Oxford leisure centres are holding free open days today and tomorrow for city residents. Oxford City Council-owned centres in Blackbird Leys, Barton and the city centre are hosting free classes, gym sessions and badminton games. For more information
A former sheltered housing block in Oxford is set to be redeveloped after being boarded up for four years. Developers said Grantham House, in Jericho, will be refurbished to provide homes to rent. The scheme is being under-taken by UK property entrepreneur
YARNTON: Drivers were faced with delays yesterday after two accidents at about 6.30am on the A44 Woodstock Road. A black Ford Focus and a red Vauxhall Agila crashed between Yarnton and Stratfield Brake. The two drivers, a 22-year-old man and a 39-year-old
A Summertown councillor has branded the closure of bus stops along Banbury Road during roadworks as “completely unacceptable”. All bus stops between North Parade and Marston Ferry Road have been closed during a fortnight of works. Councillor Jean Fooks
The Osney Arms pub, in Botley Road, shut earlier this month – 112 years after it was built. Landlady Maria Oliver had run the pub since 1983 and bought the freehold in 2006.
The A361 Banbury Road was partially blocked yesterday morning after a driver in his 40s crashed his white Vauxhall Astra into a hedgerow. It happened between Swerford and South Newington at about 7.35am. The driver was taken to hospital with minor injuries
Former Blur bassist Alex James has cricitised a music festival promotion company over non-payment of money to a local school. Kingham Primary School was left £7,000 out of pocket when Big Wheel went into administration after the Alex James Presents Harvest
A couple bringing Christmas spirit to an Oxford estate will not let thieves thwart their festive spirit. For the past three years, Martin and Debbie Scarrott have covered their North Way house in Barton in festive decorations to raise money for good
An Oxford Lions futsal match – a smaller version of football – will take place at Wheatley Park School sports centre on Sunday, December 4. Kick off is at 2.30pm.
Oxford Utd 1 (Leven 82), Cheltenham 3 (Jombati 8, Spencer 57, Mohamed 86) Oxford United's woes continue as they fell to their fifth straight defeat - and their first at home this season in the league - with a reverse at the hands of Cheltenham today
Carruthers gave Mark Bradstock's Letcombe Bassett stables, near Wantage,a fairy-tale success in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury today. The 10-1 chance made much of the running under Mattie Batchelor to beat Planet Of Sound by three and three-quarter
VILLAGERS remain opposed to plans to build a new eco-power plant at a landfill site near Didcot. They spoke out against the proposal for the anaerobic digester after a consultation exhibition at the headquarters of the Waste Recycling Group (WRG) – which
Simon Heslop and Lewis Guy were the only two changes to Oxford United's team to take on Cheltenham at the Kassam Stadium today. Midfielder Heslop comes in for Harry Worley and striker Guy, who rejoined on loan from MK Dons this week replaces Danny Philliskirk
FIVE brave souls faced a tough challenge — eat a giant burger in the fastest time. Cheers rang out at the Seacourt Bridge pub in Botley, Oxford, on Tuesday night when 16-year-old Joe Samways polished off his Belt Buster Burger – containing two beef burgers
CUDDLING a massive goat is all in the line of duty for Oxford’s Lord Mayor. Elise Benjamin met Oxfam mascot Archie the Goat on Thursday outside the charity’s first shop in Broad Street, as Oxford was celebrated as the most generous city in
BROWNIES donated toys and games to Helen & Douglas House after spending the summer collecting supermarket vouchers. The seven- to 10-year-olds, pictured, exchanged the Sainsbury and Tesco tokens for toys for children at the East Oxford hospice
THE A40 at Wheatley has reopened. The road was closed eastbound between the turnings for Wheatley and Stanton St John. It caused delays stretching back several miles to the Green Road roundabout in Headington, Oxford. A police spokesman said
There are two things that let Disneyland Paris down, my editor warned me. “The weather. And the French.” Well, as it happens, we were bathed in glorious November sunshine for our trip, but I can add another potential spoiler instead: an over-tired
The new board tasked with transforming the health of the county has been warned it faces tough times. The Oxfordshire Health and Wellbeing Board is among the first around the country to be set up ahead of a massive shake-up of the NHS and the social
DRIVERS are being urged to avoid the A40 eastbound after a suspected oil spillage. The road is closed between the Wheatley exit and the M40 but traffic is currently stretched back to the Headington roundabout in Oxford.
The Oxfordshire branch of the Pike Anglers Club hold their next fish-in on Sunday, December 11 on the Thames at Port Meadow, near Wolvercote. Entry is £5 per person. The branch’s best fish so far this season are an 18.4.0 specimen caught by
Alliance members held a rare 27-hour match at Marlborough Pool at the weekend, starting at 9am on Saturday and finishing at 12 noon on Sunday. The bream failed to appear, but two decent carp were caught and it was Elliot Samworth, 16, who took the honours
A BOY was taken to hospital after a serious house fire in Radley this morning. About 30 firefighters battled the blaze in Sugworth Crescent, Radley, from 5am. Kennington Road, which was shut for four hours after the fire, has now reopened.
There was drama at Oakfield Fishery last Wednesday when the weekly match was cancelled after veteran Ray Morris fell ill. The 83-year-old collapsed and was kept warm by fellow anglers until an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital. Everyone was
Only eight weeks after joining up, 16-year-old Ben Skinner, from Wantage, made military motorcycling history as the youngest, and shortest-serving soldier, to win the coveted best novice award at the Army Championships at Aldershot. Having joined the
Oxford League Division 1 leaders Vikings A stumbled, but still beat lowly Forum C 7-3. Vikings were without Alan Cherry, with replacement Alex Schaefer finding him a hard act to follow. Forum grabbed their first point of the season, although Jingyu
Alex Murphy, of Didcot Barramundi, brought home a gold, a silver and a bronze medal from the Aqua Sullis 50-metre Grand Prix in Bath. The promising 16-year-old broke the Oxon & North Bucks junior county record when winning the 50m butterfly in 56.29secs
Witney’s (Steve) Marvin Mullins bids for his second win since turning professional when he faces Dan Blackwell in Chippenham on Saturday, December 3. And the fact that his opponent is the younger brother of the current English middleweight champion,
Charlbury A sealed the Division 3 title in the Banbury Indoor League by thrashing favourites Shipston by six wickets in the final round of matches. Shipston were restricted to their lowest total of the campaign, 90-5, with Dave Murpphy making an unbeaten
Oxford City Stars seek to bounce back from last weekend’s disastrous results when they embark on another English National League South Division 1 double-header. Stars, who dropped to ninth place after being hammered 8-1 at bottom club Bracknell Hornets
Burford School celebrated a double in the West Oxfordshire District Under 15 and Under 14 Cup finals at Witney RFC. They lifted the Under 15 Cup with a 22-20 victory over Marlborough School, Woodstock, and also captured the Under 14 Cup by beating Chipping
GENTWORKS OXFORD & DISTRICT LEAGUE RESULTS Fieldside 0, Riley B 3; Oxford Bowls Club 1, Cowley Con Club B 2; Cowley Con Club A 2, Littlemore RBL 1; Ashton 3, Thame 0; Eynsham 1, New Club 2; Riley A 0, Oracle 3. HIGHEST BREAKS Section 1: S Aries (Fieldside
Abingdon RBL’S Robbie Adcock hit a 71 break for the Premier Division side in their 3-3 draw at Division 1 leaders Thame A in the Gentworks Oxford & District League. David Noake made a 38 break as he took the first two frames for Abingdon with victory
PRIME Minister David Cameron last night hailed the British Formula One industry as a world leader in engineering after visiting the headquarters of the Lotus Renault team. Mr Cameron, pictured with, left to right, operations manager John Mardle and technical
Droopys Da Silva, trained by Paul Clarke, a winner last time out, can put his strong finish to good effect and carries the nap in the A1 over 450metres at Oxford Stadium on Saturday. SATURDAY'S OXFORD CARD 7.35: Islandanny Man, NICKS BOY, Angel
Berinsfield’s Joe Fisher claimed his second win in the space of a week – following a unanimous decision over Oxford University’s Conor Husbands at Cowley – as he gained a comprehensive points success over Dean Botean at Hanwell. After a close opening
A 51-year-old man has been accused of hurling racist abuse at a rail worker at Oxford train station. Stuart Gallagher, of no fixed abode, was charged with one count of racially aggravated public disorder and one count of public disorder on November 9
The A4074 was shut yesterday morning after five cars crashed at about 8.50am. A three-vehicle crash near Nineveh Farm led to a further two-car collision on the other side of the road, and the route was closed between Baldon Lane and Henley Road for about
Following another poor display in the Midlands section of the £150,000 BAGS Inter track at Yarmouth on Monday, Oxford were hoping for better things in the make or break leg at Swindon yesterday. However, once again the Sandy Lane outfit struggled
Marc Dibsdall got fed up with his partner Jessica Measor complaining about the amount of time he spent fishing, so he decided to take her with him! And you can guess what happened next ... The couple arrived at Newlands’ fishery State’s Lagoon, near
AN INDEPENDENCE campaigner wanted by Interpol last night said he still feels safe in his Oxford home. Benny Wenda, 36, of Marston Road, is the subject of a red notice issued by the international police organisation which states he is wanted by the CID
There were cheers and tears aplenty yesterday as we handed out vital lifelines to three local charities. The Gannett Foundation, part of the Oxford Mail’s parent company, is giving a total of more than £25,000 to the campaign for a memorial
DOZENS of firefighters are battling a roof fire in Radley this morning. Fire crews were called to the blaze in Sugworth Crescent at around 5am. Six fire engines and about 30 firefighters attended the blaze and are still at the scene. Kennington
Chris Wilder will not risk central defender Michael Duberry against Cheltenham on Saturday. The veteran defender has missed Oxford United’s last four games – which have resulted in four defeats – with a groin injury. Although he has been back in training
A 37-year-old man from Headington has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault in Marsh Road, Cowley. The suspect is accused of assaulting a 30-year-old woman on September 30 as she walked home. He was arrested on Thursday and was last night still
Hospital managers last night could not say how many appointments would be cancelled because of Wednesday’s public sector worker strike. They also admitted they have no plans to bring in extra staff to cover as health workers join the biggest national
An average of more than 200 people a day were stuck in Oxfordshire hospital beds as the county’s bedblocking crisis hit a new low. The figures come as the Oxford Mail can reveal for the first time the bottlenecks in the system which are adding to the
A TEENAGE boy admitted raping a woman in her 70s after conning his way into her home claiming he wanted to talk to her about the war. The 14-year-old, who cannot be named, appeared at Oxford Crown Court yesterday and entered a guilty plea to one count
Police frequently try not to encourage have-a-go heroes and for quite proper reasons. But the three gentleman involved in taking down Martyn Shorter deserve every penny of the £300 they received as a reward from Judge Julian Hall yesterday
A COWLEY teenager who has “kicked the courts in the teeth time and time again” has been given a two-year antisocial behaviour order. Liam O’Neil was jailed last month after going on a drunken crime spree on the day he was released from an earlier custodial
THIS isn’t about banging our drum. Rather it’s about highlighting the fact that despite the donations we have been able to make this week to three local charities, there is still much work to be done. The Gannett Foundation, part of the Oxford Mail’s
A MACHETE-WIELDING man was tackled to the floor by staff and a customer as he tried to rob an Oxford convenience store. Martyn Shorter burst into the Co-op in Rose Hill and slammed the three-foot machete into a till before demanding stock.
KENNINGTON Road is closed this morning following a house fire. The fire was at a property near the caravan park, it is being reported. The road is shut both ways between Sugworth Lane and Manor Grove.
Former Kidlington greengrocers Jan and Bob Burgess have shown they are a diamond couple after celebrating 60 years of wedded bliss. The Stratfield Road residents celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary on Thursday surrounded by their beloved
