Category: Thame news

Comic’s 550 mile quest without a penny reaches Thame

STAND UP comedian, Damian Kingsley will be knock-knocking on the door of The Stables at The James Figg pub on Sunday, May 8, as his nationwide comedy tour in aid of the homeless charity, Shelter reaches Thame.

Damian chose Thame as one of the 120 stops he plans to make on his 550-mile Knock-Knock tour of the UK, which sees him travel from Land’s End to Edinburgh performing live at venues along the way. He is hoping to get to Edinburgh in time to perform his first, hour-long show at the Fringe in August, having polished his material at gigs along the way.

Every show is free entry with a voluntary donation to Shelter at the end and after performing in Thame, Damian will be heading off to his next destination in Haddenham either on foot or by cadging a lift – he’s not allowed to use any money or public transport on the tour. Luckily the team at The James Figg won’t be seeing him off without making sure he has a hearty meal at the pub and a few glasses of ale to see him on his way.

“It’s great that Damian’s tour is taking in Thame and that he chose us to do one of his charity gigs,” said Suzy Fenlon, assistant manager of The James Figg. “We don’t often get to host comedy – we’re usually more about music – but we’ve got a great crowd here and we’re sure they’ll be a great audience. We can’t wait.

“We hope we’ll get as many regulars and new faces as possible in and that everyone will dig deeply as Damian tells us he’ll be ranking towns by how much they donate to find out which is the most generous and which is tight,” she continued. “We don’t want the last one so we’ll be encouraging everyone to part with their cash on the night and help Damian hit his target,”

Damian set off on his tour on Friday, March 25, with a gig at The Star in St Just near Land’s End in Cornwall. By the time he reaches Thame he will already have 65 planned and probably some impromptu gigs under his belt – he is promising to do extra performances in return for favours along the way.

“I’ve planned the distances between each gig so I should generally be able to get to them on foot. But I’m likely to end up performing on the street and mowing lawns in exchange for the use of a washing machine or somewhere to lay my sleeping bag,” explained Damian.

‘So far, take-up has been really good from venues. Most are country pubs and inns, who are often offering to put me up and provide a meal, but I’m also doing it at other venues like arts theatres and Working Men’s Clubs, mainly in villages and small towns.”

12O NIGHTS, NO MONEY, NO TRANSPORT

Damian had long wanted to help the homeless, but it was a series of upsets in his own life that spurred him into action. “Last year, all around the same time, I split up with my fiancé and lost my job and my flat,” he said. “That certainly made me put things into perspective, and as I suddenly had a lot of free time, I finally made a start on this tour idea that I’d had a couple of years before.”

His target is to raise £7,000 by the end of August, including donations taken at his performances and by supporters along the way.

More details about Damian’s Knock-Knock Comedy Tour and a donation link are on his web site www.damiankingsley.co.uk. To follow the journey and get all the podcasts, blogs and news, join Damian’s mailing list. Follow him on twitter: #TWOKNOCKTOUR

Damian Kingsley’s gig at The Stables is from 8pm – 10pm on Sunday, May 8. The Stables is at The James Figg, 21 Cornmarket, Thame, Oxon, OX9 2BL. Tel: 01844 260 166. www.thejamesfiggthame.co.uk @figgthame

05/05/2016
Legacy of Rugby World Cup 2015 lives on in Thame

CHINNOR RFC hosted a Tag Festival for Years five and six boys and girls from local Primary schools in Thame last Wednesday, April 27, and what a fun time was had by all!

The event was co-ordinated by Nick Todd of England Rugby, Jamie Hazeldine and Steve Trenchard of Chinnor RFC. It was sponsored by Star Hotshots who provided the three trophies, all the medals and goodie bags for every competitor. An army of volunteers helped with refereeing, marshalling, and goffering, not only from Chinnor RFC but also some from the PACK Volunteer programme, a legacy from the Rugby World Cup 2015.

Thame’s John Hampden and Barley Hill schools, St Andrew’s, Chinnor, Long Crendon and Testworth schools took part in the festival which was rescheduled from last term, because of bad weather. On the day however, the sun shone on these five schools which between them fielded six teams – all of mixed girls and boys. Each team played five matches in the preliminary rounds.

As the matches progressed, the skills and confidence grew, and the rugby flowed. After the five matches, each team progressed to compete for either the Cup, Bowl or Plate. The final results saw St Andrews winning the Cup, John Hampden the Plate and Tetsworth the Bowl. Every player went away with a medal and a goodie bag.

One partiular team is worthy of special mention. At first they didn’t even know each others’ names, but they quickly put their sporting skills into practice to soon become a creditable team. The ‘Federation’ was made up of a mix of players from John Hampden and Tetsworth schools.

Hopefully every player, teacher, parent, volunteer and spectator went away with a positive view of competitive sport, and England Rugby’s message of Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship.
SOURCE: Contributed by Steve Trenchard

05/05/2016
Hurry! Farce tickets now available for matinee Saturday

IF you haven’t yet bought your tickets to see Thame Players’ production of Philip King’s celebrated farce, See How They Run, you might like to know that a matinee performance of the show will take place at 2.30pm on Saturday, May 7.

Tickets for this and all performances cost £9, concessions £8, and are available as usual from Spear Travels, Greyhound Walk, Thame, 01844 217228 or online from www.thameplayers.co.uk.

05/05/2016
Best pub in Oxfordshire jostles to be the best in the land

A Thame pub has been named the Best Pub in Oxfordshire at the inaugural National Pub & Bar Awards 2016, earning the popular gastro pub the chance to go forward to the grand finals next month and be a regional or even national winner.

Tom Upham, Head Chef and Evelin Rae, General Manager, The Thatch, Thame

Manager at The Thatch, Evelin Rae and her team celebrated with a glass of bubbly on learning that the pub had been named top in its county, one of only 94 from across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to earn the accolade of being best in their area.

As county winner, Evelin will be off to London’s iconic BAFTA theatre on Tuesday, May 24, to the National Pub & Bar Awards Grand Final, when 12 regional winners and one overall National Pub & Bar of the Year will be announced.

“It’s a great honour to be named best in our county and to have a shot at being the South East winner or even come away with the title of best pub in the land at the National Pub & Bar Awards,” said Evelin. “With so many fine hostelries on our doorstep, we know there’s a lot of stiff competition out there so it’s fantastic to be recognised by being a finalist.

“In the eight years we’ve been at the pub, we have invested a lot into it, bringing a new look and feel to the place, seasonal food and a quality drink offer served by people who’ve been well trained and who like me, love working here. We are proud of what we have achieved and even prouder at being able to represent the county at the awards,” she added.

The Thatch joins 93 other county winners selected by Pub & Bar magazine’s internal judging panel on all of the aspects required to provide ultimate hospitality within the on-trade. The panel looked at everything from perfect service to product range, aesthetic design to entertainment schedules in selecting its finalists.

Tristan O’Hana, Editor of Pub & Bar magazine, said: “These pubs represent all that is great about the modern on-trade. You can only imagine the fantastic variety of operations we have discovered through the judging process – it’s been an absolute pleasure to investigate just how all of these incredible operators run their businesses.

“What’s great about the awards is that all the attendees of the grand final are already winners – we’re very much looking forward to celebrating with everyone at BAFTA in London on May 24.”

The Thatch is at 29-30 Lower High Street, Thame, Oxon, OX9 2AA. Tel: 01844 214340.
www.thethatchthame.co.uk

03/05/2016
Championships double for Duellist Hal

YOUNG Thame Duellists’ Fencer, Hal Seed, fought to strong results in the National Youth Championships in Sheffield last weekend.

Hal Seed, 11, at the British Fencing Youth Championships

Fencing in the Boys’ Under 12 category, Hal was taking part in his first National Championships, having qualified with strong performances at regional level earlier in the year in both the foil and épée disciplines of fencing.

Lord Williams pupil Hal, who now trains with the England Fencing youth development training programme as well as in Thame, secured 23rd place in the epee event on Saturday, April 30. Not content with that, he returned on Monday for what was expected to be a tougher foil event and exceeded his épée result with 11th place in the foil. He started strongly, winning five out of six fights in the group stage, only losing to the eventual overall winner of the competition, Jaimie Cook of Scotland.

Hal then fenced through to the last sixteen with a bye in the round of 128, then fighting through a taxing bout in the last 64 – managing his frustration after a couple of early errors and coming back strongly at the end of the fight. His bout at the last 32 stage was a more comfortable 10-2 win, before finally falling short 2-10 in the last 16 to Joseph Blair of Yorkshire who went on to take bronze.

Club coach, James Kingston, said: “I’m thrilled for Hal doing so well in his first appearance at the National Championships – and to do that in two different weapon events is fantastic. He’s worked hard all year and is maturing as a fencer all the time.”

SOURCE: Contributed

03/05/2016
Promote your group at Thame market’s Community Day

BE part of Thame Market Traders Community Day this year, and help make it the biggest and best ever.

Chris Hurdman, Secretary of Thame Market Traders Cooperative’s message to local community groups is:

“This year we have even more activity on the market we are hoping for an outside broadcast from BBC Radio Oxford and or Mix 96. So no doubt this will be a great opportunity to promote your group.

“We do have limited space on the Market but we will endeavour to accommodate all groups who express an interest. Just furnish us with the following information:

Name and contact details address telephone number of Group or Charity.

Size of stall or gazebo you will be using.

Will you be trying to raise funds and how this will be achieved?

“A tip to remember is that the bigger and bolder the stalls are decorated, the stall holders who dress to promote their stalls are the stalls that get the biggest response from the public.

“Get everyone involved; link up with us on our Thame Market Traders Facebook page

Members of Thame Choral Society promoting themselves at last year’s Community Day at Thame Market

and let’s get this social media thing going! Create an ‘Event’ on your Facebook page and feel free to pass on this email to any other interested groups.”

Let Chris have your group’s application by July 15, either on the market or by email: chrishurdman@btinternet.com – No applications can be considered after this date.

03/05/2016
Elms Park rocks as thousands flock to Music in the Park

THOUSANDS turned out to bask in the sun and some glorious music and dancing, at Thame’s sixth Music In The Park on Saturday, May 1, and the hardier stayed on as the day cooled, to see the headliners, Beatles tribute band, The Dung Beatles – brass section and all!

From Indi, folk, punk, rock and choirs, local people and visitors could take their pick, or, in the spirit of the event, just let the whole line-up entertain as a backdrop to dancing, picnicking, chatting with friends over a drink, or just playing around and blowing bubbles!

Unfortunately, Thame trio, The 2 Strokes, were unable to appear, but Sidewalk Express jumped in at the last minute and definitely made an impression. So to did the John Hampden School choir with an energetic and most harmonious rendition of the ELO classic, Mr Blue Sky, which they touchingly dedicated to Headmaster, Alan Haigh, who retired at Christmas, and was in the crowd to hear it.

Indie rock band, SinFiction, perform on the Dome stage at MITP 2016

Every year the standard seems to rise and rise, and this year, as well as proper, older, experienced musicians like Chinnor-based Bootlegger, Paul and Martin, Celtic Heartbeat and The Rattlesnakes (featuring John Hampden School’s new Headteacher, Paul Hankey), there were two stand-out young men in the persons of the sensational, 14 year-old, ‘Anglo-Brazilain, fingerstyle guitarist’ Billy Watman and the even younger, emerging young talent, the jaw-droppingly talented, Ben Corby who is just 11 years-old, and writes his own songs about the things that matter in his life like sleep-overs and friendship – such a mature and charming head on such young shoulders – awesome!

Showing that girls rock too, Thame’s Andrea Yates, confidently set the bar high as first on, in the Crash Stage tent, with her bang-on, floating vocals and acoustic guitar covers, and The Nikki Loy Band, lead by First Thursday Music Club favourite, the ball of energy that is Nikki her self, stirred the crowd into action with her sometimes moving and personal lyrics, on the Dome Stage. Ellie Ruddock with her new band, Out of the Village, gave some folk and pop covers a truly ‘different’ slant to the delight of their appreciative audience on the more intimate Crash Stage, and a young lady described as ‘one of the most promising British artists of 2016’, Georgie Bird, continued making waves live in Thame.

The organisers were delighted with the way the festival went, and on the MITP2016 facebook page, posted:

“Wow – what a fantastic day! The rain stayed away and we were treated to wonderful performances by all the singers, dancers and musicians, topped off by an awesome performance by the The Dung Beatles!

“Thanks to everyone that came and partied with us and helped us raise money for local community projects.”

Let’s have YOUR comments on the performers and the day! Lots more pictures by Thame.Net here: SEE LINK

03/05/2016
Thame students grow rocket seeds from space!

STUDENTS at Lord Williams’s Lower School have become space biologists and embarked on a voyage of discovery by growing seeds that have been into space.

In September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S where they spent several months in microgravity before returning to Earth last month. The seeds were sent as part of Rocket Science, an educational project launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency.

Lord Williams’s School is one of the participating schools to receive a packet of 100 seeds from space, which are being grown alongside seeds that haven’t been to space and the differences measured over a period of six weeks. The students will not know which seed packet contains which seeds until all results have been collected by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and analysed by professional biostatisticians.

The out-of-this-world, nationwide science experiment will enable the students to think more about how we could preserve human life on another planet in the future, what astronauts need to survive long-term missions in space and the difficulties surrounding growing fresh food in challenging climates.

The Rocket seeds were sown after school on Tuesday, April 19, and already they are showing signs of germination. Each seedling has a letter and number code. Over the next six weeks the students will be responsible for checking and watering the seedlings as well as taking measurements such as growth, leaf count and plant height at frequent intervals.

Mr Bill Zahariadis, Joint KS3 Team Leader Science, says: “We are very excited to be taking part in Rocket Science. This experiment is a fantastic way of teaching our students to think more scientifically and share their findings with the whole school.”

Rocket Science is just one educational project from a programme developed by the UK Space Agency to celebrate British ESA astronaut Tim Peake’s Principia mission to the ISS and inspire young people to look into careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects, including horticulture.

Follow the project on Twitter: @RHSSchools #RocketScience

29/04/2016
Wintry start for Thame’s Bowls players

THE new bowling season at Thame Bowls Club got off to a chilly start at the weekend with Thame bowlers emerging from their winter hibernation to play their first games in fairly wintry conditions.

On Saturday, April 23, Thame, Captained for the first time by new Club Captain John Rawson, entertained a strong mixed team from Flackwell Heath and despite the Thame bowlers winning on two rinks, the visitors ran out winners by 16 shots.

Top rink for Thame was that of skip Trevor Copley ably assisted by Sharon Heafey, Alfred Jochum and Derek Goodyear with a score of 27 shots to 13.

On Sunday, April 24, Thame travelled to Chesham to play on the artificial surface at Chessvale and in even chillier conditions, were eventually beaten by just 12 shots.

Top rink for Thame was that of Captain Andy Walker with Vic Brooks, Marion Keal and Shirley Foster contributing to the 21 shots to 11 victory.

There will be Open Evenings at the Queens Road bowling green on Wednesday, May 25, and Tuesday, May 31, for anyone interested in taking up this great social sport. Watch local press for more details.

SOURCE: Contributed

28/04/2016
On-street parking crack down in Thame!

IN a joint initiative with the local police, Thame Town Council’s car park attendants will now include all on-street parking in the town centre, in their patrols.

In a statement the town council explained: “The Town Council is aware that on-street parking is a bugbear for many residents and visitors, particularly since the retirement of Peggy Long the traffic warden. The on-street parking is currently monitored by Thames Valley Police but, with it’s limited resources, this has not been undertaken as frequently as necessary and it is widely known that drivers regularly take advantage of the lack of enforcement.

“Thame is proud to be able to offer up to three hours of free parking to both residents and visitors and believes this is an important part of retaining the vibrancy and vitality of the town centre.”

Details of offenders will be passed on to the Local Neighbourhood Policing for them to take action. The council hopes that this additional monitoring will lead to a higher turnaround of vehicles and prevent all-day parking in spaces designed for shoppers and visitors.

28/04/2016