SIR David Jason OBE, best known for his role as Del Boy in the popular sit-com, Only Fools and Horses, has lent his support to the Florence Nightingale Day Hospice ‘makeover’ appeal in its Silver Jubilee year.
David Jason OBE
As part of the Florence Nightingale Hospice 25th Anniversary year, Sir David Jason OBE is making a special appeal to the local community to help raise over £20,000 – vital funds needed to help refurbish its Day Hospice service.
Sir David, who has penned a personal appeal letter to officially launch the campaign on Monday, November, 25, is encouraging supporters of the Hospice to ‘dig deep’ and help fund the Day Hospice ‘makeover’, which will include new furniture, tables, chairs, cushions, fittings, curtains, flooring and general maintenance. Currently, the Day Hospice, which is open from Monday-Friday, 10 am -3 pm, sees around 40-60 patients from across Aylesbury Vale and surrounding areas (including Thame) each week.
In his appeal letter Sir David said: “Florence Nightingale Hospice is a very special place – I think we all know someone who has been touched by the first-class care provided by the wonderful team of staff and volunteers here. With this in mind, I would like to encourage you to spare a few pennies to help raise funds to refurbish Day Hospice and further enhance the lives of patients and their families.”
“Our Day Hospice provides a vital service in which physical, emotional and spiritual symptoms are addressed in a warm, friendly, fun environment by the Day Hospice team,” said Senior Day Hospice nurse, Jenny Spencer-Jones. “A makeover will give the patients a brighter, fresher and more comfortable environment; enhancing and adding to the lovely ambience of the Day Hospice, a home from home, where patients can relax and be comfortable and most of all enjoy coming to.”
If you would like to help support the Day Hospice appeal please visit www.fnhospice.org.uk and click on the ‘Donate’ button or visit the dedicated fundraising page at www.make-a-donation.org. Donations can also be sent in the post addressed to Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity, Unit 4 Aylesbury Business Centre, Chamberlain Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8DY or, simply pop your donation in to the Florence Nightingale Hospice marked ‘Day Hospice Appeal’.
Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity (FNHC) fully funds the Day Hospice service at a cost of over £100,000 each year. Each patient appointment costs £135 per visit. FNHC relies heavily on its volunteer drivers, to bring patients to and from Day Hospice, which runs every week. In fact 29 drivers drove 27,582 miles last year to bring patients to the Hospice: “Having volunteer drivers, means that patients can attend the Day Hospice for the specialist support they need,” added Judy Plater, Volunteer Services Assistant.
THAME Town Cllr, Mary Stiles, officially opened the Charity Card Shop at Christchurch – Upper High Street, Thame, on Tuesday (12/11), which sells Christmas Cards and gifts on behalf of 30 National & 4 local Charities.
Councillor Mary Stiles (far left) Janet West (Shop Manager) (far right) and two of the volunteer helpers
In her opening address Mary said: “ I am a long term resident of Thame and admire all the voluntary work done by members of Christchurch in and for our community.; For the past seven years, like many of the residents of Thame and the surrounding villages, I have been grateful to the volunteers here for the card shop, which provides a one stop shop to buy our Christmas cards in aid of charities and good causes.
“Here we can buy cards for 30 national charities and this year for four local good causes as well – Thame Community Hospital, Florence Nightingale Hospice, Scanappeal and the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance.”
As in other temporary shops like this one across the country, charities each receive at least 70p in every £ for all sales.
Mary concluded: “Thanks to Janet West (shop manager) and all the volunteers here. Giving time to staff the shop means it will be open six days a week until December 3, between 10am – 4pm. It gives me great pleasure to declare open this year’s Cards for Good Causes charity card shop! “
THAME Town Council has responded to criticism about how the proposed housing development on Elms Field, was included in the Thame Neighbourhood Plan. (See LINK)
Concept plan produced by Nash Partnership for the land owner planning to develope land for housing land at The Elms, Thame
In a statement today in response to a request for comment, made to the Town Clerk, Helen Stewart, she said: “The Neighbourhood Plan, which includes an allocation of up to 45 homes within the perimeter of The Elms was thoroughly tested, as were all the sites, through the development of the Neighbourhood Planning and the Independent Examiner’s scrutiny of all the data collected during that process.
“All the sites identified within the Neighbourhood Plan will still have to go through South Oxfordshire District Council’s planning process. Any correspondence in connection with these will be considered during that process.
“The Town Council has no further comment to make and will consider each application as it comes forward.”
THAME United collected three points at Flackwell Heath on Saturday (16/11) when they defeated their hosts 2-0. This was a good result for United as going into the game ’the Heathens’ were two league places above them. The result lifted Thame two places to seventh position in the league. It was however a very close game with ball possession and chances 50/50. The main difference between the teams was that Thame took their chances, whilst Flackwell squandered their’s.
Thame started brightly and went ahead in the 12th minute when they were awarded a free kick about 35-yards from goal, which Shannon Jesson took and hit a goal bound shot. The keeper stopped it but then spilled the ball allowing Niall Hodgkins to react quickly and fire home from close range. United were playing well and were quicker and more creative than their opponents. The second goal came on 18 minutes when Ollie Lynch played a through ball to Lewis Cordice, who ran at goal and hit a well placed, but not hard, shot past the keeper. Thame continued to have more possession for a while but, towards the end of the half, the home side came back and missed a good chance to pull a goal back.
Flackwell came out fired up after the break and immediately put Thame ‘on the back foot’. There was some heroic defending and goalkeeping by United, including a clearance off the line by Ian Pykett. It seemed however that every time a defender cleared the ball, it came back as the home side built another attack. Thame had the occasional break-away and Cordice was unlucky to see a shot go just wide. The pressure on Thame’s goal increased and the home side hit a goalpost. The final minutes were frantic and Lee Farrow made several good, and at least one outstanding save. Seconds before the final whistle the home side missed yet another good chance, but it was not their day and United held out to keep a clean sheet.
Thame United: Farrow, I Pykett, P Pykett, Hercules, Rhodes, lynch, Connelly (Johnston), Jesson, Hodgkins (Collins), Cordice (Hurley), Ricketts.
The next first team home fixture for Thame United is on Saturday, December 7, when Abingdon Town will be the visitors.
FOLLOWING yesterday’s historic planning decision, a ‘first’ for Neighbourhood Planning, the developer of the proposed housing site has welcomed the decision and has vowed to work with the community on the detailed planning of Site D.
The outline proposal includes 175 homes, a community orchard, considerable public open space, including a children’s play area, and allotments on the majority of what is known as Site D: land West of Thame Park Road.
Jon Allen, Development Manager at Commercial Estates Group, said: “We are delighted that members of SODC’s planning committee voted unanimously in favour of granting permission for this application. CEG has been working with the residents and representatives of Thame for over three years and the feedback received has genuinely had a big influence on the application which was submitted.
“CEG has been proud to support Thame’s Neighbourhood Plan from the outset – and throughout – and the decision at planning committee demonstrates that developers and communities can work very effectively together to deliver new homes which meet local aspirations.”
Site D is allocated in the Thame Town Plan for a total of 205 houses, of which CEG’s application included 175 homes. It was the first application on an allocated site to receive a resolution to grant planning consent, following the Thame Town Plan being supported by 76% of voters at a referendum in May and its subsequent adoption by SODC.
Jon Allen continued: “The application was in outline so we will now start to look at the site in further detail. Our aim is to continue the positive working relationship we have built up with the people of Thame and to deliver the high-quality development which local residents are looking for.”
YOU can now enjoy live squash TONIGHT and throughout the year – that’s over 250 live games featuring top players such as Ramy Ashour, Amr Shabana and Nick Matthew in the comfort of your local club.
Racquets Fitness Centre, North Street, Thame, Oxfordshire
Live coverage from all major tournaments – over 250 matches per year,Exclusive interviews from the World’s top players’; Daily Highlights from the day’s best matches; Behind the scenes coverage; Historic archived matches featuring the best players of all time plus so much more,and lets not forget happy hour!
A petition of signatures from people opposed to houses being built on land adjacent to Elms Park in Thame, is growing, and the man leading the opposition has now written to English Heritage, and copied the letter to all Town and District Councillors. He now wants to inform the general public and to invite them to add their names to the petition by emailing their support to: elmspetition@hotmail.co.uk
The Elms field where the proposed housing development will be, as seen from the air
The man behind the campaign is Peter Webb, who lives in Thame. His letter reads:
” ‘Dear Councillor, The Elms Petition Group would like you to be aware of the substantial opposition which exists in regard to housing development in Elms Field, Thame. Please be aware that, during the Thame Plan consultation process, 82% of people who responded on the subject of building in Elms Field were against the idea. Why did the Plan Group ignore this?
“We should make you aware also that the Thame Mayor is being served notice under the Freedom of Information Act, to respond to requests for information relating to un-minuted meetings, agendas and participants etc. relating to the unneeded inclusion of Elms Field as a site for development within the Thame Plan. The following letter, sent to English Heritage yesterday is self explanatory.’
“Dear Mr. Peats,
This letter is from the 500, so far, residents of Thame who have signed a petition against development on Elms Field.
Your email of the 31st July to one of our number, states that you were informed by the developer’s then agent, the Nash partnership, that the land to the East was in different ownership in the early 19th century. This is surely not so and we find it surprising that you have not asked for a copy of the 1826 document which, we have told you, shows the house and all the 13-odd acre field in the ownership of a Paul Blackall.
You have also been advised that we have a complete record of ownership, from then up to the present day, and the only change that occurred was the gifting of some 3 acres, by Leonard Purser, to Thame, to create a Town Park.
And yet you don’t want to review this data? Neither are you willing to insist that the Nash partnership send you a copy of the material they presented to you in the presence of the (then) South Oxfordshire District Council Conservation Officer, Jamie Preston.
It is quite unacceptable that Nash can resist giving you a copy of the material they presented to you, on the basis that they no longer work for the developer who now owns The Elms. You should have obtained a copy for your records at the time you met with Nash but are surely entitled to insist that you be given a copy now. The current lack of a relationship between Nash and the developer is completely immaterial.
The fact is, your letter of the 25th October 2012, to the Thame Town Clerk assessed The Elms and the field as a valuable survivor of the mini estates that were common in small towns like Thame in the 19th century. The field has long been, and still is, a green lung in the centre of Thame. Is it not the job of English Heritage to preserve such green space? your letter is quite specific in emphasising that the field area both to the South and to the East are important to the setting of the Elms and you record that SODC Conservation took action in 2006 to extend the Conservation Area to include the Field and Park. You repeat their statement that the Park and Field together represent an “Important open space” in Thame.
Your letter was quite firm in finding the development proposal “deeply damaging”. So what has changed and why are you unwilling to examine whether there is evidence of manipulation in this whole affair?
It should be pointed out also that the setting of The Poplars, also a listed building and until the Toovey sale in 1928 in the same ownership as The Elms, is adversely affected by the proposed development of the Eastern part of the field. Surely ownership of the field is not relevant to that fact.
You should be made aware also that the meeting you and Jamie Preston attended, where, due to suspect information provided by Nash, you accepted the possibility of building 35 houses, has no minutes to record who said what. The Town Clerk refuses to explain this lack. Who was present? The developer? Who else? Why is this, so far as we know, the only meeting held with a developer?
Then, why did the Town Council later call a second meeting, where they upped the number of house to a maximum of 45? Who arranged that meeting? Why are the minutes so lacking in content? Why was one Councillor who said he was against any development in Elms field told (by whom is not recorded) “That is not a Council matter”. Also why does the Town Clerk now claim that it wasn’t a Council meeting , when the so-called minutes are clearly headed “Meeting of the Thame Town Council”?
Why was the site being considered at all? There was no need for it since the potential housing sites suggested to the Town Council by SODC were more that adequate to accommodate the 775 houses allocated to Thame. Each of those sites had developers associated and awaiting a decision by the Council as to how the houses would be allocated. Did any of those developers attend meetings with the Plan Group to push their sites? We think not.
It doesn’t directly concern your opinion of the importance of retaining Elms field as an open space, either as a pasture, as it has traditionally been or in some other suitable form but, as background, you might be interested to know that the Town Clerk went into print to tell citizens that there would be no point in voting “No” to the town plan because 775 houses were going to be built anyway. So, no point voting at all. Which many didn’t. The point is that the 775 was not the issue. Where to build was the issue and the “Yes for Thame Campaign” leaflet makes no mention at all of where the Councillors had decided buildings would go. So people had no idea what they were voting for. That same leaflet is inaccurate and misleading in several other ways, which are not the subject of this letter.
In conclusion, You are asked, by a rather substantial number of citizens, to re-examine your position. Were you misled and should you reinstate the opinions contained in your letter to the Town Clerk?
A copy of this letter is being sent to all Town and SODC Councillors, SODC Planning, and to the press. Thame Councillors should ask themselves whether they have been unduly influenced by interested parties and also how they have come to accept the idea of 44 houses jockeying to get to and from the Elms Field site via Nelson Street and Southern Road, when they turned down the idea of 7 houses on the Old Dairy site, due to the fact that those same two streets are severely congested.”
Signed, The Elms Petition Group
Anyone who wishees to join the petition against The Elms development, can do so by emailing a list of petitioners (over 18s) together with a house address to elmspetition@hotmail.co.uk. For people who do not have access to the web, they can drop a note of their support, with names and address, in an envelope adressed to Elms Petition, at Petcare in the Cornmarket, Thame.
Addresses outside OX9 will be listed within the petitioner list as “Friends of Thame”
THAME Scouts have proudly announced that they have raised £1284.71 for the British Legion Poppy Appeal this year, with a street collection on Saturday, November 2, and coin collections on meeting nights.
THAME United progressed to the third round of the Oxfordshire Senior Cup at the ASM Stadium on Tuesday evening (12/11) when they defeated AFC Hinksey 2-1. Hinksey are currently top of Hellenic Division One East, having only lost two league games this season. They are a decent side and it was a close run thing as the game was drawn until the final minute of stoppage time. But with seconds to play, United scored a spectacular goal to clinch their victory.
Thame started brightly and within two minutes Nik Rhodes deflected a corner towards goal but, unluckily, the ball hit the Hinksey keeper. United looked more dangerous and created several chances but, as the half progressed the visitors grew in confidence and just before the break, Lee Farrow was forced to make an outstanding save. The game was goalless at half time.
Hinksey scored two minutes after the restart. Thame conceded a free kick which was only partly cleared and the ball fell to Kieran Davis who hit a strong 20-yard shot which went in off the underside of the crossbar. The visitors went down to 10 men a few minutes later when Davis made a dangerous tackle and was, perhaps harshly, dismissed from the pitch. United’s equaliser was scored on 76 minutes. Thame won a series of corners and the third was knocked out to Ollie Lynch who hit a well placed 20-yard shot through the crowded penalty area low into the left corner.
Thame were in control as they laid siege to the visitors’ goal in search of the winner. Several chances were created with Luke Ricketts and Shannon Jesson both forcing good saves from the keeper. As the game entered injury time, half an hour of extra time seemed likely, but in the 93rd minute defender Ellis Hercules surprised everyone by hitting a 35-yard thunderbolt into the top left corner. It was a quite remarkable strike, by a player who rarely strays far into the opponents half during open play. The final whistle blew 10 seconds after the game restarted.
The third round is scheduled for mid December. The draw has not yet been made.
Thame United: Farrow, I Pykett, P Pykett, Hercules, Rhodes, lynch, Connelly, Jesson, Hodgkins, Collins, Ricketts.
United play at Flackwell Heath next Saturday (16th) whilst the reserve team face Finchampstead Reserves at the ASM Stadium. The next first team home fixture is on Saturday 7th December when Abingdon Town are the visitors.
AN historic decision, likely to affect all future Neighbourhood planning, was taken last night when the first ever major outline planning application, as part of a Neighbourhood Plan, was passed by South Oxfordshire District Council in respect of Thame’s Neighbourhood Plan.
The district council’s planning committee, after much discussion and debate, voted unanimously to pass outline planning consent for 175 houses to be build on part of what is known as Site D in the Neighbourhood Plan, to the South of Thame. Two other planning applications on that site which will bring it to a total of 205 dwellings, but in separate ownership, are yet to go before the planners.
Some misgivings had been expressed to planning officers, regarding air quality in Park Street, Thame, as a result of perceived increased traffic generation from the development, and noise from adjacent industrial uses of nearby barns. These were however, addressed by the planning officer. Also a resident was concerned about possible light pollution from street lighting, which apparently has since been removed from the plan.
Another resident was concerned about the impact on their amenity of access to Cuttlebrook.
Mr James Castle, spoke to the committee questioning the calculations for increased traffic along Park Street, to which Cllr Mike Welply responded with information that a new junction is currently being planned to divert non through traffic along the by pass.
There was some disagreement between Thame Town Council, represented by the Clerk, Helen Stewart and Cllr Mike Welply, about the disignation of part of the surrounding farm land to the West of the site, as Public Access open space. The landowner wants the right to keep it free from the public because it is used for sheep and at certain times of the year, for lamb rearing.
The whole of the planning meeting meeting can be viewed as a Webcast HERE – The Thame application begins at 00:27:38
