Author: Sonja Francis

A well-known, senior resident of Thame has donated funds to the Thames Valley Air Ambulance charity from the sale of her book.

Hazel Bleay, aged 86, has made many friends in Thame since she moved to the town from Oxford in 2005, to be nearer her daughter. Hazel was born and bred in Oxford and was encouraged to write her book Memories of Bygone Oxford Shops, by Malcolm Graham at the Oxford Achives. He quickly became aware of Hazel’s interest and deep personal knowledge of the history of the ever-changing face of retail in the city whenever she visited the archives.

Since it was published by Robert Boyd Publications of Witney, in 2010, 2,000 copies of Hazel’s book have been sold, including one of the most recent, to a couple from Australia who were visiting Thame Farmers Market after taking part in a Midsomer Murders tour of Thame.

Hazel told Thame.net how she happened to notice a man sketching one of Thame’s old cottages in Upper High Street, where she knew the owner. She began chatting to the man about the building, and about her enthusiasm for the history of Oxford’s shops, when the man called his wife over from the Farmers Market and they explained how they intended to visit Oxford the next day, and would love to buy Hazel’s book to help them identify the various old shops of Oxford.

Earlier this week, Hazel presented a cheque for £225 to Thames Valley Air Ambulance charity representative, Tony Coote, at her home in Swan Walk, Thame.

Not a bad achievment for someone who left school at 14 years-old, and has worked as a hairdresser, a telephonist, and for the Ministry of Agriculture, when as a youg woman, she used to travel to Thame to write out the Animal Movement licences on Thame Cattlemarket days.

These days Hazel is an active member of Thame U3A, though her health has stopped her joining in for the last couple of weeks after a fall outside a Thame beauty parlour. But Hazel is determined to get better and continue with her hobby of building model houses and shops, and discovering her family history.

Towersey Festival chosen charity

Ruth Dunkin from Thames Valley AirAmbulance, told Thame.net: “We were delighted to hear that Hazel had raised £225 for the charity from the sale of her book, and were particularly thrilled to also receive a signed copy from her. We are most grateful for the ongoing support from the community in Thame and hope to see many of you at Towersey Festival over the bank holiday weekend where we are the chosen charity for Towersey Festival.

“Do come along please and say hello – we’ll be doing face painting and have a Giant Life Size Operation game too!”

NB ** Anyone who would like to purchase Hazel’s book, can contact her via editor@thame.net.

THAMES Valley Police is appealing for witnesses following an assault in Haddenham last month. At around 9pm on Saturday, July 1, a 40 year-old-man and a 46-year-old man were assaulted outside Haddenham Sports and Social Club on Chewells Lane.

One of the victims sustained a lump and a cut to the side of his head and the other required surgery for a head injury. He also sustained a broken nose and a fractured skull. He has since been discharged from hospital.

Due to the injuries sustained, neither victim can remember the assault. The incident was reported to Thames Valley Police on August 9.

No arrests have been made.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Hannah Davison from Aylesbury Force CID, said: “These are two serious assaults, which left one of the victims requiring surgery.

“We have now launched a thorough investigation and as part of our enquiries, I would like to speak to anyone who witnessed the incidents or any suspicious behaviour in the area on this date.”

FINDING an affordable home in Thame is a challenge for young people who wish to remain in the town, because of high market costs for new builds and unaffordable rents, and Community Land Trusts are proving an increasingly attractive idea for local people themselves to find funding and other resources to provide truly affordable starter homes in their area.

Following a very positive reaction to a public presentation on Tuesday (15/08) explaining how a community can organise to provide affordable homes itself, Thame Town Council is to move forward and consider the next steps for Thame.

Catherine Harrington, from the National Community Land Trusts Network, explained to councillors and members of the public present how CLTs can be set up and how they are working for other communities all over the country. She showed several examples of CLTs, including those in East Cambridgeshire, Streatham and Wilburton, St Minver and Cumbria who each have there own business model eg Self-build scheme, crowd funded or support from local authorities and/or government grant schemes. The main point is, as Catherine pointed out, that a CLT is a community-lead project to meet the local need, aimed at delivering truly affordable homes at less than market value, that – importantly – remain affordable.

Most homes provided through local CLTs are either shared ownership, or available to buy at a cost around one third of the local market value, and remain affordable by the selling on of the property, not exceeding one third of the current market value. The idea is that homes are provided as homes, and not as an investment for the tenant.

The CLT Network can provide a start-up fund and loans that are repayable once the homes are build and money starts to be paid for either rental or sale of the homes. The government’s Affordable Homes Programme and it’s Community Housing Fund (funded through taxes on second homes) are other sources of possible funding as are bridging loans from developers and grants from local authorities.

Cllr Bob Austin pointed out that SODC has £850,000 in Section 106 money (contributions from developers towards the costs of providing community and social infrastructure, the need for which has arisen as a result of a new development taking place) – a fund likely to grow as more sites are developed around the town.

Charlie Fisher, from the Oxfordshire Community Land Trust, which offers support to Oxfordshire CLTs, was also at the presentation to explain how his organisation is there to help CLTs with set-up and delivery.  He mentioned a CLT in the Vale of White Horse which wants to provide 26 affordable homes in an old Victorian School.

A member of the public asked Catherine Harrington how a CLT in Thame would be able to compete with the market and how would it relate to the Local Plan. She replied: “You have got a number of sites already planned where there is an obligation to deliver a percentage of affordable homes. If you cannot compete, they will need to supply those homes. Your competition is more likely to come from Housing Associations.”

Cllr Bob Austen interjected, adding: “I won’t be easy to convince SODC to include CLTs in their Affordable Homes policy. But if we don’t make a start, we are never going to be able to keep young people in Thame. If we don’t try, we will never succeed. So far, only 6% has been allocated to local people through social housing. This is not sufficient! We have got to try and do our best for the local population.”

One of Thame’s County Councillors, Nick Carter, told the meeting that SODC seems to be mostly concentrating its attentions on affordable homes in Didcot, and that the subject was on the county council’s Scrutiny agenda. He asked Catherine Harrington how Crowd Funding etc had worked for some CLTs. She replied that Some CLTs used Crowd Funding for capital costs and set up costs (Ed. Lewisham-based RUSS CLT ) and others had used Community Share Issues . Some CLTs, she explained, lease land from a land owner.

A member of the public asked what happens when a tenant needs to make the leap to a bigger home, which could be an issue as families grow. Cllr Bob Austin replied that he saw CLTs as being dynamic and that he saw no reason why, as time went on, bigger homes could be built using the same model. Money created by the sale of homes could be invested into more homes he suggested.

“Our prime motivation is to help young people. There is a pausity of two-bed, affordable homes in Thame. The high price for three-bed homes are 8-10 times average earnings!” he added.

Another questioner asked what the allocation process would be; what would be the criteria for selection? That would be up to the CLT to establish, was the reply, but the main criteria usually includes people who have a local connection, people who are involved locally and they must be able to afford it!

Owen Davies, from the public gallery, asked about the costs of setting up a CLT. Caroline Harrington explained that it costs about £50,000 to get a scheme to the Planning stage.

THE wait is finally over and the students at Lord Williams’s School have much to celebrate. They have achieved outstanding results in their A Level examinations. The pass rate was 99% with 48% of passes at A*/A and B grades.

Acting Heads of Sixth Form, Penny Lowe and Lesley McPherson, commented: “We wish to congratulate our Year 13 students on achieving such excellent results. We are extremely proud of all of our students’ achievements and these results are a product of their talents and hard work. Despite the significant challenges faced by both staff and students with regards to the new A Level courses and examinations, these results are testament to the fantastic work ethic shown by the students and the unstinting teaching and support from all staff who have guided them through the last two years. They have a bright and exciting future ahead of them and we know they are going to make a big impression wherever the next stage of their journey takes them.”

Headteacher David Wybron added: “These results are very impressive and students should feel very proud of their achievements, as a result of their abilities and hard work and the dedicated input of curriculum and pastoral staff, whatever their starting points.”

The following students achieved A* or A grades in three or more subjects: Oliver Carlile, Conor Fleming, Emma Fotherby, Juliette Frontier, Isabel Hambly, Jack Higgins, Joel Kandiah, Graham Kemp, William Kendall, Heather Knight, Rachael Knight, Gabe Locke, Anna Macdougall, Daniel Patey, Matthew Shaw, Angel Strachan, Tilly Stubbs, Matthew Wallis and Benjamin Williams.

SOURCE: Press release

THE man who took the booking from the organisation responsible for the controversial ‘Light and Life’ Gipsy Chuch convention on Thame Show Ground last week, has received death threats, it was revealed at last night’s Thame Town Council Meeting (15/08)

This news came during the answer to a question from Cllr Peter Lambert, to Cllr Ann Midwinter, who is a Director of the Thame and District Agricultural Association who own the land. The Mayor, Cllr Tom Wyse, had just thanked the police for doing ‘an excellent job with limited resources’ when Cllr Peter Lambert asked Cllr Midwinter: “Can we expect an apology from the TAA to the people of Thame who were affected?”

She replied: “The booking was taken in all good faith two months before the event and the elder of the church had been in touch the police as well. So all seemed above board; so the police too were ‘caught on the hop’. Nobody could have known just how big the influx would be; people came from all over, including France and Spain. The problems caused have been hysterical and exaggerated, and Chris Parker, TAA’s Secretary has been the subject of much verbal abuse on social media and has even received death threats. That is unacceptable.”

‘God-fearing people’

“The difficulties started on the Friday (August 4) with traffic jams, when the Sheep Fair farmers were all trying to leave the site as the travellers were trying to get in,” she explained. “As I became aware of the reported incidents, I personally went over to the show ground because I felt guilty, and met one of their elders, Mr Stevens. These were God-fearing people though he admitted that some there were not; some of the trouble-makers were not attached to the Convention he told me, but parked somewhere else and were ‘just taking the micky’.

“A ‘Billy Graham’ type minister came three times to preach at the convention and I’m sure that our church ministers would be delighted if their services were that full! As promised they did leave the site very tidy, though it’s very muddy.”

Thame businesses have benefited

Cllr Midwinter said that the takings of Thame businesses, the shops and the hotels etc, went up while the visitors were in town. “I was told that thousands of pounds worth of stuff had been stolen so I went round to the shops, including the Esso garage and asked. Not true!”

She added: “This booking was taken in good faith and I see no reason why our Chairman, Andew Duffey, should have to apologise.

‘No smoke without fire’

Cllr Lambert responded: ” He’s the Chairman. It’s his responsibility. Once the numbers became apparent, someone should have thought ‘we need more security; we need more toilets. The driving was particularly appalling. As for local businesses, the kebab van was shaken backwards and forwards and closed for safety reasons. I had to lock my pub door and lost £1,000 in revenue. There’s ‘no smoke without fire’ and people were scared to go out. I personally got verbally abused on my way to this very council chamber last Tuesday. There was definitely an element that were not ‘God-fearing’.

“We want a simple apology whether or not the booking was taken in good faith and the TAA taken by surprise.”

Vice Chair says ‘sorry’

Cllr Midwinter then asked Cllr David Bretherton, who is Vice Chair of the TAA, whether he had been over to see what what going on and whether he was going to apologise. He replied that he did not visit the site, and was sorry about what happened over there. “There has been a lot of hysteria,” he said. “A lot did not happened but some did, and I will talk with the Chairman. But nothing could have been done in preparation.”

‘No signs of mayhem’

Cllr Helena Fickling then spoke of her experience. “I came into Thame and I saw no signs of mayhem. I do know about the complaints about the showers at the Thame Leisure Centre, but what happened up there is inevitable when you have a lot of people camping. I don’t think you can blame the people organising the event.”

Cllr Dyer concluded the discussion with: “It’s all over now. Thame is back to normal. I accept that there were problems with gate-crashers. We believed that we lived in nice community, but the levels of intolerance and prejudice was appalling. So an equal apology needs to come from those feeding the prejudices.”

HIDDEN away in a corner of Waterperry Garden Centre is a small community of artist-craft workers, among them a unique talent, keeping alive the venerable tradition of maritime carving. Thame.net’s summer intern, Gabby Smith, recently visited the workshop of Andy Peters, who created Maritima Woodcarving back in 1990. Here she writes about the experience and the unforgettable impressions the visit left her with: (more…)

GUNS, riot shields, tazers and IEDs were just some of equipment on display today as hundreds of families gathered at the Southern Road Recreation ground in Thame, to enjoy the sunshine and to find out about the work of the emergency services.

The 2017 Thame Emergency Services Day was co-ordinated by PCSO James Hopkin, a member of the Thame neighbourhood police team, with the support of Thame Town Council. Visitors were able to learn about the different roles in the police force, including the firearms section, the Public Order team and the Traffic Division. There were plenty of activities for children including exploring the inside of emergency vehicles like ambulances, fire engines and even an army rescue helicoptor. There were stalls with information about working for the emergency services and anyone could have a go at learning how to do CPR, seeing how remote-controlled ‘robots’ operate to help bomb disposal experts examine and render safe explosive devices, without putting themselves in danger.

Oxfordshire Lowland Search and Rescue were also there, showing off their equipment and techniques, with their rescue canoes attracting particular attention from the younger children. The various Thame cadet organisations were represented too chatting to potential new sign-ups about the great fun and challenges that they enjoy as members.

Second only to the long queue to see inside the helicopter, was that for the ice-cream van – just as popular among the emergency services staff as with the children !

More pictures HERE (click on the icon, top right, of a rectangle with arrow in the centre, and view as a slide show) PLEASE NOTE – all these images are copyright of Sonja Francis. Please ASK if you want to reproduce them elsewhere or download them.