Archive

  • That’s crafty! Fair raises cash for school books

    HANDMADE crafts including metal bags and paper flowers helped raise money for a primary school at a craft fair. Friends of St Thomas More Primary School, a group of parent volunteers, set up more than 40 stalls featuring crafters from across Oxfordshire

  • Youngsters orientate themselves for fun in park

    SOMETIMES to go exploring you don’t have to head to faraway climes, just a simple run round a park will suffice. On Saturday, Cutteslowe Park in Oxford was taken over by dozens of children – and bigger kids – who were orienteering. The challengers

  • Skye is an inspiration to help children read

    CHILDREN at Skye Hall’s school will remember the five-year-old every time they have storytime in a special reading corner set up in his honour. The Abingdon youngster, who died in August after battling a brain tumour for a year, was a pupil at

  • Helpers needed as community market prepares to run monthly

    AFTER a six-week trial a community market in Blackbird Leys is going back to running as a monthly event. The Leys Community Market tried to run every week from November 15, but will switch back to run on the last Saturday of every month from March

  • Coach tackles first match with the team

    DESPITE coaching girls’ rugby for eight years, Helen Price had never actually played a match herself until this year. But now Mrs Price, 50, has been able to play her first match with the new ladies’ team she founded at Grove Rugby Club in September

  • Rugby player recovers from cancer to join the Race for Life

    IN JANUARY last year, rugby player Ben Nicholl took two weeks off work for what he thought would be a simple operation to remove a testicular lump. The Grove RFC player only returned to work a year later, after months of chemo and radiotherapy

  • CCTV footage could hold key to Banbury wheelchair theft

    POLICE have released CCTV images of people they want to speak to after a wheelchair was stolen from a shop in Banbury. Officers said a group of shoppers asked to use the in-store wheelchair at Wilkinsons in Bridge Street. Once they paid for

  • Fundraisers return from cycling adventure in India

    A GROUP of Bicester fundraisers who took part in a bike ride in India for charity have returned from their adventure. The Valley Girls, made up of 21 local women, raised funds and set off on a 470km charity cycle across India on February 6.

  • ‘No regrets’ for OAP after speeding ticket challenge

    A PENSIONER who challenged his speeding ticket because speed camera road markings were incorrectly spaced said he did not regret his efforts, despite still having to pay up. Although Thames Valley Police admitted the lines on a stretch of the A338

  • Bus route change prompts online petition

    RESIDENTS in Didcot are protesting against plans that could see seven buses an hour running past their homes. Last month residents on Station Road in Didcot were sent a letter by consultant GL Hearn outlining a proposed bus-route change as part

  • How much competition was there for police job?

    I NOTICE with interest that the Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley, Anthony Stansfeld, has nominated Deputy Chief Constable Francis Habgood to be new Chief Constable. Being in Spain at the moment I would be interested to know how many

  • Solar panels are anything but an eyesore and should remain

    IT’S good to hear that Oxford City Council may be thinking again about its decision in response to ‘technical problems’ and opposition from one or two local ‘heritage’ groups to remove solar panels from the newly-built affordable housing behind Bury

  • Many employers still not paying the Living Wage

    IT IS good to see some Oxfordshire employers are paying the Living Wage to their employees. But, unfortunately, many employers still do not pay a Living Wage. At a time when empty units have appeared in our high streets and shopping centres, it

  • Blackwood is struggling to hold on to her position

    MOST people in Oxford West & Abingdon don’t want to see Nicola Blackwood MP voted back into the House of Commons. The Lib Dem cannot win. Only Labour’s Sally Copley can take the seat on May 7. Lord Ashcroft’s polling shows Labour and Lib Dem

  • Looking ahead to better discussions on West Way

    I HAVE little doubt that the majority of North Hinksey parishioners will welcome the Vale of White Horse District Council agreement with Mace to allow a revised application for the West Way shopping centre. North Hinksey Parish Council (NHPC) has

  • Medical student’s national prize for ovarian cancer study

    AN OXFORD University student has received national acclaim for his “illuminating” study of ovarian cancer. Medical student Daniel Klotz, 29, won second place at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s National Conference for Aspiring Surgeons

  • Village life? It feels just like I've moved to Ambridge

    I HAVE just emigrated from the north of England to Oxfordshire. When I say the north I mean seriously north – as in virtually Scotland. Not namby-pamby Leeds or even Derbyshire, or some such nonsense that some southerners call “the north”.

  • Food bank has found green answer to a rotten question

    WHAT can you do with half a tonne of food that’s gone off ? For Oxford Food Bank, which often receives a lot of donations it simply cannot use, it’s a serious question. But now organic recycling company Agrivert has agreed to take the banks

  • Hurry and bring on the summer sun

    I KNOW the Brits love to have a whinge about weather. Well there are certainly hints of spring in the air – blossom, daffodils and longer days. Clearly summer isn’t here yet (nor spring for that matter!) and as such there is a real nip in the

  • Dispute puts railway bridge plan on hold

    A ROW over a replacement railway bridge has been reignited after councillors called in plans to a top committee so they could be considered again. As reported in yesterday’s Oxford Mail, Network Rail has applied for permission to demolish and replace

  • County raises a toast on St Patrick’s Day

    PEOPLE across the county came together for the craic to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. The weekly tea dance at Woodstock Social Club took on an Irish theme as more than 40 people danced the afternoon away yesterday. Organiser Gwen Mason said:

  • £2m Lloyds Banking Group fraud case dropped

    THE case against a bank clerk accused of playing a part in a £2m fraud has now been dismissed. In November 2013 Tai Hulbert-Thomas, from Cutteslowe, North Oxford, was accused of plotting bogus transfers using stolen log-in details while working

  • Schools need to spread message about STDs to their students

    IN A parents’ perfect world, teenagers would be more interested in spelling bees than the birds and the bees. But sadly, in the real world there will always be a proportion of teens who become sexually active. The important thing is to make

  • Pooh Sticks contest is a blast from the past for Margaret

    THE whole of Witney has been buzzing with the news that the World Pooh Sticks Championships will be held there for the first time this year. But for 81-year-old Margaret Grayston of Woodlands Road, the occasion will be extra special. The last

  • Investigation into how patient went missing at JR

    STAFF at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital will investigate how a man who recently had brain surgery ended up in Reading after walking off his ward. Thames Valley Police spent Sunday evening searching for 67-year-old John Howe, who went missing

  • Sticking around for a magical day of fun

    THE WARTIME memories of Margaret Grayson sum up the wonder of Pooh Sticks. For children separated from their parents during the Second World War, an opportunity to play outside and forget their cares would have been welcomed. The 81-year-old

  • FOOTBALL: Jamie Cook is hat-trick hero for North Leigh

    JAMIE Cook hit a second-half hat-trick as North Leigh boosted their Evo-Stik Division 1 South & West play-off hopes with a 3-2 victory at Yate Town last night. The former Oxford United forward levelled with a penalty ten minutes after half-time

  • FOOTBALL: George hold off Masons

    The George held off a spirited fightback from Masons Arms to advance to the final of the Oxford City FA’s County Junior League Cup with a 4-3 home victory. They seemed to be cruising with goals from Glenn Leach, Scott Butler, Steele Langridge and

  • GIRLS' FOOTBALL: Lulu Von Pander fires four-timer

    Lulu Von Pander fired a four-timer to give Summertown Stars Red a 4-0 win at Harwell & Hendred in the Oxford Mail Girls League Under 11 League. It took Von Pander ten minutes to break the deadlock and Stars were soon cruising to victory as

  • WOMEN'S FOOTBALL: Tower Hill rally to sink Andover

    Tower Hill Ladies fought back from a goal down to win 3-1 at Andover in Southern Women’s League Division 1 North. The visitors were rocked on the half-hour mark when Laura Gilbank’s shot deflected off keeper Mel Gilbert for Samantha Voxes to score

  • FOOTBALL: Garath McCleary praised for flagging up abuse

    A MAN arrested for alleged racial abuse of Reading’s Garath McCleary in Monday’s night’s FA Cup replay with Bradford faces a lifetime ban, according to the Bantams chairman Mark Lawn. Former Oxford City striker McCleary, who hails from Blackbird

  • 158-home estate plan recommended for approval

    SEVERAL major and controversial planning applications for southern Oxfordshire are recommended to be approved tonight. A 158-home estate plan for Drayton Road, Abingdon, is among the schemes to be decided at the Vale of White Horse District Council

  • Candidates clash on poverty and immigration at hustings

    CANDIDATES vying to be Oxford’s next MPs clashed over election issues at a hustings organised by faith leaders. More than 100 people gathered at the Wesley Memorial Hall in New Inn Hall Street to hear the debate, which covered topics including

  • Aquabots will help to raise cash for water charity

    MEET Robottle – a prototype robot made out of plastic water bottles and some other “bits and bobs”. His inventor, 11-year-old Edward Taylor, created the aquabot robot in a day of activities at Larkmead School, Abingdon. Pupils from around the town

  • Girls get with the program at coding workshop

    HOPEFULLY the computers didn’t crash when these girls got a crash course in computer coding. The youngsters went to an all-day coding workshop at Blackbird Leys Youth and Community Centre on Sunday. They got a chance to learn how to program

  • FOOTBALL: Keeper Herbert rescues a late draw for Carterton

    GOALKEEPER Chris Herbert was the hero for Witney & District FA Premier Division leaders Carterton Town A, heading home a last-minute equaliser to give his side a 2-2 draw at relegation-threatened Ducklington, writes ANTHONY BARLOW. Goals from

  • ‘Why talking to the man who stabbed my husband helped’

    MEETING the man who had stabbed her husband faceto- face made Coral Kent feel a lot better than when she saw him sentenced in court. The 44-year-old got the chance under the restorative justice scheme run in the Thames Valley to ask Ross Chittock

  • ‘Help us to buy children’s woodland retreat’

    A CAMPAIGN group in Headington has appealed for partners to help save a children’s retreat that is up for sale. The Stansfeld Outdoor Education Centre, used by school children from Birmingham and Oxford, closed in July 2014. Birmingham City