THE funeral of legendary jockey, Pat Eddery, was held at St Mary’s Church, Thame, this morning, when racing personalities, including Frankie Dettori, carried the coffin.
Pat Eddery died at Stoke Mandeville hospital on November 10, following a heart attack, attributed to alcoholism.
The service was followed by a private cremation in Oxford, and a celebration of his life at Notley Tythe Barn in Long Crendon.
AFTER the mulled wine imbibed during the Thame Christmas Extravanganza on the previous Friday evening, and the champagne to celebrate Thame’s Rising Star, Great British High Street award during Small Business Saturday, anyone witnessing a sea of red ‘santas’ racing through the town on Sunday morning (06/12) might have wondered whether they’d perhaps taken a dram or two too many!
However, the 120 people dressed in all kinds of festive attire, dashing to Thame Town Hall, were all taking part in a 3k fun run in support of Florence Nightingale Hospice – and between them, have pledged over £5,000.
“It was great to see so many people dressing up for the occasion”, commented FNHC’s Karen Shardlow, who helped organise the fun run, in partnership with Thame Lions Club and Thame Town Council. “We saw all sorts of outfits, from Santa’s and elves to Christmas puddings and even a giant Christmas Turkey!”
Starting from the Town Hall, the scarlet swarm ran through the High Street, past the festively decorated FNHC shop in Cornmarket, and continued towards the Phoenix Trail, coming out past Lord William’s School, before making their way back towards the High Street, passing the Thatch and finishing off back at the Town Hall, where all the finishers were awarded a special festive medal, and a present from ‘the big man in red’ himself!
“We’re really pleased that the rain held off this year, so no one’s costume got wet, which made the event even more enjoyable,” added Karen. “We were especially happy as our biggest team of 30+ people, including Jessica Bray and her family, ran the route whilst pushing Jessica’s father, Anthony Morris around in his wheelchair. Anthony is currently being cared for at Florence Nightingale Hospice so it was really wonderful to see him being part of the event.
“On behalf of Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity, I must say a very big thank you to Thame Lions Club for supporting the fun run for the second year in a row. The Lions have been great in terms of helping with organisation and getting marshals together to help on the day,” explained Karen. “Also thanks to the Mayor of Thame, Cllr Nichola Dixon and Thame Leisure Centre for providing the fabulous warm-up for all our fun-runners.”
Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity has to raise over £650,000 a year, to continue providing first class palliative care and support to families suffering with life-limiting illnesses across Bucks, Beds and parts of Oxon.
THAME & District Round Table have launched their Santa Tracker for the third year in a row with the help of Pentangle Internet, a Thame IT & Web company.
Peter Butt of Thame & District Round Table explained: “Santa sometimes had to change the planned route on some collection evenings due to weather or traffic issues so, to try and avoid disappointing anyone, we trialled live updating through Facebook, and Alun Rowe of Pentangle contacted me the first night we tried and said simply: “We can make this easier for you!” The very next evening, the Santa Tracker was live and each year the Pentangle team have improved the app and the website to help everyone see where Santa is on his route. Thanks to Santa Tracker, no need to be disappointed- if Santa hasn’t made it to you, you can come to him!”
Last year Thame Roundtable raised £6,400 and are hoping to raise even more this year. You can sponsor the Santa Tracker and all funds raised through the sponsorship will be used to help fund the running of Thame Round Table as a club, allowing the Roundtable to provide the charitable fundraising ‘vehicle’ of the club and its members. This means that more of the money donated by the public as part of the sleigh runs can go to the charitable groups carrying out the collections.
Collections start on Thursday, December 10, at 6pm from Churchill Crescent. For more information on the full schedule and to track Santa’s every move go to http://santatracker.pentangle.co.uk
FACT: Round Table is the original social network, offering men under the age of 45 the opportunity to expand their social and business networks, develop life skills, have fun and help others. Thame & District Round Table meets every other Tuesday and has a busy calendar of fun and
interesting events, as well as organising various fundraising activities on behalf of local causes.
Twitter: Thame Round Table – @Thame753
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThameDistrictRoundTable753
Website: www.thame.roundtable.co.uk
THAME Food Festival, which this year attracted over 20,000 people to the town, has earned a Bronze Award in The Beautiful South Awards 2015.
At a glittering award ceremony in Brighton on Wednesday evening, December 2, a delighted Lotte Duncan and Alison Isherwood collected the award on behalf of everyone involved in the event that after just six years since its inception, has become the biggest, free food festival in country.
Commenting on the awards, Nigel Smith, CEO of Tourism South East (pictured right), said, “It was a fantastic evening at the Grand Hotel and a real privilege to be in the company of so many dedicated and passionate tourism businesses. The excellent quality of facilities, service and approach makes our role of promoting the South East so much easier and is one of the main reasons why we are the most popular UK tourist region outside London.”
Thame Food Festival benefits good causes
Not only does the Thame Food Festival showcase the town to thousands of visitors, it is a not-for-profit organisation and raises funds for local good causes and charities, and this year raised a total of £3,420.
Alison Isherwood, Food Festival Administrator, said: “The following organisations have benefited and we would like to thank our visitors, sponsors, directors and volunteers who came and helped in the run up, and on the day. Everyone was responsible for contributing towards the donations.”
The Thame ATC (Air Training Corp) who transported equipment from the equipment bank and were responsible for putting out tables, chairs etc £250, Thame Lions Stall at event £785, Thame Rotary Club Stall at event £700, Lions and Rotary who stewarded the stallholders’ car park £500, Thame Foodbank from proceeds of The Big Thame Bake £500 and the Belazu Foundation Pop-up restaurant in Christchurch £685 – a grand total of £3420.
In a letter to Thame Food Festival and The Big Thame Bake, John Hulett, Trustee of Sharing Life Trust wrote: “Thank you so much for thinking of us. This is a very welcome donation indeed which we can use towards the cost of our ‘Community Christmas in a Box’ project which we are running for the third year.”
The Lions and Rotary Club, both based in Thame have been involved with the Festival for a number of years, and they raise money throughout the year for many local causes. Money raised from both their stalls and the producers’ car park on the Festival day, helped The Rotary Club support their chosen charities – the Citizen’s Advice Bureau and Medical Detection Dogs and The Multiple Sclerosis Centre at Wendover.
The Thame Lions Club organise an annual Pantomime trip to the Thame Players theatre, followed by a tea party for approximately 60 elderly and underprivileged people, and the money they raised on the day helped towards making this possible.
“The Thame Food Festival relies on the help of so many people to make it the success it is and I’d like to say a big thank you to them all,” said Lotte Duncan, Patron and Director of the Thame Food Festival. “We are hugely grateful to all the chefs who give their time for nothing to come to Thame, the directors who provide their input and expertise, the new foodie force of volunteers helping out on the day, Jane Hornby who did a wonderful job running the Big Thame Bake and of course our hard-working organiser, Alison Isherwood. Thank you to everyone – it’s a true team effort,”
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, visit: www.thamefoodfestival.co.uk
THAME’S town partnership, 21st Century Thame, which runs the Thame Carnival, Thame Tidy Day and Small Business Saturday among other events, and has been instrumental in initiating so many great projects such as the Food Festival, the Thame Equipment Bank, Blue Plaques, Historic Walks pavement waymarkers, more bicycle racks, planters at the town’s main entry points, Welcome Packs and loads more, is looking for new blood.
A planned AGM for October 7, unfortunately had to be postponed and the new date will be Tuesday, December 8, at 7:30pm in the Upper Chamber of Thame Town Hall. If you run a business, or work or live in the town, and want to help shape Thame’s future for everyone, 21st Century Thame would love to see you at the AGM and to hear what you might have to offer.
21st Century Thame is a Town Partnership, including local authorities, local community groups and volunteers, set up to facilitate projects which enhance the town for residents, businesses and visitors alike. It’s stated aim is: “To enhance the historic market town of Thame by protecting its past and promoting its future as a vibrant and flourishing centre serving the whole community.”
You can find out more by visiting 21st Thame’s website
A Thame Town Charter, aimed at strengthening community spirit throughout the town, has been launched by the Mayor of Thame.
Cllr Nichola Dixon, alongside the Town Clerk, Graham Hunt, and representatives of Sharing Life Trust, came together on Friday, November 27, 2015, to formally launch the Thame Community Charter and it is hoped that local groups, clubs and businesses will sign up to share its vision and spirit.
The Charter is described as: “Setting out a vision for our town around which individuals and both the voluntary and commercial sectors can coalesce and actively participate in building a stronger community identity. The simple, recognisable ‘mark’ of the Charter will be a clear identifier of all that makes our town a special place in which to live and work.”
On receiving her copy of the Charter, Cllr Dixon said: “Thame is such a wonderful place to live; full of passionate individuals and businesses who care deeply about the future of their community. This Charter puts into words what we are all striving towards for our town. I am delighted to support it and strongly encourage others to do so.”
Phil Stratton of Sharing Life Trust said: “As a local charity providing relief of hardship and poverty, we are passionate about enabling those in the community to make a difference.”
Anyone wanting to adopt the Community Charter, can visit www.thamecharter.org or contact Sharing Life Trust on 0845 466 0264.
THAME High Street has been officially recognised as a ‘Rising Star’ among British high streets, and yesterday (November 30), was honoured with a special certificate at the Great British High Street Awards ceremony at Admiralty House, in Whitehall, London.
The event was hosted jointly by High Streets Minister, Marcus Jones, and the President of Boots, Simon Roberts, who are co-Chairs of the Government’s Future High Streets Forum, which instigated the Great British High Streets Awards. The judging panel said that the Rising Stars particularly impressed them ‘with their commitment to working together to bring new life into their high streets’ and of Thame in particular, special mention was made of its Neighbourhood Plan and for the way Thame has ‘been put back on the map through the use of social media’.
Two of Thame’s GB High Streets team, Helen Johns and Sonja Francis, were at Admiralty House to receive the award on behalf of the town, supported by Thame’s MP, John Howell, who was instrumental in formulating the Government’s Neighbourhood Planning policy.
After the event, John Howell said: “It was a great pleasure to be at the awards ceremony and to support Thame. I think Thame did very well to be chosen from across the country and I was particularly pleased to see that its Neighbourhood Plan was specifically mentioned. This is good news for Thame and the excellence of what it has to offer in its High Street.”
In his introduction Marcus Jones said: “All of today’s finalists have proven themselves to be among Britain’s best high streets and I congratulate them on their good work. We’ll be sharing all of their top tips with other high streets across the country to make sure others learn from their success.”
A delighted Helen Johns from the Thame team said: “A small group of people put time and effort into preparing Thame’s application during the summer and it is fantastic to hear that our hard work has paid off because of the Rising Star award being given to the town. I would like to thank all those who worked hard to ensure Thame has been put on the national map in this way and hopefully, next year, when we are told the competition will be even bigger, we can look forward to seeing Thame moving up the scale and awarded as winner in the market town category.”
References: The Future High Street Forum – http://thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk/about
The Great British High Street Awards – http://thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk
A charity Cake Fest, held in a Thame pub, by the the Thame Scooterists’ club, The Red Kites, has raised over £200, towards Cancer Research.
With the support and donations from the landladies of the Falcon pub in Thame, bar staff, all the regulars, Red Kites scooter club members, work colleagues and friends, the daughter of one of the club’s members, Amy Southern, has raised the first £K of her target £3K for the charity.
Red Kites member, Serena Chamberlain, explained: “Amy is currently studying at Cardiff University and hopes to enter the field of medicine when she graduates, and this charity is very close to her heart. We wanted to help support her and by selling home baked goodies, the grand total from the Red Kites Charity Cake Fest was £233.45, money that will go directly to Amy’s donation page https://k16cardiff.everydayhero.com/uk/amy-southern
In August 2016, Amy will be undertaking the challenge of a lifetime, climbing to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise more money towards her target £3K which will go to Worldwide Cancer Research to help them pay for the technology and resources required to find cures for all types of cancer, all over the world.
Amy said: “I am overjoyed and hugely appreciate everyone’s help and support. Sadly, cancer can affect many of us, whether personally, or through family and friends.”
ACTION Fraud (National Fraud Intelligence Bureau) has warned today that there has been a series of incidents recently whereby fraudsters either phone or call at the homes of elderly people, claiming to be police officers.
The fake officer/s claim that they are investigating a fraud which they believe the elderly person to be a victim of. The fake officer/s will then request the bank cards and personal identification numbers (PIN) of the victim and claim these are needed for investigation purposes. If the first contact was made by a phone call, the fake officer/s will tell the victim that someone will be over to collect the evidence. In one case the victim was instructed to attend their local bank and withdraw all of the money from their account. The suspect was left alone in the victim’s house whilst the victim carried out the instructions.
The advice is, before letting anyone into your home who claims to be from any law enforcement agency, ask to see their identity card and check it by calling 101.
Ask if they can attend at a pre-arranged time when a family member or friend can also be present.
If you receive a phone call from a police officer, ask for their name and force and tell them you will call them back. Wait a few minutes and then use 101 to call them back through their force’s switchboard and verify their identity.
The Police will never ask for your PIN or passwords. Do not give this information to anyone.
The Police will never request that you withdraw/transfer any money to them.
If you believe that you have been a victim of fraud you can report it online via http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud or by telephone 0300 123 2040.
MUSIC, wine, stories and songs in the village church, will launch the first volume of a book about the history of the village of Shabbington, near Thame, next Friday (December 4).
The richly-illustrated book ‘Shabbington, A Thousand Years of Village History’ recounts the fascinating story of the village and its relationship with Thame, through centuries of momentous events from Domesday to the First World War. The proceeds from sale of the book will go to charity.
Writer Richard Mayou said: “Shabbington fields are full of mysterious lumps and bumps. The church dates back to medieval times, and there are stories of ghostly sightings. The village has been hiding a fascinating history.”
The highly-readable account touches not only on nationally-important events such as the Norman conquest, the Black Death, and the Civil and Napoleonic wars, but brings alive the everyday hardships of villagers in rural poverty, and the manoeuvrings of the wealthy lords and vicars that put their successive stamp on the village down the ages.
A second volume will explore life from 1920 to the present day. The book costs £14.99 and all proceeds will go to the Friends of St Mary Magdalene Church. The book can be bought from The Book House in Thame High Street, and the Thame Museum, and signed copies will be available from the author at the launch party at 7.30pm, at St Mary Magdalene Church, Mill Road, Shabbington.