THAME firefighters will be in the car park near Thame Town Hall on Saturday (05/10), offering car washes to raise funds for the Fight Fighters’ charity.
They will be there with their buckets, hoses and ‘shammies’ between 10 am and 3 pm.
Author: Sonja Francis
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Thousands of foodies flock to Thame food festival
ANYONE doubting six years ago that Thame Food Festival would grow to become one of the best on the national food festival circuit, has surely now been made to eat their words. An estimated 25,000 people flocked to Thame on Saturday (28/09) for the town’s sixth annual food festival to sample great local and artisan food and drink, to watch the celebrity and local chef demonstrations, and havr a fantastic, free foodie day out.
Food festival crowds in Upper High Street, Thame Over 150 stall holders lined the streets and market squares of Thame, with displays stretching from the High Street right through Cornmarket to the Upper High Street, with more spilling into North Street. On offer were mouth-watering selections of hand-raised pies, craft baked breads, exquisitely decorated cakes and rustic flapjacks as well as fruit vinegars, locally pressed oils and seasonal vegetables, still in muddy coats, fresh from the fields.
Street food was hot, spicy and plentiful, with delicious curries and slow-cooked Cotswold lamb, crèpes and local ice creams, hot roasts and hand-made burgers, all washed down with a glass or two of cider or the special festival ale, Thame’In of the Brew, created by The Vale Brewery in Brill.
Demonstrations were courtesy of Raymond Blanc OBE, Tom Kerridge, Adam Simmonds and Shaun Dickens as well as local chefs including Chris Godfrey (The Charles Napier in Chinnor), Mike North (The Nut Tree Inn at Murcott), Nigel Rumsey (Rumsey’s Chocolaterie) and Beverley Glock. BBC Radio 2’s Ken Bruce and stand-up comic, food writer and beer expert Jim ‘Jams’ Davies compèred the day.
“Saturday was the most amazing day, a fabulous opportunity to enjoy real food and drink in the setting of a beautiful market town,” said TV chef and Thame Food Festival Patron Lotte Duncan. “People came in their thousands to buy from the huge variety of different producers who’d lined up to get a stall at the event, watch the cookery demonstrations from the wonderfully talented chefs and afterwards take home all sorts of delicious goodies to eat and drink – if indeed they made it that far and were n’t gobbled up on the day!
“I had the most fantastic feeling, standing there at the top of the High Street where all I could see were people milling about laden down with bags of food they’d bought, talking excitedly about what they were going to do with it,” she said. “They’d come to have a really happy day out, sampling all the different artisan produce made with so much love and care, and enjoy the company of others who love the same thing.”
Visitors also dug deeply, giving donations for the goody bags provided by festival headline sponsors, McCormick and for parking and using the double decker, red bus park and ride. More than £4000 was raised in total by the event, which will be given to local charities by the Lions and the Rotary Club, to support the Thame Food Bank and to plough back into the community fund to put on next year’s food festival.
Other local charities including SeeSaw which helps Oxfordshire children who need extra support before or after a close family bereavement, also benefited from having free stalls on the day, collecting more than £560, as did Thame’s Helen & Douglas House hospice care for children and young adults.
The Mayor of Thame, Councillor Peter Lambert, commented, “The Thame Food Festival is brilliant. This year’s festival was very well organised by all involved. It’s a really good event and really good for Thame.”
Luise Pattinson, who runs The Book House in Thame, which this year celebrates 40 years trading independently in Thame, said, “The food festival is an absolutely amazing event, which brings people to Thame and showcases the sort of town independent retailers here know it to be. Thame’s a vibrant place that’s totally individual, and now the whole town is buzzing. Events like this really help Thame make its mark – people will soon be back now they know what it’s like.”
That a sentiment echoed by Lotte Duncan, who concluded: “I think the event has really put Thame on the map, not only as one of the best market towns in Britain, but also as the first stop for local food and drink. Saturday showed us that the food festival is something people from far and wide are happy to travel to, and the whole town benefited from the crowds. Many of them will come back, to do their Christmas shopping or at any time of year, having seen what a wonderful place it is. As well as all the visitors, we also have our generous sponsors to thank for that, and the tireless work of our festival administrator, Alison Isherwood, and I’d like to express our huge gratitude to them all.”
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Popular Thame pub wins top restaurant award
THE James Figg in Thame is raising a few glasses in celebration after winning the title, Top Traditional Pub Restaurant at this year’s Oxfordshire Restaurant Awards.
The friendly, free-house in the heart of the town carried off the title at an award ceremony at The Manor Hotel, Weston-on-the-Green yesterday, October 1, just days after staging a packed -out, pop-up version of its popular pub at this year’s Thame Food Festival, and its parent company picking up another award for being a great employer.
“We’re completely bowled over by this win, which is a real shot in the arm for everyone who works at The James Figg,” says Frazer Sutherland who runs the pub together with Thomas Goldsmith – Goldie – the landlord, and the rest of the team.
“When we first took the pub on in 2009, a time when many other pubs were closing, many people said we were mad to be doing it. Now, four years and a great deal of hard work later, it’s really great to know people still appreciate the proper pub. Having that recognised, as well as all the effort we’ve put into making the pub what it is today, is really heart-warming. We couldn’t have done it without having a great host behind the bar, offering a warm welcome and good old-fashioned hospitality to all – you can’t run a proper pub without one – nor our brilliant guests who vote with their feet every day.”
The Top Pub Restaurant award is the second this week for the team at The James Figg. On September 30, Peach, the company behind The James Figg and also The Thatch in Thame, was awarded the title of Best Employer in Hospitality (Large Pubs & Bars) in the awards, which recognises the cream of hospitality employers in England and Wales, judged only by the people who work for them.
These national awards single out the employers who do the most to attract, train, retain and motivate their teams today and give them the skills to offer the highest standards of customer service.
“It’s been quite a week here in Thame, with two award wins and a festival pop-up pub serving up great local ales and live music in equal measure, and we’re still revelling in the moment. But we’re not having an early night quite yet,” added Frazer.
The James Figg is at 21 Cornmarket, Thame, Oxon, OX9 2BL. Tel: 01844 260 166. www.thejamesfiggthame.co.uk
Goldie, the landlord of the James Figg pub, in Cornmarket, Thame -
The campaign against Pinochet at Thame cinema
THE next film to be shown by Thame Cinema 4 All, is to be Director, Pablo Larrain’s ‘NO’ starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Alfredo Castro. The film has a 15 certificate and is 115 minutes long. It will be shown on Saturday, October 5.
Scene from ‘No’ to be screened at Thame Cinema 4 All THE year is 1988. After 15 years in power, the Chilean dictator Pinochet succumbs to international pressure to hold a referendum to democratically legitimise his presidency, and establish that the people are enthusiastic about another eight years under his rule. His supporters – including the United States – assume that in an environment of growing economic prosperity, and with a buoyant newly affluent middle class, a Yes vote will be a certainty. His opponents – given the first opportunity since the coup in 1973 to air their views – are initially despondent, assuming that this is a fraudulent show of democracy and that corruption and the prolonged oppression of dissent will ensure the failure of the No campaign.
But a media-savvy liberal advertising executive René (Bernal) persuades them otherwise. He rejects the tactics favoured by the left – a campaign of bitter realism and in-your-face ideology – in favour of a carefully orchestrated and sophisticated advertising campaign that instead of telling it like it is, sells the people an airbrushed and hopeful vision of an alternative future. Of course, this means that those embittered by years of persecution, executions and disappearances must put their grievances to one side, something that is hard for many to countenance. But as the No campaign gains momentum, the Pinochet team resorts to desperate dirty tricks, as its own slick commercial cynicism is thrown back in its face. Larrain’s film is engaging, witty, heartfelt and moving, and packs a real emotional punch in spite of its ironic lightness of touch.
Thame Cinema 4 All screenings are at The Players Theatre, Nelson Street, Thame. Doors open 7.30 pm and the film starts at 8pm. Licensed bar
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Thame Mayor launches ‘A place to reflect and remember’
A garden of reflection, dedicated to the young people of Thame who have tragically lost their lives, has been officially revealed by the Mayor of Thame, and recognised by launching hundreds of balloons into the sky.
Hundreds of relatives, friends and acquaintances, as well as town council representatives, gathered to celebrate the lives of those young people gone too soon, in an event that mixed entertainment, pathos and emotion, bringing the town together to see the fruition of a joint project between local business, volunteers and supporters of the Thame Youth Memorial.
In his dedication speech to the triangular garden in a corner of the Memorial garden in the Upper High Street,
the Mayor of Thame, Peter Lambert, told the crowd: “Within weeks of moving to Thame I couldn’t help but notice what a wonderful sense of community spirit this town has, and if anything, this Youth Memorial epitomises that spirit.”After praising the hard work and dedication of those who ‘faced and overcame many obstacles’ to produce what he called, ‘a stunning design’, the Mayor concluded: “We are now the guardians of this special place and I ask that all of you, whatever your age, please come together as a community and take ownership of this Memorial and help keep it as a place of pride and memory of those we have lost and will lose in the years to come.”
The programme included a song called ‘Bring Him Home’ sung by Ric Ashley Smith, and a speech of appreciation by Michael Oatway, a local Member of the Youth Parliament.
A further £6000 is still needed to cover a loan for final construction costs of the memorial. If you would like to make a donation you can do so via the Thame Youth Memorial Trust’s website at www.thameyouthmemorial.org.
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Energy group win funding to test homes
Image courtesy of sustainablebuildingsolutions.co.uk – Testing for draughts which means heat escape & wasted energy A group concerned about future energy security, based in Haddenham, is celebrating after it was awarded a grant of £3000 to buy equipment to do ‘air tightness’ testing to improve insulation in local homes.
Essentially this is a high tech way of identifying areas in rooms where improved draught proofing would reduce energy bills.
Haddenham Transition spokesperson, Robin Aitcheson, explained: “We are proposing to offer this as a service to local householders with a particular emphasis on households on low incomes and the elderly. We need volunteers to help with this project. Any help would be gratefully received – even just a few hours at some time in the next few months.”
Contact: Robin via editor@thame.net if you can help with this very worthwhile cause.
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‘Souvenirs’ from Freedom from Torture group at TAL
Members of the Freedom from Torture’s Write to Life group performing in Bath recently Freedom from Torture’s Write to Life group will be performing their play ‘Souvenirs’ at the Thame Arts and Literature Festival on Saturday, October 19, at 3.30 pm at the Player’s Theatre in Nelson Street, Thame.
‘Souvenirs’ is a piece of verbatim theatre – but performed by the protagonists themselves. Woven from the personal stories of five members of Freedom from Torture’s Write to Life group, by Christine Bacon of Ice & Fire Theatre, and directed by Melanie Spencer of Tamasha Theatre, ‘Souvenirs’ has been performed in Bath and London to packed houses.
Tracy, from the group, said: “What happened to me, the marks on my body, the memories, they are going to be my souvenirs. “I want to show people how I feel. In my struggle I did not have a voice and I want the world to know the truth. Talking, acting, writing about it, it’s another way to free myself.”
For more information about Souvenirs, Freedom from Torture and the Write to Life group, please go to our website:
http://www.freedomfromtorture.org/news-blogs/7166
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Bridge players ‘on tour’ in Thame for the day
Jeannette Matelot Green receives a cheque contribution to Thame Museum funds after a very successful Bridge Cafe tournament in Thame THE first Thame Café Bridge Day, where participants play a game of bridge in a rolling programme of venues, was held recently when 80 players from near and far played bridge at five venues around the town.
The HQ for the day was the Spread Eagle Hotel with bridge also being played at the Thame Museum, the Mia Capri restaurant , The House of Spice and Rumsey’s.
The day’s play ran from 11am until lunch at 1.15pm, at the various venues, and then an afternoon of bridge again from 2.30pm till 4pm. Those playing at the Museum lunched at The Thatch.
The prizes were presented by the Deputy Mayor of Thame, Jeannette Matelot-Green, who also accepted a cheque for £500 on behalf of Thame Museum from Robert Procter, Chairman of the Oxfordshire Bridge Association, being the proceeds from the day.
The winners were:
North/South Sandra Claridge & John Williams ; 2nd Clive Keep & Colin Jones
East/West John Moss & Christine Ewing; 2nd Anne Kirtland & Sheila Rogers
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Thame Utd beaten in Bluefin cup first round
THAME United were defeated 1-0 at Milton United in a Bluefin Sports League Cup , first round fixture last Saturday (28/09), and have now lost their last three matches, albeit they were all played away from home. The side seems to be going through a lean spell, having failed to score in all three games. Saturday’s game did however see Thame reduced to 10 men for the majority of the match.
Thame dominated the opening exchanges and the game was 15 minutes old before their opponents mounted their first attack. Minutes later their second attack saw Ellis Hercules judged to have fouled in the box, and to have been the ‘last man’. A penalty was awarded and Hercules was shown a straight red card and dismissed from the pitch. Adam Bruce scored from the spot kick, driving the ball straight down the middle. Encouraged by their advantage, the home side played much better for the remainder of the half and possession was 50/50.
Thame did create some chances with Lynton Goss forcing a good save, and Luke Ricketts dribbling round the keeper, but by doing so put himself in a position where the angle made a shot impossible. He crossed the ball but the keeper smothered it before it could be knocked home.
The second half was uninspiring. Both Lewis Cordice and Rickets had chances but their shots were high. Substitutions were made, and Thame’s 10 men had the bulk of possession but, apart from a wide shot from Taylor Collins, there were no further chances. Goalkeeper, Lee Farrow came up for Thame’s last corner which was quickly cleared and Milton broke to attack as Farrow sprinted back, but Ian Pykett cleared the danger.
Thame United: Farrow, I Pykett, P Pykett, Hercules, Rhodes, Lynch (Davis), Goss, Connelly, Hodgkins (Collins), Cordice (Johnson), Ricketts.
After Tuesdays game against Clanfield, Thame are at home for two games. They face Abingdon United on Saturday, October 5, followed by Cheltenham Saracens on Tuesday, October 8.
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Ex Mayor of Thame dies after a long illness
© Copyright Peter Whatley – A lasting legacy of Delia Smith who died on Saturday THE death has been announced today of the former town councillor and former Thame Mayor, Delia Smith. In a tribute, Thame Town Council said: “It is with deep sadness that we received the news that Delia Smith passed away on Saturday, September 28, after a long illness. The Council expresses its sincere condolences to her family at this very difficult time.
” Delia served the town as a town, district and county councillor and was elected Mayor of Thame Council in 1979 and 1980. Delia cared passionately about her community and the people in it and devoted her time and energy to local politics making an outstanding contribution to the Civic Life of the town.
Ann Midwinter, South Oxfordshire District Councillor and former Mayor of Thame Town Council whilst Delia served as a town councillor, said: ‘Delia was a dedicated councillor and always had the town’s best interests at heart working tirelessly for the people of Thame.”
Delia Smith’s most significant achievement for Thame was probably her enthusiastic campaigning and support for a by-pass around the Thame.
© Copyright Peter Whatley – A lasting legacy of Delia Smith who died on Saturday