A squad of swimmers from Thame Swimming Club did themselves proud competing at the Maxwell Level Three October Meet over the weekend of October 1-2, at Aqua Vale in Aylesbury.
Supported by Head Coach Ian Blyth and Group 2/2+ Coach, Mark Simms, the swimmers rose to the occasion and put in some very impressive swims with new PBs being achieved and for some, first-ever times being registered.
Delighted club spokesperson, Helen Williams, said: “Huge congratulations to all our swimmers of whom we are very proud but special mentions must go out to the following swimmers:
· Katelin Phillips: for taking a whopping 44 seconds off her 400 Freestyle time and to Elizabeth Humphreys for achieving a County Accepted
time in the same even.
· Lucy Block: for achieving a County Accepted time for her 200m Backstroke and a County Considered time for 400IM (not bad given it was the
first time Lucy had ever swum this race!!).
· Martha Block: for knocking an impressive four seconds off her 50 Free time having taking 10 seconds off at BBAT only tqo weeks ago. Way to
go Martha!
· Ben Williams: achieving a Winter Regional consideration time for his 100 Backstroke
· Ella Simms: taking a brilliant 17 seconds off her previous 400 IM time and achieving a County Considered time in the process.
· Louis Bolton: taking an amazing 18 seconds off his 200 IM
· Flora Kershaw: taking a fabulous 13 seconds off her 100 Backstroke
· Murray Wakefield: for achieving a much sought after sub-40 seconds for his 50 Fly J Murray also achieved a 12 second PB on his 400 Free
having only just taken nine seconds off at BBAT!
· Josh Williams: achieving a County Accepted time for his 200 Backstroke and to Elliot Riley-Brown for achieving County Considered time for
his 100 Backstroke.
“Thank you to all our fabulous officials who volunteered their time to ensure that our swimmers times counted … Paul Williams, Emma Camp, Sue Hewett, Rachel Humphreys and Brian Pridmore. Huge congratulations to Emma Camp for passing her J1 officials assessment. Thank you to Melissa Simms and Michele Block for Team Managing so fabulously on the Saturday too.
ONLY eight days to go before the Thame Arts & Literary Festival (TAL) and tickets are selling fast. So, to whet your appetite if you haven’t already booked, here are some of the great, literary personalities and events programmed for 2016:
* Artemis Cooper, whose eagerly-awaited biography on Elizabeth Jane Howard, A Dangerous Innocence, was recently
Radio 4’s Book of the Week.
* Tom Paulin – Reading the poetry of W.B.Yeats
* Lady Anne Heseltine – TAL Festival Founder’s Lecture
* Nicholas Parsons – Just a Laugh a Minute
* Charlotte Green – The News is Read by…
Author M R Hall
For the sleuths amongst you, award-winning crime writer, Matthew R. Hall will definitely appeal. He’s written episodes of Kavanagh QC, Dalziel and Pasco, A&E, Foyle’s War and the legal series, Wing and a Prayer, amongst others, before writing the acclaimed Coroner books.
In The Case of the Crusading Coroner, Matthew’s coroner, Jenny Cooper, is on the case even when it threatens her own life. “Prepare to be gripped!”
For our full programme of events take a look at the TAL website www.talfestival.org Or pick up the free, handy TAL Festival souvenir brochure from The Book House, Thame Town Hall, The Library and lots of other places around the town.
And for up to the minute news, just follow TAL on Facebook and on Twitter @talfestival.
THIS week is Women In Sport week, and to help celebrate, Thame Leisure Centre is offering free classes between October 3 – 9, along with other sports centres in South Oxfordshire and The Vale.
Thame is offering the following sports during the week:
Group Cycle/Spin – Wednesday, October 5 – 09.25-10.25
Combat – Thursday, October 6 – 19.15-20.00
Aqua -Thursday – 19.00-20.00
For more information and to claim your free pass please contact bettercommunities@GLL.ORG or call Emma Freeman on 07801 203550; Subject to availability within classes. You must pre book using the above contact details.
THIS year’s Thame Town Charity Fair will be on November 5, at Thame Town Hall. The event promotes and showcases Thame charities, including the Mayor’s chosen good causes, the Thame Youth Cafe and The Red Kite Children’s Centre.
The Mayor of Thame, Linda Emery
Refreshments will be served by the Girl Guides throughout the event, between 10am and 2pm. Admission is FREE.
THE views of businesses across South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse are being sought to help influence a new strategy that will support growth and economic development in the district.
Image courtesy of Thame Town Council
A statement today read: “To ensure the new strategy meets the needs of organisations throughout both districts the councils are asking businesses what their current and future priorities are, what they consider to be the key barriers to growth, and what support the district councils and their partners could provide to help them achieve their growth ambitions.”
To ensure their views are heard businesses should complete the online survey LINK HERE. The consultation closes on October 14, 2016.
ALWAYS a stern test at Sonning, Chinnor RFC left it late to overcome Redigensians 32-17 on Saturday, October 1, to maintain their winning start to the season.
Breaking news: Ex Chinnor player, Sam Jones has been selected to join England squad for training camp on Sunday at Brighton
Rams went into an early lead with a penalty goal by Atkins. Chinnor then began to build pressure in Rams’ half with a series of attacks in the 22. They foundered on stiff resistance until Kieron Goss found a hole for Chinnor’s first try after 18 minutes. Chinnor continued building attacks in Rams’ 22 and were rewarded a few minutes later when Danny Barnes, out wide slowly strolled over unopposed for Chinnor’s second try, converted by Bertie Hopkin. With Rams’ Vooght yellow carded for scooping the ball back from a ruck, Hopkin increased the Chinnor lead to 15-3 from a penalty goal. Barnes then went over for Chinnor’s third, expertly diving full length to field the ball and then casually getting up to dot down for a 20-3 lead. Rams then began to get more into the match and a series of quick rucks ended with Dan Sanders crashing over for Rams’ first try just as the half finished. With Atkins conversion, the visitors held a 20-10 half time lead.
Clearly heartened by their first score, Rams began to dominate territory. A series of scrums near the Chinnor line saw the home pack begin to dominate and force a series of scrum penalties. The referee, Mr Lewars, then lost patience and sin binned Chinnor’s Jay Tyack for collapsing the scrum. From the next scrum, Rams’ No 8 picked up and barrelled over for Rams’ second try. Atkins’ conversion narrowed the score to 17-20. Momentum was now clearly with Rams, particularly with their dominant scrum. However, Chinnor’s introduction of prop Andy Berry immediately evened up the scrum and Chinnor began to attack again. A long period of Chinnor possession ended with skipper Bevon Armitage bursting through to dot down Chinnor’s bonus point try on 59 minutes. Hopkin’s conversion eased the pressure further. The last 10 minutes were all Chinnor against a valiant home defence in the 22. The dam broke when Messum picked from the back of a ruck and went straight through it to score Chinnor’s fifth for a 32-17 victory.
Redingensians Rams always give Chinnor a tough day at the office and this was no exception. Seeming to start to build a big score, Rams came back hard to narrow the gap to just three points. Their strengthening scrum was looking worrying until Andy Berry came on to shore up the Chinnor scrum most effectively and help swing the match back towards Chinnor. Again, Chinnor’s defence was instrumental in gaining the victory. Midfield defence and a hustling back row gave Chinnor the edge. However, Nathan Hannay’s grappling skills in the maul often blunted a potent Rams weapon and earns him Man of the Match laurels.
Teams
Redingensians
Joe Duffelen, Jak Rossiter, Steve Bryant, Dan Barnes, Sean McDermottroe, Jacob Atkins, Chico U’Chong, Matt Weller, Ben Henderson, Sean McDonnell-Roberts, Ollie Taylor, Tom Bryson, Samir Kharbouch, Tom Vooght, Robbie Stapley
Interchanges: Ross Crame, Jack Steadman, Justin Allen, Andy Amor, Dan Sanders
Chinnor
Kieran Goss, Danny Barnes, Bevon Armitage, Junior Fatialofa, Henry Lamont, Bertie Hopkin, Frank Jones, Ricky Cano, Jamie Townsend, Jay Tyack, Nathan Hannay, CJ Osazuwa, Richard Thorpe, George Messum, Tom Burns
Interchanges: Andy Berry, Jon Phipps, Tom Price, Greg Goodfellow, Luke Hibberd
THIS year’s Big Thame Bake, part of the Thame Food Festival held on Saturday, September 24, attracted dozens of high calibre entries and the various categories were judged by some very distinguished bakers.
Chocolate cupcakes in the theme of ‘A Piece of Cake’ Junior winner, Marielle Lee with Natalie Coleman, Masterchef winner 2013
Cookery writer and Food Stylist, Jane Hornby, over-saw the competition on behalf of the food festival organisers, and for those who missed the amazing competition results and prize-giving, here’s a link to the full list of entries, judges and winners. Big Thame Bake 2016 – List of winners
Festival goers were able to taste the entries for themselves after the judging, in the Thame Belles WI pop-up cafe in Thame Town Hall.
THE Boundary Commission for England is proposing to cut the number of constituencies from 650 to 600 and redistribute some geographical areas to make the numbers of constituents more equal. the Commission is also proposing to change the name of the Henley Constituency to Henley and Thame.
John Howell canvassing in Thame
However, Thame’s MP John Howell is not happy about the proposed name-change because it does not include the third market town in the constituency, Wallingford. He has proposed that the new constituency name should either incorporate Wallingford or be based on geography and called something like South-East Oxfordshire.
The proposed changes are currently out for public consultation so to have your say, LINK HERE
DESPITE Brexit, Thame’s relationship with its twin town in France grows stronger, and this year’s anniversary walking challenge went a long way to buttress that bond – 60 kilometers in fact!
Linda Emery and Cynthia Jackson enjoy a glass of cider
Four people from Thame, including the current Mayor, Linda Emery, walked for three days along the banks of the rivers Oise and Seine, from Méry-sur-Oise, through Auvers-au-Oise where Vangogh worked and eventually died, through Pontoise and finally on to Thame’s twin town of Montesson.
‘Team GB’ L-R Linda Emery, Cythia Jackson, Sonja Francis and John Francis
The gauntlet had been thrown down by a party of six Montessonaise who walked from just outside London to Thame over four days, along the the South Bucks Way back in May this year, to celebrate 15 years of ‘jumelage’. In both cases, the last day’s walking was shared by other members of the two towns’ twinning associations.
The Thame walkers, Linda Emery, Cynthia Jackson, Sonja Francis and John Francis, were met on the last day in the Forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye at mid-day, by a party from Montesson with a splendid picnic of cold meats, cheeses, bread, fruit and cider, before completing the walk to Montesson itself together.
Nichola Dixon, Deputy Mayor of Thame, with her partner Micheal Bailey at the Communal dinner in Montesson
Meanwhile, a coach load of Thame residents left Thame very early on the Friday morning, September 16 (the last day of the walk) to arrive simultaneously at Montesson itself to a Welcome reception, before dispersing with host families for the evening. The celebrations continued all weekend with fire works and a communal dinner, which included visitors from Montesson’s German twin town of Baesweiler, on the Saturday night.
Linda Emery was represented by the Deputy Mayor of Thame, Nichola Dixon, because Linda had needed to take a plane to Liverpool early Saturday morning, for a pre-planned family celebration. A local choir sang all three national anthems joyously as well as the EU anthem.
All the Thame Mayors present from the previous 15 years, David Laver, Jeannette Matelot Green and Don Butler, were called up to the stage and applauded for their contributions to twinning (Nigel Champken Woods was unable to be present but was mentioned).
The Mayor of Montesson, Jean-Francois Bel, proudly wears his ‘I love Thame’ T shirt
The relaxed and amicable relationship that has built over the years between the two towns, and particularly that between the Mayor of Montesson and the man who was Mayor of Thame at the beginning of twinning, Don Butler, shone through as Nichola Dixon presented Jean-François Bel with an ‘I love Thame’ T-shirt. And, in appreciation of the efforts of the walkers, both the ‘Team GB’ English walkers and the ‘Walking Frogs’ as the Montesson team dubbed themselves (Bernard and Miriam Chevalier, Jacques and Huguette Fouché, and Christian and Catherine Beauvy), were presented with Olympic style medals. Medals were also presented to the group of French cyclists who cycled all the way from Montesson to Thame in the same week as the ‘Walking Frogs’ treked to Thame in May. They were Elisabeth Charriere, Michael Gitlin, Jean-Pierre Piofret, Bernard Daudergnies, plus Jean-François Piofret and Michel Coffinieres. The Montesson-Thame Athletic Club are already thinking about what their next challenge could be, but have ruled out – for now – cycling to Thame’s namesake village in Nepal!
Two members of the Thame and District Twinning Association, John and Sonja Francis who stayed on in Montesson for two extra days, were proud to be invited to walk in solidarity with the Montesson Twinning Committee in the town’s carnival on the Sunday, waving the three flags of Montesson’s twinned town’s countries, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Ex Mayor of Thame Don Butler (left) celebrates with Jean francois Bel, the Mayor of Montesson
After a very busy weekend which included a guided tour of the Château de Saint-Germain – the home of many French monarchs, exploring Montmartre, a Salvadore Dali exhibition or, in the Deputy Mayor’s case, a visit to the horse racing at Longchamp, the coach left for home on Sunday evening. Those new to twinning had made new friends while the regular members were leaving with more shared memories that will no doubt carry forward a lasting bond – whatever happens to European co-operation in the wider UK in the future.
THAME will be playing host to a French Market for three days, from Thursday, October 20 – Saturday, 22, selling the finest French products and gifts on the cobbled area around the Town Hall.
The onion and garlic stall
As well as classic French food including bread, patisserie, cheese and olives, there’ll be vintage French music and leather handbags. New for this year will be a new onion and garlic stall!
With Christmas fast approaching, Thame’s French Market is the perfect place to start shopping for unique gifts and presents.
The French Market will be open 9am to 5pm daily. Don’t miss out on this fantastic continental market in Thame town centre!
