HUNDREDS of Scandinavian fans of the TV series, Midsomer Murders, are expected to visit Thame in the coming months.
Local hotels, attractions and restaurants able to host groups of 30-40 people feature in the tour which has been developed by Select Travel. The company envisages bringing seven groups during 2013, providing an economic boost to those towns.
THE Thame Loyalty Card Scheme which was launched in the summer of 2011, continues to attract wide membership among the shoppers of Thame, and from January, a new Administrator will aim to ensure it goes from strength to strength.
Alison Isherwood has been appointed by the 21st Century Thame Partnership, which devised the scheme, to encourage local people to support local, independent shops, cafes and services which face more and more the challenge of competition with large, out-of-town shopping centres in bigger towns close by.
Cat Young, Chair of 21st Century Thame, said: ?As Thame’s former Town Centre Co-ordinator, and one of the team that set up the Loyalty scheme, Alison is well placed to continue building relationships with the local retailers and service providers, and to encourage even more of them to take part in the scheme.
“It is in everyone?s interest to keep Thame town centre as a vibrant and viable shopping attraction and to keep the ?Thame pound? in Thame!?
So far, the scheme has almost a thousand card-holding members, including Thame?s MP, John Howell, who have each paid just
BIG Band Swing Night, featuring invited guests SOUNDFORCE at The British Legion, Hadow Road, Marston, OX3 0JW – Thursday 31st January 2013; 8pm?10.30pm
A night of BIG BAND MUSIC (with Bar) featuring
The Velvet Tones big band directed by MICHAEL WILKINS.
Come and listen to the band FREE! Yes Free.
If you?re busy,ust pop in for a drink; if you?ve not heard a big band before, come along and hear for yourself.
If you are a musician, teacher, student, pop in and meet others.
See you there!
THAMES Valley Police is appealing for witnesses following a burglary in Tiddington, near Thame.
On Wednesday (30/1), between 12:45pm and 1.30pm, a property in South View, was burgled.
Offender(s) gained entry via a front door. Property stolen included a jewellery box, jewellery and cash.
Please be extra vigilant. If you have seen any suspicious looking people or vehicles in the area or have any information relating to this message please call the police on 101 and state you are responding to a Thames Valley Alert message.
Alternatively if you have information but wish to remain anonymous, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online @ crimestoppers-uk.org. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.
THE police are warning vehicle owners to be vigilant after a spate of thefts of Catalytic Converters in the South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse areas.
Thieves are crawling under vehicles and stealing the Catalytic portion of the exhaust, leaving the vehicles disabled. Sprinter vans, estate cars and people carriers have all been targeted.
Fourteen thefts have been reported in the South Oxon and Vale area between November 2012 and January 2013. Four in Chinnor, three in Didcot, one in Benson, two in Watlington, two in Abingdon and two in Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford.
The most recent theft occurred overnight between 27 and 28 January, in Eason Drive, Abingdon.
Catalytic Converters are widely known by thieves to have a high scrap value due to the metal coating which contains precious metals including platinum.
You can protect vehicles with a CatClamp or property mark Catalytic Convertors using a specially designed security marking kit. Please click on the links below for further details:
http://www.solonsecurity.co.uk/product_info.php?product_id=1037&cat=3
Please be extra vigilant. If you see anyone acting suspiciously in or around vehicles or if you have any information relating to this message, please call the police as soon as possible on the 24 hours non-emergency telephone number 101 or call 999 for crime in progress.
Alternatively if you have information but wish to remain anonymous, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.
FOLLOWING yesterday’s news that Thame Town Council intends to provide a round, seated planter on the Millenium Circle in the High Street, it has today expanded on its decision.
In a statement today, the council said: “Constructed in 1999 to mark the Millennium, the Circle gives the area an identity similar to Buttermarket or Swan Walk. It was hoped that a statue or piece of street furniture could be installed there, but unfortunately there was not sufficient money available at the time.
“There has been a marked increase in the number of people using this paved area for parking, which is both spoiling the town environment and starting to damage the paving.
“The intention is that the planter will enhance this area of the town, attracting people and ultimately stopping illegal parking on the area.”
RELATED LINK
Dear Editor, I have lived in Thame for the pass 27 years and love the town, local businesses and the many long term ‘characters’ of Thame and above all, the real community spirit. Many people I meet in my line of work (I am a photographer), tell me how nice Thame and the people in it are, which always brings a smile to my face.
There is only one long-term dislike for me and I am sure for others in the town and that is our so called local paper, ‘The Thame Gazette’. I know if you look closely, it does state “and District”, but from an advertisement and, more importantly, a news perspective, the focus appears to be based on Aylesbury and district.
The producers of our “local” paper are based in Buckinghamshire. Not wishing to state the obvious, but Thame is in Oxfordshire. Secondly, when events are taking place in the town, they may send a representative along for 10 minutes to write a bit of ‘blurb” or take a few pictures, then try and make a story out of it. I know this for a fact, covering as I do events in Thame as a photographer, and seeing the TG reporter/photographer turn up for a short while.
I know there are costs involved, but a newspaper full of adverts and no real news is not a newspaper; it is an advertising sheet.
Am I over-reacting or have we just come to accept this so called ‘local” paper just because it is what it is, and because it’s been around for a long time? And because it comes through our door every Friday – well sometimes on a Saturday, and sometimes not at all?
I can get through most copies in about 90 seconds and I am a slow reader.
I understand that the paper is free, but that does not make it good, worthwhile or right for Thame.
Looking at your website, https://www.thame.net, it is clear that this is a website run and developed by someone who lives in Thame, knows Thame and most of the people and businesses in it; feet on the ground, going out into the community and reporting back on it. That’s the way the local paper should be run, in my honest opinion.
I do hope that someone local who has the time, energy and resource, can maybe look into producing something new for us.
Change is GOOD and I feel it’s about time Thame had a change, to be able to say ‘Goodbye’ to the Thame Gazette, and “Hello” to The Thame Times, would be great! That’s what I say. who’s with me?
Alternatively the name could be changed to ‘The Aylesbury and District Advertiser’ with the by-line (to quote the advert (tongue in cheek), “It does exactly what it says on the tin!” Then I for one would be happier.
I intend to send a copy of this to the Thame Gazette and see if they print it in the ‘letters’ section; they should do, after all it’s a Thame person’s perspective on the local Thame paper; freedom of speech and all that?? But there again, I am not going to hold my breath.
Best Regards
Frank Millar
Thame
frankmillar@mac.com
THAMES Valley Police is appealing for witnesses following a burglary, and the theft of metal in Thame.
On Tuesday (29/1), around 21.50hrs, offender(s) forced open a window at a property in Goffe Close, Thame. The aggrieved heard a bang and went to investigate and found a small key safe box and keys had been stolen from the window sill.
On Sunday (27/1), between 12:32hrs and 12:59hrs, steel was stolen from a metal bin outside a business premises in Station Road. Two suspects were seen with a vehicle.
Thames Valley Police is looking to speak to the owner of a white drop side lorry, model LDV 400 Convoy D LWB, registration number Y714 GDM, in connection with this incident.
The suspects are described as two white males, one aged 30 years, bald and wearing glasses; the second suspect is described as being of stocky build with dark hair.
If you have seen any suspicious looking people or vehicles in the area or have any information relating to this message please call the police on 101 as soon as possible.
Alternatively if you have information but wish to remain anonymous, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online @ crimestoppers-uk.org. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.
THE Dial-a-Ride service in South Oxfordshire, which is a door-to-door, pre-booked service for disabled and mobility-impaired people is under threat because it is under used.
The Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC)believes that this is largely because there was no existing service in this district before April 2012 and therefore no existing members.
“We would really encourage people to use this service,” said an ORCC spokesperson. “As ever, the choice comes down to ?use it or lose it?!”
The Thame area service is on Tuesdays ? Thame, Chinnor and Watlington Service To include Adwell, Aston Rowant, Beckley, Brightwell Baldwin, Britwell Salome, Chinnor, Crowell, Cuddesdon and Denton, Cuxham, Elsfield, Forest Hill, Garsington, Great Haseley, Great Milton, Holton, Horspath, Little Milton, Lewknor, Pyrton, Shirburn, Stanton St. John, Stoke Talmage, Sydenham, Tetsworth, Thame, Tiddington, Towersey, Waterperry, Waterstock, Watlington, Wheatfield, Wheatley, And Woodeaton parishes, providing journeys to/from Thame, Chinnor or Watlington.
Details about the Dial-a-Ride service are on the county council?s website or you can call 0845 310 1111 for more information about becoming a member.
THE circular paved area in Thame High Street, known as the Millenium Circle, may soon be occupied – 14 years after it was built.
Thame Town Council’s Culture, Leisure and Recreation Committee voted at its meeting last night (29/01) to purchase a seated, circular planter for the Millenium Circle, and to recommend to the full council that, unless sponsorship can be found, the council pays for it.