THE wait is finally over and the students at Lord Williams’s School have much to celebrate. They have achieved outstanding results in their A Level examinations. The pass rate was 99% with 48% of passes at A*/A and B grades.
Acting Heads of Sixth Form, Penny Lowe and Lesley McPherson, commented: “We wish to congratulate our Year 13 students on achieving such excellent results. We are extremely proud of all of our students’ achievements and these results are a product of their talents and hard work. Despite the significant challenges faced by both staff and students with regards to the new A Level courses and examinations, these results are testament to the fantastic work ethic shown by the students and the unstinting teaching and support from all staff who have guided them through the last two years. They have a bright and exciting future ahead of them and we know they are going to make a big impression wherever the next stage of their journey takes them.”
Headteacher David Wybron added: “These results are very impressive and students should feel very proud of their achievements, as a result of their abilities and hard work and the dedicated input of curriculum and pastoral staff, whatever their starting points.”
The following students achieved A* or A grades in three or more subjects: Oliver Carlile, Conor Fleming, Emma Fotherby, Juliette Frontier, Isabel Hambly, Jack Higgins, Joel Kandiah, Graham Kemp, William Kendall, Heather Knight, Rachael Knight, Gabe Locke, Anna Macdougall, Daniel Patey, Matthew Shaw, Angel Strachan, Tilly Stubbs, Matthew Wallis and Benjamin Williams.
THE man who took the booking from the organisation responsible for the controversial ‘Light and Life’ Gipsy Chuch convention on Thame Show Ground last week, has received death threats, it was revealed at last night’s Thame Town Council Meeting (15/08)
Image courtesy of the Light and Life church
This news came during the answer to a question from Cllr Peter Lambert, to Cllr Ann Midwinter, who is a Director of the Thame and District Agricultural Association who own the land. The Mayor, Cllr Tom Wyse, had just thanked the police for doing ‘an excellent job with limited resources’ when Cllr Peter Lambert asked Cllr Midwinter: “Can we expect an apology from the TAA to the people of Thame who were affected?”
She replied: “The booking was taken in all good faith two months before the event and the elder of the church had been in touch the police as well. So all seemed above board; so the police too were ‘caught on the hop’. Nobody could have known just how big the influx would be; people came from all over, including France and Spain. The problems caused have been hysterical and exaggerated, and Chris Parker, TAA’s Secretary has been the subject of much verbal abuse on social media and has even received death threats. That is unacceptable.”
‘God-fearing people’
“The difficulties started on the Friday (August 4) with traffic jams, when the Sheep Fair farmers were all trying to leave the site as the travellers were trying to get in,” she explained. “As I became aware of the reported incidents, I personally went over to the show ground because I felt guilty, and met one of their elders, Mr Stevens. These were God-fearing people though he admitted that some there were not; some of the trouble-makers were not attached to the Convention he told me, but parked somewhere else and were ‘just taking the micky’.
“A ‘Billy Graham’ type minister came three times to preach at the convention and I’m sure that our church ministers would be delighted if their services were that full! As promised they did leave the site very tidy, though it’s very muddy.”
Thame businesses have benefited
Cllr Midwinter said that the takings of Thame businesses, the shops and the hotels etc, went up while the visitors were in town. “I was told that thousands of pounds worth of stuff had been stolen so I went round to the shops, including the Esso garage and asked. Not true!”
She added: “This booking was taken in good faith and I see no reason why our Chairman, Andew Duffey, should have to apologise.
‘No smoke without fire’
Cllr Lambert responded: ” He’s the Chairman. It’s his responsibility. Once the numbers became apparent, someone should have thought ‘we need more security; we need more toilets. The driving was particularly appalling. As for local businesses, the kebab van was shaken backwards and forwards and closed for safety reasons. I had to lock my pub door and lost £1,000 in revenue. There’s ‘no smoke without fire’ and people were scared to go out. I personally got verbally abused on my way to this very council chamber last Tuesday. There was definitely an element that were not ‘God-fearing’.
“We want a simple apology whether or not the booking was taken in good faith and the TAA taken by surprise.”
Vice Chair says ‘sorry’
Cllr Midwinter then asked Cllr David Bretherton, who is Vice Chair of the TAA, whether he had been over to see what what going on and whether he was going to apologise. He replied that he did not visit the site, and was sorry about what happened over there. “There has been a lot of hysteria,” he said. “A lot did not happened but some did, and I will talk with the Chairman. But nothing could have been done in preparation.”
‘No signs of mayhem’
Cllr Helena Fickling then spoke of her experience. “I came into Thame and I saw no signs of mayhem. I do know about the complaints about the showers at the Thame Leisure Centre, but what happened up there is inevitable when you have a lot of people camping. I don’t think you can blame the people organising the event.”
Cllr Dyer concluded the discussion with: “It’s all over now. Thame is back to normal. I accept that there were problems with gate-crashers. We believed that we lived in nice community, but the levels of intolerance and prejudice was appalling. So an equal apology needs to come from those feeding the prejudices.”
HIDDEN away in a corner of Waterperry Garden Centre is a small community of artist-craft workers, among them a unique talent, keeping alive the venerable tradition of maritime carving. Thame.net’s summer intern, Gabby Smith, recently visited the workshop of Andy Peters, who created Maritima Woodcarving back in 1990. Here she writes about the experience and the unforgettable impressions the visit left her with: (more…)
RAQUETS Fitness Centre in Thame is gearing up for its next big event, the Open Doubles over the weekend September 2 – 3.
Coach Simon Martin said: “We have a £300 prize fund, a beer festival starting on the Friday night and Live Music on the Saturday evening.
“You don’t need to enter with a partner. Anyone without a partner will be matched up in the week before,” he explained. “And if you haven’t played doubles before but want to give it a try – we will happily teach you the rules and the tactics on the weekend.”
GUNS, riot shields, tazers and IEDs were just some of equipment on display today as hundreds of families gathered at the Southern Road Recreation ground in Thame, to enjoy the sunshine and to find out about the work of the emergency services.
The 2017 Thame Emergency Services Day was co-ordinated by PCSO James Hopkin, a member of the Thame neighbourhood police team, with the support of Thame Town Council. Visitors were able to learn about the different roles in the police force, including the firearms section, the Public Order team and the Traffic Division. There were plenty of activities for children including exploring the inside of emergency vehicles like ambulances, fire engines and even an army rescue helicoptor. There were stalls with information about working for the emergency services and anyone could have a go at learning how to do CPR, seeing how remote-controlled ‘robots’ operate to help bomb disposal experts examine and render safe explosive devices, without putting themselves in danger.
Oxfordshire Lowland Search and Rescue were also there, showing off their equipment and techniques, with their rescue canoes attracting particular attention from the younger children. The various Thame cadet organisations were represented too chatting to potential new sign-ups about the great fun and challenges that they enjoy as members.
Second only to the long queue to see inside the helicopter, was that for the ice-cream van – just as popular among the emergency services staff as with the children !
More pictures HERE (click on the icon, top right, of a rectangle with arrow in the centre, and view as a slide show) PLEASE NOTE – all these images are copyright of Sonja Francis. Please ASK if you want to reproduce them elsewhere or download them.
Dear Editor – The incidents associated with the presence of travellers on the show ground are replicating those experienced by others elsewhere in the country and reported on Google web sites. The claim by the Thame Agricultural Association that a ‘good faith’ booking was taken after background checks had been carried out begs the question; why didn’t they seek the opinion of the authority where the Darlington group held their last gathering?
Having become aware of the calamity that they had brought upon themselves and upon the neighbourhood, what measures did members of the TAA take in order to safeguard their assets? I have a grandstand view of activities around the entrance to the site and I certainly haven’t seen evidence of containment there.
The individuals purporting to be traffic controllers appear to have been drawn from amongst the travellers. They initiated one or two spectacular traffic jams and made no effort to curtail the dirt track-like activities of numerous drivers as they snaked recklessly up and down the driveway at high speed, generating clouds of dust that drifted into the houses bordering the site. The driveway quickly became severely rutted and as a result of heavy rainfall, became a channel of mud carried down to the B4012.
I witnessed a 4×4 being driven out of the driveway straight across the two lanes of the B4012 and up on to the grass verge on the opposite side, before snaking at speed along the grass to the entrance to Cromwell Avenue then turning sharply into the traffic flow and back into the Show Ground driveway. This reckless and quite pointless action drew no comment from the ‘traffic controllers’. The grass verge which is used by walkers and joggers and which has always been carefully tended by council groundsme, was taken over by the travellers for parking cars and lorries and there was even a woman attempting to sell clothing to the travellers from the boot of her car. The area gradually became devastated.
There was a constant flow of vehicles on to and off the site from six in the morning until well after midnight when the noise and the blazing headlights were a great deterrent to sleep.
Each morning we were treated to a display of litter picking around the entrance to the driveway, though in truth there is little in evidence there. However there was no attempt to extend the search around the corner into Cromwell Avenue which is the route followed into town by many pedestrians from the site. The entire exercise seemed hypocritical when one considers the lack of concern shown for the local environment as a whole by the visitors to the site.
No doubt it will cost the TAA a considerable sum of money to restore the Show Ground to a satisfactory state for the {Towersey} festival in a couple of weeks time. My concern is that the cost of restoring the land adjoining the site should not be borne by the local residents. The damage done can be attributed to people who came to the site with the blessing of the TAA and surely it must, therefore, be the responsibility of the TAA to pay to put it right.
I wish to assure the TAA that my comments contain no rumours or Chinese whispers; they relate to things that I have witnessed myself. Much of the evidence was there for all to see.
THE rain on Tuesday (August 8), failed to dampen the spirits of Thame Farmers’ Market traders who celebrated their 18th birthday with balloons, cake and drink.
The Mayor of Thame, Cllr Tom Wyse, joined the celebration to cut the cake, which was topped with miniature decorations of some of the produce you can find at the Farmers’ Market including fruit and vegetables, meat and cheese. Visitors to the market were treated to a slice of cake too. The cake was handmade by Little Flower Cakes who are based in Thame.
Speaking after he’d eaten his cake, the Mayor said: “I was very pleased to be asked to cut the lovely cake to celebrate the 18th birthday of the Farmers Market on Tuesday. It was a shame about the wet weather and the fact that part of the Mayor’ Regalia is being updated. I am sure we all appreciate the additional fresh produce that the Farmers Market brings into our great town and I’m sure it will do for many more years to come!”
Stay up to date with Thame Farmers’ Market on Facebook HERE, follow them on twitter HERE and check out their new Instagram too!
THAME Town Cricket Club are celebrating after three wins and a draw from their four matches last weekend, August 5-6.
Gami Kanishka
Thame first XI put in a commanding performance in the final timed game of the season to demolish Shipton-under-Wychwood last Saturday. Despite the threat of Shipton’s overseas fast bowler Sanklecha, Thame’s batsmen rose to the challenge superbly. The seamer finished wicketless as the top order rallied around Thame’s own overseas star, Gamindu Kanishka (pictured). With great support from the other batsmen, on a difficult wicket, Kanishka stole the show with a sensational 122 not out, from just 117 balls, allowing Thame to declare on 252-4 inside 46 overs.
Taking 10 Shipton wickets in 44 overs was not going to be easy against batsmen intent on defence but Thame’s spinners showed excellent patience in chipping away at the Shipton top order. Mike Higgs in particular was faultless in producing figures of 5-24 from 18 overs, but with 25 minutes of play remaining Thame still required 4 Shipton wickets to take a well-deserved victory. It was left to Andy Russell (3-6 from 9 overs) to spark jubilant scenes as he had the final batsman held at short leg by Adam Phippen with 10 minutes remaining. Shipton were finally dismissed for just 58.
Thame still sit fourth in the HCPL, within touching distance of promotion with four games remaining.
Firsts finish second in T20 group after beating rivals Aston Rowant
TMAE welcomed Aston Rowant to Church Meadow on Tuesday, August 1, in the last game of the group stages. Batting first, Captain Will Sutcliffe led the way with an unbeaten 72, supported by Callum Russell (29) and Gamindu Kanishka (26), as Thame posted 149.
Adam Phippen and Will Rooney claimed 2 wickets each and Jeffcock, Kanishka and Higgs (1-7 off 4) all picked up one apiece. Tight bowling along with 2 run outs, meant Rowant ended up on 130 after their 20 overs. This means that Thame now travel to Wormsley on September 16th for Finals Day, to compete for the Wilf Bennett Cup.
Second XI dig in at Shipton-under-Wychwood
WINNING the toss and electing to bat, Shipton got off to a strong start, with runs coming from Swann (38) and Nelson (45). However, the introduction of Alastair Thomas (2-42) and Chris Penny (3-60) tightened things up for Thame. Quick run scoring in the final overs did nevertheless push Shipton’s total up to 198. In response, Thame faced an uphill battle, with only 42 overs to reach the target. Despite runs from skipper Matt Furness (38) and Daniel Patey (52), Thame ended on 160 for 8, forcing a draw. Thame welcome local rivals Tiddington to Church Meadow this Saturday, August 13.
Thame thirds keep pushing for promotion
Thame thirds beat second-placed Challow & Childrey thirds, in Wantage, in a rain-affected match, by 65 runs. Thame were asked to bat first and were bowled out for a competitive score of 166. Andy Jinman once again led with the bat, making 61, with good support from Oli Sutcliffe (29) and Ian Chappell (22), as well as useful runs from James McStay (14) and Ian McStay (12). In reply, Challow were put under pressure by opening bowlers Ian McStay (3 wickets) and Pete Tervet (2). The run rate rarely climbed above 2 runs per over and Will Bruce-Morgan then chipped in with 3 wickets in a controlled seven-over spell. C&C were eventually bowled out for 101 in 32 overs and Thame claimed 25 points to remain in the promotion hunt. They are now just 15 points behind second-placed Challow with 4 games still to play and entertain Stokenchurch seconds this Saturday.
THE project to install a unique bench in memory of 17 year-old Megan Biddle, from Thame, is moving forward, and is it hoped that it will be installed at the Southern Road Recreation Ground in the town, by November 1, the date of Megan’s birth.
The project, which is being overseen by David Bretherton, was started by a group of Megan’s close friends, who raised over £ 10,000 towards the bench, which will be based on an original design which will be both a bench and a piece of art, along the lines of a long board, shaped into a semi-circle with four wheels that spin at the end.
The money was raised through activities such as Tombolas, music nights and friends having their hair shaved off ! You can read more about the project by visiting the website http://thatbidkid.com/
Thame Town Council will pay for the galvanised steel and painted bench to be transported from the manufacturer, its maintenance and insurance, as well as for two litter bins close by.
THE well known travel review organisation, TripAdvisor, has given one of Thame.Net’s popular Accommodation listings, one of its exclusive Certificate of Excellence accolades.
The TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence is only presented to the best of TripAdvisor Rentals’ out hundreds of thousands of homes.
The Certificate of Excellence is given annually to those properties that provide consistently outstanding experiences and whose owners offer first-class customer service to their guests.
The owner of the holiday cabin, known as Lakeside Town Farm, at Kingston Blount, awarded the accolade, Theresa Clark said that she was ‘thrilled’ with the recognition.
“We are very pleased to earn a Certificate of Excellence for our property, Lakeside Town Farm,” she said. “We have listed with TripAdvisor Rentals for 12 years and we always strive to provide great customer service. It’s great to be rewarded by TripAdvisor Rentals after all of our hard work and it’s wonderful to know that our many guests over the last year have really valued their stay.”
Laurel Greatrix, Communications Director, TripAdvisor Rentals, said: “We’re excited to recognise and honour the top homes and homeowners on our site. This is a hard-earned accolade, and we’d like to thank these property owners for their dedication to providing travellers with consistently outstanding experiences.”
www.townfarmcottage.co.uk is available to book on TripAdvisor Rentals, where travellers can search, compare and book hundreds of thousands of properties worldwide. Or find Lakeside Town Farm’s details and those of many more local places to stay, in Thame.Net’s Accommodation section HERE
Headteacher David Wybron added: “These results are very impressive and students should feel very proud of their achievements, as a result of their abilities and hard work and the dedicated input of curriculum and pastoral staff, whatever their starting points.”
