Category: Missed a ThameNews story?

THE Directors of the Thame & Oxfordshire County Agricultural Association have issued an official statement about their decision to cancel the Oxfordshire and Thame Show this year. The statement reads:

“The Directors of the Thame & Oxfordshire County Agricultural Associationare very disappointed to announce that the ‘Thame Show’ has been cancelled for 2016.

The decision follows a number of years of financial losses and although every effort has been made to control costs over the past few years and we have moved the show date to the summer and back again in an attempt to appeal to our audience, it has become apparent that the public attendance on show day is very weather dependent and cannot be guaranteed or relied upon.

“In order to protect the assets of the Association we will concentrate on letting the showground out to other event organisers for the time being.

“We would like to thank all of the loyal supporters, traders and exhibitors who have visited the Show in the past. Above all the show has provided a meeting place for many people and it is a great shame that we can no longer offer this event for everyone’s enjoyment.” Andrew Duffy, Chairman

NOTE: A totally independent event to that which has been run by the Thame & Oxfordshire County Agricultural Association in the past, is planned for September 15, 2016. See LINK

THAME’S Catholic community welcomed David Hartley, their new Priest on May 11, who is stepping into the shoes (or should that be cassock?) of Father Mark Lagorio.

David has moved from three parishes, Meir, Caverswall and Cresswell, near Stoke-on-Trent. Speaking to Thame.Net, he said: “We have visited Thame occasionally, several years ago when we were living in Oxford. My wife Pat knows she visited when she was a little girl in the 1960s and has a brass rubbing her father made from St Mary’s on the visit!

“We have six in the family, with four adult children in Japan, one in Scotland and one in Staffordshire. Pat is currently working at the JR already as a palliative care nurse.

“I have had a very happy and busy six years caring for three parishes. Now I am looking forward to a new challenge in an area which is changing as new people move in to new homes. The parish is clearly well-run by very committed people, and we have a lovely parish school, so we will all be praying for God’s guidance for the best ways to work together.”

Father Harley’s induction will be at St Joseph’s Church, Thame on June 8, at 7.15pm.

THAME Town Councillors have criticised a proposal to, as one councillor put it, ‘dump’ an additional 565 new homes on Thame.

The new figures feature in a draft of South Oxfordshire District Council’s Local Plan 2032, due to go out for consultation next month. The district council has identified a supply of 12,300 dwellings already in the pipeline to the year 2032, from a calculated total need of 19,500 homes, leaving a shortfall of 7,200. These, SODC propoposes, should be distributed as follows:

Thame 565
Wallingford 400
Larger villages 1,690
Smaller villages 760
Major strategic housing allocation 3,500
Brownfield – OBU Wheatley 300
Brownfield – Culham 500

Cllr David Dodds described the draft report as ‘very disappointing’ and criticised the district council for not deducting ‘windfall’ sites from Thame’s proposed extra allocation – 400 homes that have already gone successfully through the planning process. Instead, SODC have included Thame’s windfall sites in the district’s over-all, total windfall numbers.

“We do not want Thame to become another Bicester,” he added. Cllr Helena Fickling suggested that perhaps Thame Town Council would be better encouraging the building of a completely new town nearer the area where thousands of new jobs are to be provided, at the Science Vale Oxford.

Cllr Mike Dyer told fellow councillors at Tuesday’s meeting of the Thame Neighbourhood Continuity Committee: “This is just the first skirmish.”

Reporting to fellow committee members on a recent meeting with Thame’s MP John Howell, Cllr Dyer said that John Howell had agreed that windfalls should be ‘bottom sliced’ (counted locally). Cllr Dyer added that although the MP has said that he supported the view that owners of Neighbourhood Plans should be able to appeal against planning decisions contrary to their Neighbourhood Plans, Mr Howell had in fact voted against a House of Lords’ Amendment to the Housing and Planning Bill, which included proposals to allow councils local discretion over Starter Homes requirements – and to introduce a neighbourhood right of appeal.

In a passionate outburst against the ‘continous amendments’ to ‘so-called localism’, new planning laws meted out by government and changes in housing numbers, Cllr Peter Lambert said: “It feels as though the goal-posts are being moved wider and wider apart! How are local councils supposed to cope?”

NOTE: The complete SODC report can be read HERE

TODAY (May 17) on International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBiT), South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) launched a video in support of the campaign in partnership with Holding Hands for Equality (HH4E). (SEE VIDEO HERE)

The film features photographs from members of staff, their friends and families in support of the campaign, which SCAS states aims to strive for a world where no-one is afraid to express themselves through simple acts of affection.

Kirsten Willis, Area Manager and Chair of the SCAS LGBT Network, said: “I am really pleased that we have been able to be part of this campaign in partnership with HH4E and grateful to all our staff who have taken the time to contribute their pictures. As a member of the ambulance service, the act of holding the hand of a patient who needs reassurance and help is something that we don’t think about and it can have a tremendously positive effect for them.

“For some people, holding the hand of a loved one is second nature and they wouldn’t think twice about doing it. For others, it is not such a carefree act and comes with fear or the threat of violence. We really hope that by supporting IDAHOBiT and HH4E, we can empower people to hold the hands of the ones they love regardless of sexual orientation.”

Andy Cast, Campaign Director at HH4E said: “HH4E is delighted to have collaborated with the SCAS LGBT Network on this project. This year, IDAHOBiT falls within Mental Health Awareness Week, which has a theme of ‘relationships’. Healthy relationships are paramount for a happy life and holding hands with the people you love is an important part of that.

“People in the LGBT community have higher levels of mental health problems than heterosexual men and women, but the simple act of holding hands that could help mental wellbeing is something that many of us feel uncomfortable doing in public. We need to change this by normalising it and making it a casual, carefree act for everyone.”