HAVING already been awarded a ‘Rising Star’ designation recently by the Government’s Future High Streets Forum, Thame High Street has today been voted the second ‘Greatest place’ in England, having been beaten by the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Liverpool Waterfront.
The nationwide Greatest Places competition was organised by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI). Over 11,000 people voted from a shortlist of ten places in the competiton, which was aimed at highlighting areas which have been enhanced and protected by good planning. Saltaire, the historic village near Bradford, came third.
Out of 10 nominations, Thame High Street, was awarded the South East Regional winner. Of Thame High Street, the judges said: “Good planning over a long period has protected and enhanced the character of this small market town and the High Street, and it now has the benefits of one of the first neighbourhood plans. It is an example of exemplary community support and careful, sensitive planning.”
This year, 2015, has been a particularly successful year for Thame; The Thame Food Festival was recently earned a Bronze Award in The Beautiful South Awards 2015, for its contribution to tourism in the region.
RACQUETS Fitness Centre in Thame witnessed some top, junior squash over the weekend (December 12-13) when young players from all over the country took part in the Racquets Junior Open squash tournament. This was a nationally ranked tournament sanctioned by England Squash – the governing body of squash in the UK.
This year five of Racquets’ home-bred juniors took part in the event, including Emily Coulcher-Porter in the Girls Under 11s, Luke Hayes in the Boys Under 11s, Oliver Coulcher-Porter in the Under 13s, Molly Woods in the Girls Under 15s and Nick Harbour in the Under 17s.
Luke Hays and Alex Smith
“We are very proud of every one of them,” said Coach, Sue Martin Downhill. “Oliver Coulcher-Porter played up an age group in the Under 13s, despite being still only nine years- old. This would have given him plenty of experience of playing against much stronger boys. He did very well to reach and win the final of the plate.
“Molly Woods competed well in the Under 15 Girls. The squad of girls who travel to tournaments are very strong, and having lost in the first round of the main event, Molly was happy to win the first round of the plate. In the Under 17s, Nick Harbour, a pupil at Lord Williams’s Upper School, played very well to reach the final but narrowly lost in a tight, five set game against Marcus Connor from Aylesbury Grammar School.
“Emily Coulcher-Porter, at only seven years-old, played in the Girls Under 11s. Although Emily is a very high standard of Under 9s player, the other girls in the tournament were much older and are ranked 10 and 17 in the country. Emily, who is ranked 27 in the country at Under 11, is very keen to compete and shows great strength of character when playing in these events.
“Luke Hayes, age 10 from Barley Hill Primary School, has only been playing for around three months. Playing in the Under 11s in his very first open tournament and only his second tournament ever, Luke won his first round. Although Luke couldn’t overcome the number one seed and eventual winner of the tournament, Felix Loeffen, in the second round Luke’s natural understanding of the game of squash and his ability to follow instructions from his coach meant that his little experience at the start of the event grew throughout his matches, to run out as the winner of the plate.
“We entered Luke into the tournament because of his calm approach to sport and felt that he would be able to cope with the pressure if the standard was too high,” explained Sue. “The experience he has gained from this tournament will stand him in very good stead if he decides to play more open events as, by the end of the tournament, his serves would have caused event winner Felix to struggle. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
For the future, Sue concluded: “Racquets is looking forward to having another four or five players in the tournament next year, as the academy is producing some strong players in all age groups who will be well up for competing next year.”
THE Christmas spirit arrived on Friday for a group of Thame’s senior citizens, when they were treated to a Tea Party at Thame Football Club, hosted by Thame Rotary, the town council and Thame Inner Wheel.
PCSO Diane Jackson serves tea to Thame’s senior citizens
Entertainment was provided by pupils from St Joseph’s Primary School Choir and a former Mayor of Thame, now an SODC councillor, Jeannette Matelot Green played the piano, and ‘Father Christmas himself turned up, despite being very busy!
Peter Hook, President of the Rotary Club of Thame, said: “The event was a great success with approximately 80 Senior Citizens attending a very special afternoon. We are grateful to Sainsbury’s and the Co-operative for providing food, the Inner Wheel of Thame for preparing the tea and everyone else for helping.”
THE people of Thame have shown their support for the fight to keep the town’s and other Children’s Centres throughout Oxfordshire, from closing.
Mary Stiles (second left) with some of her supporters in Thame
In just two hours on Saturday, over 300 people signed a petition calling on Oxfordshire County Council not to close its Children’s Centres.
Thame Town Councillor, Mary Stiles, who is leading the Thame petitioners, was very pleased with the support shown for the cause when she stood outside Thame Town Hall on Saturday, seeking signatures to her petition.
Mary, who is Chair of the Red Kite Children’s Centre Advisory Group said: “I would like to say a big thank you to all those people in Thame town centre last Saturday, who signed the petition to Oxfordshire County Council, calling on the council not to close our Children’s Centres.
“Thanks also to everyone who came to help to me. We had four clipboards of petition sheets and collected 330 signatures in the two hours we were there – that is 2.75 people per minute!
“Together with the 57 signatures I had collected before Saturday, they will be added to the hundreds of others from people across the whole of Oxfordshire and sent in to Melinda Tilley, the OCC Cabinet member responsible for Children’s Services.
“Let us hope that Ms Tilley, her cabinet colleagues and all the other county councillors take notice of the petition and the views expressed in the consultation, which is still open until January 10, and that they think again and keep this vital service running.”
To take part in the Consultation on ‘Early years intervention’, visit the website: LINK HERE
FOLLOWING the overwhelming grief expressed on social media, and the many tributes paid to 18 year-old Megan Biddle after her death in March this year, her friends and family have been fund-raising to produce a permanent memorial to ‘Bid’, as she was affectionately know, in the form of a unique bench.
Michael Gibbs, who designed the hand sculpture in the Youth Memorial garden in Thame, has come up with a design based on ideas from Megan’s friends, expressing her many ‘trademarks’ and passions, including music, skate-boarding, crazy sunglasses and bobble hats! The design is based on a long-board (a long skateboard) and will be made of metal and playfully incorporate wheels at each end that can be spun at will.
A website http://thatbidkid.com/, has now gone live, through which Megan’s friend will be fundraising to build the memorial bench and the project is being co-ordinated through Thame Youth Memorial (charity number 1135630).
The target is £10,000 and already around £1,000 has been raised through the sale of wrist bands and donations, and Lord Williams’s school will be sharing funds raised with the schools’s Gambia Child project, on the last day of term when the teachers will be sporting Christmas jumpers. Megan’s friends were selling wrist bands at the Barley Hill Christmas Disco and raised around £50.
To find out more about Megan’s bench and to make a donation or to find out where you can get hold of wrist bands, visit: http://thatbidkid.com/fundraising/
THIS is a public service message: Health Oxfordshire is your voice on health and social care. Whether it is improving services today, or helping to shape them for tomorrow, Healthwatch Oxfordshire is all about enabling local voices to influence the delivery and design of local health and social care in our county. Not just for the people who use them now, but for anyone who might need to in future.
Healthwatch Oxfordshire was set up on April 1 2013, as a result of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The organisation sits alongside 151 other local Healthwatch across the country. Healthwatch Oxfordshire hears what children, young people and adults have to say about health and social care services, whether that is praise, criticism or ideas for improvement.
We strengthen the collective voice of patients and the public, so that service providers and commissioners listen to what they have to say. We then hold them to account on how they use the information we provide to shape, inform and influence service delivery and design.
In order to ensure that we have the best possible evidence and the widest possible views to influence the delivery and design of health and social care services, we need as many people as possible to speak out about their experiences, so that we can speak up on their behalf.
Healthwatch is independent, and we are accountable to the people of Oxfordshire, so please tell us how you would like to be treated and cared for, and what is important to you when using health and social care services, and we can make a difference together.
To find out more about Healthwatch Oxfordshire, please visit our website, www.healthwatchoxfordshire.co.uk
Contact us on 01865 520 520 or email hello@healthwatchoxfordshire.co.uk
THE Thame Swimathon is coming back! Thame Rotarians are looking for teams of four to six to attend the fourth Thame Swimathon, which will take place at Thame Leisure Centre on Sunday, February 28, between 11am and 3pm.
Thame Swimathon is a fun and fundraising event organised by the Rotary Club of Thame. The event is made possible by the sponsors, Thame Leisure Centre, Park Street Dental Clinic, Abbotts Office Solutions, Vale Life Magazine, Haddenham Beer Festival, Booker Tate, Ignite Sports, and Silent View Windows, who between them covere most of the costs to run the event.
Those who want to take the Swimathon challenge can do so in three simple steps:
1. Form a team of 4-6, download a Team Entry Form from www.thame.rotary1090.org and send it to thame.swimathon@btinternet.com
2. Raise funds for a charity of your choice
3. Swim for one hour
All ages from eight years and upwards are invited to enter. The Team Entry Form, Info Pack and Sponsorship Form are available on www.thame.rotary1090.org
The CAB team, including the Mayor that year, at the Thame Swimathon 2014
Participating teams will have the option to either allocate 50% of their team’s money raised towards the charity of their choice or 100% towards Rotary’s charities. The teams can create their own fundraising page on the My Donate Portal under the Thame Swimathon 2016 page, and then share the link with family, friends, and colleagues asking them to donate online.
THAT was the verdict of Paul Mes, of The Federation of Small Business Thames Valley, after his visit to Small Business Saturday in Thame last weekend, December 5.
After the event, Paul said: “This event showed just what excellent results can be achieved by an enthusiastic group of volunteers, even in a short space of time. Easily the best event in my area for Small Business Saturday. I am sure that it will be even better in 2016 if even more people in Thame get behind it!”
The importance to Thame’s economy of its many small businesses is one of the town’s under appreciated assets but after Small Business Saturday last weekend, more of them were able to learn about what each other has to offer, to learn from the experts and raise their profiles in the high street.
Shoppers and passers-by were handed out free shopping bags and information about the event from a stall outside the town hall, while they enjoyed live performances from some of Thame’s talented – and brave, considering the weather – musicians.
Workshops and presentations
Dozens of small businesses attended a series of presentations and workshops in The Stables venue, behind the James Figg pub, with MC, George Anderson, who revealed how his first small business experience was running his school tuck shop aged 11.
George Anderson, MC for day at Small Business Saturday in Thame
A string of inspiring speakers included Jean Gamester of Semaphora Consulting, who spoke about converting goals into reality, Sarah Fletcher of Mushroom Soufflé with her Social Media Strategy workshop, Blooberry Design’s Tracy Staskevich and Yvonne Dean who spoke about good branding, and Thames Valley Business Advisers representative, Tim Luscombe, suggested some basic strategies for small businesses to boost their revenues.
Mayor of Thame, Nichola Dixon, cuts the ‘Rising Star’ cake
Cake and champagne
At lunch time there was an opportunity for small businesses to network and join in the celebrations for Thame’s ‘Rising Star High Street’ Award, with the Mayor of Thame, Nichola Dixon, and Thame’s MP, John Howell. A magnificent cake, made by Jenny Walker of A Piece of Cake in Thame, was ceremoniously cut by the Mayor and distributed among those present, and taken round to Thame’s hardworking, independent retailers in the town centre to share in the celebration, by Cllr David Laver.
Cllr David Laver shares the ‘Rising Star High Street’ cake with staff at Robert Stanley Opticians who decorated their shop window to celebrate Small Business Saturday
Networking and sharing
The networking and learning continued into the afternoon with a surgery with Graham Hunt, Thame’s Town Clerk, who answered questions about business rates and related matters that affect businesses in Thame and locally. Phil Westerman, of Darwin Swan Associates, was able to talk about the issues involving in buying or selling a business and the pitfalls to be avoided.
Paul Mes, representing the Federation of Small Business, was on hand to explain the benefits of joining the FSB, including tax, legal and financial advice.
Thame’s Deputy Mayor, Linda Emery (left), pops into the pop-up gallery to meet Poseytude’s James Taylor and Margarita
The pop-up art exhibition, curated by James Taylor of Poseytude , featuring some young and emerging artists, was held in the currently empty, ex Whittal’s wine shop and proved to be very popular. Glassware designed and made by the ex Mayor of Thame, Jeannette Matelot Green was also on display.
Independent shops joined in too
Many of the independent shops in the town put on special events to support Small Business Saturday, including the Book House with a Christmas book display, Newitts Butchers with a sausage tasting, Steamer Trading gave coffee demonstrations throughout the day, book binding demonstrations were hosted by Kew Book Binding, Rumsey’s held chocolate-making demonstrations and What’s Cooking offered mulled wine along with their Christmas food display which had to be staged indoors due to the wet and windy weather that prevailed throughout most of the day.
Fitch & Fellows in Thame held Christmas dog collar making demonstrations. Christmas tree making and sweet art workshops were held in Swan Walk at Sweet Art Creations and Racquets Fitness Centre and Thame Library also put on special events to support Small Business Saturday.
‘Fantastic day’
Sally Dickinson, a Director of What’s Cooking in Cornmarket, Thame, summed up the day: “What a fantastic day Small Business Saturday was, not only for the shop but also for all the golden nuggets of information we picked up at the workshops. It was the best Small Business Saturday yet and this comes with a huge thank you to everyone who organised the day.”
In the evening, after all that networking and sharing ideas, it was off to The Cross Keys pub for a welcome pint of a special Small Business Saturday brew, specially selected by landlord, Peter Lambert.
Helen Johns, who co-ordinated the Small Business Saturday team in Thame, said: “Small Business Saturday is a national campaign to support, promote and inspire small businesses of any size up to £10m turnover. A small team of us set out to put on a small business event in Thame that would appeal to non-retail as well as retail businesses, including as many as possible in the activities and marketing it using leaflets, balloons and live music from Black Frog Studios on the day. We have had excellent feedback from those who presented as well as those who attended, and this has encouraged us to build on a promising start and create a bigger and better Small Business Saturday in 2016.”
The date of next year’s Small Business Saturday has not yet been announced but it is expected to be held at a different time of the year in 2016.
A Thame solicitor is warning businesses of the legal perils that may arise from the Christmas office party.
“It is easy at this time of year for us lawyers (just before we leave for our own firm’s Christmas Party) to pen articles soberly warning of the risk that abundant alcohol and end-of-year high spirits at these events will lead to employers being sued for sexual harassment, employees sacked for assault and sensationalised press reports of the ensuing Tribunal cases attracting embarrassing publicity for both,” writes Tim Preston of Lightfoots Solicitors in Thame.
“Fortunately,” says Tim, “most company Christmas parties do take place without any lasting damage being done.
“However, we have heard, for example, on good authority, of one man who consulted a solicitor as to whether he had a legal remedy after he was dismissed for alleged misbehaviour at a company Christmas party. When asked if the allegations were true, he admitted ‘I don’t know. I must have drunk so much I don’t have any memory of what happened’, which did not make it easy for the solicitor to advise him.”
You can read the complete version of Tim Preston’s article, including his advise on limiting problems arising from the office party, on Lightfoots’ website HERE
I write in my capacity as Chair of the Red Kite Children’Centre Advisory Group to encourage as many people as possible to take part in Oxfordshire County Council’s consultation on the proposals to close all 44 Children’s Centres, replace them with about seven hubs across the county and provide services only for referred families.
This Saturday morning, December 12, I shall be in Thame town centre near the Town Hall 10.00 – 12.00, to draw the public’s attention to the threat to our Red Kite Centre in Thame and Chinnor and to gather signatures on a petition to OCC, urging them to think again about closing all of its Children’s Centres, which provide a vital service for babies, young children and their families.
To cut these services is very short-sighted, because prevention is always better than cure and saves money in the end.
To join with Children’s Services to have a 0 – 19 provision, as proposed by OCC, does make sense and would definitely save money, but for those services to be available only to referred families, would stigmatise those families, making them harder to reach. It would be crisis intervention, with no preventative work, which would store up problems for later, not only causing grief for families, but also resulting in a greater expense to the public purse.
There are many other problems with OCC’s proposals, some examples being:
the distance from Thame and Chinnor to Didcot, which would be our “local” hub and the lack of public transport in that direction the cost and time involved for outreach workers from Didcot to come to Thame and Chinnor – and nowhere to hold meetings
another venue would have to be found for health visitor, speech therapist and physiotherapist clinics – at a cost
most families would be denied access to what many consider vital support
public money invested in providing Children’s Centres in the first place would be wasted
I hope that many people will join me in Thame on Saturday morning to sign the petition and that many will take part in OCC’s consultation, which is on their website. Hard copies of the consultation document are also available from the library, the Town Hall and the Red Kite Centre.
If anyone would like more information or discuss the issues with me I can be contacted via the Red Kite Centre or on 07779654840 or by email maryandstella@aol.com
Yours sincerely
Mary Stiles
Chair of Red Kite Advisory Group
3 Willow Road, Thame
This year, 2015, has been a particularly successful year for Thame; The Thame Food Festival was recently earned a Bronze Award in The Beautiful South Awards 2015, for its contribution to tourism in the region.
