ANOTHER junior one day squash tournament will take place at Racquets Squash Academy in Thame, on Saturday, October 10. The tournament is open to all standards, and prices include chips and cheese for lunch.
Young squash players have the choice of arriving either at 11am or 12pm, depending on which is most convenient, and the tournament will last until 4pm.
Prices are £6 for Junior Gold members, £8.50 for Junior Silver members and £11 for non members. Book your place either at Racquets’ reception (at the rear of the Cattlemarket) or over the phone on 01844 261754.
SENIOR residents of Thame are being invited to take part in the annual Senior Citizen’s Christmas Tea Party hosted by Thame Football Club.
Barley Hill pupils entertained Thame’s senior citizens at last year’s Christmas tea party – Image Nick White
This yearly celebration, jointly organised by Thame Town Council and Thame Rotary, will be taking place on Friday, December 11, between 1.30pm and 4pm and will feature a whole host of festive food and entertainment. Transport to and from the event is available if required.
The event is free to attend but booking is essential by contacting Rosie Collins at Thame Town Council by phoning 01844 212833, or in person at the Town Hall Information Centre.
THE Rotary Club of Thame has had a busy September, with a presence at both the Thame Show, and the Thame Food Festival last weekend. The club’s members, with the help of Thame Inner Wheel Club, raised just under £1,000 from the sale of raffle tickets towards hampers of good foods and wines donated by the club members. The profits from the sale will go primarily towards Medical Detection Dogs and Thame Citizens Advice Bureau which are Rotary Club of Thame’s charities for 2015-2016. Nichola Dixon, the Mayor of Thame, pulled out the winning raffle tickets at the Thame Food Festival.
Mayor of Thame, Nichola Dixon and Rotary President, Peter Hook
The club shared its stall at the Thame Show on September 17, with Medical Detection Dogs, the Buckinghamshire based charity, that trains dogs to assist individuals with complex medical conditions with day-to-day tasks.
Peter Hook, Thame Rotary’s President in 2015-2016, said: “The Rotary Club of Thame was pleased to sponsor Medical Detection Dogs at Thame Show. This Charity does fantastic work in training dogs to support those who are vulnerable with diabetes and allergies. Recently dogs have been trained to detect early signs of cancer in humans, with over 90% success rate.”
These two major events in the Thame calender were also great opportunities to share the latest news about the club’s forthcoming events, Thame Art Show and the Thame Swimathon.
Preparations are well underway for the art show, which will take place at Thame Barns Centre over the weekend of October 31– November 1. Exhibits will include paintings and sculptures as well as hand-made cards from local artists – a great opportunity for the public to buy beautiful Christmas presents and support Thame Rotary’s charities at the same time.
The club is also inviting teams of up to six to participate at the now annual ,Thame Swimathon due to take place at the Thame Leisure Centre on Sunday, February 28. The teams will swim for one hour, have fun and raise funds for charity. Anyone over the age of eight can participate.
Peter concluded: “To continue and to expand our fundraising activities in the months and years to come, we are looking for even more support from the local community. We are welcoming new members from the local communities of Thame, Chinnor, Long Crendon and neighbouring villages who can join our world of fun, fellowship and fundraising. To express your interest to join our vibrant club, please visit thame.rotary1090.org, and follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/thamerotary
CHINNOR had a positive start to the game against Dorking on Saturday, with their early pressure resulting in a penalty converted by full back, Bertie Hopkin and Dorking attacks being stifled by the excellent tackling of returning fly half, Will Millett.
Chinnor’s pack took control in the first 15 minutes with their scrum consistently driving Dorking back. A long kick by Dorking into Chinnor’s 22m area bounced kindly for their winger Irving, who scored an unconverted try in the corner. Chinnor maintained their dominance and a quickly recycled ball allowed skipper James Tyas to score Chinnor’s opening try converted by Hopkin.
Two injuries to Chinnor’s new lockm Spiveym and No 8 Manning, saw replacements Andy Berry and Joe Vandermolen take to the field, the latter scoring a push over try converted by Hopkin to give Chinnor a comfortable 17 – 5 lead.
Will Millet was given a yellow card for tackling an opponent whilst in the air giving Dorking the opportunity to take advantage of a depleted Chinnor. MacDonald kicked a penalty for Dorking soon followed by their fly half, Pimlow making a break from his 22m area then feeding winger, Irvin who weaved his way through the Chinnor defence to score under the posts. MacDonald converted to bring the half time score to 17 – 15 in favour of Chinnor.
Chinnor started well in the second half with driving mauls coupled with good defence. Dorking’s flanker was given a yellow card for foul play. Junior Fatialofa then made a powerful break deep into Dorking’s half and sustained pressure gave Chinnor a penalty converted by Hopkin to extend their lead to 20 – 15.
Dorking later drew level through a counter attack allowing fly half Pimlow to score an unconverted try in the corner. This gave Dorking the confidence to attack but the tackling of flanker Ryan Long kept them at bay. Dorking persisted and from a 5m scrum they switched the play one way, then the other to put Woodcock over for an unconverted try and give them 25 – 20 point lead.
Chinnor responded well with a surging break by centre Jack Adams, and from the resulting lineout and driving maul, Jamie Townsend drove over to score and return the lead to Chinnor, 27- 25 following Hopkin’s conversion. But just when Chinnor thought they were back to winning ways on a final attack, they were dispossessed of the ball in the Dorking half. A kick and chase of the Butball to the Chinnor try line, saw winger, Irving touch down to complete his hat trick and give Dorking a 30 – 27 victory, denying Chinnor their first victory of the season.
THE latest Thame Neighbourhood Policing update is now out, and PCSO Natalie White’s report includes an appeal for more volunteer drivers for the extremely successful Thame Good Neighbours Scheme (TGNS), continued Anti-social behaviour by young people gathering in cars at Southern Road Rec. area and advise following an increase in thefts from sheds and outbuildings.
Image for illustrative purposes only
Dangers on the way to school
Natalie also reports incidents of children playing ‘chicken’ in traffic on the way to school, and urges parents to educate their children about road safety and encourage them to behave sensibly on the way to school.
You can read Natalie’s full report on the Thames Valley Police website: LINK HERE
THE Forget Me Knot Café at the Chinnor Village Centre is ready to offer information, support and activities for residents on Mondays, and has a programme of events coming with up that has something for everyone.
The Café provides information, peer support and fun activities which are aimed at helping people with co-ordination, brain stimulation, and general health and well-being, for people suffering with dementia, mental health issues, old age or isolation. Everyone is welcome, including those who may want to go along your carer.
The Forget Me Knot Café meets twice monthly, 10.30-12.30pm, at Chinnor Village Centre. You will be welcomed with a cup of tea and biscuit. They start with fun seated exercises, followed by a visiting expert. At the end of the session, they play parachute games, juggling, throwing balls, flat football, floor netball, finishing the session with a poem, lyrical or a reading. The programme is as follows:
5 October – Music for Health – Dororthy Howlett
19 October – Singing for Health and Wellbeing – Julia Hollander
2 November— Singing/Drumming for Health with Jan Stansfeld
16 November- Music therapist – Ellie Ruddock –
30 November – Tea Dance – sing along and dance if you feel like it Mick Sayers
14 December – Christmas Carols – sing along with mince pies and mulled wine
For further information, contact 01844 353733 or email: chinnorvc@hotmail.co.uk
AMONG the many coffee mornings held in aid of the MacMillan Cancer Support ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Morning’ last Friday (25/09), were two hosted by local businesses, PCMS Design and IMS Mortgage Advisers.
Staff from PCMS Design prepare to serve cake
Spokesperson Debbie Mellor for PCMS Design, a Haddenham based architectural design and project management company, said: “There were plenty of homemade cakes on offer, along with tea and coffee. We would like to thank the staff from John Clegg & Co and Rectory Homes for stopping by and helping us raise an amazing £100 and, of course, eat the cake!”
Ivona Lord, who runs IMS Independent Mortgage Advisers in Thame, said: “We had lots of local people popping in for coffee and cake and we managed to raise £207.68 for Macmillan. Mabel the cow, who was loaned to us from Thame.Net in Jordans Courtyard, Thame, was a major talking point and wore her Macmillan balloons with great pride!”
THAME Town Cricket club brought to an end their most successful season last Friday, with the adult awards evening at the Church Meadow clubhouse. The 1st XI batting award went to Will Sutcliffe and the bowling to Hassam Mushtaq.
1st XI batting award winner, Will Sutcliffe
The main achievements of this season have been:-
– the 1st XI winning the Cherwell League, Division 1, for the first time, in an unbeaten season and were promoted to the Home Counties Premier League
– they also completed the double by winning the Wilf Bennett Trophy (T20) against Oxford Downs with a young side
– the 3rd XI reached the Division 9 cup final
– the “Crick-fit” programme brought together cricket and Thame’s female population for the first time, culminating in Oxfordshire’s first-ever softball cricket
tournament for women
– some big wins for the under-9, under-11 and under-15 junior teams in their respective leagues
– the club added two more ECB level 2 coaches to their ranks, bringing the total to 9 (8 at level 2 and 1 at level 1)
As for the future, off the field the club will be looking to push ahead in 2016 with its plans to develop a new clubhouse. On the field, the club will start winter nets for juniors (boys and girls) and adults, in January.
Following the success of Crick-Fit, plans are also being made to bring more cricket opportunities for women, starting with winter nets. Thame aIS also looking to recruit new players – men, women and children – for next season and anyone interested can just go to the club website http://www.thametowncricketclub.org.uk/ and click on the “contact” tab.
THAME High Street has been chosen as one of the top ten of ‘England’s Greatest Places’, as nominated by the British public, and now that voting has begun, the number of votes will determine the overall winner to be crowned ‘England’s Greatest Place’.
England’s Great Places is a competition designed by the RTPI, to celebrate some of our most attractive and inspiring places, and the role planners have played in helping to protect or shape them for England’s communities. The judging panel was asked to choose a winner for each region. A very successful competition was held last year in Scotland.
An eminent panel of judges, chaired by RTPI (Royal Town Planning Institute) Past President, Professor Peter Fidler, have chosen their top 10 greatest places in England, after members of the public nominated 700 of their favourites as part of England’s Greatest Places competition.
A famous national park, a multi-billion pound regeneration scheme, two cities, a waterfront all feature and a local high street (Thame’s) are on the list.
Janet Askew, President of the RTPI said: “All our finalists are clearly much loved and appreciated places both by local residents and the people who visit them. We wanted to recognise special places like those on the list which are cherished because they have been protected, carefully planned or have been improved by the planning system. I am looking forward to seeing who the public now vote as England’s Greatest Place.”
A delighted Helen Johns, who coordinated, Thame’s recent Great British High Street, bid, said: “It is great news to hear that Thame High Street has been chosen as one of ten finalists in the RTPI’s England’s Great Places Competition. As the judges say, the character of our market town and its High Street have been protected and enhanced over time thanks to exemplary community support and innovative neighbourhood planning. These are the same qualities that have been noted by the judges in the Great British High Street Competition 2015, in which Thame was entered recently. Thame is also being recognised in that competition (details will follow soon) and, without doubt, it is a blend of community support, creativity and determination that contribute to making Thame so special – truly one of the Great Places in England. ”
The top ten Regional winners of the 10 ‘Greatest Places’ are:
Letchworth Garden City, East of England
Peak District, East Midlands
Brindley Place, Birmingham, West Midlands
Kings Cross Regeneration, London
Kielder Park, North East
Liverpool Waterfront, North West Thame High Street, South East
Bath, South West – joint winner
Bristol, South West – joint winner
Saltaire, Yorkshire
A specially commissioned trophy will be presented to each local authority to mark their award.
Voting is open until Friday 20 November and is very easy. Just Tweet or Instagram your vote for your chosen place to: #RTPIgreatplaces
FOLLOWING our report of exciting archaeological finds during a recent ‘dig’ at the site of a new housing development, (SEE LINK), more information about the evidence of human activity dating back around 6,000 years uncovered there, has emerged.
Chris Ellis, Senior Project Officer at Cotswold Archaeology, and Gemma Deacon, Sales Manager for Bloor Homes South Midlands, with some of the finds discovered during an excavation of the Thame Meadows site
The remains of prehistoric monuments and settlements going back to the Neolithic period were among the exciting discoveries made during a seven month excavation of Bloor Homes’ Thame Meadows site, in Oxford Road. Archaeologists have described the dig, which was carried out by experts from Oxford Cotswold Archaeology, as one of the most significant undertaken in Britain this year, and one that ‘far surpassed’ their expectations.
Rare monument found
One of the most important finds was the discovery of a rare causewayed enclosure dating back to around 3,700BC, one of only 80 such monuments known to exist in Britain. Consisting of one or more circuits of bank and ditch, they are the earliest known monuments made by some of the earliest farming communities and were constructed to enclose areas of open space where communal gatherings to conduct such things as rictuals would take place.
Loomweights in a Saxon sunken-featured building at the Thame site
Chris Ellis, Senior Project Officer at Cotswold Archaeology, part of a joint venture with Oxford Archaeology, said: “We have come across an amazing mass of archaeology from 6,000 years of human history, all on this one site. For the sheer density and range of archaeological features and the long period which they span, this has been the most fascinating and exhilarating excavation I have been involved with in my 25-year career.
“To encounter this amount of archaeology on just one development site is almost unheard of, and the discoveries have sparked a great deal of interest among academics. It’s one of the most significant digs to have taken place in Britain this year. Particularly, the discovery of a ‘new’ enclosure in British archaeology is extremely rare, so to discover such extensive remains of one on a relatively small project like this is extremely exciting.”
Human remains
Archaeologists also uncovered the remains of at least three roundhouses from the early Iron Age period (700-400BC), and more than 150 pits, used for storing grain and later disposing of rubbish, some containing human remains where settlers had buried the dead.
Discoveries from the Roman period (AD43-410) include a number of enclosures which housed corn drying ovens, while around 14 small Saxon buildings, dating from the 6th to 7th Century AD and believed to have been textile workshops, were also uncovered. Flint tools, pottery and combs made from animal bone were just some of the thousands of artefacts discovered.
Chris explained that the site possessed several attributes which had made it an attractive location for settlers through the ages. He said: “People settled here because of the well-drained sandy geology, its prominent position in the landscape and its fantastic vistas to the north and south.”
The finds from the excavation will be housed with the Oxfordshire County Museum Service, and it is likely some of the objects will be displayed in Thame Museum.
Gemma Deacon, Sales Manager for Bloor Homes South Midlands, said: “It’s been absolutely fascinating to see the wide variety of items uncovered by archaeologists during the dig. It really is amazing to think that the site contained objects spanning almost 6,000 years of human history. The site has clearly been a popular location for human settlers throughout the ages and we believe our Thame Meadows development will prove just as attractive to house hunters looking for their perfect home in the Oxfordshire countryside.”
The Thame Meadows site is around 9.4 hectares in size and is located to the north of Oxford Road, directly opposite Lord Williams’s School and now that the archaeological excavation is complete, Bloor is about to begin building 203 new homes on the land, the first first of which are set to be released for sale in the winter.
