Thame.net

Author: Sonja Francis

  • 19/07/11..Social media workshop helps Thame4Business

    THAME’S newly revitalised and relaunched business group, Thame4Business, gathered together this morning to share breakfast and ideas about using social media to promote themselves and their businesses.

    The workshop and discussion, led by Cat Young of STW Thame, explained some of the benefits and pitfalls of using such applications as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Youtube.

    Sonja Francis, Acting Chair of Thame4Business said: “By the end of the morning, it was clear that, though many of us dabble in social media, it can be a powerful tool for raising our business and personal profiles, for driving people to our websites to see what we offer, and for reaching out to great numbers of potential customers and contacts for very little effort. I’m sure everyone there, whether ‘old hands’ at social media, or ‘newbies’ had learned something new or were fired up to give social media a go.

    “A very successful morning of making new contacts, sharing experiences and looking forward to how Thame4Business can continue to grow and work towards strengthening the business community of Thame.”

    The meeting room and fine continental breakfast was provided by Racquets fitness Centre, Thame.

    PHOTO: Workshop leader, Cat Young of STW Thame, and new Thame4Business member, Mary Ann Peregrine, Cake Decorator, Caterer and Patissier.

  • 18/07/11…A taste of Thame!

    IN Anticipation of this year?s Thame Food Festival, David Wilson Homes, this week treated a select group of guests to a scrumptious ‘movable feas at its Windmill Place development. The meal was organised to give a taster of what?s in store ahead of the festival, which takes place on Saturday, September 24, 2011.

    David Wilson Homes Southern, who is sponsoring the extensive Festival Programme, laid on the three course buffet at Windmill Place. Each of the three courses was served in a different show home, where the house builder also announced details of the generous prize it will be donating as part of the festival proceedings.
    The food was prepared by Thame?s very own What?s Cooking who used local produce in each of the three courses to give the lucky guests, including the festival?s patron, Lottie Duncan, a real taste of Thame.

    Paul Moran, Sales Director for David Wilson Southern commented: ?David Wilson Homes is proud to be a sponsor at the fourth Thame Food Festival and it?s great to be launching our involvement with the festival in each show home at Windmill Place. Our prize of a luxury meal for eight, cooked by a top local chef at Windmill Place will be a real treat for any food lover and I look forward to presenting it to the winner at the festival in September.”

    Thame Food Festival is a wonderful showcase for the passion of local artisan food and drink producers and retailers in and around Thame. The event falls within British Food Fortnight and is a celebration of everything that is right with food. Thame Food Festival promises to be a fun filled, free, family day out in the centre of this historic Oxfordshire market town. Highlights include a cook off with celebrity Chef Raymond Blanc, cooking demos and a food themed pub quiz at The Thatch.

    South Oxfordshire Market Town Co-ordinator, Alison Isherwood, who is heading up the organising of this year?s festival, commented: ?We are so excited about this year?s Thame Food Festival and it?s great that David Wilson Homes have been able to kick off the build up to the festival with the ?Taste of Thame? event at Windmill Place. The festival is a great event for all the family. There is a real focus on local food and businesses and we aim to bring the whole town together to share a wonderful food-fuelled experience.?

    The showhomes were great properties to accommodate all the guests and demonstrated the fantastic spaces for entertaining within the stylish show homes. Windmill Place currently has a range of two, three and four bed properties available with prices from

  • 18/07/11….21st Century Chicken Uses Her Loaf!

    A CHAINSAW wielding chicken is the star of a fabulously updated traditional nursery tale created for children and their parents and running as part of this year?s Towersey Festival.

    THE LITTLE RED HEN is the hit family-friendly puppet show from Stuff and Nonsense Theatre Company performed by Helen Day and Adam Fuller and directed by Marc Parrett. Featuring a Pig with an iPod, a Rat with a mobile phone and a lazy Cow with a fake tan, the star is a hardworking Red Hen who wants to make her own bread but can?t get anyone to help her. Cutting the corn is a particularly big task for such a small bird and she has to use a variety of amazing tools, including a pair of garden shears and a crazy puppet chainsaw to achieve her goal.

    The hugely loveable puppets are created and directed by puppet maestro, Marc Parrett, who has worked with Bristol Old Vic, Aardman Animations and The RSC.
    Stuff and Nonsense Theatre Company has teamed up with leading early-years performance expert Niki McCretton to create an enormously entertaining show featuring live music, ingenious puppets and a fantastically eccentric threshing machine. The show also uses simple British Sign Language.

    ?I wish I was five again. Then I could let out unselfconscious whoops of hilarity and yelps of excitement??. A truly enchanting hour for children – and their parents.?
    Roger Malone, The Stage newspaper

    Towersey is a truly local Festival (based just outside Thame) that prides itself on being the best holiday experience for families. As well as one-off shows like The Little Red Hen, our unique ?Festival Experience? ticket to our Showground offers all the buzz, atmosphere, magic and colour that you would expect from any major festival and it does it all just down the road and for only

  • 18/07/11…Thame Utd lack final finishing in pre-season opener

    MANAGER Mark West has expressed his pleasure with Thame?s first half performance against Burnham on Saturday, despite his team falling to a 4-1 defeat. Burnham started brightly but after 10 minutes Thame got into their stride and dominated the majority of the remainder of the half.

    Conor McDonagh looking very lively up front with Alex Stewart and Aaron Rogers excelling in a wide midfield role. Jon Steadman impressed also in the central defensive role with Sam Cowan. Thame really should have been three goals up before the interval and Dan West was very unlucky with a tremendous volley from 20 yards that clipped the bar.

    Thame?s approach play at times was excellent with some really good flowing moves that just lacked the final finis. West commented after the game: ?The performance was more important than the result and after making a lot of changes at half-time it gave Frank and myself an opportunity to look at some of the other players but overall, I’m really happy with what we saw.”

    On Tuesday (July 19), Thame have a local derby as they face Aylesbury FC, with a 7.45pm kick-off. This will be followed by another Southern League side on Thursday, July 21, when Marlow FC visit the ASM stadium. Kick off for this match is 7.30pm and the week is completed on Saturday, July 23, with another local derby against Aylesbury United, kick off at 3.00pm. Please come along and support the team at the ASM.

    SOURCE: Contributed

  • 18/07/11…..Help needed for Towersey festival

    Dear Friends, we are getting a little desperate. Due to the geography it is not easy for Joe and I to pop down to Thame and dish out flyers so we do rather depend on you, our local Stewards. We really appreciate the work you do for us and hope that just a couple of you would be able to stretch your diaries to help us in the next few weeks.

    On the 30th July it is Thame Show. There is no better spot to get all the people of Thame together in one space and distribute flyers. This could be done either inside the Show or at the gates on the way in, or wherever you are able to go. We are happy to pay for your entry fee into the Showground. Please would somebody volunteer to do this. Many thanks to those who have already said they can?t. I hope there are a couple hiding out there who can.

    Soon after that, on August 11-13 there is an Italian Market in Thame, another perfect spot to do the distribution. I hope somebody will come forward soon and give us the good news. Wilber Sears and friend are already on board ? we need 2 more.

    I look forward to hearing from you.

    With all best wishes,
    Steve Heap
    Festival Director
    ___________________________________
    TOWERSEY FESTIVAL
    25-29 August 2011

  • 18/07/11…Technical theatre course at Thame Youth Theatre

    THIS year Thame Youth Theatre is offering alongside its summer project, a technical theatre course. Students taking part will be able to learn skills in lighting, sound, set design/construction, costume, and stage management.

    They will then create various necessary tasks during the week in these skill sets and then at the end of the week operate the show for the summer project. The course will run the same week as the Little Shop of Horrors Project (Monday 15th-Friday 19th August) but unlike the main project, will be for 14-18yr olds. There are only very limited places available so get in touch ASAP if you are interested.

    Key details are:
    Who: Young People aged 14-18
    When: Monday 15th ?Friday 19th August 2011
    Where: Thame Youth Theatre, Lord Williams?s Lower school, Thame
    How to enrol: send an email to Megan Hudson ? admin@thameyouththeatre.co.uk or call now 07805 88 58 46!
    What: The exciting and fun experience of learning skills in technical theatre and preparing to operate and facilitate the show: The Little Shop of Horrors.
    Deadline: Monday 11th July

    CONTACT: Thame Youth Theatre
    c/o Lord Williams’s Lower School, Towersey Road, Thame, Oxon, OX9 3NW
    T: 07805 88 58 46
    E: admin@thameyouththeatre.co.uk
    W: www.thameyouththeatre.co.uk

    ***THAME YOUTH THEATRE is now featured on the fab new iPhone app iThame. Download it free now!***

  • 13/07/11……Line up grows for Thame’s literature festival

    THE line up of guests and events for this year?s TAL (Thame Arts & Literature) festival is taking shape. With over 30 authors, journalists and writers already booked, this year’s festival promises a packed weekend of talks, concerts, plays, poetry, workshops and art.

    The festival will take place over the weekend of October 14 to 16, 2011, and with schools and children?s events too, this, the second TAL Festival, looks as though it will be every bit as exciting as the first Thame Arts and Literature Festival which took place last June.

    The main venue this year will be Christchurch in Upper High Street Thame but various events will also be staged at Thame Museum, The Players theatre and other establishments around the town.

    This year’s festival quiz at the Barns Centre will be bigger and better than ever, especially as the questions will be posed by expert question-master, Andrew Cameron. Andrew lives in Chinnor and is renowned for his charity quiz nights.

    For more information about talks, workshops, exhibitions, concerts and everything else you need to know about TAL, visit: http://www.talfestival.org/

  • 13/07/11…Macbeth in the open air – a review – By Nicholas Newman

    NICHOLAS Newman, a long-time contributor and friend of ThameNews.Net, went to see the Oxford Theatre Guild?s performance of Macbeth at Trinity College gardens last night and felt moved to send us this review:

    LAST night?s Oxford?s Theatre Guild?s performance of Macbeth combined full-on percussive bashing of swords and Shakespeare?s magical language to make this this two and a half hour performance simply come alive!

    Macbeth, played with passion by Peter Malin, is the man who would be King of Scotland, who struggles with ambition, doubt and his conscience as he takes the treacherous path to kill King Duncan and many of his family and supporters.

    Oddly enough, the machinations depicted in the play reminded me of recent political coups in distant lands.

    The setting the play in Trinity college gardens was simply magical and much appreciated by the audience was the care Oxford Theatre Guild had taken in providing blankets and hot drinks to keep out the summer evening chill.

    The direction by James Reilly and Jessica Welch was exceptional; the acting was superb and the work of the backstage team simply excellent. I especially appreciated the makeup design by Becky Brown, and the dripping blood by Cherry Mosteshar – it looked very realistic!

    Whether you love Shakespeare or tempted to try it for the first time, this production is certainly something to see!

    The play runs until July, 22, 2011

    www.trinity.ox.ac.uk/
    www.oxfordtheatreguild.com

    Outdoor summer Shakespeare Macbeth12-22 July

  • 13/07/11…Towersey Festival wants to return to its ‘local’ roots

    THAT was the message from the organisers of the Towersey Festival, the village fund-raiser that forty seven years later, has become an international event.

    After welcoming visitors to the festival launch last night at the Phoenix studio in Thame, Steve Heap, one of the original festival organising team, explained how the festival had grown away from the locals to some extent, but was now determined to involve local musicians, artists and anyone else who wants to be a part of the festival.

    In 47 years, the Towersey Festival has raised around a quarter of a million pounds for local good causes, including the original raison d’etre of the first festival, the rennovation of the Towersy sports pavilion, and repairs to the village church.

    This year’s Towersey Festival promised to be bigger and better and more opportunities for local musicians will include a busking square where anyone can just turn up and – well, busk.

    For full details about this year’s Towersey Festival and the full line-up of acts and activities, visit:

    www.towerseyfestival.com/

    PHOTO: One of Thame’s up-and-coming young musicians, Wilber Sears plays for last night’s guests.

  • 12/07/11…..Thame4Business invitation to breakfast

    THAME4BUSINESS, the recently re-launched business group, isn’t resting on its laurels after the success of its recent Business Family Fun Day.

    A follow-up breakfast event is being planned for next Tuesday, July 19, at Racquets in Thame, starting at 8am.

    The theme for the morning will be “Social Media ? to do or not to do?”

    Are you already using Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook to promote your business?

    Have you made a start but not sure what to do next?
    Or are you a Social Media novice?

    We?ll all share our experience to debate and discuss the pros & cons of using Social Media to promote your business.

    We’ll work out which platforms are best for us, and we’ll share our ‘top tips’ with each other.

    No matter what level of Social Media interaction you’ve had, this session will help you make the most of your online activity.

    The session will be facilitated by Cat Young.
    Cat is a partner in STW, a digital marketing agency based here in Thame. She has over 15-years? experience in IT, has been soft-skills trainer since her student days, has delivered IT courses throughout Oxfordshire for ACL and has written & facilitated over 100 sessions on SEO, Online Marketing and Social Media in the last 8 years alone!

    WHERE? Racquets Fitness Centre, Thame Cattlemarket, North Street, Thame, Oxon OX9 3TH

    WHEN? Tuesday, July 19, 2011, 8am to 9.30am. ? COST