Thame.net

Author: Sonja Francis

  • 17/09/12….Locals to feature in House make-over programme

    THE work of a business from the Thame area is to feature in Sarah Beeny?s new Channel 4’s property show, ?Double your House for Half the Money?. The episode of the series, to be screened tomorrow, September 18, features the story of how a local family set about creating their perfect family home in the village of Easington, near Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire.

    Their late 19th century farm worker’s cottage was in a fantastic location, but was much smaller than required for the Croft-Baker?s growing family. Local company, Porter Consulting and Management Services Limited (PCMS), stepped in to project-manage the build which includes a rear extension, side extension and substantial internal alterations.

    The number of bedrooms was doubled to four, a family bathroom and large new en-suite was installed and a large and flexible kitchen/dining/living space was created by extending to the side of the house.

    The camera crew, production company and, of course, Sarah Beeny herself paid regular visits to the site to keep up with progress, keeping a lasting record of the project at every stage. Being filmed has given an extra impetus to everyone involved to finish on time.

    Director of PCMS Alex Bond said: ?It was a very rewarding and fascinating experience to be involved with this project. Everyone, including our own staff, the construction firm, and particularly the family themselves pulled together to meet all the deadlines and the Croft-Bakers now have a beautiful family home finished to a very high standard.?

    The focus of the new Channel 4 series is about families maximising the use of all potential space in their existing homes, extending every which way and combining this with internal reconfiguration to deliver larger and more flexible living areas. The challenge is to increase space by up to 100% for much less money than it would have cost to move into a larger home.

  • 17/09/2012……Local business to feature on house make-over show

    THE work of a business from the Thame area is to feature in Sarah Beeny?s new Channel 4’s property show, ?Double your House for Half the Money?. The episode of the series, to be screened tomorrow, September 18, features the story of how a local family set about creating their perfect family home in the village of Easington, near Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire.

    Their late 19th century farm worker’s cottage was in a fantastic location, but was much smaller than required for the Croft-Baker?s growing family. Local company Porter Consulting and Management Services Limited (PCMS) stepped in to project-manage the build which includes a rear extension, side extension and substantial internal alterations.

    The number of bedrooms was doubled to four, a family bathroom and large new en-suite was installed and a large and flexible kitchen/dining/living space was created by extending to the side of the house.

    The camera crew, production company and, of course, Sarah Beeny herself paid regular visits to the site to keep up with progress, keeping a lasting record of the project at every stage. Being filmed has given an extra impetus to everyone involved to finish on time.

    Director of PCMS Alex Bond said: ?It was a very rewarding and fascinating experience to be involved with this project. Everyone, including our own staff, the construction firm, and particularly the family themselves pulled together to meet all the deadlines and the Croft-Bakers now have a beautiful family home finished to a very high standard.?

    The focus of the new Channel 4 series is about families maximising the use of all potential space in their existing homes, extending every which way and combining this with internal reconfiguration to deliver larger and more flexible living areas. The challenge is to increase space by up to 100% for much less money than it would have cost to move into a larger home.

  • 17/09/12…Book your ‘Tour around the World’ with Chinnor Musical Theatre

    WHERE? Chinnor Village Hall; WHAT? ‘All Aboard’ – A Musical Tour around the World; WHEN? November 28 – December 1, 2012.

    This November, Chinnor Musical Theatre invite you on a trip around the World through music. They will be presenting a mix of songs featuring place names from around the World and even beyond…

    The ticket price includes a light supper, and if you book before the October 16, tickets are only

  • 17/09/2012….Defeat for Chinnor in high-scoring tussle

    MATCH REPORT (Contributed) for National 2S match on Saturday (15/09) – Chinnor RFC (away) 29 Vs Bournemouth 41.

    CHINNOR’S second away match in succession saw them lose 41-29 to Bournemouth on Saturday. With the previous match?s wingers not available, Tristan Corpe and Pip Seymour came into the side. Jordan Wood made his first full start of the season. With Tom Mowbray still injured, Liam Gilbert moved to the second row.

    Straight from the kick-off, Bournemouth immediately pressurised the Chinnor 22. On five minutes, Frazer Wilford touched down for the first of Bournemouth?s six tries of the day, and fly half Ben Stevenson converted to give the home side a 7-0 lead. Chinnor bounced back on the 11th minute where two phases of play from a 22 restart saw Corpe touchdown for an unconverted try. Stevenson, for Bournemouth, increased the home side?s lead to 10-5 with a well-struck penalty goal on the 18th minute.

    On the 21st minute, from a simple ball from a scrum, Bournemouth?s Scott Chislett powered over the line to increase the Bournemouth lead to 15-5. Stevenson improved the score to 17-5. Then, On the 36th minute, Chinnor failed to control a scrum in front of their posts. From the resultant turnover scrum, the ball was passed to Dan Pollard who skipped over for Bournemouth?s third try. Stevenson again converted to improve the home lead to 24-5 at half-time.

    Just four minutes after the restart, Chinnor replaced Ian stock with Joe Winpenny and Sam Stoop with Huw Morgan. The first try of the second half came on the 52nd minute courtesy of a Chinnor pushover try with Joe Kava touching down for the visitors to reduce Bournemouth?s lead to 24-10. Five minutes later, after a period of pressure from Bournemouth in the Chinnor corner, a grubber kick allowed Dunkerley to dot down for Bournemouth?s bonus point try. Stevenson again converted to increase the lead to 31-10.

    Chinnor then had a mini revival with two tries in quick succession. The first was from Matt Goode which was converted by Colver with Cathcart having left the field. The second came from Tristan Corpe, after turnover ball in the Chinnor 22 allowed a breakout and long kick downfield from Leo Fielding. Chinnor had now closed the gap to 31-22

    It then all went wrong for Chinnor. Straight from the restart, they conceded a soft try with Featherstone collecting the ball and cantering unopposed over the line for Bournemouth?s fifth try. Amazingly, Stevenson failed with the conversion, rattling the upright instead, leaving the score at 36-22. Chinnor looked certain to be scoring in the corner when the ball squirted out and was collected by Hardcastle who ran the length of the pitch to score Bournemouth?s final try of the day.

    With five minutes to go, Chinnor were not quite out of it. A line out from a penalty kick resulted in quick ball to Colver in the centre who burst over to score a bonus point try for Chinnor. Converting his own try, Colver finished the match for a 41-29 victory to Chinnor.

    Solid work from the Bournemouth pack underpinned much of the good work leading to most of the Bournemouth scores. Stevenson was the puppet master, conducting the game with intelligent direction and masterly kicking. The best team clearly won.

    Chinnor will be annoyed with their defensive frailties and will rue giving away two very soft tries which might otherwise made the contest much closer. Former Chinnor youth player, Jordan Wood, on his full debut caught the eye with his work rate. Joe Pickett had a good game and the lineout functioned well.

    Bill O’Donnell

    Scorers:
    Chinnor: Corpe 2T; Colver T; Kava T; Goode T; Colver 2C
    Bournemouth: Wilford T; Chislett T; Pollard T: Dunkerley T; Featherstone T; Hardcastle T: Stevenson 4C, PG

    Chinnor team:
    Colver, Seymour, Goode, Stoop (Morgan 44), Corpe, Cathcart (Fielding 56), Jones, Stock (Winpenny 44), Tattersall, Pickett (Berry 67), Gilbert, Smith, Wood, Williams (Sawyer 56), Kava
    Replacements: Winpenny, Berry, Sawyer, Morgan, Fielding

  • 17/09/12…..Thame through to Vase first round

    MATCH REPORT: FA Carlsberg Vase Second – Qualifying Round – Thame United 3, Buckingham Athletic 2 – THAME UNITED progressed to the FA Vase first round proper at the ASM Stadium on Saturday (15/09) when they defeated a physical Buckingham Athletic side 3-2. They conceded two soft goals in a close first half but then dominated the game after the restart.

    The visitors opened the scoring three minutes into the game when a low corner beat Thame defenders, allowing visiting striker, Phil Martin, to tap in from close range. For a while Buckingham were creating the chances and had two near misses before United recovered to equalise in the 13th minute. The goal came from United?s first corner when the ball was only half cleared and a subsequent shot was blocked only to be followed up by another shot which the keeper parried but the ball ran lose to Alex Stewart who quickly turned and fired home from 10-Yards.

    United were beginning to settle and creating some good chances when they again conceded a goal from a corner. This time the ball appeared to cross the goal line direct from the in-swinging corner kick, although it may have got a slight touch. United countered and equalised in the final minute of the first half. Long throw specialist, Matt Willet, hurled the ball into the penalty area and it was knocked out to Connor Hayes whose first time shot was deflected down to bounce over the keeper into the roof of the net.

    A few minutes after the restart, willet forced a good save when the visiting keeper tipped the ball over the bar. United took the lead in the 57th minute when Ben Connelly passed the ball to Willet ?on the overlap? and he hit a perfect cross to Stewart, who confidently headed his second goal home from 5-yards. Thame were in control and, although goalkeeper Lee Farrow made some routine saves, the visitors never looked like equalising. At the other end Connelly, Stewart and Hayes went close to increasing United?s lead.

    The next round is scheduled for October 15, when Thame will be at home to either Fairford Town or Hook Norton, who drew on Saturday.

    Bob Dixon

    Thame United: Farrow, Willett, Hall, Hercules, N Rhodes, Hayes, Connelly, West (Connor), Stewart, Barr, Ricketts (Evans).

    United are at the ASM Stadium again next Saturday (22/09) when they face Binfield in a league match.

  • 17/09/12….Drivers guilty of drink-driving

    TWO local drivers have been banned from driving by Oxford Magistrates for drink-driving.

    Mark Hawthorne, 44, of Youens Drive, Thame, admitted drink-driving in Stratton Way, Abingdon, on May 31. He had 87 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath, above the legal limit of 35 micrograms. He was fined

  • 14/09/12…Wanted: soldiers and cigarette girls

    THAME’S Lord Williams?s Festival Chorus is looking for new ?soldiers and cigarette girls? for their concert performance of the famous opera Carmen, in December.

    In a passionate story of flirting, fighting and tobacco, Bizet?s glorious opera will fill the Thame Leisure Centre stage with gypsies and toreadors.
    Choir chair, Claire Humphries, says: “We?re a friendly choir looking for anyone who loves singing to come and revel in some of the best-loved music ever written. There?s no audition, and we have a lot of fun. This term we are also singing Delius? Sea Drift ? which you might have seen on the first night of the Proms this summer ? and we?ve been awarded a very generous grant by the Delius Trust to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the composer?s birth.”

    Rehearsals are at Lord Williams?s Upper School hall, Oxford Road, Thame, on Monday nights from 7.30. Call Claire on 01844 215205 if you would like to try a session.

    Conducted by John Gibbons, the concert will take place at 7.30pm on December 8, at Thame Leisure Centre. Tickets cost

  • 14/09/12…Police seek green Vauxhall car after tools theft

    THAMES Valley Police is looking to speak to the owner of a green Vauxhall Vectra registration number T719 JBH to help them with their enquiries, after power tools were stolen from a van parked outside an Off Licence store.

    At around 10am on Thursday (13/09) offender(s) stole power tools from a van which was parked outside Unwins in Thame Road, Chinnor.

    If you see this vehicle please call the police as soon as possible on 101.

    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 the new national single non-emergency telephone number 101 and state you are responding to a Community 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.

  • 14/09/12…..Problems with the new AVDC recycling system? Some solutions

    A regular subscriber to ThameNews.Net, conscious of the the problems some house-holder in the Aylesbury Vale area have been having with the new waste collection service, and done some homework and come up with some useful suggestions.

    The following notes are aimed to specifically cover the particular problems which are still arising with the new system, and some of which have been highlighted on television. The waste and recycling hotline ? 01296 585510 ? is still extremely busy and AVDC regrets that callers will need to be extremely patient; alternatively email: contractservices@aylesburyvaledc.co.uk

    MISSING BINS

    If you do not have the bins you need you can report this by emailing AVDC on newbins@aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk ? or on the hotline.

    BINS NOT EMPTIED

    If your green bins (for food or general waste), or your blue-lid recycling bin are not emptied on their usual day (Thursday for Haddenham) you should leave them out and they will be emptied on the following day. Should your usual collection day be on a Friday, missed bins will be emptied after the week-end on the Monday.

    If you are reporting an unemptied bin you can email AVDC from the link ‘Report it’ on their homepage and choosing ‘missed collection’. Alternatively you can ring the hotline. However, if you whole road has been missed it is extremely likely that your bins will be emptied on the next day in any event.

    If your brown garden waste bin is not emptied you will need report it anyway and specifically arrange for it to be emptied on your next green bin day ? Thursday for Haddenham.

    WRONG SIZE BINS

    If you need a second bin of any kind you should ask for one by telephoning the hotline.

    While smaller blue-lid recycling bins may be obtained in due course, these are not available at present.

    UNWANTED NEW BINS

    Arrangements have still to be finalised for collecting any unwanted new bins ? for example if you do not have any food-waste to put in that bin.

    OLD BLACK BASKETS AND GREEN GLASS BOXES

    The District Council much regret that you may not have seen their publicity about collection of your old recycling containers. The position on this is now, as noted in some of the initial information that you received, that you will need to take these to a household waste recycling site ? for example Rabans Lane or Bledlow ? if you do not wish to keep them.

    PUBLIC RECYCLING BANKS IN HADDENHAM ? AND ELSEWHERE

    If you need to, or if you prefer to use the public ‘bring banks’ in the village, rather than the kerbside doorstep collection for your recycling, these bring banks are to remain on site ? at Banks Park, the train station and Haddenham Garden Centre – until further notice.

    SOURCE: Contributed

  • 14/09/12….Thame business has ‘Blueprint’ for better rankings

    ?THE web is the 21st century?s shop window and a company’s position in the search rankings on, what is these days the virtual high street, determines your success.? So says Sue Downhill, of STW Search & Marketing Ltd in Thame, one of the town?s thriving and innovative digital agencies.

    STW have a new website tool called Blueprint which draws content from a company?s website, so that longer search phrases lead visitors to their site, helping businesses compete online for that coveted Google #1 slot.

    Blueprint is the basis for a website that draws on content already available to the business. It enables the business to compete online even in the most competitive industries.

    Two businesses in Thame have been suitably impressed and have recently signed up with STW to take advantage of Blueprint. Both Thame Service Station and Anna McDonald Bridal Gallery have recently had Blueprint websites built to show off their wares. They are both already seeing increased traffic as a result.

    In Anna’s business it is difficult to get visits from people searching for ?wedding dresses? because so many other companies are competing online for the Google #1 slot for that short phrase. What Blueprint is able to do is to compete strongly for longer search phrases like ?Ivory Organza Wedding Dresses With Chapel Length Train?. This phrase hit the number one slot on page one within two weeks of going live along with many other descriptive phrases.

    Sue Downhill, who is STW?s technical director, says: ?We are very pleased to be able to offer Blueprint to help our fellow businesses in the local area. It represents the next step in SEO and will be successful for both large enterprises and suitable SME?s. We really believe it will increase online traffic and as a result increase sales.”

    PHTOTO: Anna McDonald (Left) Sue Downhill of STW (centre) and Karl White (Thame Service Station) right