THE Mayor of Thame has responded to the letter from a Thame resident about the sad state of the red telephone box outside the town hall with some very good news, and hailed his Tidy Thame Day a triumph for the town.
Follow link to letters page to read the Mayor’s full report of Thame Tidy Day
PHOTO: The Mayor Thame surveys the huge pile of rubbish collected by the people of Thame on Thame Tidy Day
AN Oxfordshire school librarian?s first novel has just been published, but to spare the blushes of her mum, she wishes to remain anonymous beause of its ‘racy’ content.
Ex-IT Manager, mother and now School Librarian of a prominent local school, Bea Turvey, her pen name, lives in a small Oxfordshire village and has finally achieved her dream of writing a novel but because of the inclusion of some sex scenes she will not be able to enjoy the recognition that will come with its international publication!
Not only is she wary of being exposed to students? comments and staff critique, but her greatest fear is that the book will somehow make its way to her mother?s pile of must-reads! Therefore, she is writing under a pen name in the hope that it will keep her secret for as long as possible. The threat of exposure makes her anxious, she says.
“We all put our parents through hell as we grow up but this is beyond anything I?ve ever done before. My mother is extremely strait-laced: doesn?t drink, smoke, swear and is deeply religious. A book like this would shock her senseless,” says Bea Turvey.
Bea’s E book is called Banished and is a typical beach-read-romance with a hint of danger. An excerpt is available at: http://canwritewillwrite.com/Bea_Turvey.html
Banished came out on March 10, 2011, published by Can Write Will Write.
A THAME man has been banned from medical centres and pharmacies in the area after being found guilty of several counts of obtaining prescriptions in false names.
Joel Moroney, 34, of Parliament Road, Thame, admitted possessing or controlling an article for use in fraud (an altered prescription) on July 15; fraud by false representation by obtaining a prescription under the name Josh Jones in Aylesbury on June 4; fraud by false representation by obtaining a prescription under the name Josh Willing in Berinsfield on June 16; fraud by false representation by obtaining a prescription under the name Josh Jones in Aylesbury on July 1; fraud by false representation by obtaining a prescription under the name Steve Lyons in Aylesbury on July 7; fraud by false representation by obtaining a prescription under the name Josh Jones in Aylesbury on July 8; fraud by false representation by obtaining a prescription under the name Josh Willing in Berinsfield on July 15, and fraud by false representation by obtaining a prescription under the name Josh Willing in Berinsfield on August 23.
Seven other offences were also taken into consideration before Mr Moroney was banned by magistrates from medical centres and pharmacies in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire for three months.
Picture: For illustrative purposes only, courtesey of britcrownpharmacy.co.uk
MISTIE the Thame cat who disappeared on her way home from the vet’s, is back safe and sound with her owners, two and a half weeks after she went missing!
Despite several sightings in the Windmill Road area of Thame, Mistie’s owners, Debbie and Lindsay Smith of Croft Road, Thame, had almost given up hope of find Mistie. But then, out of the blue, they received a text from their ex neighbour in Hazelrig Drive, Thame, that Mistie had been spotted in a near-by garden.
Lindsay immediately went round and found her lost cat miowing loudly and coaxed her into her basket.
Lindsay told ThameNews.Net: “Although she has lost a little bit of weight and has a bit of an upset stomach, Mistie seems in remarkably good condition and in fact, her adventure seems to have done her some good because before she was naturally a bit nervous. But now, she seems much more confident!
“At the moment she doesn’t seem to like being held as much as she did but seems generally happy, purring a lot.”
When she disappeared, seven year-old Mistie had been for a check-up five days after having two teeth removed and was supposed to have taken anti-biotics, but thankfully her mouth seems to have healed up by itself.
“My mum and I, and my Grandma are so happy to have Mistie back home with us again,” said Lindsay.
THAMES Valley Police have announced today that speed cameras in Oxfordshire will begin operating again from April 1.
The force has taken the decision to turn the cameras back on and resume operating mobile speed camera sites after they were turned off on August 1 last year.
Head of Roads Policing for Thames Valley, Supt Rob Povey, explains the reasons behind the decision in a YouTube video, available for viewing at the following link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBs_Zw_0uzc
Supt Povey said: ?We think this is important because we know that speed kills and speed is dangerous.
?We have shown in Oxfordshire that speed has increased through monitoring limits and we have noticed an increase in fatalities the number of people seriously injured in 2010. We know that speed enforcement does work as a deterrent to motorists.?
There are currently 72 fixed sites and 89 mobile sites in Oxfordshire. They were switched off as a result of a withdrawal of funding by Oxfordshire County Council after Government cuts to the authority?s road safety grant.
The decision to switch the cameras back on has been supported by Thames Valley Police Authority committee chair for Oxfordshire Ian Abbott and Oxfordshire County Councillor Cabinet Member for Transport, Rodney Rose.
Cllr Rose said: “We very much welcome this positive approach to financing the operation of speed cameras and will continue to work with our partners at Thames Valley Police in improving road safety in Oxfordshire.
“The county council did not delight in withdrawing funding for speed cameras last year, but took this decision to protect other service areas following a huge reduction in road safety grant from the Government. Other councils across the country took the same view.
“This local solution will ensure funding is properly aligned to support the service delivery and not subject to an external grant funding process. The new process will have a higher level of active engagement with drivers who speed and will be more successful in changing driver behaviour rather than simply trying to penalise offenders in the wallet.”
Mr Abbott said: ?I welcome today’s announcement that safety cameras will be reactivated on roads in Oxfordshire.
“Road safety is of fundamental importance to people in our area, as many letters to local papers have highlighted.I believe safety cameras are a worthwhile intervention to reduce the number of road traffic injuries and deaths.
“The reactivation of the cameras will give consistency to road safety measures across the Thames Valley.”
FACTS Between August 2010 and January 2011, there were 18 fatalities, 179 people seriously inujured and 982 people slightly injured on Oxfordshire?s roads. During that period, 13 people were seriously injured and 70 slightly injured at fixed camera sites.
Safety camera sites have continued to perform well across the region, with the number of people killed or seriously injured being reduced by 43% compared to the three years before sites were installed. All casualties have also reduced at sites by 23% compared with the periods before installation.
A study by the Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership after the cameras were switched off in August 2010, highlighted that the rate of offences at camera sites just one month after they were deactivated were 2.9 times higher than when they were still active.?
ANGER is mounting in Thame as the number of residents affected by a three-week backlog of parcels that have not been delivered within the town, grows.
A spokesman at the Thame Sorting Office said:”The problem is that we have had a lot of full-time postmen leave recently and the Post Office is not replacing them like-for-like.
“When they do replace workers who did 40 hours a week, we are only get some that can only work 20 or 30 hour weeks, but who are expected to cope with the same work load.
“We do now have three staff working to shift the backlog and we hope that by next Monday (March 28) most of them will have been sorted and delivered.”
PHOTO: Sorting office, Courtesy of www.guardian.co.uk
[Reference: M 24/03/054] This is a Community Message from Thames Valley Police. THEFT OF VEHICLE ? Milton Common, nr Thame.
ON Wednesday 23rd March at approx: 14:40hrs a Silver coloured Transit van, registration number KK07 RNU which had been left running with the keys in the ignition was stolen from Milton Common. It was seen driving off at high speed.
If you have seen any suspicious looking people or vehicles in the area or have any information relating to this message, please call the police on08458 505 505 and quote URN 768 of 23/03/11. If you have information but wish to remain anonymous, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Message Ends.
A Head teacher has blamed the re-routing of the Arriva 280 bus past her school, for an accident this morning involving a child.
Just before 9AM this morning, a boy from Haddenham Community Junior school in Woodways, Haddenham, near Thame, was hit by a car after getting off a bus and crossing the road to the school.
The Headteacher, Sue Roberts told ThameNews.Net: “When Arriva announced it was re-routing the 280 bus along Woodways, passing this school, it was pointed out to them that the decision would create an accident waiting to happen. Well, this morning, that accident happened.
“Luckily, because of the speed bumps the driver involved was travelling slowly and the injured boy only sustained bruising to his legs, but it could have been a lot worse.
“I shall be writing to Arriva suggesting that they now reconsider the route and at the very least, pay for two Zebra crossings between the two schools in Woodways and Churchway.”
The school’s Lollypop lady retired in February and has not yet been replaced.
Click on LINK to read back stories on the 280 re-routing controversy
A 26 year-old man has been arrested on suspician of causing Grievous Bodily Harm, following the discovery on March 13, of a man in Rooks Lane, Thame, with a serious head injury.
The 37 year-old injured man was found in the early hours of the morning by a passer-by and was taken to hospital. The police appealed for witnesses to an altercation during the previous evening at The Black Horse pub, Thame, where the injured man was thought to have been drinking.
The suspected assailant has been bailed to attend Abingdon police station on April 14.
PHOTO: The Black Horse pub, Thame
A TEACHER sacked by a Thame school after several warnings about so-called ‘sex talk’ with students, has been banned from teaching for a year.
On March 14, The General Teaching Council found Mr Norman Wright guilty of unacceptable professional conduct whilst employed at Lord Williams School, Thame, between September 2008 and September 2009.
The Disciplinary hearing heard that Mr Wright, who taught Religious Studies at the school:
i) had inappropriate conversations of a sexual nature with pupils outside of school in the Autumn term 2008
ii) had an inappropriate conversation with a teaching assistant in front of pupils, in the Autumn term 2008, in that he discussed matters of a sexual nature
iii) acted in an inappropriate manner towards a pupil and put their health and safety at risk on 24 March 2009 by lifting them onto his shoulders
iv) acted in an inappropriate manner in class on 01 April 2009, in that he removed his shirt in front of pupils
v) acted in an inappropriate manner in a lesson in September 2009 in that as part of a lesson he told an anti-Semitic joke.
In a statement, Oxfordshire County Council said: “When issues relating to his teaching arose, he was given support and appropriate action was taken. After a series of warnings he was dismissed from his post in October 2009.?
The GTC found other allegations against Mr Wright, including that he had told an offensive joke about the death of Jade Goody, not proved.
PHOTO: Courtesy of www.lordwilliams.oxon.sch.uk