Category: More News

RESIDENTS in South Oxfordshire have put out over 30 tonnes of old toasters, kettles and irons and tatty old textiles since the launch of the new recycling services in September last year.

South Oxfordshire District Council introduced the new kerbside collections last year to help residents recycle even more from their doorstep.

The new collections include small unusable electricals like hairdryers, broken electric toys and radios, and tired textiles like old clothes, bedsheets and curtains.

Councillor Tony Harbour, cabinet member for waste at South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “Our residents have always worked really hard to recycle all they can – their position as best in the country only confirms that. We wanted to make recycling even easier for them, so by offering a service where they can put out even more items with their normal bins we hopefully make things a bit more convenient.”

“The services are a permanent part of our kerbside services, so if you’re having a bit of a clear-out or a spring clean, just put your small electrical items in a carrier bag next to your grey bin, and your textiles in a tied carrier bag next to your green bin.”

For more information, visit www.southoxon.gov.uk/weeeandtextiles.

A Thame family has raised £1200 for the Special Baby Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital, in appreciation of the unit’s ‘wonderful work’ with their daughter Sophie.

Three years ago, Donna Webb of Hamilton Road, Thame, was rushed into the JR having gone into labour two weeks early. On arrival it was discovered that Donna was suffering from a ruptured placenta. She was whisked into theatre where Sophie was born via emergency caesarean section.

Friend of the family, Tom Mackriell, took up the story: “Sophie was then monitored by the SCBU and through their incredible care and expertise both Donna and Sophie are here with us today to tell the tale. The work that the SCBU do is so crucial to many families and they have saved many young lives.

“As a ‘thank you’ Donna and her husband Michael felt it was time they gave something back to the wonderful unit that gave so much hope and support in their hour of need. Back in September and October, along with help from their friends and family, they held a raffle (Ed. Quiz master, Tom Mackriell) and a quiz with great prizes including tickets for the theatre and a brilliant overnight spa break and other locally donated prizes. The quiz night back in October was a great success and helped boost the final total which was a healthy £1200!”

Last month Donna, Michael and Sophie went back to the Special Baby Care Unit to hand over the cheque and to give their thanks in person. Penny Hambridge, the Children’s Development Officer at the John Radcliffe, had this to say of their hard work.

“This was an amazing achievement by Donna, Michael and their friends and family to raise such a sum. We are always so grateful to people who support the Hospital and enable us to provide medical equipment and facilities that are beyond what the NHS alone can fund.”

Donna and Michael would like to thank everyone involved and for all the support they received and said: “This really does mean the world to us and will do for so many other parents who have and had their babies cared for at this wonderful unit.”

Anyone who is interested in fundraising for the SBCU or would like to donate more, can visit Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Charitable Fund’s website at http://www.ouh.nhs.uk/charity/

THE police are appealing for information after thieves broke into an Estate Agents in Thame and stole computers.

The burglary happened between 6pm on March 16 (Wednesday), and 8.40am on March 17 (Thursday) at Hamnett Hayward, Estate Agents, in Upper High Street, Thame . The windows at the back of the property were smashed and the computers taken.

Over the same period, a business in Swan Walk, Thame, was also broken into. No further details are known at this time.

The police are appealing to anyone with information to contact them on 101. If you do not want to speak directly to the police you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.

A PROPOSAL to build homes on an employment area in Wellington Street, Thame, has been rejected by the town council, for the second time.

The plan is to demolish some of the employment buildings in Goodson’s Yard and build flats and houses in their place, and to provide parking, some of it in an underground carpark.

Parking and safety

But the town council remains unhappy with amendments put forward by the applicants, Mr A and S Good, which the council says, does not address its original concerns e.g. the density of the proposed development – 55 dwellings per hectare as opposed to that of 25 dwellings per hectare set out in the Thame Neighbourhood Plan, an unacceptable increase in overlooking of 68 Wellington Street and a shortfall in parking which would put additional pressure for off-street parking on Wellington Street, and would worsen pedestrian and highway safety in the area (The proposed exit for the underground parking would be in an area of Wellington Street that would require extra double yellow lines). READ THE COMPLETE REPORT HERE

Accepting that some increase in dwellings per hectare might be acceptable in the case of flats or apartments, rather than houses, it was suggested that a comparison with the Thame Service Station site in Park Street might helpful.
NOTE: The density of the Park Street site is 20 dwellings (retirement flats) on a site of  .3 Hectare, including parking spaces.

Not enough affordable housing

Councillors rejected the architect’s statement that it would not be financially feasible to provide 40% affordable housing on the site, the report by Jake Collinge, the council’s Planning Advisor, stating that the applicant has provided: “.. insufficient viability evidence to justify a reduction in affordable housing provision below 40%, a clear policy of the Thame Neighbourhood Plan.”

The town council voted to reject the plans which will eventually go to South Oxfordshire District Council for a final decision.

RESIDENTS of Thame living in Lea Park in the vicinity of Barley Hill School, will be more likely to receive life-saving resuscitation more quickly than waiting for an ambulance, after the tenth, Community defibrillator in and around Thame, was unveiled by the Mayor today, close to the school’s Denbigh Road entrance.

The Mayor, Cllr Nichola Dixon, with the help of pupils from Barley Hill School, cut the ribbon to officially declare the machine ready for use – a use that it is hoped will never have to be called upon!

Some of the money raised for this particular defibrillator was raised by the Staying Alive campaign in Thame, which started with the very first defibrillator, at the Barns Centre. Much of the rest was contributed by the Barley Hill Parents, Teachers and Friends Association (PTFA) through fund-raising events such as a stall at Thame’s Tuesday market selling books, unwanted gifts and anything that could be exchanged for cash. The Richard Wheeler Memorial also made a contribution and Thame Round Table donated £500.

You can follow the progress of Staying Alive Thame through the group’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Staying-Alive-Thame-182175945318184/

RESIDENTS of the Chinnor Parish can submit feedback to the Draft Chinnor Neighbourhood Plan (CNP) until Thursday, March 24, online via email: Chinnorneighbourplan@outlook.com or the website www.chinnorneighbourplan.com. It is also possible to feedback on paper to the Chinnor Parish Council office or one of the drop-boxes located at the Chinnor Village Hall, the library, the Village Centre and Chinnor’s Co-op Supermarket. Copies of the Draft Plan are available on the website and also at any of the locations mentioned above.

The website www.chinnorneighbourplan.com has been updated with a section on Frequently Asked Questions and what the public said during the event on February 6. Copies of the minutes of the Steering Group meetings are also available on the website.

Spokesman, Marius Ciortan said: “The most effective way that residents can have some influence on future developments in Chinnor will be to get behind the CNP Steering Group, to attend consultation events and give feedback so that work can proceed to produce a robust plan that will pass scrutiny.”

Chinnor Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group can be contacted via:

Email: Chinnorneighbourplan@outlook.com

Website: www.chinnorneighbourplan.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinnorNeighbourhoodPlan

THE Annual Town Meeting in Thame, will be on Tuesday, March 22, when local residents get the chance to address the Council with any issues, questions or concerns they may have about the community – and this year promises to be a lively event.

The Town Council, in partnership with Miller Research UK, will be hosting a Vibrancy & Vitality Workshop at 6.30pm as part of the meeting to allow residents to have their say about Thame’s future. The council wants to hear the people of Thame’s views on why they think the town is a great place to live and work, and what ideas they may have for the town over the coming months and years.

Miller Research will also be researching what other towns are doing and what potential options there are to develop Thame’s vibrancy and vitality.

So spread the news and encourage all your friends, relatives and neighbours to take part in the workshop, and to fill in the short survey first at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Thame, as the more ideas the better!

The meeting and workshop will be in the Upper chamber of the town hall on Tuesday, March 22, at 6.30pm.

STAFF from Thame Town Council recently took some time away from work at the town hall and joined some of the councillors and members of the Thame Remembers team on a visit to the Poppy Factory in Richmond.

As well as learning that The Poppy Factory is a separate charity from the Royal British Legion (although most of its products are sold through the British Legion), they also learned about the origins of the poppy as an emblem of the First World War.

It all began, it seems, with the famous poem by Major John McCrae, which ends with:
“Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”

This was later adapted, in 1919, by Moina Michael in the USA where the first remembrance poppies were sold. The concluding verse of the revised poem reads:

“And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honour of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.”

The first poppies to be sold in England, were in fact made in France.

You can read more about the visit and the Poppy Factory in the latest Thame Remembers newsletter HERE , which includes a piece on how the Thame Remembers project inspired the judges of The Royal Television Society Awards, to recognise the work of a BBC reporter who accompanied Thame Remembers members on a recent Battlefield tour in France.