AT Last! After chasing the band for over three years, Thame’s First Thursday Music Club (FTMC) is proud to announce that the Old Country Union will be the feature act at The First Thursday Music Club at The Stables (behind The James Figg pub) in Thame, next Thursday, October 1.
Old Country Union are made up of hugely experienced and talented musicians with long track records in the business. Based in Tring, they produce a sweet, hummin’, strummin’, good-time sound with a set made up of their own compositions from their CD “Home Brew” – together with a selection of classic acoustic rock covers.
The band comprises Simon Blanchford (bass and vocals), Tim Sweet (lead guitar, vocals and harmonica), John Greville (drums) with their charismatic front man, Frank Walsh providing the lead vocals (and rhythm guitar). Together, they produce a very tight sound of made up of sweet guitars and vocal harmonies that will be appreciated and loved by all.
In addition, at least 15 other artists and bands will be appearing in the Open Mic section in front of a crowd of around 200. Entrance, as always is completely FREE! First time amateurs through to full time professionals, and any genre of music, are welcome. The club has a full house PA system with keyboard, bass amp, guitar amp, cocktail drum kit all set up. Just turn up and plug in! Player sign up is between 7.30 pm and 7.45pm.
HAPPY faces, satisfied stallholders, visitors going home with bags of foodie goodies, queues at the cash machines (one running out of money), quality live music all day, VIP chefs demonstrating, home bakers of Thame excelling and glorious sunshine all day – the perfect ingredients for the best Thame Food Festival ever – and that’s official.
Vibeke Jepsen, Thame’s Top Baker, with her KitchenAid prize
The numbers are in, and final figures show that 25,000 visitors thronged to Thame’s High Street on Saturday (26/09), from all over the local area and as far afield as Oxford, London, Holland, Belgium, France, Australia – and Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
Comments on social media from some of the 200 plus food producers that took part confirm that it was “A Fantastic day” – “A resounding success” – “Well done to all the team involved in making @thamefoodfest happen, thank you for a great day” – “Really nice food n drinks fantastic atmosphere!” – “Thank you @thamefoodfest Alison and the entire set up/clean up crew! What a cracking day-cheers people of Thame! You rock!” – And from festival Patron, Raymond Blanc himself: “What a wonderful day & great @thamefoodfest, quality local produce, great ambiance & what a joy to be part of this British food revolution.”
The yumminess on offer included teas, artisan cheeses, oils, beers, specialist breads, curries from India, Tibet; a smoothie bike to power your own choice of ingredients, coffees; BBQ, meats, cakes, sweets and heaps more. Many stallholders actually sold out, including Croome Quisine, Just Rachel Icecream and Zanni’s Bakery and Woodredding Cider. Workshops were available for cooks of all ages wanting to learn some tricks of the trade at cake decorating, and four separate wine talks by The Wine Tipster himself, Neil Phillips, at the Thame Players Theatre. Neil’s tips included pairing wines with cheese and how to learn to taste wine correctly and how to store and serve wines properly.
Ready to serve cake and tea at the Town Hall Cafe
Local providers from Thame High Street itself included Newitts, What’s Cooking; a Pop up bar run by The James Figg; Pop up cafe in the town hall, run by Thame Belles WI, selling the wonderful entries in the Big Thame Bake competition, and Belazu’s Popup restaurant at Christchurch in Upper High Street.
An army of volunteers or ‘Thame Foodie Friends’ were on site from 6am in the morning marshalling stallholders to their spots for the day, and generally offering help and information throughout the event to help things run smoothly. The Community groups area included Community stalls promoting the work of Florence Nightingale Hospice, Thame Twinning Association, Great British High Street, Thame Remembers, Thame Lions and Thame Roundtable.
The first ever Big Thame Bake was a triumph and after the judging, all the entries were sliced up available to buy with a cup of tea at the Town Hall Tea Room, once all the winners had been presented with certificates by a procession of celebrity chefs such Adam Johnson – Executive Pastry Chef at Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Miranda Gore Browne and more finalists from the Great British Bake Off than you can shake a wooden spoon at, including Frances Quinn, plus Natalie Coleman who won BBC One’s MasterChef 2013 – all overseen by Thame’s own food writter, Jane Hornby (above left with Lotte Duncan) on the interview stage.
Clegg’s winning cake
The winner of the Business category was John Clegg and Co, Forestry Agents, from Princes Risborough, with Petals of Thame, taking the Runner Up’s certificate, but the overall, Best Baker award went to Vibeke Jepsen, with her amazing strawberry tarts.
Festival patron Lotte Duncan, who like the chefs taking part in the event, and the band of directors and volunteers supporting it, give their time for nothing to put on the free festival, said that this year’s had surpassed everyone’s expectations.
“The atmosphere this year was simply stunning,” said Lotte. “We were completely bowled over by how many people came to Thame and the appreciation they showed for what they found. Everyone who came loved the good food and drink that was on offer, the fabulous producers, the chefs and experts they listened and talked to, and really got into the festival spirit. Everyone was smiling, laughing and having a brilliant time,” she said.
This, the eighth Thame Food Festival, was the culmination of collaboration between community groups, the Thame business community, local organising expertise, busy professionals from the hospitality industry and willing volunteers, that is so typical of the way Thame pulls together and draws in the co-operation of everyone approached, to promote the town for the benefit of everyone who visit, lives and works in the town.
The final word must go to Rob Leonard, who tweets as @Rob_Leonard: “The Thame Food Festival. I think this is where I want to go when I die.”
The bar was set high this year but the ‘can do’ spirit of Thame will no doubt rise to the challenge and make 2016 even more spectacular.
Tasting frenzy at last year’s Thame Food Festival – Copyright Simon Earle
YES, the event that really has put Thame on the map, will start at 6am this morning when the first of the 200 plus stall holders will drive, bleary-eyed into the centre of the town, ready to set out their stalls in time for the great foodie public from 9am.
This is the seventh Thame Food Festival and it really does promise to be the best yet, with so much more to keep the taste buds excited and the eyes and ears twitching for new ideas and inspiration to take away and enjoy at home.
This year is especially important for Thame, which is a strong contender for the Great British High Street awards, and the team behind Thame’s application will be on The Great British High Street stand (zone D, community stall area) and will be holding a ‘win the cake’ competition. The cake has been specially made by the ladies at A Piece of Cake shop in Upper High Street, Thame, complete with the ‘Great British High Street’ logo and message, ‘We’re supporting Thame’ on it, and the winner gets the cake!
The Big Thame Bake will be happening most of the day in the Upper Chamber of the town hall, which has been transformed into a pop up Tea Room, where Thame Belles WI will be serving up delicious cakes and teas. Or, if cake isn’t your thing (yes, there are those sad souls), grab yourself something to eat from the dozens of fresh food stalls and pop along to the Vintage and Modern Guitars Shop, in the Buttermarket from Midday, and listen to some great live music from the likes of The Phil Astles Band, Hiway51, Sir Walter J Wallis and Matt Edwards.
Full details of demonstration times, talks and workshops, on the Thame Food Festival Website and in the official programme available from the information point. Best way to travel in, is to leave the car at the Park and Ride at Chinnor Rugby ground, and catch the red, Routemaster bus into the town.
OXFORD Downs vs Thame – Thame’s 1st XI completed the double on Sunday, 13, by winning the Wilf Bennett T20 final, making 2015 a champagne season to remember. Thame fielded a young side, with the oldest player being 25, against an in-form Oxford Downs in this match at Abingdon.
Oxford Downs won the toss and elected to field and Thame used the power play to score at a rate of 10 an over. However, the spinners bowled well and Thame found themselves struggling for runs at the 14-over stage. Hassam Mushtaq scored 40 and a match-winning innings from 17 year-old Oli Sutcliffe of 42 not out off 25 balls saw Thame to a par score of 150 for 6.
In reply, Oxford Downs started slowly but Watts (40) and Sandbach (51) put them in the driving seat with 4 overs to go and the score on 123 for 2. Some great fielding, however, took the game down to 10 needed off the final over. Chris Jeffcock, who ended up with excellent figures of 3-20 from his 4 overs, only conceded 1 run off the final over to clinch the win. A very promising performance from such a young side, in the club’s final game of the season.
Oli Sutcliffe
Man-of-the-match was Oli Sutcliffe.
Oxford and Bletchingdon Nondescripts IIIs vs Thame IIIs
Thame IIIs travelled to Bletchington on the Saturday, September 12, with high hopes for the Division 9 cup final. The home side batted first and faced tidy seam bowling, led by captain Peter Tervet, who took 2 wickets. The young Thame spinners then pegged back OBN, Luke McStay taking 3 for 8 off 4 overs and Ben Buckland taking 2 wickets. Supported by keeper Paddy Harris (2 stumpings and a catch) they dismissed the home side for 141. In reply, Thame started well with Liam Earwicker 38 and Paddy Harris 26. A collapse then followed, from 80 for 4 to 116 all out. A disappointing end for Thame IIIs but plenty to build on for next season.
Thame vs Hetairoi
The third game of the weekend was a friendly fixture at home to touring side Hetairoi. The visitors batted well to make 203 before tea, with good spells from James McStay, Ally Illsley, Danny Thompson and veteran Angus Lachlan. The home side responded well after tea, with Dave Saunders holding the innings together with an excellent 70, supported by newcomer Shakeel Khan (30) , but finally they succumbed to good spin bowling and ended on 170 all out, in the failing light.
THAME Tennis Club members will now be able to play safely throughout the year, after Rob Dearing, the LTA’s Head of Participation, travelled up from the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton to officially open Thame Tennis Club’s new courts on Thursday (17/09).
After spending £90,000 on red clay courts that are more Southern Spain than South Oxfordshire, the club now has an all-weather surface that can be played on even when it is icy elsewhere.
South Oxfordshire District Council and the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) both contributed to the project, but the lion’s share of the budget was raised by the club itself.
Neil Morgan, the tennis club’s Chairman, said: “We emptied the coffers in the interests of having the best tennis facilities we could afford. We now have four excellent clay courts and top-of-the-range floodlights to go with them. We are proud of the fact that we never lock our courts. Although we are a members club, we encourage non-members to come down and try out tennis and we offer plenty of coaching and tennis-related fitness sessions for the general public.”
The club is offering a full adult membership that lasts until the end of April 2016, for only £100 as a way to introduce new players to the club. To find out more, and watch the video made of the occassion by Thame TV, visit Thame Tennis Club’s website
AFTER Chinnor Rugby Club’s hugely successful Picnic Ball and OktoberFest, the marquee erected for those events will remain up for England’s next match against Wales – this Saturday 8pm Kick off.
The England V Fiji match at Chinnor RFC
Lucy O’Donnell, for Chinnor RFC, said: “Several hundred came to watch England’s opening match which made for a fantastic atmosphere. We welcome everyone to come and enjoy England’s next match (members and non members alike) where there will be plenty to drink alongside some more fantastic food offerings from chef Rob.
“It’s FREE ENTRY for everyone and you can just turn up on the day to enjoy this fantastic environment to watch the Rugby World Cup in. Chinnor RFC members can book a priority table with pre ordered drinks by contacting Gemma on events@chinnor-rfc.com”
THE last few games of the season have now taken place at Thame Bowls Club, with more success for this vibrant Club. Although the Mid-Week team lost at Bassetsbury on a very poor green, the other results went in Thame’s favour.
The Thame Ladies finished their campaign in style, easily beating neighbours Princes Risborough by 74 shots to 37. Top Rink was skipped by Marthie DuPreez with Amanda Tisbury and Maureen Giles contributing to their 19 shot victory. Captain Maire Duncan led the the Ladies through a great season winning 11 of their 12 games scoring 729 shots against 459 in the process.
Last Saturday (12/09) a Mixed team overcame visitors Cheddington by 120 shots to 78 winning on 4 of the 5 Rinks and drawing on the other. Top Rink for Thame was led by Mel Dale, with Marion Keal, Ian Rutherford and Bill Giles lending their support to the 32 shots to 14 victory.
The Sunday Mixed game versus Hazells was yet another success for Thame, this time winning by 22 shots overall. Top Rink for Thame was that of Viv Jones, Mike Smith and skip Ron Slater winning by 27 shots to 14 – a great finish to the season for Sunday Captain Ron Duncan emulating wife Maire, the Ladies Captain.
The season finished in traditional style with the Captain versus Vice Captain Challenge Match. Captain John Timms led his side to a 20 shots victory over Vice Captain Paul Heafey’s team. Played in glorious sunshine and in wonderful spirit, the match was a fitting end to what has been a great season at Thame Bowls Club.
The Captain’s Top Rink was that of Dave Holland, Brad Liddle and skip Maxine Plested whilst Paul Heafey led his trio with Jonathan Dadson and Carol Boyland to the Vice Captain’s top rink winning by 12 shots.
The AGM of Thame Bowls Club will be held on Monday October 19th at 7pm.
THE installation of defibrillators in public places, that can be accessed by anyone in an emergency, is growing and growing and the Mayor of Thame, Nichola Dixon, unveiled an appliance at Haddenham and Thame Park Station on Saturday (19/09), in conjunction with Cllr Margaret Aston, the Chairman of Haddenham Parish Council.
Funding for the defibrillator was provided by Thame and District Lions Club and other local organisations, and Tony Warris, one of the lead campaigners of Heartbeat Haddenham, thanked them for their support and for recognising the importance of the station to the people of Thame, as well as for passengers from Haddenham and the surrounding area.
THAME Swimming Club’s squad of 73 swimmers once again proudly represented the town over the weekend (Sept 19/20) when they took part in the annual BBAT Open Meet at Aqua Vale, Aylesbury, against neighbouring clubs Aylesbury & District Swimming Club, Didcot Barramundis and Bourne End Swimming Club.
Club spokesperson, Helen Williams, said: “The camaraderie amongst the squad was, as ever, awesome and if there was an award for the best cheering and supportive team, we most definitely would have won it. Didcot Barramundis retained the winners’ trophy, followed by Aylesbury with Thame coming in third, ahead of Bourne End. We were robbed after all the fantastic speeding tickets, medals and brilliant personal bests that were in evidence across the whole weekend.
“The gala was a first for many of our younger swimmers so a huge well done to them all for getting ‘stuck in’ and doing so well – here’s to many more successful galas ahead!”
Helen continued: “Whilst each and every swimmers was amazing there are a couple of notable call-outs:
· Elizabeth Humphreys, Douglas Birchall and Josh Williams for joining the elusive short course sub 30 50 Free Club, a great achievement by them all.
· Josh Williams for taking second place overall in the Top Boys Award –so close Josh!
· Each of the following swimmers for their fabulous PBs in certain events (25 seconds or more):
o Alice Daly: 23 seconds off 200 Free and 49 seconds off 400 Free
o Lauren Gibbs: 33 seconds off 200 IM, 28 seconds off 100 Fly and 48 seconds off 200 Free
o Tally Simms: 50 seconds off 200 Free
o Lucy Block: 30 seconds off 200 Free
o Elizabeth Humphreys: 55 seconds off 400 Free
o Jo Hewett: 45 seconds off 100 Fly
o Josh Williams: 28 seconds off 200 Breast and 26 seconds off 400 Free
o Ben Williams: 78 seconds off 200 Breast
o Douglas Birchall: 26 seconds off 100 Back; 38 seconds off 400 IM and 36 seconds off 200 IM
o Louis Withers: 61 seconds off 400 Free
o Henry Bell: 32 seconds off 100 Breast
· Kaycia Socrates for showing such determination and bravery in the 400 IM when her goggles came off during the the Fly leg – an amazing achievement.
· Well done to both Sophia and Guilia Fisher for both winning medals in their last gala for Thame Swimming Club (for now)!
“The gala ended on a massive explosion of screaming and shouting as the Canon relay took place. The Thame A team narrowly missed out on winning but ‘Wow!’, what a close race! Next year …!”
“WHATEVER corner of the planet I end up in, I will never find a kebab which tops Atalay’s,” says Thame born and bred foodie, Dominic Stanway-Williams, who sets off this weekend with a one-way ticket to Bangkok. He is determined to scour South East Asia high and low for the best grub the continent has to offer and will be documenting his discoveries along the way.
But even before leaving English soil Dominic believes he has already found one dish which will not be topped and swears that no matter where he goes, he will not find a better kebab than those served up at Thames’ very own Atalay van.
Dominic Stanway Williams with one of the famous Atalay Thame kebabs
Dominic’s love of food stemmed from cooking with his mother as a child, and it has been ever present since then with jobs on the Waitrose delicatessen and as a sous chef in the Spread Eagle hotel. His passion fuelled a food blog throughout his time at university but he’s now looking to take this one step further with his new website: ‘The Flavour Trail’ which he will use to detail his experiences throughout Asia. Below is a review taken from his site about one of Thame’s most popular takeaway options:
“The common kebab provides a great, greasy divide in culinary opinion. To some it epitomises the depths those unconcerned with fine-dining will sink to in pursuit of sustenance; to others, it marks the end all of comfort consumption, the titillating climax to an evening on the tiles.”
“The Ataly kebab van which frequents the Oxfordshire town of Thame is anything but divisive.”
‘It’s 7pm on Friday evening and despite the wealth of Chinese and Indian takeaways on offer it feels like half the town have turned out. Looking around it’s clear that my peers are by no means ending their evenings but in are fact exuding a collective and very sober yearning for high-quality, week-concluding nosh.
‘The sundry of accompaniments before me shames even the most chic of deli counters, typified by a lovingly-made chunky chilli sauce I’ve told tales of across the land. A flatbread is toasted against the grill and packed with steaming shavings from the rotating spit alongside my chosen ensemble of sauces and salads. The potent aroma that’s been tantalising everyone in range is finally delivered directly to me and I raise the paper package to my nostrils as if smelling a fine cigar.
The first bite sends a torrent of flavour down my gullet, a joyous fusion of peppery cabbage, creamy garlic sauce and velvety lamb cut with a tangy coriander kick. By the second bite I’ve surrendered to a dreamy meaty comatose state, one which I hope will never end’.
Will Dominic find that opinion-changing kebab? Or will the flavours of South East Asia keep him sufficiently distracted? Find out on his website ‘The Flavour Trail’ at www.ontheflavourtrail.com which will be going live any day!
In addition, at least 15 other artists and bands will be appearing in the Open Mic section in front of a crowd of around 200. Entrance, as always is completely FREE! First time amateurs through to full time professionals, and any genre of music, are welcome. The club has a full house PA system with keyboard, bass amp, guitar amp, cocktail drum kit all set up. Just turn up and plug in! Player sign up is between 7.30 pm and 7.45pm.
