Category: More News

AS well as the free parking already available in South Oxfordshire District Council car parks from midday on Saturdays, there’s to be free Friday afternoon parking in the run up to Christmas on 7, 14 and 21 December.

This extra free parking will only apply in Thame, in the Cattlemarket car park and the car park behind the Co-Op.

South Oxfordshire District Council is providing free car parking to encourage people to shop locally for their Christmas presents and boost the local economy, as well as attracting shoppers from elsewhere in the district.

CARDS for Good Causes, which sells charity cards across the UK every year, will open its Thame pop-up shop on Tuesday, November 20, at Christchurch in the Upper High Street.

It outlet will offer shoppers the chance to buy Christmas cards from more than 25 national and local charities, including Thames and Chiltern Air Ambulance, Thame Cottage Hospital, Florence Nightingale Hospice, and Scannappeal. There will also be a selection of Christmas paper, calendars and stocking fillers.

The Thame Charity Christmas card shop is one of a countrywide network of shops which opens in the run up to the festive season. Cards for Good Causes Limited (CFGC) pays the participating charities (or their trading subsidiaries) at least 75p in every pound from their card sales, less the VAT payable on the amount retained by CFGC. The retained amount covers CFGC?s costs of running the temporary charity Christmas card shops. In addition to these costs, the participants have to pay for the production and distribution of their cards.

The shop will be staffed by local volunteers and will be open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm.

Why not pop in and have a browse and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee as well?

Look out for the red triangular Santa sign!

SOURCE: Contributed

A new local information website is coming to Thame. Have you ever wished you could put your hands quickly on some relevant local information, like how to find an NHS dentist in the area, where to get help for an elderly relative with mobility issues or even, where to access impartial energy savings advice? Well now you can!

Toogle is a collaboration between the charity, Sharing Life Trust (www.sharinglifetrust.org) and the Thame Alliance Group (TAG). It is a community information, advice and referral service aiming to ensure that the residents of Thame and surrounding areas are easily connected to the available health and human services in their communities.

Just Google, www.toogle.org.uk and you will have instant access to a wide range of local information from Animal Welfare to Social Care. It is set to be a vital local resource.

SOURCE: Contributed by Thame Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) – CAB advice line: 08 444 111 444 or 0300 3300 650(mobile) – For general advice visit: www.adviceguide.org.uk
Your local CAB is in Market Square, Thame.

A dedicated volunteer from Haddenham is the winner of a special national award recognising her dedication to a charity.

Fiona Daniels won the Chief Executive?s Special Recognition Award at the Specsavers Hearing Dog Awards 2012 held in Central London on October 18, recognising her devotion to Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

Fiona saw off competition from dozens of other contenders from across the country to be named as winner and was presented with the award by charity chief executive Michele Jennings and Hearing Dogs? patron HRH, The Princess Royal.

Fiona was named as a winner because of her enthusiasm and commitment to the Charity since she became a volunteer six years ago.

Throughout this period, Fiona has volunteered in a number of key charity roles including helping puppies learn basic obedience in the role of puppy socialiser, as a breeding scheme brood bitch holder as well as volunteering at many fundraising events across Buckinghamshire and beyond.

In recent months, Fiona carried on her volunteer duties despite facing her own battle with breast cancer, which required an operation and subsequent chemotherapy.

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary and since its launch in 1982, the Charity has created an incredible 1600 hearing dog partnerships, each giving greater levels of independence, confidence and companionship to the deaf person.

Michele Jennings said: ?The Specsavers Hearing Dog Awards 2012 was not only be a chance to celebrate the Charity?s incredible, life-changing work but it was also an opportunity to highlight some of the wonderful personal stories deaf people who have received our hearing dogs have to tell.

?We were delighted to welcome Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal to the event in what is her 20th year as Patron of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. All hearing dog partnerships help to alleviate the loneliness, stress and anxiety that hearing loss can often bring. For 30 years, we have been changing the lives of deaf people right across the UK and it is fantastic to showcase just some of the partnerships we have created with these awards.”

As well as the strong emotional support they offer, hearing dogs transform deaf people?s lives by alerting them to sounds and danger signals such as the alarm clock, doorbell and smoke alarm in the home, at work and in public buildings.

PHOTO; Fiona Daniels with her award.

About Hearing Dogs for Deaf People:

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People is a registered charity that creates life-changing partnerships between deaf people and hearing dogs. Hearing dogs are trained to alert deaf people to household sounds and danger signals such as the alarm clock, doorbell and smoke alarm ? providing life-changing independence, confidence and companionship. The Charity will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2012.
Since its inception in 1982, Hearing Dogs for Deaf People have placed more than 1,600 hearing dogs. There are currently 750 working hearing dogs in the UK.
Registered charity in England and Wales no: 293358 and in Scotland SC040486
Royal Patron HRH The Princess Royal

About Specsavers Hearing Centres
Specsavers Hearing Centres has supported Hearing Dogs for Deaf People for the past five years and since 2006 the company has generously donated thousands of pounds through many fundraising initiatives and corporate donations.

In recent years, the company has also co-ordinated its own event ? the Specsavers Sound Barrier Star Awards ? which recognises deaf and hard of hearing people?s remarkable achievements. This is now in its third year and is fronted by actress Charlene Tilton, ambassador for the awards.

THE villagers of Towersey have plans to improve their Village Hall, and help them complete the necessary fund-raising, are selling bricks with donors’ names printed on them for

AGE UK Oxfordshire and SOHA Housing have set up a new ?singing for fun? group in Thame, starting on November 9, at Windmill Place, Thame.

Milly Macpherson-Bruty, Community Development Worker (South) for Age UK Oxfordshire said: “There are many benefits to singing, including improving peoples well-being and to encourage socialising.”

Every Friday from 11am to 12pm; Windmill Place, Corbetts Way, Thame, OX9 2FL. First session FREE –

COME and join us for a lantern lit adventure through the woods! Follow a self-led route around the new Aston Rowant Talking Trail, with activities based on autumn and night-time wildlife. Meet an owl and some small mammals. Learn all about bats. Have a go at some craft activities and listen to a story in a magical candlelit glade.

Suitable for all the family. Arrive between 6.30 and 7.30pm, wear warm clothing, sturdy shoes and bring a torch or lantern! Trail takes approx 1hr.

Refreshments available.

Organised by: Natural England / Chilterns Conservation Board.

Location: Aston Rowant National Nature Reserve

Meeting point: Park in Aston Rowant Nature Reserve car park, off the Christmas Common Road, signposted from the A40 near Stokenchurch, (nearest postcode HP14 3YL), then walk back to the entrance to the woods

Date: Saturday 27th October 2012

Start Time: From 6.30pm

End Time: 8.30pm approx

Price (payable on the night): Adults

EAGLE eyed shoppers having a mooch and a browse around the shops in Thame last Sunday (14/10), may have noticed a growing flock of ‘Red Kites’ gathering in the Upper High Street early in the morning – not the beautiful feathered variety, but the local Red Kites Scooter Club (Thame). There they met with other like minded souls who had also braved the cold October morning, with some travelling through freezing fog to reach Thame’s Swan hotel.

The occasion was the October ICRO (Inter County Ride Out) where various clubs in neighbouring counties take it in turns to host a monthly rideout throughout the scootering year. Sunday’s meet was the last ICRO of the year, and the third time that the Red Kites (RKSC) had chosen October to be hosts.

Fellow scootering friends and buddies came from Beds, Bucks, Herts, Oxon, Northants and surrounding counties to catch up, share news, show their Scooters, take photos and have a sociable Scootering Sunday. In total, 159 Scooters trode into the square ready for an 11.30 a.m. leave time.

“Huge thanks to the new owners of the recently refurbished and re-opened Swan Hotel,” said Serena Chamberlain of the Red Kites. “Rich and Nic worked tirelessly, along with all their staff, to provide a bounty of bacon rolls and hot dogs along with piping hot tea’s and coffee’s which they handed out to the shivering Scooterists. To say they were warmly welcomed, would have been an understatement!

“Thankfully, the sunshine soon appeared (hurrah!) and the group took a leisurely and scenic scoot through the stunning Oxfordshire countryside, passing out through Thame, towards Stadhampton and Watlington with the final destination being The Wheatsheaf pub in Chinnor, where we were warmly and enthusiastically greeted by Roger the Landlord, and his team who pulled out all the stops for a stunning lunchtime meet.

“Being besieged by 159+ hungry and thirsty Scooterists can be a daunting task. However, the pub (famed for it’s South African food) was ready, willing and more than able! A giant marquee in the beer garden had been erected in case of bad weather (phew), with an outside bar, and the bar indoors doing a roaring trade. Huge slabs of beef and ham had been slowly roasted in the open oven and along with home baked bread rolls, salad, relish and soup, it was no wonder that our feathered Red Kite friends were seen and heard circling overhead – word soon gets around….

What’s next for the Red Kites?

“The next big event for the Red Kites is our End -of-Season ‘Do’ which once gain will be held at the Snooker Club in Thame, on Saturday, November 24. We have almost sold every available ticket and shall be donating all funds from our Charity Raffle to the locally based charity, Thame Young Carers, who are based at Lord William’s School – a very deserving cause and one close to our hearts.

“Scooter Club DJ’s will be providing a mix of sounds from the scooter scene, and we have been very fortunate to receive stunning raffle prizes, including a trial flying lesson from Helicopter Services Ltd, based at Wycombe Air Park.”

JOIN 21st Century Thame and guests for an Historic Walk around Thame, to launch the new Waymarkers (the round, brass engraved markers, which you may have noticed have appeared in the pavement at various sports around the town).

Meet at 10.30pm outside Thame Town Hall. A light lunch will be available at The James Figg pub afterwards.

FOLLOWING this year’s ‘Big Draw’ event, organised by Thame’s Sparks Artists group, an exhibition of art works produced by some of Thame’s school children, is on display in the window of Brother Hair salon in Buttermarket.

Thame’s Big Draw this year included Lord Williams’s School’s ?Big Draw October 2012? workshops with Christine Tacq and Leonie Lachlan for Sparksartists. They also spent two days with two groups of year six primary school children from Brill and Tetsworth, and mixed ages from Lord Williams?s School on a project linked with the Thame Arts and Literature Festival.

Thame artist, Chrstine Tacq expanded on the event: “This year?s Big Draw theme is ?2012 in Lines?. Our event description is now on the Campaign for Drawing website www.campaignfordrawing.org as follows:

?Heads Full of Dreams? – Drawings of observed heads become imaginary worlds when young people ?take a line for a walk? (after Paul Klee) and become something else again when these shapes are printed together.

?Lines Beneath our Feet?. Inspired by maps of Thame?s past and possible future – young people draw images to layer and print together. These include buried objects, movable borders and other transformations.

Works exhibited at Brothers Hairdressers, in the windows that face Pump Lane, are from Big Draw workshops with pupils from Lord Williams?s School, Thame and feeder primary schools?

THE DREAMS INSIDE OUR HEADS

For a ?Big Draw? workshop, pupils from Brill School and Lord Williams?s School drew portraits of hair from observation. They used mirrors and by taking a line for a walk they created indented card that they inked up to make a shared print inspired by a Japanese print. The artist Paul Klee liked to ?take a line for a walk? (see the angel?s hair below) to free his imagination. Chosen objects and imagined shared spaces were added to the prints with chine coll