Thame.net

Author: Sonja Francis

  • 04/10/11……On the treadmill for Thame Young Carers

    SHOPPERS in Thame on Saturday may have spotted a young man running on a treadmill outside the Freerange shop in Cornmarket, Thame.

    The chap in question was Nigel Pattison who is in training for a marathon run across coast-to-coast to raise money for Thame’s Young Carers charity.

    Thame Rotarians have provided Nigel with a treadmill to help him with his training and he’ll be there, in front of Freerange, every Saturday afternoon between 14.00 and 16.00 from until October 15.

    The Rotary Club of Thame will be giving logistic support to Nigel Pattison, who plans to run 150 miles in the last week of October.

    Nigel hopes to raise

  • 03/10/11…Battling Thame crash out to Oxford City

    FA cup Second Qualifying Round: Saturday, October 1, 2011; Thame United 1, Oxford City 3. MATCH REPORT (Contributed)

    THAME united were defeated 1-3 in the FA Cup at the ASM Stadium on Saturday, by on-form Oxford City. Thame?s opponent?s play in the Evostik Southern League where they currently occupy second place, having won seven of their 10 games. United play two leagues lower and have won two from six. Nevertheless it was Thame who were leading at half time.

    Several Key players were missing for United due to injury, suspension and holidays forcing five changes from the team that defeated Brackley in the previous round. The game, which attracted 426 spectators, was played in a temperature of 29 degrees, and understandably, the pace was slow at times.

    After an even first five minutes the visitors started to threaten the Thame goal but United keeper Nick Bennion was in superb form making several quality saves. Thame defended well, and at times had 10 players in their penalty area, leaving Alex Macdonald as the sole striker. It was one-way-traffic for a while with the home team making the occasional foray into the City half. Then, on 29 minutes an overhead ball from Ian Pykett found a city player on the right touchline but the Thame?s tricky winger Ben Connolly robbed him and travelled before playing a delightful ball to Macdonald putting him through on goal until he was clattered by a city defender.

    The referee rightly pointed to the penalty spot. Thame captain Jon Stedman comfortably converted the spot kick, giving the keeper no chance. Thame continued to contain the City threat for the remainder of the half.

    The ?writing was on the wall? when City hit the woodwork with their first attack after the restart. The equaliser came in the 49th minute when a long goal kick which somehow eluded the Thame defence, was allowed to bounce, and City striker Steve Basham headed the ball over the oncoming Bennion. The visitors struck again within a minute when enough space was created on the left for Felipe Barcelos to finish well from 20-yards. The visitor?s third goal came on 66 minutes with a 15-yard strike from Darren Pond. The remainder of the match saw Thame trying to counter attack but the visitors snuffed out any chances and the visiting keeper was not really tested.

    The exhausted Thame side left the pitch knowing they were out of the cup but also knowing that, at times, they had played above their level and had given it their all.

    Thame United’s clash with Oxford City was filmed by FATV and appeared on The FA.com website and on www.YouTube.com/FATV.
    LINK

    Thame United: Bennion, I Pykett, P Pykett, Steadman (Hocking), Brown (N Rhodes), Cowan, Connelly, Hayes, MacDonald, Rogers, Hall (Barr)

    PICTURE: Courtesy of pitch-side-stories.blogsport.com

  • 03/10/11…Changes to Haddenham bus routes etc due to roadworks

    OCTOBER: Tues 4th – Mon 10th, ROAD WORKS IN HADDENHAM: The long awaited work to resurface Tacks Lane/Fort End/Banks Rd (from the Rising Sun to the junction of Banks Rd with Stokes Croft) will be taking place. The road is due to be closed to through traffic from Tuesday 4th to Friday 7th of October or possibly till Monday 10th. A diversion will go via Thame Rd/Station Rd/Churchway and vice versa.

    The 280 buses from Oxford will go to the station as normal but then back track to go down Station Road and up Churchway as far as the village hall crossroads where they will pick up the normal route along Woodways and past the Haddenham Medical Centre. Buses from Aylesbury will follow the same route in reverse.

  • 03/10/11….What’s going on in Haddenham in October?

    IF you have a surplus of apples you can take them along to be pressed (or contact Greg and Lindsey on 290331 if you need help with picking or transporting them) but don?t forget to take a container for your juice. Surplus vegetables, jams, chutneys etc. will be most welcome on our Harvest of Haddenham bring-and-buy stall or you can sell your surpluses from your garden or allotment yourself. Any profits made will go to more projects like the apple press, which Haddenham in Transition loans out so that people can use their surplus apples rather than wasting them.

    Mon 3rd U3A. At Haddenham U3A?s October meeting at 2.15pm for 2.30pm at the Youth and Community Centre, Woodways, there?s a return visit from the popular speaker Dr Tony Maisey, retired GP from Princes Risborough. He will be speaking on the topic ?How and Why we Age? and you can expect an informative, participative and highly amusing – but definitely not depressing ? afternoon!

    Mon 3rd Parish Council. Villagers will be welcome at the council?s meeting in the Walter Rose Room at Haddenham Village Hall from 7.30pm. If you have any questions or comments for the council, you can air them in the open forum following the meeting.
    Tues 4th Tea Dance. The next tea dance is on Tuesday,

    October 4, (2-4pm) in the Village Hall. Entry is

  • 03/10/11….Thame’s hockey men beat local rivals in pre-season warm up

    THAME Men?s 1st XI came through a tough pre season match beating local rivals Aylesbury 3-2 giving them strong momentum going into the their first league fixture next week. Thame started strongly dominating possession through the midfield preventing the Aylesbury side, positioned two division higher, from gaining any momentum.

    The Thame defence looked well organised and in control, as the game progressed Thame pushed forward with great distribution, particularly from man of the match Sam Seddon causing the home side numerous problems. Thame were finally rewarded when Sam Hall picked up the ball after a broken down penalty corner and finished emphatically into the roof of the goal. Mark Brooks soon added to the tally with a great individual goal rounding the keeper giving the visitors a 2 goal lead at the interval.

    The second half saw Thame reduced to 10 men as Alex Merrick was forced to leave the pitch. Thame continued to work hard but Aylesbury pushed to exploit their numeric advantage and after a number of penalty corners were rewarded with a goal. Thame responded and restored the 2 goal lead when Brooks fired home his second of the match. As the second half neared the end having 10 men took its toll and Aylesbury used their subs well and exposing the tired Thame legs pulled a consolation goal back to finish the game 3-2.

    SOURCE: Contributed

    All four adult teams kick their seasons off on Saturday. The ladies and men’s firsts are both playing Amersham.

  • 03/10/11….Could Thame’s cows be herded off the streets of Thame?

    THAME’S plastic black and white cows, its pigs, ‘A’ boards and other structures, could soon be driven off the streets if Thame Town Council has its way.

    The council’s Planning and Environment committee will tomorrow be asked to comment on a draft policy drawn up by town hall staff, to deal with ‘Unauthorised signs and structures on the Highway.’

    The council states in its report to councillors that: “In recent years there has been a steady increase of unauthorised obstructions placed within the Highway, and the town council has received a number of complaints from the public regarding clutter on pavement.”

    At a meeting of the council’s Planning committee last November, one councillor described the cows as “a bit of nightmare,” adding that they should “be sent to a field.”

    At a previous meeting of the committee, councillors said that some boards were causing a hazard to prams and wheelchairs because they are either too large of placed where pavements are too narrow.

    The plastic cows and pigs, notably present outside Newitt’s, the James Figg and The Thatch however, have attracted a lot of admirers and there is even a Save-The-Thame Cows campaign which was been launched on Facebook, and has over 500 members signed up. See http://www.causes.com/causes/546214-save-the-thame-cows?m=d1cf7fea

    The council says that it will consult with local business “to achieve a workable compromise that not only suits their needs but those using the pedestrian highway.”

    The town council will not, it seems, have any jurisdiction over structures placed on private land, away from the official Highway, places like the Upper High Street for instance where the ownership extends out under pavements where cellars are. The boundary can often be distinguished by a change in pavement surface between paving slabs and tarmac or some other different surface.

    Tomorrow night’s meeting of the planning and environment committee begins at 6.30pm at the town hall.

  • 01/10/11…….Submarine coming to Thame Cinema!

    SATURDAY, October 1, 2011 -THAME Cinema 4 All presents: SUBMARINE UK 2010, 96 minutes, 15 certificate –
    Directed by Richard Ayoade, Starring Craig Roberts, Paddy Considine, Noah Taylor, Sally Hawkins, Yasmin Paige

    BRITISH Director Ayoade?s directorial debut is a coming of age teen love story set in a perennially damp, down-at-heel 1980?s Swansea. Heavy on deadpan irony and Wes Anderson-esque visual style, it is also distinctly British, laugh-out-loud funny and genuinely moving.

    Roberts plays Oliver Tate, not one of the crowd at school but with ambitions for elevated social status and a detached contempt for the foibles of his peers. He secretly loves the troubled Jordana, who has pyromaniac tendencies and a capacity for cruelty, but who nonetheless eventually warms to Oliver. The two enjoy an unconventional but mutually comforting relationship, a refuge from troubled lives at home: Jordana?s mother is seriously ill; Olivers parents have hit the marital doldrums. Dad Lloyd (Taylor ? wonderful) is a biologist who struggles to engage with anyone lacking postgraduate level understanding of marine species; Mum Jill (Hawkins) is lonely and unfulfilled. The situation is exacerbated by the return of Jill?s erstwhile sweetheart (Considine), now an appalling self-help guru clad in black leather and specialising in unleashing colour auras. For all its dazzling visual swagger and knowing self-confidence, the film is nonetheless very tender towards its misfit protagonists and has great sympathy for lives that don?t always measure up to expectations.

    One of the best British movies of 2010.

  • 30/09/11…..The cappuccino world record – have they done it?

    WHAT were staff from a pub in Thame doing on a 280 bus giving out cappuccinos this morning?

    Both The Thatch and its sister pub, The James Figg, are waiting anxiously to find out whether their attempt at breaking the Guinness World Record for the number of cappuccinos made in one hour has been successful.

    This morning, between 10am and 11am, Baristas from both pubs pressed, squeezed and hissed their way through producing 123 cups of coffee – beating the current world record by 17 cappuccinos!

    The attempt at the World Record was in aid of The MacMillan Cancer Support World’s Largest Coffee Morning, who will get

  • 30/09/11…Choosing a primary school in Thame?

    IT’S that time of year when parents of rising fives start to look at primary schools for their children.

    If you are one of those parents, St Joseph?s Catholic Primary School in Brook Lane, Thame, will be holding an open afternoon on Thursday, October 6, from 1.30 until 2.45 pm. We warmly invite you to drop in to have a look at our fabulous school and see us ?in action?.

    St Joseph?s is a single-form entry school. We are very proud of our wonderful warm family atmosphere, our caring staff and, of course, our fantastic, talented pupils! We welcome applications from all families, regardless of faith or background.

    Please telephone the school on 01844 214278 or see our website www.st-josephs.oxon.sch.uk for more information.

  • 30/09/11…And the ladies wore hats – 10 years of Twinning

    SO impressed were they by the hats they saw on television being worn by the guests at the royal wedding last May, that Thame’s twin town requested that their Thame visitors last weekend wore hats and dresses at the celebration dinner for their 10th anniversary.

    Over 30 members of Thame and District Twinning Association made an early start last Friday to celebrate 10 years of its ‘jumelage’ with Montesson, near Paris, and John Francis, TDTA’s Treasurer, became Thamenews.net’s European correspondent for the weekend (because of your editor’s involvement with the Thame Food Festival) and contributed his memories of the weekend:

    “Leaving Thame at 7am, Matt the coach driver (Mason’s) made light work of the journey through the ‘tunnel’ and on to Montesson to arrive an hour before schedule. Time to relax with a beer before the official reception. After the welcoming speeches we left with to spend the evening with our hosts.

    The following morning it was back on the coach for the short journey to Paris. In the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, in glorious weather, we boarded our Bateaux Mouche for a trip along the Seine, one of the most relaxing ways to take in the major sites of Paris, Le Grand Palais, Assemblee Nationale, Musee du Louvre and the fantastical Cathedrale Notre-Dame.

    After a picnic lunch we crossed the Seine for a visit to the Musee d?Orsay. The Museum is housed in a part of the former Orsay railway station, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900. This wonderful building is the perfect setting for the exhibition of mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915. It includes paintings, sculptures and an extensive display of art nouveau furniture (my personal highlight). The original station also provided a baroque ballroom and large hotel.

    We started the afternoon with a guided tour followed by a couple of hours to spend either in the Museum or surrounding area.

    That evening, hosts and guests were treated to a reception and meal at the Maison du Parc in Montesson. After speeches in celebration of ten years of twinning and exchange of gifts to commemorate the event, the younger members of the group released a mass of blue and yellow balloons.

    On Sunday morning time was spent with our hosts, some travelling to nearby Versailles, some attending church or visiting Montesson market. After lunch farewells were exchanged before boarding the bus for the journey home. Once more we made good progress arriving home at around 9.30pm having gained an hour because of the time difference, tired but happy.”

    Jeannette Matelot Green, TDTA’s Chair, added: “It was a fantastic weekend! The Montesson Twinning committee have given us a wonderful milestone bollard with the words: “495 kilometers to Montesson” written on it, which we shall find a special place for in the town. Watch this space!

    “We gave them a tapestry of the two twin towns’ logos and the dates 2001 – 2011 stitched onto it, made by your’s truly which will hang in Montesson’s town hall.

    “This year we were especially pleased to have with us on the trip Sophie and Sarah Jane from the Safari group in Thame, and their carer, Helen Gray. I hope this is the beginning of a very successful relationship between Safari and Thame Twinning.”

    PHOTO: Jeannette Matelot Green in her ‘fascinator’ style hat, Don Butler and the Mayor of Montesson, Jean Francois Bel