Category: More News

AS the older inhabitants of Thame will tell you, what is now the health centre in East Street, was once a field of donkeys. Now, 40 years after it was officially opened by Sir Keith Joseph, the Health Minister at the time, a completely refurbished centre, fit for the modern-day Thame, has been relaunched.

Over the past 12 months, The Rycote Practice and Trinity Health have been working together to redevelop and refurbish Thame Health Centre. This work is now nearly complete and the new surgery was officially opened by the Mayor, Peter Lambert, on Thursday, March 20. As well as the refurbishment of all 20 existing consulting rooms, there are four new consulting rooms, new reception desks for each practice with disability access, new shared waiting areas, additional washroom facilities and a new staff room.

Before the Mayor cut a big, red ribbon to declare the centre officially open, Dr Weir of Trinity Health said: “We would like to thank everyone for their patience during the building work. It has been a challenge to continue to run a full service while walls have been removed and floors have been ripped up. It took longer than we had hoped but thanks to your help we have managed it. We are delighted to see so many people join us to celebrate the biggest redevelopment to the health centre in over 15 years.”

Dr Charles Chubb of The Rycote Practice added: “Thank you to staff and patients for putting up with everything from toilets being out of action to reception desks disappearing overnight! We are very grateful to Paul Wapshare and the construction team for all the work they did overnight and at the weekends to keep disruption to a minimum. It has all been worth it – the results are fantastic. I am very proud to work in the newly redeveloped Thame Health Centre.”

Mr Andy Jinman, who is the Chair of the Rycote Participation Patient Group (PPG) said: “This redevelopment has been possible thanks to grants from NHS England (Then Bucks PCT), the Oxford Deanery (the organisation that organises GP training) and significant investment from the GP partners – in total, nearly a quarter of a million pounds have been invested in improving facilities for the local community.”

Sandra Davidson, who chairs the Trinity Health PPG, added: “It is fantastic that over 15,000 patients, registered at the two practices at the Thame Health Centre, will be able to enjoy healthcare facilities fit for the 21st century. We are delighted that such an important facility for Thame was opened by its Mayor, Peter Lambert”.

Peter himself added: “I would like to add my congratulations to the staff and building team for managing to complete a project of this size whilst maintaining two, fully operational surgeries throughout. Most importantly, on behalf of Trinity Health and The Rycote Practice, I would like to thank all the patients for their patience. The fact that you took the noise and dust and disruption in your stride has made it possible for such a large project to be undertaken at all.

“It is a big achievement and this is reflected in some big numbers involved in the redevelopment:
£250,000 + expenditure
12 months in the planning
12 months of construction work
50+ room moves to manage to keep all services running throughout
Thousands of metres of pipe work and cable to provide a new heating system and new data network, etc etc.

“But it is not just about the building work… there are big numbers involved in providing the healthcare services that residents in Thame enjoy week-in and week-out:

15,000+ patients
80,000+ appointments a year
10,000+ prescriptions a year
Nearly 20,000 telephone calls from GPs and nurses to you – not to mention the number of calls you make to the two practices!”

Also in attendance was Sue Brook who is a patient at Rycote Practice. She was present at the original opening back in 1973. Sue recalled: “The opening event in 1973 was a very formal affair and was attended by about 50 people. Over the years I have watched health services in Thame evolve, and have seen the now Senior GPs progress their careers right from when they started as junior doctors.

The Mayor concluded: “To provide the level of service that Thame requires, the town needs first class healthcare facilities, and this redevelopment is a huge boost for the people of Thame and the surrounding area.”

A police helicopter was called out to Chinnor, last Thursday (20/03) to support a police search for the occupant of a car, following a police pursuit of a vehicle.

Thames Valley Police arrived in the village shortly after they were called, at around 13.30 hrs, after reports of suspicious activity in Station Road, Chinnor.

A police pursuit of a car resulted in a vehicle being stopped and two of the occupants being arrested and detained for drugs-related offences. A third occupant of the car fled the scene.

The two people arrested were a 34 year-old man and a 24 year-old woman. It is not known at this time whether the person who absconded was eventually caught or not.

SOME very exciting ideas are already brewing for what promises to be a spectacular Thame Festival and Carnival, following a planning meeting on Wednesday, for people interested in helping organise this year’s event.

 

 

 

 

The meeting, under the Chairmanship of Sue Martin Downhill of Racquets, Thame, brought together representatives from several local organisations, including Thame Youth Theatre, Thame Day Centre, Black Frog Studios, Thame Round Table, Thame Lions Club, the MP Cricket Academy and Thame Town Council.

The event’s new Chair, Sue Martin Downhill, still wants to hear from local clubs and groups who would like to get involved in the festival, the theme for 2014 being ‘The World of Sport & Recreation. She particularly would like lots of music to characterise the carnival procession this year and would like to hear from any musicians or music groups who would like to take part, and dancers who could perform in the arena at Southern Road Rec. after the carnival, Martial Arts and other Arts groups.

Contact: suedownhill@gmail.com for more information.

THAME Town Hall is currently draped in protective plastic as stone restoration work is going on. It’s all part of a phased series of works to rescue the building’s crumbling fabric and replace rotting window frames etc

SPRING has sprung and a wonderful treat is in store for 40 very lucky ticket holders to enjoy a Champagne Afternoon Tea and Garden Tour at Le Manoir. If you would like to be one of these lucky people then pop to the Thame Food festival website http://www.thamefoodfestival.co.uk/champagne-afternoon-tea-and-garden-tour-at-le-manoir-monday-2nd-june-2014/ to book tickets online.

The Thame Food Festival takes place from 9am to 5pm on Saturday, September 27, in the heart of Thame town centre.

OXFORDSHIRE’S household waste recycling centres have been given the thumbs up by the county’s residents. In a survey the centres received an overall satisfaction rating of 92%.

The proportion of people who were satisfied or very satisfied with the service they received was almost 70%.  The survey posed questions on things including how helpful the staff were to site opening times and the information available on the website.

TALKING of cleaning up, there will be more time for a spring clean at Oxfordshire’s Household Waste Recycling Centres when the county council extends the opening hours of its recycling sites next month. From April the seven Oxfordshire County Council Household Waste Recycling sites will be open until 8pm on a Thursday, in addition to the normal hours of 8am-5pm every day (including Sundays).

More information about the sites and a full guide as to what can be recycled can be found at: http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/waste, or by calling 08450 50 45 50

LOADS of great EVENTS going on in Thame this weekend:
Tonight (Friday), 21/03/2014 – 7:45 pm – 9:45 pm – Whose Wine is it Anyway?
Thame Players Theatre, Thame

Saturday – 22/03/2014 – 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm -Thame Chamber Choir – Triumph and Tragedy
St Mary’s Church, Thame

Also Saturday, Thame Cinima 4 All, Filth (18) – 8.00pm (doors 7.30) Thame Players Theatre

Then, on Sunday 23/03/2014 – 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm – Distinguished Company – Another Evening of Words and Music at
The Players theatre, Thame.

Full details: https://www.thame.net/events

A GROUP of former Lord Williams’s students recently attended a reception at St James’s Palace where they received their Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards. The Award is the culmination of several years’ involvement in a range of challenging activities including expeditions, volunteering in the local community, undertaking physical activity and developing new skills & interests.

Former students receiving the Award were: Emily Baker, Mark Doulin, Sophie Gedge, Jamie Goetz, Katie Hall, Anna Osborne and Clare Thompson. One of the participants, Mark Doulin, said: “It was very nice to finally get to see the Palace and receive my Award. It was a lot of hard work but I am very pleased to have completed it. The DofE has led me onto the Mountain Leadership Award and other mountain adventures and it makes me very proud to look at the certificate hanging on my wall. I look forward to all the new adventures the Award inspired me to pursue.”

The Headteacher of Lord Williams’s School, David Wybron, added: “To achieve Gold in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award represents a very impressive achievement. Our students have been successful because of their strength of character, resourcefulness, enjoyment of teamwork and service to others. They will be joining a special band of young people.”

As well as the students who were lucky enough to attend a ceremony at the Palace, students in Years 10 and 11 attended a presentation evening for the Bronze & Silver Awards at Lord Williams’s on March 13.  In total, 45 Silver Awards and 98 Bronze Awards were presented by Oxfordshire DofE Manager, Andy Pope and Headteacher David Wybron. This year a further 28 students at Lord Williams’s are pursuing their Gold Award, 50 students working at Silver level and 140 students working towards their Bronze Award.

David Wybron added: “This would not be possible without the continued support of local volunteers and a wide range of community organisations, clubs and societies that welcome the young people into their regular activities. There are now over 90 adult volunteers involved in helping run the award in the Thame area, which is now in its 12th year.

“Also this month, seven of our DofE students were nominated for the Oxfordshire Pride Award at the Oxfordshire Youth Awards. The students who were nominated are Greg Forgan, Thomas Goetz, Daniel Kovacs, Peter Murphy, Luke Nixey, Richard Surridge and Milos Tasic. The Pride of Oxfordshire Award celebrates young people who have shown courage and inspirational resilience in the face of challenging life circumstances. These DofE students demonstrated positivity and strength of character in their determination to lead a successful life.”

PLANS for this year’s Thame Tidy Day, which in past years has seen the town centre phone box painted, bus stops spruced up, the Phoenix Trail cleared of litter, shopping trolleys and other discarded junk, benches repaired, weeds from gutters removed, hedges trimmed and pathways cleared, as well as the whole town being blitzed of litter, are underway.

The event was started in 2011 by the then Mayor, Adam Buckland, who also organsied the event in 2012. Then last year, Town Cllrs Mary Stiles and Andy Gunn took over leading the event. Thame’s top Womble for the big tidy up of 2014, is Thame Squash Coach and business woman, Sue Martin Downhill who has issued a plea for local people, organisations, schools, churches etc to join her for a meeting at Racquets Fitness Centre on Friday, March 21, at 6.30pm.

If you or your organisation can help in any way, Sue would love to hear from you via email: suedownhill@gmail.com She would like local people to suggest places around Thame that need tidying up. 

 

AMENDMENT: I would like to point out that the town council will still be represented on the Carnival Committee, and that the omission of this fact in the report below, was in NO WAY a deliberate act to put the council in a negative light. (See Reponses 2 Comments above)

THAME Carnival looked in danger of having to be cancelled this year, after the town council announced that it no longer had the resources to take the lead in organising the event. But thankfully, this week, Thame resident and business woman, Sue Martin-Downhill, has stepped forward and volunteered to lead the Carnival committee.

The 2014 Carnival will now go ahead on Saturday, June 14, 2014, and appropriately enough as Sue is a qualified Squash coach, the theme will be World of Sport. So, if you or your organisation or club would like to enter a float in the parade or have a stall at the event, you can contact Sue on: suedownhill@gmail.com

AS the sun begins to shine, and thoughts turn to warm, balmy days ahead, it’s good to be reminded of some of the highlights to come in Thame’s events calender. One of these has to be the Oxfordshire & Thame Agricultural Show, which returns to its traditional third Thursday in September, the 18th, after a short dalliance with July in 2013, following a two-year sabbatical to take stock after a financially crippling few years.

Thame Show was primarily an agricultural and produce show which took place to coincide with the farming calendar and by returning to September, after public consultation, it will be going back to its roots. However, most people agree that the show needs some sort of injection of new thinking and a Thame Town Councillor has put forward a proposal to bring Thame’s High Street into the Show Ground. Cllr Vaughan Humphries’ clarion call to Thame’s town centre shops and businesses is to go out in the form of a letter in the next few days. In it he writes:

“I have been in discussion with the Show Director, along with 21st Century Thame and other interested parties about a proposal that I hope will breathe some life back into the Show and foster better links with the independent retailers of Thame. 

“What I propose is that we reproduce what is good about Thame town centre and create a ‘Little High Street’ that will form a section on its own.

“What I hope this will achieve is to take advantage of the thousands of people, both local and from further afield to get a taste of what Thame has to offer when the Show is not on. If there were a large number of High Street businesses represented and if we gather momentum now, we can benefit from SODC’s Town and Village Infrastructure Fund, which could potentially pay for capital equipment. There is also a small amount of revenue funding via the Thame Action Plan that could help with other non-capital items of expenditure.

“We can only achieve support from the local authorities if we can show that we have strong support from local retailers, who intend on paying for a stall at the show. If we can get 15-30 businesses to confirm their attendance, this would provide enough evidence of strong support. Thame Town Council also has the capacity to allocate some funding, based on the evidence that there would be significant and sustained benefit for the town centre.

“The Association have offered to extend their 20% discount offer that ends on the 28th March, suffice to say, I am doing my utmost to mitigate any expense you would incur by having a stall, but I really need your support to make it happen!

“Trade stands are from as little as £140 + VAT (less 20% = £134.40) for a 4m wide x 6m deep pitch and electricity connections from £60 + VAT for a double-socket @ 1kW. If you would like an application pack, please do not hesitate to contact the Show Office, who are located at: Suite 3, 55 North Street, Thame, OX9 3BH. Alternatively, you can email them at info@thameshow.co.uk – please put ‘Little High Street’ in the subject header.

“If you are interested in participating in this initiative, please contact me via vhumphries@gmail.com or collect a form from the Town Hall marked for the attention of ‘Councillor Humphries’. If there are any points on which you would like further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact me, or if you have any further comments or ideas, please do not hesitate to add it to your reply.” Cllr Vaughan Humphries

ATTRACTIONS for 2014, include a Fun Dog Show, Food And Drink Village, Home & Garden Marquee (Formerly Domestic), Food Hall, a Bakery Display, Shopping & Craft Marquee, Trade stalls, Livestock Classes Sheep / Cattle, Showjumping, Showing Classes, Alpaca Display, Bird Display, Rabbit Display, Vintage Machinery, Lorries & Tractors, Steam Fair, Classic Cars, Morris Dancers, Sheepdogs Display, Falconry Display, Pig Agility, Mules R Us and LOADS more!

Tickets will be available from July. Adult tickets £12 in advance or £15 on the day, Senior Citizen Tickets £8 & £10 on the day, Junior Tickets: 5-15 Years (when accompanied by a paying adult) FREE, Junior Tickets 5-15 Years £4 in advance or £5 on the day, Under 5s Entrance FREE

FOLLOWING the report (SHMAR) on new, increased figures for future housing need in South Oxfordshire, Thame Town Council has responded to the question of whether Thame’s Neighbourhood Plan could be impacted.

The Town Clerk, Helen Stewart, said: “Until SODC (South Oxfordshire District Council) decide on how they are to allocate the additional numbers across the district, we cannot offer much of a response apart from obviously working with SODC to seek and secure a distribution strategy that minimises any effect on Thame.”

Cllr Mike Dyer, who was involved in developing the TNP, responded: “There is clearly no need for SODC or Thame Town Council to panic over this report. It is also worth bearing in mind that SODC, having an adopted Core Strategy, is in a stronger position than some other districts and, within that context, the Thame Neighbourhood Plan provides us with a solid foundation.”

READ yesterday’s report here: https://www.thame.net/archives/13474

THAME’S Neighbourhood Policing team have been as busy as ever throughout the past month and a summary of their monthly report includes incidence of Affray, Criminal Damage and Drugs Possession: 

Offenders brought to justice
THERE have been 22 solved cases on the Thame Sector, for a variety of offences including the following: Affray, Drug possession, Theft, Public Order offences, Criminal Damage, Making off without payment, Shoplifting, Assault, Dangerous dog.

PCSO Lucy Rattenberry and PCSO Diane Jackson assisted soha with an eviction in Thame. 

PCSO Michelle Jacques has worked with partner agencies in trying to get a resident, who is persistent in causing ASB, evicted from Chinnor. 

Rural crime 
PCSO Jacky Madden has been working with the South Oxfordshire/Vale Crime Prevention Officer and has marked farm machinery using the new CRE MARKING Instant Theft Protection kit. The farmer was impressed with the marking equipment, and in total eight items of farm machinery are now marked. If valuable items are marked, it puts thieves off stealing them, and also assists in recovery of the items if this does happen. 

PCSO Lucy Rattenberry was able to identify an offender from CCTV for a shoplifting offence at the Co-Op.

PCSO Lucy Rattenberry and PCSO Diane Jackson detained a man in the High Street after identifying him from still images, for an attempted shoplifting at Waitrose. This man’s vehicle was searched at the time of  him being stop, checked and stolen items were found in the vehicle. They did some extensive enquiries and were able to track down where the stolen items were from, which was a store outside of Thame. As a result of their work the man was arrested.

PCSO Chris Hollis and PCSO Jacky Madden stopped three men as they suspected they had cannabis on them. Their suspicions turned out to be correct and all three were dealt with appropriately by police officers.

The full report can be read here (includes information on reporting crime, receiving alerts and crime mapping: http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/pub-pg-nh-upds-N380?id=276267