Thame.net

Author: Sonja Francis

  • Festival Artists Eat Their Words

    MEMBERS of Thame’s Arts Cafe, celebrated their first birthday on Sunday, by eating a book specially made for the occassion and to coincide with the International Books2Eat festival.
    The window of Pickles, (formerly Jordans) in Upper High Street, Thame, has attracted a lot of attention during the days since the celebration, containing some of the witty contributions to the festival, including ‘Of Mice and Men’, by John Steinbeck, made with little gingerbread men and suger mice, ‘Knots’ by R D Laing, a selection of edible knots made with pink, candy string, ‘Flatland’ by Edwin A. Abbott, a sort of map on a giant popadom, and ‘Enduring Love’ by Ian McEwan – taking the form of two parsnips that appear to have grown entwined together, in a jar of, presumably, drinkable pink liquid!
    Younger contributors entered biscuits and cakes, decorated to represent fairy stories and nursery rhymes, such as ‘The Cow Jumped Over the Moon’, and 101 Dalmations.
    Several local artists and well-wishers popped into Pickles during Sunday afternoon to drink tea and eat some of the ‘remainders’ and ‘display’ copies of contributed edible books, including a chocolate and pineapple birthday book made by Arts Cafe Founder, Christine Tacq.

  • Man Rescued From Fire After Falling Asleep

    A MAN in his thirties has been rescued from the first floor of his home by fire officers, after he fell asleep and left the grill on.

    Only days after a Chinnor man lost his life in a caravan fire, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue were called to a report of a kitchen fire at 9.39 pm yesterday, at Kelham Hall Drive, wheatley.

    Two rescue appliances from Slade Park Fire station attended the incident after neighbours were alerted by the sound of a smoke alarm.

    Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue have said that this man’s lucky escape underlines the importance of having working smoke detectors in the home.

    Photo: For illustrative purposes only

  • Chinnnor Seconds Vs Barnet Firsts – Match Report (Contributed)

    CHINNOR RFC seconds are becoming accustomed to taking on challenges presented to them. This time against Barnet 1st, which plays in the London Three League. Chinnor rose to the challenge of higher quality opposition for the sixth time this season, due to a lack of teams willing to play Chinnor seconds.
    Tom Wood was unable to lead his boys out this week due to injury and the job was left in the capable hands of Alan Cawston and other senior players. The game as usual was very physical and hard, which the seconds have come to expect when they play opposition from higher leagues.
    Once again they welcomed three new young players Rob Fenwick, Matt Woodward and Pete Elson with all having outstanding games.
    Chinnor Played into a very strong wind in the first half and prevented Barnet from using it to their advantage, with the forwards keeping control of the ball. It took Chinnor 15 minutes before getting the first points on the board with some good forward drives. Rob Fenwick scored and James Hewitt converted it. Shortly afterwards Barnet equalized with a converted try, followed by a penalty which gave them a lead of 10 points to 7 at the end of the first half. This was quite acceptable having played into a very strong wind for 45 minutes.
    Chinnor started the second half with the wind at their backs, and within three minutes, James Dollery kicked a ball from of his own 22 meter line, which was chased down and picked up by Matt Woodward who out ran Barnet and scored near the posts. This was then duly converted by James Hewitt followed minutes later by a successful penalty by him and Chinnor was up 17 points to 10 within five minutes of the second half.
    It was a bit of a stalemate for the next 15 minutes until Chinnor increased their lead with another penalty by Hewitt making it 20 points to 10. In the latter part of the game Henry Lee scored which James Hewitt converted and Chinnor increased their lead to 27 points to 10.
    It was quite a compliment to be told by the Barnet coach that the Chinnor discipline in defence and attack was great to watch. He also named Danny Burns, Matt Woodward and Alan Cawston as outstanding players.
    Pete Nayler pipped Danny Burns as man of the match.

    Walter McGuicken

  • Books To Eat Festival

    EAT your words, munch a memoir, chew a chapter, gnaw a novel etc?.
    This year?s Books2eat International Edible Book Festival is on tomorrow, Saturday, April 1.

    To take part, anyone can make an edible book, share it with others by consuming their creations at their own tea party, at tea time, along with the rest of the world tomorrow.
    Full details are available on the Books2eat website http://www.books2eat.com.

    At your tea party, display your name, a title, a list of ingredients and take a photograph of each book. Upload the pictures onto an album in Yahoo photos at http.www.yahoo.com. The instructions for making an album lead you step by step. Email details to Beatrice Coron at b@beatricecoron.com who will link your web album to the rest of the world on the website http://www.colophon/edible books. Here you will be able to see other Books2eat from around the world.

    Thame?s own monthly Arts Caf

  • Wasps Shirt Presentation To Chinnor FC

    CHINNOR Rugby Club has been presented with a signed, WASPS shirt, in recognition of its outstanding support and Community Partnership with the club.

    On Tuesday, (March 28), during the half-time break of Wasps’ Guinness Premiership fixture with Leeds Tykes, Chinnor RFC were presented with a signed London Wasps shirt by Alex King.

    This season has seen the introduction of Dave Ratcliffe as the Thame-based club’s London Wasps Liaison and the partnership has flourished with Dave working closely with Wasps’Community Team on several projects.
    The shirt will be framed and displayed within the Chinnor RFC clubhouse.

    Representing Chinnor RFC at the on-pitch presentation were JP Immelmann (1st XV Hooker & Chinnor RFC CDO), Trevor Blewitt and his sons George (Under 15s) & Sam (Colts), Alan Beveridge and his son Alex Beveridge (Season Ticket Holders).

    Chinnor RFC are on the verge of achieving National League status for the first time since being Founded in 1963. They are currently top of South West Division One and have two games remaining to secure the league title.

  • Thame United Bow Out Of Cup Report By Bob Dixon

    THAME United bowed out of the Oxfordshire Senior Cup in style on Wednesday evening, March 29, in an entertaining, fast paced match.
    They played with 10 men for most of the game but fought for every ball and gave the Southern Premier outfit plenty to think about.

    Banbury had the better of the opening exchanges and in the 10th minute, Paul Searl was forced make a good save from Banbury star Andy Baird. It was Baird who opened the scoring ten minutes later when he met a good cross from the left with a strong, well placed header. Thame fought back and were looking dangerous when a long clearance from a Banbury defender fell into the path of Baird. He beat centre back Dave Tregurtha, but was tripped by Robbie Eason as he bore down on goal. Referee Farries judged that Eason was the last man and dismissed him from the pitch.
    Down to 10 men and losing is not a good position to be in, and it would have been easy for Thame heads to drop. In reality they equalised when, three minutes before half time, a Darren Moore corner was headed down to Nik Rhodes who finished clinically from 10 yards.

    Banbury re-took the lead in the 58th minute when a defensive mix up between Dave Hocking and Tregurtha allowed Stuart Bridges to unleash a powerful shot from the edge of the box. Thame countered and changed formation to play with three men up front. There then followed a good spell of end-to-end football with Ben Connelly looking particularly impressive for Thame. Banbury finally sealed the match with seven minutes remaining when the tallented Baird made a good run on the right before squaring the ball to substitute Matty Gooderick who fired home from 8 yards.

    Despite the result, this was an outstanding performance from Thame?s young squad who showed grit and determination throughout.
    Final score: Banbury United 3, Thame United 1
    Venue: Court Farm Place (Oxford City?s Ground)

    Thame United: Searl, Hocking (Lane), N. Rhodes, Eason (Capt.) Tregurtha, Raja, Fisher, A. Rhodes, Moore, Morgan (Way), Connelly.

    Thame United visit Sutton Coldfield next Saturday 1st April. They then entertain Bromsgrove Rovers, at Buckingham Road Stadium, on Tuesday 4th April. Please note that this game kicks off at 8.00pm.

  • Memorial Match & Easter Egg Hunt (Contributed)

    THIS year’s Richard Wheeler Memorial Match will be held on Good Friday, at Brill Sports and Social Club.
    Come and join us on April 14, from 12 noon for an Easter Egg Hunt, Face Painting, Bouncy Castle, BBQ, Cakes, Refreshments and much more.
    The match will be between Long Crendon and Brill, and the proceeds from this event will go to the Richard Wheeler Memorial which raises money to support the British Heart Foundation. This year we aim to raise money that the British Heart Foundation can use to fund community heart nurses who provide ongoing support and care to people living with heart disease.

    The Richard Wheeler Memorial Trust was set up three years ago to honour the life of Thame footballer, Richard Wheeler, who tragically lost his life on Good Friday 2002.
    The aim of the Memorial, set up by Richard’s friends, has been to raise money each year for the British Heart Foundation.

  • Thame Students Reveal Loopholes In Arms Trade

    A Television programme going out on Monday evening, will show how students from Lord Williams’ school in Thame were able to find loopholes in the Arms Trade laws and order alms equipment.
    The case was highlighted in the national press today and next Monday’s ‘Despatches’ prgramme will feature pupils and staff from Lord Williams’ school.

    Although the Thame children got quotes for, but did not go ahead with the deals they arranged for guns and grenade launchers, children from a school in Portloaise, near Dublin, succeeded in buying electric shock batons from Korea and leg irons from South Africa.

    The TV prgramme, After School Arms Club, presented by Mark Thomas, will be broadcast on Channel 4 next Monday (April 3).
    “It should not be legal, and yet we’ve proved that children, who by law are not allowed to drink alcohol, can broker arms from countries along a trade route from Poland to China and Israel to South Africa.
    “Many of these arms are used against or tragically, even by children,” said 16 year-ld Maddy Fry, a pupil at Lord Williams’s school.

  • Caravan Fire Tragedy

    A man in his twenties has narrowly escaped with his life from a burning caravan, in which another man died.
    The tragedy happened around 5am yesterday (Wednesday) morning, when two fire appliances from Thame were called out to Sunley Wood, Red Lane, Chinnor Hill, where the caravan was already engulfed in flames.
    The man who died was in his thirties, and has not yet been identified.
    The man who escaped did so through a window and, apart from suffering from the effects of smoke, was uninjured.
    The area where the tragedy occurred is still an official crime scene while the police and fire offices carry out an investigation into the cause of the fire.
    Thame?s Chief Fire Officer, Any Ford, told ThameNews: ?Unfortunately, due to the severity of the fire when we arrived on the scene, we were unable to rescue the occupant. The other young man was very lucky to have been awakened by the smoke and to have got out.
    ?I would like to remind everyone that smoke alarms are essential in caravans which are generally more combustible than most houses.?

  • Local Businesses Help Others ro Help Themselves

    A GROUP of local business people have come together to form a not-for-profit company with the aim of helping disadvantaged people from around the world to help themselves.

    The goal of ‘Ethnix’ is to locate and import products made by people willing to work their way to a better standard of living and then sell them here in the UK. What sets Ethnix apart from many other similar projects is that any profit made will be returned to the source community and invested in learning, business or social projects.

    Founder member and Ethnix Director, Hilary Handley, says:”The Ethnix team is offering a hand-up rather than a hand-out to disadvantaged people around the world and you can help us do that by buying a product from our range. By giving any of the Ethnix products as gifts you will effectively give the gift three times; the first gift is buying the product in the first place and growing the producers business, the second gift is giving it to the person you bought it for and the third gift is the profit going back into the community where the producers come from.”

    The first product in the Ethnix portfolio is a range of Hessian bags made by co-operatives of women who live in appalling conditions in Khayelitsha, a sprawling township near Cape Town in South Africa. The bags are all very reasonably priced and can be purchased online at www.ethnix.org or by calling Hilary on 01844 291320.

    The Ethnix team is: Hilary Handley (Wildfire, Haddenham), David Handley (Thame Workholding, Long Crendon), Simon Husband (Richardsons Chartered Accountants, Thame), Cat Young (Solve the Web, Wallingford), Pascale Wood-Atkins (Wood-Atkins Commercial Law, Whitchurch), Malcolm Newdick (Riverbank IT Management, Little Haseley), Louise Brooker (Box Technologies, Bicester), Sue Harper (Independent adviser, Haddenham).