THAMES Valley Police is appealing for witnesses following a number of thefts from Vehicles in the Thame area.
Image for illustrative purposes only
Between 8am on Saturday (5/11) and 8am on Monday (7/11) unknown offenders broke into a vehicle on Queens Road, Thame and stole tools.
Between 00.25am on Monday (7/11) and 00.44am today (8/11) unknown offenders broke into a van parked on Sedgemoor Drive, Thame and stole a hedge trimmer. A witness saw three men drive off in a 2003 silver Ford Focus from the scene.
Between 8.30pm on Monday (7/11) and 6.48am today (8/11)) unknown offenders broke into a vehicle on Onslow Drive, Thame by smashing a window. Nothing was taken.
Between 10pm on Monday (7/11) and 6.18am today (8/11) unknown offenders have broken into a van on Cavendish Walk, Thame. It is not yet known what was taken.
If you have seen any suspicious looking people or vehicles in these areas or have any information relating to this message please call the Police via the 24 hour non-emergency telephone number 101. Please remember to remove valuables from your vehicles if possible.
Alternatively, if you have information but wish to remain anonymous, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online by visiting www.crimestoppers-org.uk. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.
A distraction burglar who preyed on elderly women, including a 101 year-old from Thame, has been sentenced at Harrow Crown Court.
David Kerrigan, also known as David Brown, aged 36, from Wellow Road, Ollerton, Nottinghamshire, was jailed for seven years after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to seven offences across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Thames Valley. All of the offences happened between June and July this year (2016).
Kerrigan’s tactics included telling victims that he was carrying out security checks following a spate of robberies and thefts. He asked victims where their valuables were so he could check them, before making off with jewellery and cash. On other occassions he said that a neighbour had problems with their water and that he needed to come in and check the valves on the radiators. He made the victim clear out the cupboards under the sink and turn on the taps while he walked around the property.
On June 10, a 90-year-old woman was targeted at her home in Luton, Bedfordshire, where she woke to find Kerrigan in her bedroom. After he left, she found her flat had been ransacked and cash and jewellery had been taken.
The burglary series was investigated by Hertfordshire Constabulary’s Operation Manhunt unit and a search for Kerrigan was launched. An appeal to trace him was also featured on BBC’s Crimewatch programme in September. He was later arrested in Nottingham on September 21.
Detective Constable Sam Casey, from Operation Manhunt, said: “David Kerrigan preyed on elderly, vulnerable women in their own homes and his despicable actions have had a devastating effect on his victims and their families. Sadly, one of his victims has since passed away and was never able to recover from her ordeal.
“I hope today’s sentence can at least provide some small comfort to everyone who has been affected by Kerrigan’s callous behaviour.
“The majority of the jewellery stolen from victims has not yet been recovered and I am appealing for any jewellers or pawn shops that may have been sold items by David Kerrigan to please get in touch on the non-emergency number 101.”
THAMES Valley Police is appealing for witnesses after a burglary in Moor End Lane, Thame.
It is believed that on Thursday, November 3, between 11am and 4pm, an offender or offenders gained entry to the property by smashing through a rear patio door. Once inside they carried out an untidy search of the property leaving personal possessions and clothing strewn around before leaving through the same door with stolen jewellery and camera equipment
The investigating officer PC Christopher Gibson of Abingdon, said: “I would like to speak to anyone who was around Moorend Lane on Thursday (03/11) who may have witnessed the incident.
“Anyone who has any information of the incident should get in touch via the Thames Valley enquiry centre on 101”
If you do not want to speak to the police directly you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.
THE Small Business Saturday promotional tour bus is travelling through the UK and visits Thame on Monday, November 14, as part of its nation-wde journey from Aberdeen to Bournemouth on November 25.
Using the theme Small Business, Big Difference, the bus tour aims to promote Small Business Saturday, the annual campaign that puts small, independent businesses in communities across the country in the national spotlight, to both consumers and small business owners around the UK.
During its visit to Thame the tour bus will be stationed next to Thame Town Hall from 2 pm until 4 pm. The Mayor of Thame, Cllr Linda Emery, will welcome people on board, where there will be free workshops and business advice for anyone who wants it. Business and financial advisers will be on hand from NatWest Bank, Thames Valley Business Advisers and others, as well as experts on sales and marketing, social media, and how to improve your presence on Google.
Local food, beer and fitness challenge
There will also be opportunities to sample local artisan food and drink, including sausage rolls, charcuterie, cheeses and other products from the Egg House Charcuterie and the Deli at No 5, in Buttermarket, Thame, with canapes by Katie Ryder-Richardson Catering. Ben Smith of Concha Y Toro will be holding tastings and talking about Chilean wines, while XT Brewery will be offering samples of craft beers. As a counter to all the food and drink, local fitness centre Racquets will be staging a rowing challenge.
Tom Flynn, Project Manager for the Small Business Saturday Tour Bus campaign said: “Small Business Saturday is not just a campaign to raise awareness of our diverse and innovative small business sector, but also a way in which small businesses who embrace it can make use of the campaign and get tangible benefits from it. The bus tour is a very visible way for us to meet small businesses around the UK and show them how they can become involved as well as drumming up consumer interest, support and enthusiasm.”
THAME is on full alert this morning as a crack team of expert judges find out what makes its High Street so special and a contender to win the Great British High Street Competition 2016.
A visiting judge from Holland & Barrett, sponsors of the small market town category, and an official from the DCLG (Department of Communities and Local Government), will have a 50% say on who wins the title of Best Small Market Town high street in Great Britain. The other 50% is taken up by public voting already over 100,000 votes have been cast. The winners will get a share of a prize pot worth £100,000 and expert training from Google’s digital taskforce for shops, bars and restaurants, as well as a trip to Twitter UK’s London office to boost their social media skills.
Helen Johns, of Thame’s High Street bid team, said: “As proud winners of a Rising Star award in the Great British High Street Competition 2015, Thame couldn’t resist entering again this year, our sights firmly set on becoming champions in the small market towns category.
“Now we’ve heard, not just that Thame is a finalist, but that Thame’s Chris Hurdman is a finalist in the high street heroes market trader category. So we’re pulling out all the stops to wow the judges – Chris has even taken to writing poetry to describe our beautiful town.
“We’re asking every resident, every business and every shop to vote for Thame and for Chris once every day until the voting period ends on November 18. We will be rooting for a double victory, confirming Thame as a vibrant destination, from its historic foundations to its ambitious vision for the future.”
The twenty-seven finalists in the nine categories for places were announced on October 18. In the small market town category, Thame is competing against county rival Chipping Norton and Hebden Bridge in Calderdale.
How the voting works
The public can vote directly for their best-loved high street online. Between now and November 18, you can cast your vote for Thame for free via vote4thame.uk and for Chris via vote4chris.uk.
During the voting period, individuals may place one vote per day, per email address in each category, which will be registered through the GBHS website using their email addresses.
For more information and to vote for Thame High Street or for Chris Hurdman, visit the Great British High Street website http://thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk
Peter Aldis, Chief Executive Officer of Holland & Barrett International said: “We are proud to be supporting this celebration of the greatest that the British high street has to offer. Looking at the finalists, it’s going to be a tough competition, but I’m excited to see examples of the innovation and community spirit that make our British high streets the institutions they are today.”
The Great British High Street Competition 2016 celebrates the great work that is being done to revive, adapt and diversify the nation’s high streets. It is one of a number of initiatives to help champion high streets as the cornerstones of the community. This year’s competition saw a record 900 entries across all 14 categories, including the new categories for individuals and shops.
The Great British High Street competition is run by the Department for Communities and Local Government and sponsored by British Land, the Post Office, Holland & Barrett, Boots UK, Google UK, Marks & Spencer, Wilko, Revo and Ellandi.
THAME Town Cricket Club moved one step closer to realising a long-held dream of a new clubhouse this week when South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) approved a grant application towards the project of £250,000.
An artist’s impression of the new clubhouse and facilities for Thame Cricket Club
The application was scored highly for ‘Providing new facilities and activities’ and ‘Community benefit.’ The clubhouse will be suitable for multiple sports and community use for a range of activities and uses. It will have ground and first floor function rooms available for hire and equipped with kitchen, bar and office facilities.
The club now has 80% of the funds it requires and met with the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) on Friday, October 28, to discuss the plans. Chris Whitaker, who is the Facilities and Investment Manager with the ECB, said: “you have done an excellent job in working through your project to reach this stage and we would like to use Thame Town CC as a case study for other clubs to follow.”
The planning application was approved in May this year and the club has been busy ever since raising the funds required to deliver the project for which construction will commence in September 2017, ready for the start of the cricket season in April 2018.
Matt Swain, TTCC Vice Chairman, said: “We are delighted with the grant approval from SODC and would like to thank Thame Town Council for their support with the application. This grant means delivering the project is now wholly achievable. We will continue to execute our fund raising plan with both National and local organisations and individuals in order to secure the remaining funds required. We would welcome any further support for the project and have a number of schemes including ‘BUY A BRICK’ in which individuals or organisations can contribute to the fund raising effort.
“The new clubhouse will make a huge difference, not just to the members of the Cricket, Hockey and Netball clubs but the broader community of Thame, who will be able to enjoy the facility in the heart of town at one of the most idyllic settings that Oxfordshire has to offer. We are a charitable organisation run by volunteers who have the club’s best interest at heart in everything we do. We have worked really hard over the last few years to develop the club and make it something that more and more people can enjoy. The new clubhouse is part of our future aspirations to become one of the best clubs in Oxfordshire which will help provide sustainability for many years to come.”
The club, which currently has over 200 members, is based in the picturesque setting of Church Meadow in the heart of Thame, Oxfordshire, with the church of St Mary the Virgin as a backdrop. The club moved to Church Meadow in 1975 where the ground and clubhouse were created from existing low grade agricultural land and derelict farm buildings. The existing clubhouse has out-lived its useful lifespan and whilst it has ‘lots of character’ is not fit for purpose to cater for three adult Saturday league teams, 94 juniors in five age group teams, a hugely popular Women’s section and aspirations to develop a junior Girls team starting in 2017.
The new clubhouse has been designed by local architects Holland & Green and will meet ECB technical specification for new Pavilions and Clubhouses. It is designed in a way which is sympathetic to its beautiful surroundings next to the Grade I listed Church and Grade II listed Dovecote. Thame Hockey Club will share the building and use it during the Winter as their clubhouse, whilst still playing their matches at Thame Leisure Centre. Thame Netball club will also use the new facility.
THE Service of Remembrance will be taking place at Thame Memorial Gardens on Sunday, November 13, 2016. The procession, which will include Town Councillors, members of the Royal British Legion and other community groups, will assemble outside the Town Hall at 10.30am ready to proceed to the War Memorial.
Following the service everyone is warmly invited to Christchurch for refreshments.
A copy of the Order of Service can be downloaded from the Town Council website at www.thametowncouncil.gov.uk. Copies are also available at the Information Centre and will be distributed at the memorial gardens on the morning of the service.
The Town Mayor, Cllr Linda Emery, invites you to join her on Armistice Day, Friday 11 November at 10.55 am as she leads the Town in the Act of Remembrance, and observes a two minute silence outside the Town Hall.
ANOTHER year has flown by and once again, the Cards for Good Causes Charity shop, staffed by volunteers) in Christchurch, Upper High Street, Thame, will be selling Christmas Cards and gifts on behalf of some 35 local and national charities
At least 70 pence in each £1 of sales will go the relevant charity. The shop will be open six days a week from November 11, to December 9, from 10am to 4pm.
IN response to the imminent closure of Thame’s Red Kite Children’s Centre due to cuts at county council level, two local voluntary groups are preparing a business plan to keep the centre open and have appealed to Thame Town Council for financial assistance.
One of the groups is Sharing Life Trust which aims to help people in need in the Thame area, and last week, one of its founder-members, John Hulett, presented the proposal to Thame Town Council’s Culture, Leisure and Recreation committee (CLR). John explained that in the Centre’s catchment area of Thame and Chinnor, there are 1,135 under-5s, and although the area is socio-economically ‘affluent’, there are ‘significant areas of need and disadvantage’.
Child with banner at one of he many protests against closure of childrens centres -Image courtesy of Oxfordshire NASWT
What does the Children’s Centre provide?
At the moment, the centre runs a range of activities for young children and families, and frequent clinics are arranged jointly with health professionals, as well as some special targeted activities, all currently free to use. John told councillors that of all the children eligible to use the centre, over 82% have taken up activities offered.
Sharing Life Trust has the support of the Thame Alliance Group (TAG) which has set up a working group aimed at ensuring the Red Kite Children’s Centre continues, as well as local councils, church groups and Action For Children which currently runs the centre for Oxfordshire County Council. Together they have identified the key issues for continuing to run the centre and looked at various management plans.
How much will it cost to run?
Now they are ready to complete the business plan, and although they have already raised £20,000 through Sharing Life Trust, it is estimated that the centre will cost £80,000 per year to run. Other possible sources of funding include the Oxford Community Foundation, the local business community and OCC’s transition fund of £30,000 over three years. John was asking the town council for £10,000.
“This is a local, community resource. It is all about investing in the young of our town,” he said.
Most town councillors were very supportive of John Hulett’s proposal, with Cllr Mary Stiles saying: “You get fewer problems later down the line if you help children under five years-old and their families. Also, you don’t have to be deprived to suffer from Post-natal depression!”
What is the alternative if the Centre closes?
Referring to OCC’s plan to have two or three ‘hubs’ around the county targeting services to those in need, Cllr Helena Fickling said: “Universal provision means everyone can come without being stigmatised. We want to keep it that way. What OCC is proposing separates out.”
The CLR committee voted to take the proposal, that the council provides £10,000 towards running the Red Kite Children’s Centre, to the town council’s Budget Working Group.
BREAKING NEWS – OCC’s Cabinet will today (Tuesday) bdebate whether or not to waiver the rent for the first year (from March 2017) for its buildings that are currently being used for Children’s Centres around the county, which would help those taking over their running, to get funding in place for future years.
OF all the visits to the War graves of Thame Servicemen made as part of the Thame Remembers project, the most extraordinary must be that made to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in a Cunard liner, to the wreck of a captured French torpedo boat.
With the help of the National Hydrographic Office in identifying the exact location of the wreck, and the co-operation of Cunard, Thame resident, Wendy Townsend, was able to drop a Thame Remembers wreath over the side of the ocean liner, Queen Mary 2, at the almost exact spot where the boat went down, and with it an English Lieutenant Commander, Hugh McRae.
The incredible story of how Wendy and the Thame Remembers team were able to overcome the logistical challenge of such a feat, is told in the latest Thame Remembers Newsletter shortly to be published.
So who was Lieutenant Commander, Hugh McRae and how did he happen to be in command of a French Torpedo boat? The following extract from the newsletter explains:
“Hugh, born in 1909 and educated at Lord Williams’s Grammar School in Thame, joined the Navy as an officer cadet in 1926, and served on a number of ships before being posted to the destroyer HMS Grafton as second in command in 1938. In June 1940, during the evacuation from Dunkirk and after successfully rescuing 1600 troops, the Grafton was struck by a torpedo from U-62 and her captain and fourteen others were killed. Lt McRae was rescued, was subsequently Mentioned in Despatches, and was promoted to Lieut-Commander, taking over command of the captured French torpedo boat Branlebas.
“Branlebas was one of the units of the French Navy which adhered to General de Gaulle´s Free French force after the capitulation in June 1940. The vessel was manned by a mixed French and British crew and came under the orders of the British Navy. On December 13, 1940, she left Dartmouth at around 18:00 hours and was charged with escorting a west-bound convoy, but her poor sea-going qualities meant she could not keep pace in rough weather and she lost contact. At 09:00 on the 14th, a heavy sea caused her to break her back at the aft end of the engine room, separating the stern section; she turned over and sank immediately. There were only three survivors, picked up from a life raft four days later, from a complement of 92. Hugh McRae was not among them.”
Branlebas’ s wreck now lies at a depth of 68 metres, approximately three miles due south of Lizard Point, and is a protected ocean grave.
Wendy talks about the whole experience in the newsletter article, describing the dropping of the wreath as: “…very moving in the dark of the night with the waves rushing by.” She concludes: “The Deputy Captain (Karl Shepherd from Witney) and I tipped the wreath over into the sea. It all happened so quickly in the end that there was no chance of the actual wreath- laying to be photographed, only our backs as we looked over to follow its progress, but it disappeared very rapidly in the waves. We all felt that it was a very emotional and moving experience and I was honoured to be able to take a small part.”
