain is the manifesto of this special band. Tim Hughes reports An air raid siren goes off. A giant TV screen shows grainy newsreel footage of bombed-out houses and blazing anti-aircraft guns, and against a backdrop of pounding

Singer-songwriter Ags Connolly talks to MATT AYRES ahead of his appearances at a string of festivals around Oxfordshire and beyond Country music has made a remarkable comeback in recent years – pop singers like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood

HAILING from San Francisco, folk-rock duo Two Gallants have acquired cult status with their melodic blend of the fast and furious, and heartachingly lovely. Making their name with 2004 debut The Throes, Adam Stephens (guitar) and Tyson Vogel (drums

WHILE bands and fans head down to join the fun at Truck this weekend, a select bunch of artists will pitch up in a pub garden for an altogether more intimate gathering. Taking place at the Isis Farmhouse, beside the Thames at Iffley Lock, Oxford

AFTER getting the acting bug at Abingdon School, Edward Rowett has had his comic turns praised by BAFTA, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Mr Rowett, 25, grew up in Botley and, after attending New College School and Abingdon School

BUILDING firms have given Didcot’s street fair an early Christmas present — a £10,000 sponsorship deal. The consortium of builders for the 3,300-home Great Western Park estate — Taylor Wimpey, David Wilson and Persimmon Homes — will be the headline

The man who has taken over Reed’s hardware shop in Wantage has returned to the town where he grew up. Ian Mead, 48, was born in Wantage, went to Charlton County Primary and Icknield School, but has since moved to Northampton. He has taken over

FINLAY Woodward is enjoying the summer playing in a makeshift beach at a county garden centre. The two-year-old goes to Frosts Garden Centre at Millets Farm in Frilford every Tuesday with grandparents Michael and Susan Woodward, of Drayton.

MICHAEL Palin’s biggest fan couldn’t believe her luck when she won the Oxford Mail’s competition to meet the Monty Python star on Tuesday. Heather Morris, from Old Marston, was “over the moon” when she heard that she had been picked to meet Mr

Well, since I last wrote, the weather has perked up rather; it’s been positively balmy. I was lucky to have a week staying in a beach hut down in Dorset. No computer, no phone, no car or TV for a week. It was very relaxing indeed. When I came back

Great music, nice venue, lovely weather - amazing cause. Tim Hughes finds every reason to love this charity show... The Kids are Alright Said Business School, Oxford Saturday, July 13 Robin Bennett, frontman of country-rock

As the phrase goes ‘one swallow doesn’t make a summer’, because the swallow is just one of a troop of aerial acrobats performing above our heads, and subconsciously telling us that British summertime has well and truly arrived. The sight of the year

Superstore Champers Recently Aldi sent out a press briefing announcing the success of their Veuve Monsigny Brut No.3 Champagne. Images of VIP personalities sipping it at Summer Rites Pride in the Park 2013, graced my email. Curious, I thought .

FOUR STARS The most gripping crime dramas often revel in the minutiae and onerous procedures of police work. No screeching car chases or last-gasp races against time to unmask the least likely suspect as a killer, but instead quiet, intense hours

Catch the Truck It’s not just Oxfordshire’s best festival of rock, pop, country and alternative music, but one of the best-loved music events in the country. Truck has been a fixture in the diary of local music scene fans since the late 90s, and

A CRIMINAL who was locked up for contempt of court after telling a judge to shut up, then was thrown out of his own appeal for asking for a sandwich, has had his conviction quashed by top judges. Henry McGrath, 57, pictured, of no fixed abode,

TELEPHONE company British Telecom has said sorry after putting the wrong coloured cash machine in a central Oxford street. The company has replaced the gold and red cash machine and payphone in Cornmarket. The problem was that the machine was a

All obituaries of Alan Whicker mentioned Monty Python’s spoof, Whicker Island (above) — though there was less uniformity over the age of the deceased, most newspapers saying he was 87 rather than the correct 91, as reported in The Times. But none of

JOHN Read was an expert model maker. He had been making models all his life – one of the first models he made in his native South Wales was a miner’s lamp, part of which was the top of an old cocoa tin. This picture, taken in 1973 at his home in

HUGE crowds turned out in Oxford to pay tribute to Queen Victoria when she died on January 22, 1901 after a 64-year reign. News of her death had arrived in the city by telegram and quickly spread through the packed streets. Our sister paper

Firm that keeps on trucking FOLLOWING your article about the origins of H Tuckwell & Sons, the Oxford haulage contractors (Memory Lane, December 17, 2011), I enclose this picture which your readers may find interesting. It shows a trailer

Lifestyles Gym staff in Wallingford will be rowing the length of the Channel in 24 hours starting tomorrow to raise cash for Helen and Douglas House. The 560km challenge in Market Square starts at 9am and should finish on Saturday at 9am. To donate

Brain injury charity Headway Oxfordshire is looking for fundraisers to take part in a London to Brighton Cycle Challenge. The charity is asking participants to raise a minimum of £100 to take part in the event on Sunday, September 8. Call the

TEACHERS joined young actors for a lively rendition of Oom Pah Pah at West Witney Primary School’s production of Oliver! Pupils of all ages took to the stage in the production on Tuesday and yesterday. Luke Keenan, 11, from Witney, who played

A CITY pub was sold for too high a price, council planners said, as they urged an inquiry to throw out plans to turn it into flats. Saxonville Ltd this week argued Oxford City Council was wrong to reject its plans for six flats at the former Maroon

On a sunny Sunday in July 1976 — a day similar in many respects to the Sunday just passed — I first made the acquaintance of the remarkable John Otway. The location was the Boot, Stonesfield, a pub that will never be forgotten by those privileged to

Picture 1 Baton-twirling majorettes brightened up Saturday shopping when they put on a display in the town centre in 1986. The girls aged from five to 14 ran through some of their spectacular routines outside the town hall to attract people inside

BROWNIES decided to do something special for other people to celebrate their diamond jubilee. So they presented four pictures to Wantage Hospital in 1974 to brighten up the hospital’s new day room. Members of the 2nd Grove pack are seen with

THE Wild West arrived in Kidlington in 1981 at a Country and Western fete at Exeter Hall. Apart from a Wild West show, the crowds were treated to static displays and sideshows, including target shooting by members of the Air Training Corps.

THE Egyptian guards proved to be tough customers for Moses when he tried to save the Israelites from slavery, so the Old Testament story goes. So these youngsters, above, from Carswell School, Abingdon, put on a suitably aggressive front when they

St Giles’ Café 52 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU 01865 554200 stgilescafe.com Mark Butcher knew that taking on an Oxford institution like the St Giles Café would have to be handled with the diplomacy of Max Clifford’s PR. Right up there with

From dressing up as the latest big-name pop star, donning ye olde Victorian garb, to rattling your pom-poms in a short skirt: there aren’t many costumes that have been rejected by Oxfordshire citizens as being ‘too silly’. But as it’s all in a good

At last summer has arrived. It’s time to eat al fresco — but remember as the temperatures rise, so do the cases of food poisoning. The risk of salmonella in chicken may be greatly reduced now, but campylobacter, which is one of the main causes of diarrhoea

CHILDREN from the Celia Benson School of Ballet entertained parents and friends with their production of The Snow Queen in 1986. The performance took place at Botley Primary School, Oxford, and the 30 young dancers taking part chose to give the

BARRY Lacey enjoyed every minute of his 37-year career in the RAF. Now, as a member of the Oxford and district branch of the Royal Air Forces’ Association, he is helping to support less fortunate fellow servicemen and women and their dependants

Picture 1 Members of the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service held a party to mark their 20th anniversary in 1986. The branch had 65 volunteers who made sure elderly people in the area received their meals on wheels. At that time, they delivered hot meals

THESE girls became the first to break into the ranks of the Air Training Corps in Oxfordshire. The girls were enrolled as members of the 2210 (Cowley) Squadron by Flight Lieutenant Angela Hallam in 1986. The ceremony took place at the squadron

FIVE STARS The Old Vic’s 2011 revival of a play very different in character from that reviewed here (click here) — Michael Frayn’s comedy Noises Off — brought the theatre company its biggest box office hit and first transfer to the West End.

THE opening of the Pressed Steel Social and Athletic Club sports ground at Cowley was a grand civic occasion. The mayor of Oxford, William C Walker, was among a host of dignitaries who attended the ceremony off Horspath Road in April 1953.

FIVE STARS   Hooray for this glorious weather, not least because it provides a welcome respite to the Oxford Shakespeare Company after several years of being thoroughly rained on during their productions. On a sunlit evening in the gardens

THE cry went up: “And God bless all who ride in her!”... It wasn’t quite the traditional ceremony of the Queen or other member of the Royal family smashing a bottle of Champagne on the bow of a ship before it sets sail on its maiden voyage. But

FOUR STARS Among many top-notch performances to be enjoyed on the London stage at present, that of Kim Cattrall, in the Old Vic’s welcome revival (director Marianne Elliott) of Tennessee Williams’s Sweet Bird of Youth, is worthy of particular attention

CELEBRITY chef Rick Stein was given a warm welcome in Oxford when he signed copies of his new book about India. The book, Rick Stein’s India, accompanies his latest TV series in which he journeys around the country in search of the perfect curry

A FORMER senior law lecturer at Oxford Brookes University used his office computer to download thousands of indecent pictures of children. Nicholas Goddard , formerly of Church Road, Chipping Norton, avoided jail after his defence barrister said

An exhibition on proposals for the South Newington conservation area has been postponed until September. The exhibition was due to take place today at South Newington Village Hall. The conservation area gives extra protection to buildings and

BANBURY United will host Chippenham Town in the opening fixture of their Calor League Premier Division campaign on Saturday, August 17. The Puritans face a trip to Hemel Hempstead Town on Boxing Day and are at home to Stourbridge on New Year’s

Five teenage girls have been arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery and assault on a pizza delivery driver and another man. The driver, 26, was treated in hospital after a bottle was smashed over his head at the junction of Kenilworth Avenue

A man who exposed himself to two teenage girls at Port Meadow is being hunted by police. Two girls aged 15 and 16 were sitting at Port Meadow near the river when they were approached by a man on Sunday, July 7, between 5.30pm and 7.30pm. He

Teenagers from three schools will get to design their own rugby shirts and see them professionally produced. Canterbury, the official kit supplier to England Rugby, will run workshops with students from John Mason and Fitzharrys schools in Abingdon

YOUNGSTER Eva Van Rijn, right, read a Spot story to her four-year-old sister Seren , left, at a teddy bear’s picnic. The siblings hid from the heat under a gazebo with teddy bears and other families at the Rose Hill and Littlemore Children’s Centre

South Oxfordshire Amateurs added their name to the list of British sporting success over Australia this month, with a 41-run victory over the touring Melbourne XXIX Club at Queen’s College ground, Oxford. In a 35-overs match played in sweltering

AN Asian food chain is planning to fill an empty unit in Oxford’s main shopping street. Itsu will be opening its first branch outside London in the site in Cornmarket, which until March was occupied by budget book shop The Works. The company

OXFORDSHIRE residents have been warned they must take care in the heat after the Met Office upgraded its heatwave warning across the UK. The Met Office yesterday placed Oxfordshire under a level 3 health warning. This is only one notch below

NICOLA Sanders is the star name at the British Milers’ Club meeting at Iffley Road on Saturday. The World Indoor Championship gold medallist will compete in the 800m at an event which has become part of the Nike Grand Prix. Last year saw 150

A pensioner died at Oxford’s John Radcliffe hospital after choosing to have “risky” surgery, an inquest into her death at County Hall heard yesterday. Mary McVey, 91, of Royal Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire, died on December 20 last year, hours after

A MAN who threatened to cut his victim’s throat and put him in hospital has been handed a suspended sentence. William Lee, known as Billy Lee, of White Horse, Uffington, was convicted at Oxford Magistrates’ Court of a public order offence and was

A WOMAN claimed thousands in benefits despite her husband receiving more than £100,000 in a will, a court heard. Patricia Walker, 33, of Mays Close, Fritwell, near Bicester, claimed housing and council tax benefits worth £6,207.91, but failed to

JK ROWLING has caused another literary stir after being exposed as the author behind a new crime novel. But like any author of a thriller she should have known it is usually the fingerprints that give the mystery away. And it was Ms Rowling

PRIME Minister and Witney MP David Cameron has chosen two West Oxfordshire churches as his favourites. He was taking part in a campaign by the National Churches Trust which asked 60 public figures to choose their favourite churches to mark its

A 30 million-year-old fossil has revealed how suckerfish evolved the sucker that enables them to stick to other fish and hitch a ride. Previous evidence led scientists to believe it must be a modified fin, but the evolutionary steps that led from

COMPETITION winner Molly Haynes cut the ribbon at the new Sainsbury’s superstore in Cowley as it opened yesterday. The eight-year-old pupil from Mabel Prichard School in Blackbird Leys won a contest to have her drawing of shoppers put on the store

A BICESTER secondary school in special measures is still not making enough progress, according to the latest Ofsted report. Inspectors revisited Bicester Community College in June, four months after it was put in special measures. In February

Certain legal transactions must be in writing to be valid. One is a transfer of land, another is making a will. Unlike a transfer of land, a will can always be revoked and certain events do it automatically, for example, getting married. What

PETER Rhoades-Brown will move from his role as Oxford United’s football in the community officer in a behind-the-scenes restructure. The ex-U’s winger will take up a position in the sales department after chairman Ian Lenagan last night announced

A driver needed hospital treatment for leg injuries yesterday after a collision involving two lorries on the M40. The accident happened at 8.15am on the southbound carriageway, between junction 10 at Ardley and junction 11 at Banbury. South

Three thieves broke into Martin’s newsagent to steal cigarettes, lottery scratch cards and cash. They broke in through the back of the shop at about 1.15am on Sunday and, after taking the goods, they made off down Orchard Way towards the Warwick

Forensic scientist Roland Wessling is warning about the dangers of taking charcoal barbecues into tents following the death of his partner on a camping holiday. Hazel Woodhams, 30, died of carbon monoxide poisoning she and Mr Wessling brought the

Aston Rowant trainer Lawney Hill sent out Cap Elorn to score at Worcester last night. The seven-year-old, fitted with blinkers for the first time, was driven out by Gavin Sheehan to beat Louis Ludwig by a length and three-quarters in a novices’

JOHNSONS BUILDBASE OXFORD SUMMER LEAGUE Dennis Atkins starred as Marlborough Club A sprang a surprise in Group B with a thumping 6-0 victory at Gladiators Club, writes PETE EWINS. Atkins racked up scores of 10,280 and 9,730 in the whitewash

BAFA NATIONAL DIVISION SOUTH CONFERENCE Oxford Saints suffered a heart-breaking blow to their play-off hopes with a 21-14 defeat at Swindon Storm. Saints twice came back from behind thanks to touchdowns from James Walter and Ali Galbraith,

SPORTS-mad Charlotte Nott proved she could give Oxford United footballers a run for their money when she showed off her latest blades yesterday. The five-year-old, who lost the lower part of her arms and legs after contracting meningitis as a baby

A COMBINED team from Banbury and Bicester recorded victory in the final heat of their Midland East Division 1 match. They held off the challenge from Radley to win by 191/2 points in the National Junior Development League competition. Michael

OXFORD Health says it has apologised to Michelle Storer and offered to meet her over Ian McLean’s escape. The Oxford Mail questioned the trust, which runs Littlemore Hospital, for several days about why McLean was in an unlocked unit and how he

At the age of 54, Jamie Hartzell is on to his third career – and on the face of it, his three jobs could not be more different. He started his working life as a documentary film-maker for the BBC’s natural history studio in Bristol, transformed

OXFORD property developer Martin Young has launched an appeal against Oxford City Council. It means a government planning inspector will decide whether he can build three 1970s-style chalets in the grounds of 29 Old High Street. Mr Young claims

BLEDDYN Phillips says London Welsh will do – and have done – everything they can to ensure the Kassam Stadium pitch is in the best possible shape. A combination of football, rugby and bad weather led to the playing surface cutting up badly last

MICHELLE STORER spent eight days terrified Ian McLean was coming for her. Today, now that escaped prisoner McLean has been recaptured in Poland, the 37-year-old mother-of-two is angry. She is demanding to know why her former lover McLean –

ANYONE who thinks Oxford Health is being placed under too much scrutiny over Ian McLean’s departure from Littlemore Hospital should read today’s story from his victim Michelle Storer. McLean is a man given a life sentence for stabbing Miss Storer

It has been a long time coming but now research at Oxford University is finally starting to reap dividends. Immunocore, based at Milton Park, has landed a licensing agreement with biotech giant Genentech which will see it earn hundreds of millions

Oxford UK-based artist and writer Mike Philbin has been an independently published novelist and short-story writer since 1989. His new novel Custodian (CreateSpace, £6.99), the first in the ‘free planet’ series, follows a group of Oxford University

The incongruity of the distinction between the ‘gentlemen’ cricketers (amateurs) of old and the ‘players’ (professionals) continued up to 1962. iIn 1948, for example, Warwickshire county cricket club appointed Tom Dollery as captain — a professional

Boost your confidence, improve your mental and physical health, and make new friends — all by going for a short walk. Research indicates that many long term health conditions improve with gentle exercise, which is why Ramblers and Macmillan Cancer

YOU can’t close your eyes, click your heels together three times and expect a school like Bicester Community College to magic its way out of special measures. But the latest verdict from Ofsted that there has not been the required improvement is

Although the rest of us may be living in the 21st century, Hollywood is not. Over the last decade, only 4.4% of films produced by the major studios were directed by women. Kathryn Bigelow might have won the Oscar for Best Director for The Hurt Locker

Precocious teens are very much to the fore in this week's DVD selection, with the most Machiavellian being played with chilling expertise by the debuting Ernst Umhauer in François Ozon's 13th feature, In the House. Adapted from Spaniard Juan Mayorga's

A TODDLER has been hospitalised after putting what is believed to be a discarded drugs wrap in his mouth at a recreation ground. The incident happened at around 5.15pm yesterday, when the 14-month-old boy was at the Southern Road recreation ground

Every time we wonder whether the situation at Castle Mill can become any worse, somehow it does. Those who have followed the turns in this story, will recall that possible contamination of the site where the university has chosen to build accommodation

The rural nature of Oxfordshire that makes it such an attractive place to live and work certainly counts against it when it comes to delivering fast broadband. But the difficulties people have in accessing broadband in deepest Kingston Bagpuize

What better for summer than a spot of sparkling wine? The quality of these wines has risen greatly over the last ten years and they represent superb value compared to Champagne. Try this selection of delicious sparklers and find out for yourself

THE Co-op supermarket in the centre of Kidlington is a “write off” following a major fire, a fire service incident commander said this morning. The ground floor supermarket, in High Street, was about a quarter damaged by fire and completely damaged

Musical star Oliver Tompsett had necessarily to delay a planned interview with The Oxford Times for a few days after his wife Michelle was delivered of their first baby, slightly ahead of schedule. “He’s little George,” said the proud father. “

Any regular piano festival-goers looking through this year’s brochure will instantly notice something different — it is now on for ten glorious days, the longest festival yet. “As it’s the 15th, we thought we‘d make a bit of a splash,” explains

Africa looks to be having its day. In the art world, that is, and not before time you might say. What with Angola winning the prize for the best national pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale, and Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui’s gigantic shimmering installation

My kitchen smells of summer because I have buckets of elderflower cordial under way. This year the wide cream heads have enjoyed long hours of sunshine and this should ensure a good cordial. The trick is to pick dry flowers that smell of lemon

Mums and daughters often have a stormy relationship but one pair get along so well, they have launched a business together. Nurse Julia Dunne and her mother, retired office manager Laura Martin, opened vintage housewares shop Primrose Cottage in

Australian Will Caddy came to Britain as a backpacker. Fast forward a few years and he has a British wife and children — and his own business, an independent TV production company called M&Y Media, in Telford Road, Bicester. Now 34, he started

ONE STAR   The apocalypse is nigh in The World’s End, the concluding chapter of director Edgar Wright and actor Simon Pegg’s so-called ‘three flavours Cornetto trilogy’, which began with the hilarious Shaun Of The Dead then stuttered with Hot

It is no secret that booking Christmas parties at the office, or any other kind of large group meal for that matter, can be a logistical nightmare. But entrepreneur Andrew North, inventor of online food and drink pre-order system Tell The Chef, is