Thame.net

Category: Thame news

  • Quizzing for the CAB

    THAME Citizens Advice Bureau, which depends entirely on outside funding and voluntary contributions for its survival, is better off this week after a supper quiz organised by The Friends of Thame CAB.

    Winning team, The Happy Tuesdays

    The event was held at chinnor Rugby Club on Friday, November 15, and made a profit of £680, which included a raffle and a £1 a go, ‘Right or wrong – sit down or stand up’ round.

    The winning team was, appropriately ‘The Happy Tuesdays,’ so called because it was formed of Tuesday volunteers at the CAB and their partners – who are a happy crowd!

  • Neighbourhood Plan scoops award hat-trick

    Thame’s Neighbourhood Plan is proving itself to be a multi-award winner, scooping its third and fourth award at a ceremony held on Thursday, November 21, in Guildford. Hosted by the Royal Town Planning Institute South East, the evening celebrated the best planning practice that the region has to offer.

    Town Cllrs Fickling, Lambert and Dyer (L to R)

    Thame’s Mayor, Cllr Peter Lambert, Planning and Environment Committee Chairman, Cllr Helena Fickling and Cllr Mike Dyer represented Thame.

    The Neighbourhood Plan received two regional awards; one for Innovate Use of the Planning Process and, most notably, the Regional Winner for 2013.

    Cllr Mike Dyer spoke following the acceptance of the awards, saying that it was both “rewarding and humbling to have the community’s efforts acknowledged by leading professionals in the planning field.”  He continued: “This further recognition of Thame’s leading role in planning, despite the Council having little  previous experience in the area, was a great achievement for Thame.”

    The  Mayor, Cllr Peter Lambert, spoke passionately about the awards highlighting that the Plan and the awards it has received are: “….‘for the people of Thame, as they are the ones who formulated it; it belongs to them.”

  • Later Chinnor surge not enough

    SOUTHEND laid the foundations of their 36-28 victory at Chinnor on Saturday,  in the first half with three, well worked tries.

    After an early exchange of penalties, Southend scored the first of their five tries on 10 minutes when Nash went over after a neat grubber kick through the rushing defence. Burr converted to put the visitors ahead 10-3. Millett came back for Chinnor on the 13th minute with a classy individual try to bring the score back to 10-8 to Southend.

    Southend with their pack beginning to dominate, went further ahead on 18 minutes when Guess scored their second try, crashing over from a penalty catch and drive. Burrr’s conversion put the visitors ahead 17-8. Chinnor had little use of the ball until Millett’s penalty goal in the 22nd minute to reduce the deficit to 17-11. Chinnor went further behind to another grubber kick through the defence, this time with Vaughan dotting down on the 39th minute which saw the visitors go in 22-11 ahead at the break.

    Five minutes into the second half, Southend went further ahead 27-11 when Vaughan scored his second try. Burr converted to increase Southend’s lead to 29-11 on the 46th minute. Southend then began to increasingly use the garryowen in open play to pressurise Chinnor. However, one such kick allowed Chinnor to stir from their slumbers when Goode blasted through to allow Marston, neatly sidestepping, to score Chinnor’s second try. Millett’s conversion closed the deficit to 18-29.

    With 62 minutes gone, Chinnor scored again through Ian Stock from a rolling maul and with five minutes to play Stock went over for Chinnor’s third try to put the match score at 28-29 to Southend. The conversion missed but Chinnor, in their desperation to score, conceded a scrum penalty five metres from their own line. The Southend pack, dominant throughout the match, scored a push over try through Bloomburg and Burr’s conversion denied Chinnor a losing bonus point and closed the match at 36-28 to the visitors.

    Teams

    Chinnor: George Blewitt, Leo Fielding, Matthew Goode, Will Millett, Joe Marston,James Cathcart, Frank Jones, Nathaniel Titchard-Jones, Jamie Townsend, Joe Winpenny, Tom Mowbray, Andrew Smith, Adam Hastings, Nick Harrison, Liam Gilbert (c)
    Replacements: Alan Cawston, Ian Stock, Kai George, Sam Angell, Dan Barnes

    Southend: Mark Billings, Sam Nash, Danny Cleare, Mike Stanley, Chris Vaughan, Bradley Burr, Lee Sandberg, Todd Bailey, Marcus Bloomburg, Mike Guess, Dan Legge, Max Crawford, Harry Hudson, David Jackson, James Callard
    Replacements: Jason Fardell, Jason Ox, Darryl Ox, Alex Harrison, Harry Branch

    Scorers
    Chinnor
    Tries (time): Millett (13), Marston (51), Stock (61, 73)
    Conversions (time): Millett (52)
    Penalty Goals (time): Millett (6,22)
    Drop goals (time):

    Southend
    Tries: (time) Nash (10), Guess (18), Vaughan (38, 45)
    Penalty Goals (time): Burr (14

  • Lydia beats the best for top apprentice award

    LYDIA Feasey, from Thame, has beaten other regional finalists  to win the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) Apprentice of the Year, a prize which recognises the best and the brightest apprentices and technicians. Lydia received her prize at a prestigious awards ceremony hosted by Liz Bonnin, TV presenter and bio-chemist, on November 20, at The Brewery, in London.

    Lydia Feasey is congratulated by the Mayor of Thame, Peter Lambert (photo by Frank Millar)

    Lydia, who won the Thames Valley Apprentice of the Year award back in September, works at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Abingdon,Oxfordshire, the headquarters of the Joint European Torus, the world’s largest nuclear fusion project. As the Institutes recognition of Lydia explained: “Since fusion may be one of our main sources of energy in the future, the work Lydia is involved with is integral to the world’s future energy security. When critical parts from the reactor lining needed to be removed to be analysed, Lydia was called upon to help ensure that the removal and transportation was safe and successful.

    “Lydia was responsible for the logistics and tracking of 500 components that needed to be removed. Each was worth up to £20,000, involved hazardous materials and contained invaluable data for the international fusion research programme. Every component made it to its destination safely and intact. Lydia has worked tirelessly to promote apprenticeships, and has been awarded several times already for the quality of her work.”

    Besides winning a cash prize , Lydia was presented with a certificate and free entry and two years membership of the Institute. She recently went up to the Houses of Parliament and spoke to the members about apprenticeships and answered their questions in an effort to get their support for increasing the availability of such schemes.

    Lydia was born and grew up in Thame, going to John Hampden school and the on to Lord Williams’s. After leaving school she managed to get an apprenticeship at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy and has during that time won a number of awards but none so prestigious as the one she received in London last week.

    While Lydia has now lived for almost a year in Grove, near Wantage with her partner, she is back in Thame most weekends, if only to check that her mums cooking is still up to standard!

  • Public consultation on Elms plans

    Flash back to the Public Consultation on the Thame Neighbourhood Plan

    THE controversial, proposed Elms housing development in Thame is to be the subject of a Public Consultation Event.

    The public are being invited to view the proposals prior to the submission of a planning application, at Thame Town Hall on Friday, November 29, between 2.3o pm  and 7.30 pm.

    It’s not clear from the public notice in the local press, who is carrying out the consultation, but apparently ‘Members of the project team’ will be on hand to answer questions and discuss the proposals.

    The proposal has attracted opposition from  many local people who have apparently signed a petition against the plans (see LINK), and others who have questioned the proposals’ inclusion in the The Thame Neighbourhood Plan.

  • Show your loyalty and win £50 to spend in Thame

    MORE and more people are showing their support for the independent shops in Thame, and saving money, by signing up for their Thame Loyalty Card.  Four new businesses have joined recently,  providing a choice of more than 20 for Christmas shopping.

    Costing just £1, the card entitles holders to special offers and discounts in more than 20 Thame businesses – very handy at this time of the year.

    The four new businesses that have recently joined the scheme are Ella Jane Gifts, The Lovely Shop and Sew Patchwork, all in Swan Walk, and Berkeley Executive Travel, a Longwick-based taxi business.

    Whether you’re a Loyalty Card member or not, now is an ideal time to subscribe to the Loyalty Card newsletter, because if you sign up during November, you will be entered into a draw to win £50 in vouchers to spend in Loyalty card participating businesses during December. Go to: www.thameloyalty.co.uk, scroll to the bottom and click on ‘Sign up to our email newsletter’.

    Thame Loyalty Card Scheme Administrator Alison Isherwood said: “We’re really lucky in Thame to have such a great range of distinctive independent retailers and service providers. The additional benefit of a Thame Loyalty Card is that it  helps make shopping in our beautiful market town an unbeatable experience, especially at Christmas time.”

    Anyone who wants their own  Thame Loyalty Card in time for Christmas shopping can simply fill in a form, available from participating outlets,  or download one at www.thameloyalty.co.uk. Then take the completed form to one of them and purchase a card.

  • Thame marketing company brewing up a storm over tea bags

    A THAME marketing company issued a ‘No comment’ statement today following a news story on the Daily Mail’s website this morning, appearing to suggest that the company allegedly intended to pay field workers to pose as customers demanding to know why a certain brand of tea bags had been removed from shelves.

    The article describes how Intelligent Marketing Solutions, based in Thame, “is alleged to have sent an email saying: ‘We have been asked by our client to contact Sainsbury’s by the following methods [email, Facebook etc] to ask why they no longer stock Typhoo tea in a specific store (the stores will be listed) and to ask if this product can be restocked.”

    The client is not named in the email.

    READ FULL STORY HERE

     

  • EastEnders star to light up Thame

    BEST known for her role as Angie Watts in EastEnders, actress Anita Dobson will be taking a break from pantomime rehearsals at Aylesbury’s Waterside Theatre to turn on Thame’s Christmas lights during the town’s Dickensian Christmas event on December 6.

    Anita Dobson, best known as Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, will ‘light up’ Thame on December 6 !

    The event promises to be jam-packed from 3.30pm with festive treats, and an events programme full of local talent.

    Ride on the Victorian horse and carriage or miniature steam railway running from 3.30pm. Don’t miss the primary schools’ lantern parade from 5.30pm. There’ll be a host of stalls selling unique and original gifts, perfect for Christmas as well as  food stalls offering everything from fudge to hog roast baps.

    The stage events are planned to begin at 6pm and will feature community singing, accompanied by the junior school choirs and the Thame Concert Band. There’ll be appearances from  Thame Players, Stagecoach  Thame, and the Thame Chamber Choir plus live music from Ska Souls. Santa will also be taking a break from his festive duties to come and wish us all a Merry Christmas and announce the winner of the Top Hat Trail competition! Have you spotted any yet? Find as many as you can, write them on a piece of paper and return it to the Information Centre at the town hall. The first person out of the top hat with the most shops listed will win Thame Players’ tickets and vouchers for Wally’s Toy Shop.

  • Knife-wielding mother escapes custodial sentence

    A Thame woman who brandished knives at members of the public at Thame fair in September, has avoided prison after admitting having a bladed article in a public place .

    Lavinia Ryan, 43, of Van Diemans Road, Thame, was said in court on Friday (22/11) to be “irrationally convinced” that her 12 year-old son had been kidnapped, and had threatened one stallholder that there would be “carnage” unless the boy was returned to her within an hour. Prosecuting, Ms Catherine Olliver described how Lavinia Ryan had walked through the fair with four knifes in each hand, and a meat cleaver, threatening fair ground operatives. She injured her head and hand during the ensuing struggle with security guards. Her son had in fact been playing with a friend.

    Timothy Boswell, defending, told the Judge, Ian Pringle, that his client suffered from a personality disorder which was controllable with medication, and that because of her mental health problems, being sent to prison could increase Ryan’s violent behaviour.

    A six months prison sentence was suspended for two years, with activity and supervision requirements attached, as well as an £80 victims’ surcharge.

     

    More

     

  • SkyTower Challenge for Thame fire fighters

    FOUR Firefighters from Thame will be representing Oxfordshire Fire and Rescus in the UK Fire Fighters’ Operation Florian SkyTower Challenge. They will be competing against other brigades across the country by climbing 25 floors in full Firefighting kit while wearing and using BA (Breathing Apparatus).

    The challenge will take place this Sunday, November 24, in Manchester and all funds being raised will go towards Operation Florian which provides equipment and helps train Firefighters in developing countries. Additionally funds are also being raised in memory of FF Steve Hunt, who was tragically killed while fighting a fire in Manchester earlier this year.

    Mark Nunns, one of the four Thame fire fighters taking part in the SkyTower Challenge, said: “We hope to do Thame and Oxfordshire proud in the challenge.” The other three fire fighters from Thame are Steve Simmons, Nick Sawyer and Leo Shairp.

    Anyone willing to show their support for the Thame fire fighting team and make a donation, is invited to visit: www.virginmoneygiving.com/thamefirestation