Category: More News

FOR the eighth year running, Thame Town Council wants to hear about those people who help their neighbours, support local groups or go out of their way for others in their community, to recognise, to thank and celebrate those special people ‘who are working hard to make our community a safer, more vibrant and happier place to live’.

Nominations opened today Friday, (26/02) for suggestions of your unsung hero in seven categories:

Sporting Achievement
Someone of any age who has shown real dedication to their sport. Perhaps a player, a coach, even someone who supports your team from the side-lines.

Voluntary Individual or Organisation
Any person or group that has worked tirelessly for the good of the community. Thame is a hive of community activity, which local cause deserves your nomination?

Person of Courage
Someone of any age who has overcome personal adversity or who is facing special challenges on an everyday basis.

Lifetime Achievement
Someone who has made a real contribution to Thame over a long period of time. They could be anyone from a teacher or carer to a fundraiser or event organiser. This award can be made posthumously.

Young Achiever
A young person up to the age of 18 who has excelled in a particular skill or discipline. Maybe a passionate campaigner, a star pupil or a great musician.

Service with a Smile
A business or an individual that consistently provides a faultless and friendly service.

Creative Arts Achievement
Anyone who has contributed to the artistic life of Thame.

To make a nomination, visit the town council’s website and fill out the electronic nomination form, or pop in to the Town Hall Information Centre and pick up a voting card. You can find out more about the Town Awards and meet some of the judging panel at the Thame Market Community Stall on Tuesday, March 15, or outside the Town Hall on March 29. Follow the awards on Twitter using #ThameAwards

The closing date for nominations is April 8, 2016.

ARTSWEEK at John Hampden School has been an ‘out of this world’ experience this year, with the theme of Space, Aliens and Star Wars as their guiding force!

The Space theme saw the school hall transformed into an artistic galaxy far, far away, home to a pink planet and a green moon, inhabited by Ewoks, aliens, Wookies, droids and the odd princess. Darth Vader’s menacing presence was felt as he presided over the proceedings as a giant wall hanging and Tim Peak could be seen on his spacewalk, narrowly avoiding the Millennium Falcon and the Enterprise as they zig-zagged between the planets from our own solar system, speeding through the night sky.

The children took part in a wide range of artistic endeavours to enable the out of this world transformation, including printmaking of zodiac signs and planets, photography of fantasy space scenes, clay modelling of aliens, sewn Ewoks and planets, space marbling, painting and the ever popular junk modelling. They also researched the real spacemen and women who explore space today, British Astronaut, Tim Peak, who is currently circling the earth in the International Space Station, being one of the inspirations for the Artsweek theme.

The John Hampden staff and children were a diverse crew on the final dress-up Friday of the week, with a multitude of Darth Vaders, Princess Leias, Ewoks, aliens, spacemen and even Arthur Dent and The Men in Black to keep everyone in line! 

Once again, John Hampden school enroled an army of volunteer parents, grandparents, governors, guardians, carers, artists, teachers and teaching assistants, old and new, to support the children in their artwork (over 64!), who went along to help bring the pupil’s ideas to life. The school’s PTFA provided the means to fund the week, with a generous donation which enabled the school to provide a wealth of artistic experiences and resources for the children to enjoy.

As well as the arts and craft work, the staff set the children a challenge in the Artsweek Quiz, where they had to match the droid or alien to the right staff member who made it in the ‘Is this your droid or alien?’ competition, complete with a Star Wars prize for the winning entries.

At the end of the week, JHS friends and family were invited to take a small step for man and a giant leap for mankind into a fantasy galaxy, journeying through space-dust clouds and meteorites, past lightsaber battles and Storm Troopers to cross the final frontier and find the culmination of the school’s artistic endeavours at the Artsweek Fair-trade Café as a Friday finale.

“We were ‘lost in space’ for a while and it will take half-term to recover from our ‘out of this world’ experience, but the Force is strong at JHS and we will enjoy our hall in the weeks to come as a reminder of our inter-galactic adventure!” said the school’s Arts Co-ordinators, Jackie Nichols and Clare Field.

FIVE council leaders have come up with a ground-breaking plan that could revolutionise public services in Oxfordshire and neighbouring areas and save £ millions.

The plan would see the abolition of Oxfordshire County Council, transferring its functions to four new Local Unitary Councils working together in partnership with the National Health Service, Police and the Local Enterprise Partnerships. Oxfordshire District Council leaders are asking the government to agree to the proposal which it believes would bring in significant investment in roads, schools and public transport.

The new proposals would mean joint working with the National Health Service to pool budgets and to commission health and adult social care in a way that the councils concerned believe would improve service quality and deal more effectively with increasing demand on these services.

‘Fantastic opportunity for Oxfordshire’

Speaking on behalf of all of the Districts, Cllr Matthew Barber said: “This devolution deal is a fantastic opportunity for Oxfordshire and we believe we should do everything possible to secure much needed investment for the benefit of residents, businesses and communities.

The Oxfordshire District Leaders have agreed to explore a Unitary Option that would include both Cotswold District Council and South Northamptonshire Council. They will now commission independent experts to work with them and other stakeholders in producing detailed, costed plans for the preferred option. These will be tested against other appropriate options that will ensure the best and most cost-effective solutions are identified. Detailed proposals will be considered by each of the Councils prior to public consultation in the summer.

The preferred option – four local unitaries :

A new Southern Oxfordshire Unitary Authority would cover the area currently administered by Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire District Councils

An Oxford City Unitary Authority would be formed in the centre of the county, covering the area currently administered by Oxford City Council

A West Oxfordshire-Cotswold Unitary Authority covering the area currently administered by West Oxfordshire District Council and Cotswold District Council

A Cherwell-South Northants Unitary Authority covering the area currently administered by Cherwell District Council and South Northamptonshire Council.

Oxfordshire County council calls for public debate 

Oxfordshire County Council has stated that it believes all options should be considered by the public to agree what is best for Oxfordshire people and Oxfordshire public services. Councillor Rodney Rose, deputy leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said: “Oxfordshire is a historic county that is so much more than the sum of its parts. From a personal perspective, I would regret anything that saw that identity and heritage disappear. That said, our main focus must be on the best way to serve the people of Oxfordshire – whatever the council logo on their wheelie bins.

“At this time of diminished resources in local government, we need to make sure every single penny counts so that we can best protect services for the people of Oxfordshire – particularly vulnerable children and adults who depend on social services. Before any deal is done, we need to know the cost to the council taxpayers of Oxfordshire.

“We welcome the opportunity to join this debate about the future of public services in Oxfordshire, and invite the partners in these proposals to explain in detail how the proposals provide better, safer services and for less money.

“The county council says that the options that should be considered for local government restructuring in Oxfordshire include:

• one council providing all local authority services for all the people of Oxfordshire
• two or three councils providing all local authority services for all the people of Oxfordshire
• four councils providing all local authority services for residents of Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire
and  Oxfordshire

“We need to fully understand the implications for the people of Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire if social care is ‘lifted and shifted’ into the new combined authority, as the proposal suggests. No doubt the people of Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire will also want to understand the implications of shifting their transport responsibilities into this new combined authority.”

Today Councillor Rose invited the leaders of the district councils and CCG to lay out the full details of their proposals so that the public can fully understand the implications on services. These would include:

• plans for safeguarding children
• the future of the fire and rescue service for Oxfordshire
• joining up health services and adult social care in Oxfordshire
• planning the infrastructure required for expected growth of homes and jobs in the county.

What’s the best option for Oxfordshire?

In considering the best option for Oxfordshire, the county council has suggested that the tests for the best format for local government should focus on:

• Local, democratic accountability
• Efficiency and cost-effectiveness
• Safeguarding vulnerable children and adults
• Stewardship of the county as a vitally important economic area for Oxfordshire and England
• Partnership working with other public services including policing, health and education

Cllr Rose added: “The district councils’ proposal would mean the creation of four key council services where there is currently one relating to children and adult social services, and also for planning and delivering improvement to Oxfordshire’s transport network.

“Last year we published an independent report that showed there were greater savings from a single council for Oxfordshire than three, smaller unitary councils. We think there is a strong argument for reducing duplication of council functions, not increasing them. For instance the NHS locally would need to deal with four organisations not one when it comes to joining up health and adult social care services, as required by government policy.

“We look forward to proposals for future structures being compared and contrasted. However the ultimate test has to be which system is the most effective way to deliver, good, safe services for people of Oxfordshire.”

ALREADY the winner of a Bronze Award in The Beautiful South Tourism Awards 2015, Thame Food Festival has been chosen as a finalist in the Countryside Alliance Awards – Rural Oscars, with the presentation being held at the House of Lords on April 27.

Thame Food Festival was nominated by Thame Town Council and last week met with the Award Judges. Only on the day, at the parliamentary reception, will the winners be revealed and Thame is up against some very stiff competition!

In the words of Countryside Alliance Awards Director, Jill Grieve: ” These finalists are all exceptional – we have been overwhelmed by nominations this year so for them to get this far is a huge achievement. The secret to the Rural Oscars’ popularity is that they honour the people involved in these businesses and not just their produce or services. They exist to sing the praises of those who work hard to keep our communities and rural economy ticking, but don’t seek the spotlight. We are delighted to offer this platform to enable people to say ‘thank you’ to them for all they contribute. I wish all of these businesses well as judging gets underway; there are going to be some hard decisions ahead.”

An excited Lotte Duncan, who is Patron of the Thame Food Festival, said : “Wow! What an honour! When we opened the envelope that congratulated us on being finalists we were over the moon. So much work is put into the festival by the directors, volunteers, the chefs and bakers on the stages (who give their time for free), everyone who works behind the scenes and of course the amazing Artisan food producers who work so hard day in, day out to give us some outstanding and delicious food on the day.

“What makes us even happier is that two of our festival Stallholders are also finalists in the Butcher’s category – The Pointer in Brill and Egg House Charcuterie in Haddenham. Last week we met with the judges and spent a couple of hours chatting to them in great detail about Thame Food Festival. We absolutely can’t wait for April to see whether or not we have been honoured!” 

INTRODUCING THE FINALISTS IN THE 2015 RURAL OSCARS

The awards are the Countryside Alliance’s annual celebration of rural produce, skills, enterprise and heritage through our small hard-working businesses. They are now in their eleventh year and have become the definitive rural business award to win. The Awards are public-nomination led across four categories: Local Food; Village Shop/ Post Office; Butcher and Tourism Enterprise. Thousands of nominations were received and the judges have selected ten finalists in each category.

The finalists on their way to London are:

Local Food finalists
• Gog Magog Hills Farm Shop in Cambridgeshire
• Ben’s Restaurant at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
• The Kings Arms Inn at Wing in Rutland
• Farndon Fields Farm Shop in Leicestershire
• Blue Tin Produce at Ipsden in Oxfordshire
• Battlefield 1403 Farm Shop in Shropshire
• Bride Valley Farm Shop in Dorset
• Padstow Farm Shop in Cornwall
• Langthornes Buffalo Produce, North Yorkshire
• Lower Clopton Farm Shop, Warwickshire

Village Shop finalists
• Haughley Post Office, Suffolk
• The Heath Stores, Kent
• Sherborne Village Shop, Gloucestershire
• Motcombe Community Shop, Dorset
• Barkers of Huby, North Yorkshire
• Kings Walden Post Office Store, Hitchin
• St Tudy Community Shop and Post Office, Cornwall
• Woods of Whitchurch, Herefordshire
• Bardon Mill Village Store, Northumberland
• Churchinford and District Community Shop, Devon
• Beech Hill Village Shop, Berkshire
• Barford Village Community Shop, Warwickshire

Tourism Enterprise finalists
• Dalegate Market, Norfolk
• Jordan’s Mill, Bedfordshire
• Drusillas Park, East Sussex
• Harveys Brewery, West Sussex
• The Burnham on Sea Food & Drink Festival, Somerset
• Thame Food Festival, Oxfordshire
• Shrewsbury Food Festival, Shropshire
• Loyton Estate, Devon
• New Lodge Farm, Northamptonshire
• Narrow Waters, Cambridgeshire

Butcher finalists
• The Egg House Charcuterie, Buckinghamshire
• The Pointer Butcher, Buckinghamshire
• A Johnson & Son Ltd, Staffs
• Arthur Howell, Norfolk
• Clive Downs Butchers of Porlock, Somerset
• John Robinson of Stockbridge, Hampshire
• Veysey’s Butchers, Cullompton, Devon
• John Hutton Butchers, Suffolk
• G F White Traditional Butchers, Norfolk
• MB Farms Produce Ltd, Kent
The Thame Food Festival is a community event run by the community for the community. For more details, or to get involved by sponsoring or supporting next year’s festival, go to www.thamefoodfestival.co.uk.

For more information on the Rural Oscars go to:
http://countrysideallianceawards.org.uk/caa/article/the-countryside-alliance-awards

FOLLOWING a ray of hope for the future of Childrens Centres in the county after Tuesday’s marathon budget meeting by Oxfordshire County Council, it has become clear today that Thame’s Red Kite Centre and most of the others across the county remain under threat.

Although on Tuesday county councillors eventually negotiated that £2 million of savings relating to Early Intervention hubs and children’s centres would not now take place, a spokesperson for Oxfordshire County Council asked Thame.net to clarify today that: “An original £6 million of saving on Early Intervention Hubs and Children’s Centres – agreed by the council at its annual budget meeting in February 2015 – will still take place.

“So, it is not correct to say that ‘Thame’s children’s centre is saved’, he added. (See LINK)

He added: “No decisions have been taken at this stage on how this £2 million will be spent.”

Public opposition

Despite a public consultation that illustrated a great deal of opposition, and public demonstrations by users and supporters of children’s centres, OCC is still planning to stop funding for most its children’s centres and seven ‘Early Intervention’ hubs, and replace them with eight ‘children and family centres’ run by a new service for young people up to 19 years-old.

The existing children’s centres are not expected to begin to close until October 2016, before which it is anticipated that local community groups and district councils may be able to find the resources to take them over.

Some help to reduce the impact

It has been reported today that Jim Leivers, OCC’s Children’s Services Director, has promised £1 million from Government ‘transitional’ funding to local councils to reduce the impact of the cuts.

Cuts to adult social care have been reduced from £21 million to £18 million, mainly affecting day centres for the elderly, whilst some of the ‘transition’ funding may be used to ‘ease the pain’ of cuts to bus subsidies and homeless services.

The council still needs to make £69 million in savings over the next four years, forced on it mainly my cuts to Government grants as part of ‘austerity’ measures.

SGT Vicky Hoskin has taken over the role as Neighbourhood Sergeant as from February 1, with responsibility for Thame, as well as Watlington, Chinnor, Wheatley and Chalgrove.

Sgt Hoskin said: “I’ve worked for Thames Valley Police for 12 years in total and spent the last 10 years as a police officer. Most of that time was spent working for CID in Buckinghamshire. I’ve been working in Thame and covering South Oxfordshire & Vale of the White Horse since November 2014 as a Response Sergeant, so I’ve have had a good opportunity to get to know the area well before taking on this role.

“My priorities for Thame closely follow our Force priorities – ultimately to cut crimes which are of most concern to the community, protecting our community from harm and building public confidence in the service we provide. I’ve been spending time during my first weeks working with our partner agencies looking at how we can best work together to prevent, disrupt and solve crime in the area.

“Some of the issues which we are working to tackle locally include anti-social behaviour, rural crime and burglary. I’m always keen to hear the views of people living in the area and please feel free to call 101 to speak to a member of the Neighbourhood Team or attend a Have Your Say meeting.”

Have Your Say meetings locally are taking place:

• Tuesday, March 1, 11am – midday at Co-op, High Street, Thame
• Wednesday, March 2, 11am – midday at Memorial Hall, Chinnor Road, Towersey

THERE was great excitement in the village of Chinnor, near Thame this week for the opening of a new sports and social club. To be known as Chinnor Community Pavilion, the brand new state-of-the-art, single storey building off Station Road has been the result of fundraising activities by the Parish Council, coupled with grants from Sport England, the Football Foundation and South Oxfordshire District Council.

The Community Pavilion includes a suite of four team and two officials changing rooms to cater for the adjacent sports pitches, tennis courts and playing field, and will also act as a community hub with a function room, club room, bar and kitchen. Chinnor Parish Council will shortly relocate its office into the new building. The Pavilion’s sports facilities and party suites will be available for hire, and a regular range of activities will be on offer from fitness classes to clubs.

Debbie Mellor, of PCMS Design, Haddenham, who designed and project lead the scheme, said: “Care was taken at an early stage to design a building which has eco-friendly, sustainable features; there are solar PV cells on the roof which will generate electricity for the Pavilion and also link into the national grid. There is a grey water collection system to minimise the use of fresh water. A water harvesting tank has been installed and the grey water will be used for all WCs. A large patio area extends across the back of the Pavilion with views across the playing pitches, and the landscaping includes several new trees. The building design, with its asymmetric zinc roof, smartly integrates the external materials of buff brick and cedar cladding which wrap into the entrance lobby.”

The new Pavilion building is next to the playing field and St Andrew’s Primary School, and opposite the Wellington House Doctor’s Surgery and Chinnor Library.

Councillor Pat Hayward, Chair of Chinnor Parish Council, said: “The Parish Council are delighted that the building is now complete. We are indebted to PCMS Design who have not only designed and specified this wonderful building, but guided and supported us through the whole process. The PCMS Design team have done us proud!”

SOURCE: Contributed –  Image courtesy of Chinnor Community Pavilion facebook page