Category: Thame news

THE ‘Thame Remembers‘ project continues to discover more about those men from Thame who died during, or as a consequence of WW1, and the latest Newsletter highlights the story behind the search for the illusive Charlie Boiling. Here’s the story behind finding out exactly who he was:

THERE are four people named Boiling on The Thame War Memorial; three are readily identified but C Boiling does not appear in the CWGC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) records. A Charles Boiling does appear on a medal record card and the Silver War Badge records, shown on MilitaryGenealogy.com. He is listed as a Private (16826) in the Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry and so things started to look promising. The 1911 Census shows Charles, age 15, living at 11 Park Street, Thame, with his father, also Charles, and mother Agnes, all born in Thame. Parish records confirm his baptism as February 6, 1896, and he was buried on December 29, 1920, age 25.

Armed with a year of birth for Charlie Boiling, returning to Ancestry searches, there he was – the subject of one of the burnt army records to survive. Though a little singed around the edges, it was learned from this that Charlie ‘joined up’ on December 14, 1914. at Oxford. He served in England until September 20, 1915, when his unit was sent to France, and on November 16, 1915, he was sent to fight in Salonica. Records show that Charlie was wounded in the right thigh and left leg on August 18, 1916, and was medically evacuated back to England on October 19, 1916.

At his medical discharge hearing in December, 1917, Charlie wrote: “Would like to learn a trade that did not entail walking.” He was finally discharged on January 28, 1918, and his silver war badge issued on January 31, 1918. His character reference on discharge was excellent, saying that he was reliable, trustworthy and always willing and hardworking.

Charlie returned to Thame, but unfortunately his mother Agnes was buried in November, 1918, aged just 46 years. His father Charles survived to age 68, only dying in 1939.

Although Charlie was buried in St Mary’s churchyard, his grave is not marked, which gave the Thame Remembers team a problem when it wished to allocate a Thame Remembers cross to his final resting place. Funeral Directors, Surman and Horwood, heard about the dilemma and Charlie’s sad story, and offered to erect (gratis) a stone for him close to where he is believed to be buried.

So, finally, on August 3, 2014, Rifleman Tom Bowen, placed a Thame Remembers cross against a headstone placed in honour of Pte Charlie Boiling. Tom said he was particularly moved as Charlie was the same age, when he died, as he is now and his regiment, The Rifles, is a successor regiment to the Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry.

DID you know that Thame is the second most used location for the filming of Midsomer Murders (The most featured is Beaconsfield), and that the popular TV series is now watched in 193 countries world-wide?

Put these two facts together, and add in the mix a huge increase in the number of foreign tourists wanting to come and visit the quintessential England that they see portrayed in the programme, and you have a heady brew that is capable of invigorating the local economies of the places featured, including Thame’s -or ‘Causton’ as it is know in Midsomer Murders. Top of the foreign visitors’ lists are pubs and English beer, and they love markets, fetes and festivals – and guess what? Apparently Thame is known to be one of the friendliest welcomes in the South East!

Seeing the potential for its market towns and villages, South Oxfordshire District Council was quick to register the domain ‘http://www.visitmidsomer.com/‘ and has since produced a raft of initiatives, including Midsomer Murder Trails and leaflets, and made connections with Tour Companies, to bring in these valuable visitors and their spending power.

To explain the phenomenon and how it can be embraced to work for local businesses, a special event, including a dramatised murder mystery play by Thame Players and a dancing display from Towersey Morris, was held at Thame town hall last Thursday, September 4, to an invited audience including local businesses such as Bed & Breakfast owners, Eateries, pubs, book shops and gift shops, etc. They heard first from author, Chris Behan, who wrote the book ‘Exploring Midsomer’. He spoke of how he, a Liverpudlian, first came to Thame in 1959 as a visitor then, and how since he had came to mourn the loss of the railway station and the cobbled streets, now mostly gone.

Chris mentioned many Thame locations featured in the various episodes of Midsomer Murders including Thame Park, the Fuji photographic shop, Rumsey’s Chocolaterie (transformed into a camera shop in the fictional town of ‘Luxton’), Thame town hall (featuring Barnaby’s wife singing Christmas carols outside in ‘A Maiden’s Splendour’), Market House in Upper High Street and Thame market, to name just a few.

Sarah Osborne, one of SODC’s Midsomer Murders promotion team, revealed some stunning figures, including that visitor numbers to the Midsomer Murders website, half of whom are from abroad, had increased by 50% each year from 2011. Rather than just a short-term blip, Sara pointed out that many of the countries now seeing Midsomer Murders are seeing the first episodes and that it has been estimated that the interest for such programmes lasts about a decade after the series itself finishes, and so a lucrative 15 years is on the cards for businesses involved.

For a future promotional idea, Chris Behan showed a photograph of a special red plaque (along the lines of the historic blue plaques that Thame already has for the previous homes of famous, local people) which the owner of the Argyle Pub in Henley had stuck on the wall outside commemorating the episodes filmed in his pub. The number of tourist visitors to his pub has since increased amazingly!

Because Thame is a border town between Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, close to Haddenham & Thame Parkway station and on the 280 bus route, Sarah pointed out that Thame is ideally placed as a centre for visits to Buckinghamshire villages featured in Midsomer Murders, like Haddenham and Long Crendon, and to Oxford city.

For Thame, she said: “Midsomer Murders is the icing on the tourist cake.”

Any businesses who want to know more about the possibilities for them from the Midsomer Murders phenomenon, can contact Sarah Osborne or the Economic Development team via the website: http://www.visitmidsomer.com/contact/

THE Sharing Life Trust, the group behind setting up both the Thame Food Bank and Thame’s Community Bank, in consultation with the town council and other community groups, is promoting the idea of a ‘community charter’ for Thame.

John Hulett, one of the founder members and a Trustee of Sharing Life Trust, said: “We want to set out a few short phrases which will highlight why Thame is a good place to live, and to encourage community through volunteering.

The idea of a Community Charter is currently the subject of public consultation, and the Mayor of Thame, Jeannette Matelot Green, is fully behind the project. She commented: “‘This is a great opportunity to highlight the values that make our town a special place to live. Please help us by responding to this consultation. We would urge everyone to respond by using the feedback forms available here: Consultation form link

Paper copies are available from the Town Hall Information Centre or the library on North Street, Thame.

www.sharinglifetrust.org

FOCUSING on a debacle between Thame Town Council and a developer who wants to convert Thame’s old police station into sheltered apartments for the elderly, a Thame Councillor has criticised the government over its National Planning Policy Framework.

Speaking during a discussion about the proposal at a town council meeting on Tuesday (02/09), Town and District Cllr Mike Welply, said: “This matter indicates the great problem we now have in this country because of the way the National Planning Policy Framework gives developers a much bigger say. We have got our plan (the Thame Neighbourhood Plan) and it seems that the developers are ‘running rough-shod’ over the people of this town.”

Thame Town Council is unhappy about a developer’s appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, against a refused application to turn the old police station in Greyhound Lane into these sheltered apartments for the elderly.

The town council feels that the planning authority, South Oxfordshire District Council, did not include in its objections to the plan, all Thame’s concerns about aspects of the plan that it feels would provide a poor quality of living for potential residents, such as the layout of apartments, outlook and amenity space. It also feels that there has been a lack of consultation both with the town council itself and the people of the town. So, Thame Town Council has written to The Planning Inspectorate to support SODC’s decision to refuse the application and to reinforce the objections with its own.

In the letter, the town council states: “The proposed scheme has not been the subject of any meaningful public consultation, and certainly not in the evolution of the design proposals. Instead, the appellant held an exhibition where detailed, pre-prepared design proposals were presented to the Town Council and others as a fait accompli. There has been no meaningful discussion, review or dialogue at any stage. This approach is contrary to the policies outlined and a significant frustration to the Town Council given the principles embodied in both the production and content of the Neighbourhood Plan, and the active and positive approach the Council has, and is, taking with all other major sites in the town (notwithstanding the Town Council’s view that the principle of the development is unacceptable given the employment-based constraints to re-development).”

The Public Enquiry is expected to take place in late 2014 – early 2015. See previous report ‘Mayor accuses developer of ‘bullying’ the council’ LINK