For years, the “it” drink has been Vodka. Nineties chic flicks and television shows showed women sipping on a variety of multi-coloured cocktails making vodka the perfect girls night out bevvy. Men enjoyed ‘Bond’ styled martini’s shaken not stirred
A 40-year-old man has been taken to hospital after falling into the Thames at the spot where a 15-year-old drowned last Friday. An ambulance was called to Donnington Bridge shortly before 6pm. A service spokesman said the seriousness of his injuries
AN 83-year-old man was robbed in Headington of a bag containing church bank books. George Lees was targeted at about 11.45am on Tuesday while he was at the cashier’s desk in the London Road Post Office. A blue bag containing paying-in books for Stanton
DEVELOPMENT of the next generation of aircraft which will fly from RAF Brize Norton is gathering speed, with air-to-air refuelling trials bringing together a Voyager tanker plane and an Airbus A400M transport. The Voyagers are replacing
RESIDENTS interested in the future of the Corn Exchange in Witney will be able to use social media to get live updates. Witney Town Council has set up Facebook and Twitter pages to keep the closed public hall’s former users in the loop about reopening
FAMILIES receiving benefits are being offered free swimming lessons for their children. Oxford City Council is offering a course of 13 lessons later this month for children under 17 who live in the city. The scheme is available for families that receive
OXFORD BROOKES says it is not planning a “Swindon University” after announcing it is to sponsor a new technical college in the Wiltshire town. But pro vice-chancellor Paul Inman has spoken about his excitement about moving into Swindon.
THERE was excitement in Kennington this week as a giant hot air balloon landed in a school field. The Virgin balloon landed in the grounds of St Swithun’s Primary School at about 8.30pm on Tuesday, to the surprise of neighbours. The landing was snapped
A WEST Oxfordshire village has been given £50,000 to help build new sports changing facilities. Freeland Parish Council is hoping to raise £200,000 to continue a revamp of its sports facilities. A new hall, replacing a dilapitated pavilion
RATTY, Mole and Toad would have been proud to see the latest blue plaque go up in Oxfordshire. It commemorates The Wind in the Willows author Kenneth Grahame and was unveiled in Blewbury last week. The writer, who attended St Edward’s School in Woodstock
WHEN Ellen Rees endured 11 hours of surgery for breast cancer, her husband vowed to do something to help others avoid such pain. Now Nick Rees has set himself a huge challenge – rowing the Atlantic Ocean to raise money for research into life-saving treatments
TWO Oxfordshire groups have been given an award by The Queen for their voluntary work. Carterton Lions Club and The Falcon Rowing and Canoeing Club have been given The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2012. They were two of just 112 groups
FIREFIGHTERS are cutting a motorist free from the wreckage of a car after it crashed into a taxi in North Oxford. The fire service was called to the junction of Banbury Road and North Parade at 11.49am. Banbury Road is still closed and
A CAR crashed into a house, causing a gas leak this morning. The collision happened at about 11.20am in Marlborough Road, Banbury. The male driver had got out of the car by the time fire crews arrived and British Gas are on the scene to seal
FRESH from setting the O2 Arena in London alight with his “electric boogie”, Kidlington dancer Louis Knott is now setting his sights on the world. The 17-year-old Oxford and Cherwell Valley College student only started dancing two-and-a-half
KAREN Brind is the third winner in the Oxford Mail contest to land a pair of round-the-world flights. The 51-year-old said: “We lost my husband’s father last year and it has just been very hard since then. This will really cheer us up.” We have teamed
AN INQUEST has been opened and adjourned into the deaths of two men who died in a crash on the A4130 at Hadden Hill, near Didcot, on Monday. Jack Varney, 19, and Rhys Roberts, 21, both from Didcot, died when the car they were travelling in hit a wall
THIRTEEN men are reported to be on hunger strike at Campsfield House immigration detention centre in Kidlington. The men, who are from the conflict-torn Darfur region of Sudan, in Africa, are seeking asylum in the UK. They have been on hunger strike
A COURAGEOUS natural born leader who ran out of lives. That was how Captain Stephen Healey, who was repatriated to RAF Brize Norton yesterday, was described by his older brother. The 29-year-old, of 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh, was
AMBULANCE service managers have admitted paramedics are failing to reach the most serious emergency calls on time. Under targets set by the Government, South Central Ambulance Service crews should get to the scene of 75 per cent of these calls within
A MAN has been arrested in connection with a series of sex assaults on teenage girls and women in Didcot. The incidents happened at the Orchard shopping centre and on Ladygrove estate and involved a man on a black bicycle. The first assault
DOUBLE murderer Ensar Gol has this morning been jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 36 years. The 22-year-old, who brutally stabbed his wife Michala and mother-in-law Julie Sahin was convicted of two murders yesterday.
Henrietta Knight is set to have her final runners this weekend after announcing her retirement following 23 years as a trainer at West Lockinge, near Wantage. The 65-year-old handler saddles The Queen’s Harvest Song in the 6.40 at Stratford tonight,
ASTON Rowant rider Joe Hill, fresh from securing one national title, will be looking to step up his challenge for another one at the Berks & Bucks Draghounds Hunt meeting at Kingston Blount on Sunday. The 16-year-old Cokethorpe School student captured
RETIRED plumber Keith is a lively 70-year-old with a laugh that has been known to shake the foundations of the Covered Market, where we occasionally meet for a cuppa. This week he was uncharacteristically subdued. “You’ve been round the
OXFORD City Council's plans to improve cycling safety in the city, (last Friday’s Oxford Mail), are truly welcome, particularly under the Botley Road railway bridge and the approach to it from the west, which has been far too dangerous for far too long
I AM writing in response to recent concerns over adders that have been expressed by the Health Protection Agency, and your report (Monday’s Oxford Mail) about a dog being bitten in Wantage. We would like to reassure readers that the risk of an adder
SO THE Government hates to think that nearly two million people on the dole are happy to be there, getting something for nothing. How out of touch Mr Cameron is. He’s now saying that people on the dole should be made to work 30 hours a week. A claimant
AFTER the bun throwing in Abingdon last year, I saw several athletic types walking away with the haul of buns they had caught – one had more than a dozen. I hope that on Sunday, in the spirit of the occasion, those catching more than one bun will share
NORMAN Roper (Oxford Mail ViewPoints, May 25), makes a ludicrous attack on our bobbies. He got one bit right – Europe is in a mess – but the reason, seemingly lost on him, is the financial crisis started with the sub-prime collapse in the US in 2008
THE Labour Party has never acknowledged the country was left with devastating debts under their watch, and, if it was, it was nothing to do with them. Known as a tax and spend party, Labour have now added another string to their bow – ‘tax, spend and
ABOUT £3,500 is thought to have been stolen in a raid on the White Horse Leisure Centre in Abingdon late on Wednesday night. The Audlett Drive council-run facility was closed until noon yesterday while police investigated. Offenders got in through a
OXFORD Cavaliers head coach Tevita Vaikona says his players can’t wait to get going again after a three-week break. Cavaliers visit Bristol Sonics in the Rugby League Conference West Division tomorrow targeting their second win of the season. But having
PHOEBE Parker does her bit asyoungsters get stuck into a tug of war at a Jubilee celebration yesterday. The six-year-old donned a Union flag dress for the day of fun at New Marston Primary School in Copse Lane, Oxford. Parents and children enjoyed events
A FAMILIAR floral sight around Banbury has been given a Jubilee twist. Three floral cock horses bearing crowns have been placed at the iconic Banbury Cross monument in honour of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The idea has been repeated
IT took 250 pairs of hands, about 300 hours, and thousands of ceramic pieces. And youngsters at Abingdon Preparatory School in Frilford yesterday put the final pieces into their mosaic, pictured, celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. All the boys
BUSINESS leaders, hoteliers and tourism bosses are hoping for a bumper Jubilee weekend. Traders have rejected fears that the four-day bank holiday weekend will create a £60m gap in Oxfordshire’s economy. While many will not be at work for at least the
POLICE have released CCTV images of men they want to trace after a violent brawl broke out in the Wood Farm area of Oxford. Thames Valley Police released the pictures last night after a large group of youths gathered on the estate and started fighting
STILL in court, there was also the sentencing of Hugh “Andy” Anderson, who was given a suspended sentence for the violent attack on a customer at his Hi-Lo Jamaican Eating House. Some will be shocked at the Recorder’s decision to show leniency. Yet
ELEVEN men have been charged with conspiracy to steal railway signal cables from the Cotswold Line between Oxford and Worcester. Network Rail said last month that nearly 70 per cent of the cable theft incidents in its western region happened on the route
THE owner of a Cowley Road bar avoided jail for a hacksaw attack yesterday after friends sprung to his defence. Hugh “Andy” Anderson, who runs the Hi-Lo Jamaican Eating House, was found guilty last month of attacking a customer. But
JOE Cartledge continued his unbeaten singles run to help North Oxford win 8-4 against Maidenhead 2nd in the Southern Regional Division of the Aegon Team Tennis League. Cartledge made it five successive wins this season with a 6-1, 6-4 success
ENSAR Gol’s decision to put his victims’ friends and family through more hurt by subjecting them to a trial was last night condemned by police. Survivor Casey Wilson was joined by the families of Michala Gol and Julie Sahin in the public gallery as the
THE holiday romance that ended in murder began with a sun-soaked trip to Turkey in 2007 that didn’t hint of the horror that was to come. While in Bodrum, Michala Burgess-Hall met Ensar Gol, a 17-year-old Turk, and soon afterwards fell pregnant
BY the time you read this, Ensar Gol should be starting a life sentence for the double murder of his wife and her mother. The fact that Gol was deemed sane to stand trial was originally a little hard to believe, given his bizarre behaviour in court and
ENSAR Gol looked at his victims’ families and grinned as a jury condemned him as a double murderer. The 22-year-old, who brutally stabbed his wife and mother-in-law to death, pointed smugly at himself and mouthed the words “me, me” as members
CHRIS Goodfellow edged to victory in race 12 of the Oxonian CC summer time trial series on Wednesday. The perfect conditions and fast course on the A40 at Witney combined for some excellent times. Goodfellow, representing host club Oxford
LONDON Welsh have assured Oxford United fans they will not have priority over the U’s when it comes to using the Kassam Stadium. Many fans expressed concerns with an interview managing director John Taylor gave after Welsh’s Championship play-off final
TEENAGE girls were among the victims of a man suspected of committing a series of sex assaults in Didcot. Police are looking for an Eastern European man in his 40s in connection with three sexual assaults and two “suspicious incidents” over
HANNAH England has suffered a big injury scare just 56 days before the Olympics. Oxford City’s world silver medallist is now a major doubt for the Olympic trials after suffering an Achilles injury. The 25-year-old, who won world 1,500m silver in Daegu
THE final stage of redevelopment of a former bus garage in Oxford is set to be completed, more than a decade after plans were first put forward. Berkeley Homes is moving ahead with student accommodation on the remaining part of the Oxford Bus Company
GREEN-FINGERED children have been given a new plot to work on, at Christ Church Cathedral. The cathedral’s head gardener John James has given the nursery children at Christ Church Cathedral School space to grow herbs and vegetables. Strawberries and
