RIO 2016 Olympic Gold medallist, Hollie Webb, is coming to Thame, to take part in Thame Hockey Club’s, Thame Hockey Fest on Saturday, September 10!
You can read more about the Thame Hockey Fest, and how you can get involved in the revival of this great sport, by visiting Thame Hockey Club’s Facebook page:
IN the first match of the season, the persistent rain failed not dampen Chinnor’s desire to start the 16-17 campaign with a win. They duly delivered with a 47-10 victory over London Irish Wild Geese, newly returned to National Two South.
The first quarter of the game was even. Wild Geese looked like scoring immediately after the start with Hodgkinson slicing through the home defence. The ball was turned over on the 10 metre line and Kieran Goss broke out to deliver the ball into Henry Lamont’s hands 80 metres downfield for the first try in the first minute. Wild Geese came back with a converted try minutes later from Seb Rodwell to lead 7-5. Bertie Hopkin, with a penalty goal, restored the Chinnor lead. Hodgkinson did the same for the visitors to put them 10-8 ahead. The Chinnor pack then exerted repeated scrum pressure leading to a penalty try. Hopkin converted for a 15-10 lead. Another penalty scrum saw the ball fly through Chinnor hands to see Kieran Goss over on the stroke of half time for a 20-10 lead to the Oxfordshire boys.
Wild Geese had more of the ball in the third quarter but foundered on a stiff Chinnor defence. Hopkin increased Chinnor’s lead with a penalty goal for a 23-10 lead. The Chinnor scrum notched up the pressure level with the introduction of Nathan Hannay and Richard Thorpe. The resultant stream of penalties lead to several scores. Hopkin darted through for the bonus point try, from a particularly bruising scrum. Chinnor kept attacking in the red zone and George Messum barrelled over for Chinnor’s fifth. Greg Goodfellow darted over after the Chinnor scrum put their opponents into reverse. The Chinnor scoring sequence ended just before the final whistle when Mark Darlington was ushered over the line by the now rampant Chinnor pack, to finish the match with a 47-10 victory to Chinnor.
Chinnor adjusted to the dire conditions the better of the two sides. The game was won and lost in the packs. The Chinnor scrum was dominant throughout, particularly in the second half when the addition of Hannay and Thorpe added even more power. Two of Chinnor’s seven tries came directly from scrum pressure. The other tries came through incisive back play often as a result of the power of the Chinnor pack. Hopkin and Goodfellow were sharp to the gap and new skipper, Armitage, was the linchpin of so much of the backs’ good works. The back row led a great defensive effort.
Irish, suffering at the hands of the Chinnor pack, saw their fortunes plummet when influential fly half, Pete Hodgkinson, left the field injured. Wild Geese never gave up but need to shore up their pack to avoid an uncomfortable return to National Two South.
Chinnor’s result sees them top of the table – a first! (but only one match has been played of course). The Chinnor pack probably jointly deserve Man of the Match but there can only be one and CJ Osazuwa gets the accolade this time out.
Teams
Chinnor
Kieran Goss, Luke Hibberd, Danny Barnes, Bevon Armitage (c), Henry Lamont, Bertie Hopkin, Greg Goodfellow, Tom Price, Jamie Townsend, Andy Darlington, CJ Osazuwa, Ross Parkins, Ben Manning, George Messum, Tom Burns
Interchanges: Jay Tyack, Mark Darlington, Nathan Hannay, Richard Thorpe, Junior Fatialofa
London Irish Wild Geese
Ben Kitchen, Matt Killeen, Seb Rodwell, Sean Cunningham, Conrad Burne, Pete Hodgkinson, Tom Barker, Charlie Connor, Darren Livett, Eddie Fraher, George Dry, Andy Evans, Jack Cooke, Tyler Bush, Scott Moore (c)
Interchanges: Craig Decoteau, John Barker, Ryan Bifield, Alex Tate, Ian Bradshaw
Scorers
Chinnor
Tries (time): Lamont (1), Penalty (30,) Goss (40), Hopkin (63), Messum (68), Goodfellow (78), Darlington M (80)
Conversions (time): Hopkin (31, 70, 79)
Penalty Goals (time): Hopkin (10, 59)
London Irish Wild Geese
Tries (time): Rodwell (7)
Conversions (time): Hodgkinson (8)
Penalty Goals (time): Hodgkinson (23)
Referee: David Clarkson
Attendance: 241
Half time score: 20-10
Full time score: 47-10
SOURCE: Contributed by Bill O’Donnell
EVERYONE in Thame is being invited to go along and meet your local emergency services teams at a family fun day on Sunday, September 25, between 10am and 2pm at the Southern Road Recreation Ground.
Learn about the different roles, join in the teams’ activities, and see the emergency vehicles. There will be stalls with information, activities for the children, and the teams’ mascots will also be making a special appearance.
It’s free entry, and there is free public parking available in Thame town centre, a short walk from the recreation ground.
JOHN the Stitcher (aka John Markham) former biker and talented, ingenious, and prolific leather craftsman extraordinaire and Oxfordshire legend who ran his own leather shop in Thame for many decades died 21 Aug 2016 after a fight with cancer. His wife and daughters welcome motorbikes to accompany John on his final journey to the Oxford Crematorium (Bayswater Rd, Barton, Oxford OX3 9RZ, a mere 4 miles away from procession depart point). Please arrive depart point about 2.pm on September 9, to line up at the Coop Funeral Care Home, 2 Hendred Street, Cowley OX4 2ED (residential cul-de-sac) to help an organised timely departure. Please help give John a suitable send off – spread the word far and wide, and quickly as it’s only a few days away.
John ran his ‘one-man-band’ crowded leather shop in Thame for 30 years and more, repairing and making new leather goods from the old item or your very rough sketch. Well known to bikers (as well as equestrians, classic car owners, classic airplane restorers, and film companies) as he was a biker himself before an accident prevented him from riding again. Check out his Facebook page ‘John the Stitcher’ to see photos of some of the amazing things he made. So sad to see him go; so glad to have known him, and shared a good story and a laugh with him. RIP John.
If you knew John the Stitcher, please consider signing up at the ‘Biker Escorts UK’ (Facebook group page) to escort John on his final journey. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1608974286040763/
SOURCE: Contributed by Al Shriver
THAME’S annual September Fair will be visiting the centre of the town between Thursday, September 15, and Saturday, September 17, 2016.
During the Fair, a Temporary Road Closure and Traffic Regulation Order will be in force, which will restrict the entry of vehicles to the centre of Thame from 4pm Wednesday, September 14, until 12 noon on Sunday, September 18, 2016. Traffic movement will be restricted and barriers will be in position at the following locations:
High Street at the junction with Bell Lane
North Street at the junction with Wellington Street
Upper High Street at the junction with East Street
Rooks Lane at the Upper High Street junction
Nelson Street at the Upper High Street junction
Vehicles will not be allowed to park in the road or on the pavements of these affected roads. Anyone parking will run the risk of causing an offence by obstruction and cars will be removed.
Access permits are available for residents whose property is located within the road closure and have off-street parking. To apply for a permit, please contact Thame Town Council on 01844 212833.
Full details of the Road Closure Order can be viewed at the Information Centre in Thame Town Hall.
THAME is once again entering the Great British High Street Competition in the Small Market Towns category. Last year there were 230 competition entries from across the UK and Thame was awarded a Rising Star award for its entry, one of 10 market towns to receive this accolade.
But Thame is not resting on our laurels and this year is aiming to win in our category! We might even win the Winner of Winners award as Britain’s Best (won in 2015 by Bishy Road, York).
Thame is also submitting entries in a new category, High Street Heroes, celebrating individual achievement. There are four categories, best market trader, best store manager or employee (independent retailer), best store manager or employee (national retailer), and best under 25 years old.
Last year the judges commended Thame especially for its use of social media, so this year, the aim is to build up our social media presence for this year’s entry.
Helen Johns, who is once again co-ordinating Thame’s entry, said: “We’re grateful for funding from SODC and Thame Town Council which has made it possible for us to work with a professional social media specialist, Mushroom Soufflé, who will help us extend the use of social media around the high street. Thame social media champions are being trained to give advice and encouragement to high street businesses, getting them tweeting and putting posts on Facebook. The GBHS organisers are watching what we do, so it’s important that as many people as possible get active, engaging with others, raising profile for their own and other businesses, as well as for our wonderful market town.”
The social media champions will be active on the high street over the coming weeks, sporting #GBHighSt t-shirts, sponsored by Mr Mend of Thame.
Twitter has joined other competition sponsors this year, with an award for the Best Shop on Twitter (open to small businesses with a rateable value below £18k). Anyone – shop staff or members of the public – can nominate a shop to win, by tweeting #BestGBTwitterShop and the shop’s Twitter @handle. Nominations must be in by Friday, September 9. The Twitter feeds of nominated shops will be assessed by looking back at their tweeting between July 22 and August 22, in order to decide on the winner, who receives £1000 of advertising credit plus a visit to Twitter’s London offices for a best practice workshop.
For the Small Market Town and High Street Heroes categories, entries must be in by Friday, September 9. Helen continued: “From then onwards, it’s really important to keep promoting Thame on social media and through other publicity channels to increase our chances of winning the Small Market Town and other awards. During this time, the judges will be reviewing and shortlisting applications, announcing category finalists in mid-October. ”
The judges will visit finalists between October and mid-November, assessing entrants and deciding on winners. But the public plays a big part in this too – public voting makes up 50% of the final results. Last year 200,000 public votes were cast and the organisers are hoping that figure will be exceeded this year. From mid-October, anyone can vote once a day for one finalist in each category. The strength of public support will be visible in league tables, showing how each finalist is doing. Finalists will be invited to an awards ceremony in London in early December, when category winners and the winner of winners will be announced.
So, support our Great British High Street, and get tweeting!
COMMUNITY groups across South Oxfordshire can benefit from a share of £1.6 million in grants that has been made available by the district council, but they only have until September 15, to apply.
Non-profit organisations can apply for anything from £10,000 to £100,000 to go towards things like salary costs, rent and rates, marketing and publicity, and transport and utility costs to provide new activities or services for residents.
Groups can apply if they:
The funding, provided by South Oxfordshire District Council, is available to help benefit local communities and allow groups to invest in their local area by helping them to meet revenue costs over the next four years.
If you or anyone you know are interested in applying, contact the grants team on 01235 422405 or email grants@southandvale.gov.uk
VERY little experience needed. Racquets, Thame, is holding one of it’s Graded Squash Tournaments which will also be the Oxfordshire Open squash Championships.
All standards are welcome, even those who have only been playing for six months; participants will only play people of the same standard as themselves. There will be age groups as well as open grades of A to E and also beginner grades too.
THIS WEEKEND : September 2 – 4, 2016
There will be a few games for locals on Friday evening but most matches will be on Saturday and Sunday.
Entry fee includes T-shirt and Saturday lunchtime buffet.
More information HERE
WHILE we’ve all been glued to the new series of The Great British Bake Off, the Queen of Bakes herself, Mary Berry, was spotted in Thame High Street earlier today.
Mary was in town filming at Newitt’s for a programme about pies, to be aired in January.
HERE is the latest information on the M40 Major Maintenance Junction 6 to 8. For more information, go to the Highways England journey impact page HERE
Roadworks information is not updated in real time. Check Traffic England for the latest information and current traffic conditions before travelling.