THE Friends of Thame Citizens Advice Bureau are planning a supper quiz to help raise funds for the work of the Bureau. The date for your diaries is Friday, November 15, at the Chinnor Rugby Club (Thame by-pass, Kingsey Road) at junction with A4129 Princes Risborough Road).
The doors will open at 7pm and the quiz will begin at 7.30pm. The Quizmasters will be Sue and Graham Oldfied. Tables of up to six people; Tickets £10 each, including supper of Cottage pie (beef) & baked beans, or Vegetarian lasagne & salad if ordered with ticket.
There will be a cash bar (The venue is being donated free of charge – nibbles can be brought into the Club but quizzers are expected to buy drinks at the bar).
For further details and to book tickets please ring 01844 260603 or 01844 214498 (evenings)
THAME United claimed three points from bottom of the league, Abingdon United, at the ASM Stadium on Saturday (05/10). The visitors, who voluntarily resigned from the Southern League in the summer, have not won a single point this season.
The game saw the welcome return of Greg Williams who, 10-12 years ago, was a key member of the Windmill Stadium, Southern League side. His waistline may be larger and his hair thinner than it was, but Greg’s quality is still there. All of Thame’s goals come before the break but then they ‘took their foot off the gas’ and as a result, conceded two second half goals.
After the initial exchanges, the home side started to control the play. They went ahead in the 13th minute when, following good work from Lynton Goss, involving Niall Hodgkins, he passed to the unmarked Ben Connelly who hit a strong 18-yard shot which took a slight deflection before beating the visiting keeper. Thame increased their lead a few minutes later when Hodgkins met an inch-perfect Taylor Collins cross from the right with a well placed 12-yard header. It was 3-0 in the 24th minute when Collins won, and then took a free kick on the right, intelligently hitting it low across goal where Williams met it with a shot which struck the right post and flew across the goalmouth, allowing Ellis Hercules to react quickly, and fire home from close range.
The home team’s final goal came seven minutes before the break when the visiting keeper was judged to have fouled Hodgkins at the edge of the box. Hodgkins took the spot kick well, giving the keeper no chance.
The visitors played better in the second half. Their first goal was a 30-yard surprise screamer from Leon Blackmore-Such which flew into the top right hand corner. Possession was more even and there were chances at both ends. The final goal came with 10 minutes remaining when Shawn Foster headed a ball from the left pass Lee Farrow from close range.
Thame United: Farrow, I Pykett, P Pykett, Hercules (Johnston), Rhodes, Lynch, Connelly, Williams, Hodgkins, Collins (Cordice), Goss (Ricketts).
After Tuesday’s game, United are away to Bracknell Town next Saturday, October 12, whilst the reserves are also away. The next first team home game is on Saturday, October 19, when Ascot United are the visitors.
What a joy they were, the National Youth FolkloreTroupe of England who entertained shoppers and visitors outside the Thame Town Hall on Saturday October 5. About 35 youngsters aged between 10 and 18 performed intricate dances of various folk traditions to music provided by themselves. They were clearly enjoying themselves greatly ; the complicated formations they performed seemed effortless and their lead dancers interacted cheerfully with the watchers. They were very good musicians and they ended with with an exhilarating hornpipe which had the audience clapping in time and shouting out their approval. Brilliant. A tonic for me, and from comments people were making, others as well. If my knees were 60 years younger I would have wanted to join in.
‘Haversham’, 08 shunter, called D3018 but also known as 13018 and 08011
CYCLISTS out in the glorious autumn sunshine along Thame’s Phoenix Trail had a special treat today as they waited to cross the gated railway crossing. For this weekend saw a celebration of a very special birthday for the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway’s, Class 08 diesel shunter, ‘Haversham’ (13018 / D3018 / 08011) which is 60 years-old.
The weekend’s festivities included a reunion for ‘Haversham’ with some of her ‘friends’ from former depots and Yards and shuttle train rides between Chinnor and Princes Risborough stations for the first time since 1957. The celebrations will continue for the next two weekends. Full details HERE
STANDARDS of reading, writing and mathematics among Oxfordshire’s seven-year-olds are on the rise according to official government figures. Key Stage One results released today show 81 per cent of children in the county achieved Level 2b in reading, three percentage points up on last year, whilst 89 per cent achieved the Level 2 benchmark, up from 88 per cent last year. In last month’s Key Stage Two results, in Maths 93 per cent of Oxfordshire’s 11 year-olds achieved Level 2 (up from 91 per cent last year) and in Writing assessments further progress was made with 86 per cent achieving Level 2 – up three percentage points on 2012.
On all measures Oxfordshire was in line with, or above, the National average figures for 2013.
ENCOURAGING SIGNS The council’s Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families Melinda Tilley said: “Following the impressive Key Stage two results released last month, I am delighted to see further encouraging signs that children at the earliest stages of their schooling are starting to make the strides we all want to see. We are starting to witness sustained progress in attainment levels throughout the primary school years, which will be hugely welcomed by Oxfordshire schools and the communities they serve.
“This progress is testament to the hard work of teaching staff and the efforts of children and their families. I would like to congratulate everyone associated with these improving results and would urge them to keep going to help our children truly fulfil their potential.”
Image courtesy of webarchive.netionalarchives.gov.uk
FURTHER ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT Cllr Tilley added: “It must be stated that we are still at the beginning of a long road. It’s no secret that recent standards in core subjects among primary school-age children in Oxfordshire have been a long way below where they need to be, and there is still room for significant further progress.
“There is certainly no room for complacency and everyone involved in raising the attainment of Oxfordshire children should continue striving for our county’s results to be the absolute best they can be.”
ANYONE doubting six years ago that Thame Food Festival would grow to become one of the best on the national food festival circuit, has surely now been made to eat their words. An estimated 25,000 people flocked to Thame on Saturday (28/09) for the town’s sixth annual food festival to sample great local and artisan food and drink, to watch the celebrity and local chef demonstrations, and havr a fantastic, free foodie day out.
Food festival crowds in Upper High Street, Thame
Over 150 stall holders lined the streets and market squares of Thame, with displays stretching from the High Street right through Cornmarket to the Upper High Street, with more spilling into North Street. On offer were mouth-watering selections of hand-raised pies, craft baked breads, exquisitely decorated cakes and rustic flapjacks as well as fruit vinegars, locally pressed oils and seasonal vegetables, still in muddy coats, fresh from the fields.
Street food was hot, spicy and plentiful, with delicious curries and slow-cooked Cotswold lamb, crèpes and local ice creams, hot roasts and hand-made burgers, all washed down with a glass or two of cider or the special festival ale, Thame’In of the Brew, created by The Vale Brewery in Brill.
Demonstrations were courtesy of Raymond Blanc OBE, Tom Kerridge, Adam Simmonds and Shaun Dickens as well as local chefs including Chris Godfrey (The Charles Napier in Chinnor), Mike North (The Nut Tree Inn at Murcott), Nigel Rumsey (Rumsey’s Chocolaterie) and Beverley Glock. BBC Radio 2’s Ken Bruce and stand-up comic, food writer and beer expert Jim ‘Jams’ Davies compèred the day.
“Saturday was the most amazing day, a fabulous opportunity to enjoy real food and drink in the setting of a beautiful market town,” said TV chef and Thame Food Festival Patron Lotte Duncan. “People came in their thousands to buy from the huge variety of different producers who’d lined up to get a stall at the event, watch the cookery demonstrations from the wonderfully talented chefs and afterwards take home all sorts of delicious goodies to eat and drink – if indeed they made it that far and were n’t gobbled up on the day!
“I had the most fantastic feeling, standing there at the top of the High Street where all I could see were people milling about laden down with bags of food they’d bought, talking excitedly about what they were going to do with it,” she said. “They’d come to have a really happy day out, sampling all the different artisan produce made with so much love and care, and enjoy the company of others who love the same thing.”
Visitors also dug deeply, giving donations for the goody bags provided by festival headline sponsors, McCormick and for parking and using the double decker, red bus park and ride. More than £4000 was raised in total by the event, which will be given to local charities by the Lions and the Rotary Club, to support the Thame Food Bank and to plough back into the community fund to put on next year’s food festival.
Other local charities including SeeSaw which helps Oxfordshire children who need extra support before or after a close family bereavement, also benefited from having free stalls on the day, collecting more than £560, as did Thame’s Helen & Douglas House hospice care for children and young adults.
The Mayor of Thame, Councillor Peter Lambert, commented, “The Thame Food Festival is brilliant. This year’s festival was very well organised by all involved. It’s a really good event and really good for Thame.”
Luise Pattinson, who runs The Book House in Thame, which this year celebrates 40 years trading independently in Thame, said, “The food festival is an absolutely amazing event, which brings people to Thame and showcases the sort of town independent retailers here know it to be. Thame’s a vibrant place that’s totally individual, and now the whole town is buzzing. Events like this really help Thame make its mark – people will soon be back now they know what it’s like.”
That a sentiment echoed by Lotte Duncan, who concluded: “I think the event has really put Thame on the map, not only as one of the best market towns in Britain, but also as the first stop for local food and drink. Saturday showed us that the food festival is something people from far and wide are happy to travel to, and the whole town benefited from the crowds. Many of them will come back, to do their Christmas shopping or at any time of year, having seen what a wonderful place it is. As well as all the visitors, we also have our generous sponsors to thank for that, and the tireless work of our festival administrator, Alison Isherwood, and I’d like to express our huge gratitude to them all.”
A garden of reflection, dedicated to the young people of Thame who have tragically lost their lives, has been officially revealed by the Mayor of Thame, and recognised by launching hundreds of balloons into the sky.
Hundreds of relatives, friends and acquaintances, as well as town council representatives, gathered to celebrate the lives of those young people gone too soon, in an event that mixed entertainment, pathos and emotion, bringing the town together to see the fruition of a joint project between local business, volunteers and supporters of the Thame Youth Memorial.
In his dedication speech to the triangular garden in a corner of the Memorial garden in the Upper High Street, the Mayor of Thame, Peter Lambert, told the crowd: “Within weeks of moving to Thame I couldn’t help but notice what a wonderful sense of community spirit this town has, and if anything, this Youth Memorial epitomises that spirit.”
After praising the hard work and dedication of those who ‘faced and overcame many obstacles’ to produce what he called, ‘a stunning design’, the Mayor concluded: “We are now the guardians of this special place and I ask that all of you, whatever your age, please come together as a community and take ownership of this Memorial and help keep it as a place of pride and memory of those we have lost and will lose in the years to come.”
The programme included a song called ‘Bring Him Home’ sung by Ric Ashley Smith, and a speech of appreciation by Michael Oatway, a local Member of the Youth Parliament.
A further £6000 is still needed to cover a loan for final construction costs of the memorial. If you would like to make a donation you can do so via the Thame Youth Memorial Trust’s website at www.thameyouthmemorial.org.
Image courtesy of sustainablebuildingsolutions.co.uk – Testing for draughts which means heat escape & wasted energy
A group concerned about future energy security, based in Haddenham, is celebrating after it was awarded a grant of £3000 to buy equipment to do ‘air tightness’ testing to improve insulation in local homes.
Essentially this is a high tech way of identifying areas in rooms where improved draught proofing would reduce energy bills.
Haddenham Transition spokesperson, Robin Aitcheson, explained: “We are proposing to offer this as a service to local householders with a particular emphasis on households on low incomes and the elderly. We need volunteers to help with this project. Any help would be gratefully received – even just a few hours at some time in the next few months.”
Contact: Robin via editor@thame.net if you can help with this very worthwhile cause.
Members of the Freedom from Torture’s Write to Life group performing in Bath recently
Freedom from Torture’s Write to Life group will be performing their play ‘Souvenirs’ at the Thame Arts and Literature Festival on Saturday, October 19, at 3.30 pm at the Player’s Theatre in Nelson Street, Thame.
‘Souvenirs’ is a piece of verbatim theatre – but performed by the protagonists themselves. Woven from the personal stories of five members of Freedom from Torture’s Write to Life group, by Christine Bacon of Ice & Fire Theatre, and directed by Melanie Spencer of Tamasha Theatre, ‘Souvenirs’ has been performed in Bath and London to packed houses.
Tracy, from the group, said: “What happened to me, the marks on my body, the memories, they are going to be my souvenirs. “I want to show people how I feel. In my struggle I did not have a voice and I want the world to know the truth. Talking, acting, writing about it, it’s another way to free myself.”
For more information about Souvenirs, Freedom from Torture and the Write to Life group, please go to our website:
THE death has been announced today of the former town councillor and former Thame Mayor, Delia Smith. In a tribute, Thame Town Council said: “It is with deep sadness that we received the news that Delia Smith passed away on Saturday, September 28, after a long illness. The Council expresses its sincere condolences to her family at this very difficult time.
” Delia served the town as a town, district and county councillor and was elected Mayor of Thame Council in 1979 and 1980. Delia cared passionately about her community and the people in it and devoted her time and energy to local politics making an outstanding contribution to the Civic Life of the town.
Ann Midwinter, South Oxfordshire District Councillor and former Mayor of Thame Town Council whilst Delia served as a town councillor, said: ‘Delia was a dedicated councillor and always had the town’s best interests at heart working tirelessly for the people of Thame.”
Delia Smith’s most significant achievement for Thame was probably her enthusiastic campaigning and support for a by-pass around the Thame.
For further details and to book tickets please ring 01844 260603 or 01844 214498 (evenings)
