Thame.net

Author: Sonja Francis

  • What’s happening in Haddenham from………….

    GREEN DRAGON. The Green Dragon, Churchway, re-opened for business on July 31. It was taken over by Oaktree Inns at the beginning of May and leased to the BBC for filming for a new series of ?The Restaurant? ? to be shown in the autumn. The premises have now been completely refitted and the venue has re-opened, as a ?classic country pub?, with a new team including general manager Rupert Hill (who grew up in Haddenham) and the chief chef and sous chef, who have come from The Swan, Tetsworth. Food, cooked with fresh seasonal ingredients, will be served daily at lunchtime and in the evening and there are 3 real ales on its beer list. Families and dogs will be very welcome and there?s even a jar of dog biscuits on the counter for your canine friends! The pub retains its original phone number ? 291403 ? but has changed its website address to: www.greendragonhaddenham.co.uk

    Sat 16th Police Surgery. The local PCSO will be holding a police surgery at Haddenham library on (10.00am-12noon).

    Sat 16th Line Dance. The next Pondarosa Line Dance social evening (8-11pm) in the Village Hall. Entry is

  • Survey shows millions enjoyed the Chilterns

    FIFTY five million leisure trips to the Chilterns in 2007 resulted in

  • Charities Fair in Thame – book before August 18

    A CHARITIES Fair is to be held in Thame town hall on November 18, and the organisers, led by Cllr Beatrice Dobie, need local groups which would like to take part should register by August 18.
    To apply, contact Mrs Dobie through the town hall One Stop Shop. Entry is FREE – Charity number must be given.

    National Volunteering Day – October 25

    OCVA is a registered charity in Oxford which helps organisations and volunteers come together and work as a team. October 25 is a national volunteering day called ‘Make A Difference Day,’ and OCVA, as the Volunteering Centre for the County, has secured the use of the indoor part of the Clarendon Center to fill with stalls, leaflets, information and general fun to promote volunteering in the area.

    A link to the event at a national level is here: LINK

  • Thame unlucky in opening match (Contributed)

    THAME United were defeated 0-2 at Wallingford last night, (13/08) in the opening game of the season. Their opponents, the impressive Kintbury Rangers from Berkshire, narrowly missed promotion last season. With new management and an influx of experienced players to strengthen the squad, many regard them as favourites to take this season’s title.

    The opening exchanges were even with both sides creating chances. Ben Connelly was unlucky when after five minutes play he beat his marker and hit a strong goal bound shot, which hit a defender. The trick Connelly created several good chances from the right but they were not converted. On 20 minutes, Matt Miller found the back of the visitors net with a well-placed shot but was ruled offside.

    The visitors went ahead on 23 minutes from a set piece. A free kick from the left was deflected across the Thame goalmouth and Tristan Dennis, who was lurking at the far post, knocked the ball home from close range. Kintbury’s second came ten minutes later from the penalty spot.

    Following a Thame attack a long ball ‘over the top’ of the Thame midfield fell to one of the visitor’s duo of strikers. Thame goalkeeper Paul Searl came out to meet the threat, but the ball was passed leaving him stranded and the goal open. Just before a shot was hit, Lee Thompson came in from the right with a perfectly fair tackle and cleared the danger. To the amazement of both teams and the spectators, referee Spink pointed to the spot. He had apparently seen a handball from Thompson, which had eluded everyone else. Shaun Doyle confidently scored the resultant penalty. The teams went in for half time with Thame Unlucky to be down by two goals.

    United came out fired up for the second half and had a good opening spell. After that however, the visitors came back and controlled the rest of the game. Thame changed both personnel and formation but could not overcome the more experienced Kintbury side. Paul Searl, in the Thame goal was outstanding, and it was largely due to him that the visitors did not increase their lead.

    So, a disappointing and a fair result over 90 minutes. Thame did not play badly and have the skills to get results against less formidable opposition.

    Thame United 0, Kintbury Rangers 2

    Thame United: Searl, Gascoyne (Jewell), Graves, Thompson, Hocking, Cowan, Connelly, Jones (Stocker), Ansell (Roberts), Miller, Ricketts.

    Photo: Matt Miller whose goal was ruled off-side

  • Gordon’s part in Olympic Gold

    WHILST the whole of the British cycling fraternity was celebrating England?s Nicole Cooke?s gold medal at the Beijing Olympics this week, a Thame man had a particular reason for feeling rather proud of himself too.
    For Gordon Wright, of Cromwell Avenue, Thame, has been Nicole?s trainer for the past year ? mainly planning and overseeing her training schedule based on feedback via email and mobile phone!
    Although Gordon has known Nicole since she was a 10 year-old grass track event and Roller race competitor, she is currently based in Switzerland from where she had been in constant contact with Gordon here in Thame.
    Gordon described how he watched the race unfold from his sofa in the early hours of Sunday morning, as it was being broadcast live from Beijing on TV:
    ?The race conditions were appalling,? said Gordon. ?The rain poured down, making crashes more likely and therefore a very risky event.
    ?But Nicole played a very cagey game by waiting, always keeping in touch with the leading group until about the last 10 or 12 kilometres when her winning moves unfolded. One I saw her move away from the remnants with the leading five riders, I knew it was a ?done deal? because Nichole has a very strong sprint and I knew then she would be up for a medal.
    ?In the last 200 metre, up-hill finish, she attacked, took the lead and was first over the line.
    ?I must admit I was very emotional by this point ? usually I am a calm and collected sort of a person, but Nicole had come a very long way ? from that little girl I first met Roller racing at Mildenhall, through becoming Junior World Champion and now this – this was the culmination of that journey.?

    Gordon added that he was very proud to have been asked by Nicole?s father, Tony, to help with her training, and that the moment when she become Britain’s first Olympic medallist in the women’s road race, was undoubtedly the pinnacle of his 30 year career as a trainer.

    Gordon is long-time stalward and President of the Wycombe Cycle Club and has trained, among others, Stuart Dangerfield who rode for Great Britain in Athens in 2004.

    Photo: Nicole Cooke on a static cycle turbo trainer warming up alongside some other competitors, just before starting a time trial. Gordon Wright (wearing his Wycombe Cycle club colours) looks on supervising her warm up procedure.

  • Thame fitness centre gets Gold!

    A Thame fitness centre has been awarded the
    England Squash and Clubmark Gold Award, the top award in the National Club Recognition Scheme.
    Racquets Fitness Centre’s Squash co-ordinator and head coach, Sue Downhill, said:”We have always taken pride in offering fun and competitive squash to all ages and all standards and the Clubmark Award
    recognises this, along with the welcoming atmosphere and quality of facilities here at Racquets.”

    Sue added that a number of people have been instrumental in helping to gain the award and that particular mention must be made of volunteer, Roger Ridler, who has organised squash lessons for classes from all three primary schools in Thame over the past year, which saw over 200 children take part in squash lessons at Racquets through these school links.

    “We would like to thank the teachers and parents at Barley Barley Hill, John Hampden and St Josephs for making the effort to bring the children out of the school to the club during class time,” she said.

    The Gold Award recognises the achievements of coaches to bring children through to county and national level. Currently Racquets has one Nationally ranked 12 year old (Alex Noakes) and eight Oxfordshire County ranked players.

    Ben Hedger won the Oxfordshire County Closed U11s in September 2007, Chris Backhouse was runner-up in the U13s, Kian Guerzoni represents Oxfordshire in the U15s, Will John represents Oxfordshire in the U17s and Josh Rose represents Oxfordshire U19s and is the
    reigning U19 champion.

    The girls at Racquets are represented strongly at U13 county level with Aisling Guerzoni, Ellie Maitland, Hannah Isherwood and Lucy Potts representing the county.
    The centre’s latest initiative is to encourage teenagers to take up the sport and it is working with
    Lord William?s Upper school to organise squash leaders awards for the older teenagers and
    then in term time squash lessons for the pupils of the Lower and Upper schools.

  • Chinnor RFC prepare for the new season against Tring

    INCREDIBLE as it may seem, the rugby season is nearly upon us and Chinnor RFC’s 1st team will be playing a pre-season game against Tring next Tuesday evening (19/08).
    The game, which will kick off at 7.30pm at Chinnor, will be a good opportunity to see players old and new.

    The National division three South matches begin on Saturday, September 6, when Chinnor will play London Scottish away, followed by a home game against Henley on September 13.

  • Robin fan responds to rumour

    hi there

    my name is james from manchester… i am a member of the robin gibb website and i was the one who started out the conversation regarding robin selling his house in oxfordshire… as i stated on his forum to my fellow friends i do hope this is just a rumour.. i mean he is so passionate about this place… i dont think anyone could look after this place like robin does…

    james

  • Towersey festival stewards appeal

    THE organisers of the Towersey festival are appealing for extra stewards for the event to be held on August bank holiday weekend.
    Organiser, Steve Heap says:”We are short of one very special team of stewards, which is the toilet and shower cleaning crew for our Site 2 Camp site.
    We have had a few people unable to attend this year and are desperately looking for people to help us keep on top of our reputation for the best efficient and clean services on the festival scene.”

    If you think you can help, please give me a call on 01629 827 017.

  • key stage two SATS – Provisional results (status; Press release)

    PROVISIONAL results of this year?s Key Stage 2 tests for 11-year-olds in Oxfordshire have been published.
    The results for 2008, when compared with previous years, are affected by changes in the marking process for borderline exam papers. This is estimated to reduce the percentage level achieving the expected level; by up to 1.2% in English, 0.2% in mathematics and 0.5% in science.

    Because today?s announcements only cover provisional results, statistics must now be verified before any complete announcement can be made about trends.

    However, early indications are that:

    The percentage of pupils achieving both English and Maths at Level 4, the expected level, is above the national average.
    The percentage of pupils achieving Level 4 and above in English and in maths is in line with the national average.
    The percentage of pupils achieving Level 4 and above in mathematics has increased this year and is in line with the national average (78%), up from 76.9% last year.
    The percentage of pupils achieving Level 4 and above in English is in line with the national average (81%) but has dipped slightly compared with last year.
    The percentage of pupils achieving Level 4 Science has dipped from 88.2% to 86.5% – although there has been a dip nationally on this measure.
    Head of Oxfordshire County Council’s Raising Achievement Service Paula Tansley said: “Oxfordshire’s results have held steady and improved in some areas. We are pleased that there have been some improvements and congratulate the pupils and their schools who have have worked hard to achieve these results.

    “We recognise there is still work to do and the county council is determined to see big improvements in Key Stage 2 results in coming years.

    “It must also be remembered that we do not yet have complete results and must view these provisional figures with some caution.”

    Missing results
    The statistics should also be viewed with a certain amount of caution as 15 Oxfordshire schools appear to have some missing results ranging from a few missing results to larger gaps. This is due to the well-publicised national problems with Key Stage 2 marking.

    Ed. No primary schools in the Thame area are affected.