Category: Missed a ThameNews story?

FOUR ponies caused havoc in and around Thame by-pass last night, when they escaped from their field through a broken fence.

It was reported that the animals were able to escape through the fence after a car drove down the bank and hit the fence, damaging it. Several local people reported seeing the ponies running around near the Thame Football ground and Skatepark, and Roundhead Drive.

The police attended the scene and Lacey Emptage, who was involved in recapturing the ponies, posted on Facebook to concerned friends: “Can’t believe he (the driver) just walked away. The horses and the public where so lucky. Could of ended very nasty. The horses don’t have a mark on them.”

THE Operator of the High Wycombe to Thame bus route, Service 40, Carousel, has confirmed that, despite the withdrawal of a county council subsidy, the service will continue unchanged.

The 40 service, which diverts via the village of Towersey, will continue to run with seven daily journeys in each direction (Monday to friday).

However, no decision about the fully subsidised 120 (Princes Risborough to Thame), 121 (Princes Risborough to Watlington), 123 (Thame Local Service) or 124 (Thame to Watlington) services, has been confirmed by the Operator, Vale Travel. The subsidies for these services will end on July 20.

The bus operator Arriva, has confirmed that the previously subsidised part of the 280, Aylesbury-Oxford City Centre service (Sundays and Bank Holidays, first journey of the day, and one evening journey (both directions), will continue.

On November 10, 2015, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet took the decision to withdraw subsidies paid to run 118 subsidised bus routes in Oxfordshire, as a way of saving £3.7 million, after a reduction in funding from central government. This decision was approved at the full council’s overall budget setting meeting on February 16, 2016, and it was decided to cease all bus subsidies on July 20, 2016, the last day of the school term.

In a statement, the county council said: “The withdrawal of subsidy does not necessarily mean the service will be cancelled. We have been in discussion with operators who are exploring how they may be able to continue a service without subsidy. We now have information from the majority of operators, with only a few routes yet to be confirmed.

“As we receive further information we will update our webpage: www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/subsidisedbuses.”

THE proposed merging of the two Lord Williams’s school sites, as set out in the Thame Neighbourhood Plan (TNP) has come up against a funding gap. The amount of money expected from the sale of the Lower school site for housing development is lower than the estimated cost of combining the two schools into one site at the Oxford Road (Upper school) site.

The viability of the proposal is being reconsidered and the school is seeking professional advice about how the funding gap can be filled. The Lower School site would be worth more if the Community centre, earmarked for the site as a possible one out of three, were to be located somewhere else. A planning application has to be submitted by 2019 otherwise the proposed merger goes out of the TNP and the housing allocated for the Lower School site, will have to be provided on another, ‘reserve site’ identified in the plan (Site C ?)

It has been suggested by Cllr David Dodds, that Section 106 money from new developments in Chinnor should be allocated to any new schools merger in Thame, as Chinnor children are served by Lord Williams’s school.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING, how it is allocated, the definition and various types of Affordable Housing, the numbers of such properties available in Thame, has up to now been at the very least, obscure, and at most confusing. Following a recent meeting with South Oxfordshire District Council, whose Affordable Housing policy drive’s Thame’s own in the Neighbourhood Plan, a report is now available by the town council that helps to explain the various aspects of this vexatious subject. You can read it here LINK

FACED with almost certain cuts to bus services in Oxfordshire, including several that serve Thame and the surroundiing villages, Officers at Oxfordshire County Council are exploring ideas to cuts costs but still maintain some of sort of a service where they can.

One of the ideas, still in the embryonic stage, is to use school buses, and those transporting the elderly and disabled, in between the regular times of the day they are operating to cover some of the less economic public routes.

Before the new bus stop (dubbed ‘the ghost stop’, because no bus has been seen to stop there) in Howland Road (opposite the DAF site) can be used, there apparently needs to be ‘a risk assessment’ made.

THAME Town Council is to seek ways of filling a gap in available funding for its £2 million Sports Facility Strategy. It currently has available £900,000 developer contributions through Section 106. You can download the Sports Strategy document here LINK  and the report showing where the money is coming from and what it is planned to be spent on, here LINK

THE town council is to recruit a Town Centre Co-ordinator to work with its Town Centre Working Group and other local organisations to action the recommendations of the recent Miller Report into the future ‘vibrancy and vitality’ of Thame town centre.

An action plan is still in draft form but is expected to include such things as transport, signage, parking and tourism.

The council also proposes to employ a full-time Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Officer whose role will be work with the council’s Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Committee which will ensure that the TNP is adhered to across areas such as housing, open-space, employment, environment etc.

A Thame pub has seen a video on its Facebook page, aimed at solving a case of mistaken identity,  go viral with 81,831 views in two days.

It all happened after regulars at The James Figg pub kept asking assistant pub manager, Nathan Swift, AKA Swifty, if he was the guy dancing to his favourite song by the pool in a clip from The LAD Bible which the pub had put on their Facebook page earlier in the week. https://www.facebook.com/LADbible/videos/2726256327421540/

In an act of complete selflessness, Swifty agreed to recreate the video in the pub garden wearing as little as his doppelganger does in the original clip. His version, showing him watering the new beer garden in readiness for this weekend’s bank holiday festivities, was an instant smash, getting to 64.2K views and reaching 130K people in less than 24 hours, the biggest hit the pub’s ever had. And the figures are still rising.

“It all started out as just a bit of fun, after we posted the video on the pub’s Facebook page and everyone kept asking if the Speedo-clad dancer was Swifty,” explained Goldie (Tom Goldsmith), landlord of The James Figg. “Being a big Facebook user himself, Swifty thought it would be a laugh to put the rumours to bed by doing his own version of the dance, wearing not very much at all in the pub garden if he got 500 likes. A popular face behind the bar here in the pub, and well-known in Thame where he was born and bred, he soon got them, and off he stripped.

“As soon as the post went live yesterday afternoon, it went nuts; we were getting a thousand more views every five minutes and people were talking about it right across town. I even met a regular from Wheatley who said his mate in Newcastle had seen it! It’s been the biggest post we’ve ever had as a company – and Swifty smashed it!”

“Now, people are asking how we’re going to top that,” added Goldie. “Could it be the girls’ turn next? Watch this space.”

You can see Swifty strutting his stuff by visiting The James Figg Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/figgthame/videos/500031796788131/
You can also join in the bank holiday fun this coming weekend, starting with Payday Party with DJ Kristian tomorrow night, live music with Chemical Pulse on Saturday, a Sunday Funday with music and a BBQ on Sunday ending with the Bank Holiday Bloody Mary Monday Hangover Club to finish things off.

The James Figg is at 21 Cornmarket, Thame, Oxon, OX9 2BL. Tel: 01844 260 166. www.thejamesfiggthame.co.uk  twitter: @figgthame

MASTERCHEF 2013 winner, Natalie Coleman, will soon be coming to the Book House in Thame to launch this year’s children’s competition for Thame Food Festival 2016.

Last year’s competition involved Thame’s three primary schools, John Hampden, St Joseph’s and Barley Hill, and the winners from each school were given the opportunity to cook with Natalie on the Chef’s Stage at the Festival.

Thame Food Festival Patron, Lotte Duncan, said: “This year we’ve raised the bar and there are 10 questions for the children in years 5/6 to answer, with a fabulous tie breaker, which is going to allow the children to let their imaginations run wild! Judging will take place in July and the winners will be announced before they break up for the summer holidays.

“The Book House in Thame  has come on board and part of the prize will be some lovely children’s cookery books – plus of course the chance to cook once more with the lovely Natalie on the Chef’s Stage to open the Food Festival this year.

“We are so grateful to Natalie and all of the teachers at the schools for helping us and being involved – Thame Food Festival is there for the community and the people of Thame.”

The Children’s Competition launch on June 11, will be at 3.30pm, and last year’s winners will be at The Book House on the day with Natalie Coleman to launch the competition, plus Lotte Duncan and Alison Isherwood from Thame Food Festival.