Thame.net

Author: Sonja Francis

  • Conservative leader meets the locals

    DAVID Cameron was in Thame yesterday, with the Conservative party’s new candidate to replace Boris Johnson.
    With John Howell, he had earlier visited a post office in Stanton St John which is due to close at the end of the month. They then came to the campaign office here in Thame, followed by a short walk to meet some voters before returning to London.

  • Man charged with Wheatley murder named

    A 49-year-old man charged with the murder of Deborah Smith in Wheatley on bank holiday Monday (26/5) has been named.
    He is Russell Yeates, of Bell Lane, Wheatley, the husaband of the the victim.

    He is due to appear before Oxford Magistrates? Court today (2/6).

  • Thame Rock icon reveals a very personal misery

    BEE GEE, Robin Gibb, who lives in Thame, has been speaking about his special relationship with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who, he said, approached him directly to support a new campaign aimed at fathers separated from their children.
    Robin has spoken about the sense of grief he felt at being kept away from his two young children from an earlier marriage, by the courts. He describes what he called, “moments of pure misery” when he he felt he would go mad.

    Robin, who shares his Thame home with his wife Dwina, has since been re-united with Spencer and Miller, after 18 years, and says that he is busy making up lost time.

    Photo: Robin and Dwina Gibb

  • Conservative’s accused of lying over candidate selection

    ON day one of the election battle to chose Boris Johnson’s replacement as MP for Henley, already the knives out with the Green’s accusing the Conservative candidate as being ‘more gaffe prone than Boris.’
    In a statement this morning, the local Green party issued the following:
    “Within 24 hours of being selected as the Conservative candidate, John Howell showed that he is more gaffe prone than Boris. The Conservative news sheet “intouch” was distributed across the constituency with the headline ‘Conservatives Pick the Only Local Candidate’.

    “As Mr Howell well knows, the Green Party candidate, Mark Stevenson, is every bit as local as he is. Mark lives in the neighbouring village and his selection was announced by the local press the day before Mr Howell was selected.
    “Indeed, not only did Mr Howell know that Mark Stevenson is the Green candidate, but he knows exactly how local he is. Mark is a parish councillor in Dorchester on Thames where Mr Howell has regularly been quizzed by him at council meetings.
    “Their paths have also crossed when, in his capacity as a school governor, Mark raised concerns with Mr Howell about the purpose and efficiency of Oxfordshire County Council’s Review of Primary Schools.”

    Mark Stevenson said: “It’s ridiculous; John knows perfectly well that I am the Green candidate. He also knows that I am an active, effective and vocal parish councillor – only a few weeks ago he heard me giving my chairman’s annual report of the work of the Dorchester Carbon Project. It’s interesting that the Conservatives should already feel so insecure about their candidate that they appear to have resorted to deliberate lies before the campaign is a day old.”

    “But we have to be charitable about this”, Mark continued, “it could just be a stupid mistake made in a hurry. After all ‘intouch’ also declared itself to be printed on woodfree pulp sourced from sustainable forests. Just how sustainable are woodfree forests? I wonder.”

    Today, the Conservatives have had their ‘big guns’ out-and-about in the town with Party Leader, Theresa May visiting the party’s new election HQ in the High Street, to wish party workers well, and the party leader, David Cameron himself doing a walk-about around the town this afternoon.

  • Lib Dems ‘welcome’ Conservative candidate choice

    THE Liberal Democrats have said that they welcome the news of John Howell’s selection by the Conservatives to fight Boris Johnson’s seat.
    Liberal Democrat candidate and charity boss, Stephen Kearney, said: ?I am looking forward to debating the issues that affect people across the Henley constituency with Councillor Howell in the coming weeks.
    ?Our campaign has been up and running for several weeks, Nick Clegg has surveyed the entire constituency and we are getting a very warm reception on doorsteps. We are ready for the Conservatives to fire the starting gun whenever they are ready to provide local people with a date.?

    Liberal Democrat Deputy Director of Campaigns Neil Fawcett said: ?We are delighted that the Conservatives have settled on Councillor Howell. The selection of a senior County Councillor will provide local people with the chance to have their say on rising Council Tax bills and the Conservatives? record in Oxfordshire.
    ?Stephen Kearney will be a strong voice for local people. He has an excellent track record of listening to local communities as part of his charity work. Stephen has already taken up a number of local issues such as the loss of local services, expansion onto the green belt and anti-social behaviour.?

  • Bike ride especially for the ladies

    LADIES; has your bike been in the shed for far too long? Would you like to get out in the fresh air to do some gentle exercise?
    Well, now’s your chance. There’s to be a bike ride from Thame to Towersey along the Phoenix Trail especially for you – next Sunday, June 8.

    Call Cathy: 01844 261430 for details

    Prize draw to win a bike! www.fivemilestofabulous.com

  • Thame Day Centre stalwart retires after 22 years

    A THAME volunteer, who has worked tirelessly for the Thame and District Day Centre almost since it opened 22 years-ago, was thanked for her tireless and dedicated service at a special garden lunch party this week.
    After presenting flowers on behalf of the members of the Day Centre, the other volunteers and the Trustees, the Chair to the Trustees, Brenda Prosser, told Sheila Schleising that she was “a part of the history” of the Day Centre.

    Sheila replied:”You havn’t got rid of me quite. I will be popping in on the odd occassion because I do love a good old chat.”

    Sheila will also be giving up the organising of the Thame Community Car in July.

    Brenda Prosser said that in losing Sheila, the Day Centre is now even more in need of more volunteers if it is to continue offering support to elderly, frail and socially isolated people.
    She explained how they are competing with a number of more visible worthy causes in the town, like Charity shops, for volunteers in a climate where more and more people are working for longer or “going off ski-ing and the like, spending the kids’ inheritance!”
    “We suffer,” she said, because we are less visible being attached to the hospital and people thinking that we are part of it.
    “If we do not have volunteers to give a listening ear and work with the Members of the Day Centre, the centre cannot continue.”

    Gillain Coleman, the centre’s Manager, told ThameNews.Net: “Working at the Thame and District Day Centre, as far as I’m concerned, is the best job in the world. The members are lovely and I get great satisfaction in bringing things like seated exercise, professional entertainment, quizes and even May Pole dancing into their daily lives.”

    Anyone interested in finding out more about becoming a volunteer at the Thame and District Day Centre, for even just one day a week, can contact Gill Coleman at the Day Centre by calling: 01844 212080.

  • Boris to keep family home in Thame

    AS Oxfordshire Conservatives meet this evening in Watlington to chose their successor to Boris Johnson MP, he has said that he intends to keep in family home near Thame.
    Boris bought the property about three years ago and since then has been having extensive renovation work done to the property in North Weston.
    The chosen candidate will be posted on Thamenews.Net as soon as the winner is known.

    Photo: Boris Johnson with his son, Leo, taken when Boris judged the Thame Carnival in 2006

  • Official Thame Festival radio station takes to the airways

    THE official, Thame Festival radio station will hit the airways from tomorrow morning, May 31.
    Broadcasting until Friday, June 20, Thame FM will
    bring regular highlights of the festival, information about events taking place throughout the week of the festival and interview the movers and shakers behind those very events.
    They will also be playing lots of music from the past five decades and there will be local news every week-day evening at 5.30pm, from ThameNews.Net!

    If you are in business locally and want to be heard by truly local people who live and work in Thame and the surrounding villages, call 07967644435 for more information.

    If you belong to a local group, charity, school, club or maybe you have a story you think people would love to hear then get in touch. Maybe you?re busy preparing for the festival, why not spare some time to get in touch and tell Thame FM about your plans so that they can tell the rest of the community.

    Email: info@thamefm.co.uk

    Tune in toThame FM on 87.9 FM from Saturday, May 31.

  • Ex BBC media pundit to fight Boris’s patch

    OXFORDSHIRE Conservatives have this evening chosen ex BBC broadcaster and International business pundit to fight the Party corner in the by-election caused by the ‘elbowing out’ of Boris Johnson as the sitting MP for Henley.
    Cllr Dr. John M Howell OBE, Cabinet Member of Oxfordshire County Council, won in a run-off with County Council Leader, Ann Ducker, after the third candidate, John Cotton, went out in the first round.

    Spokesman, Mike Welply, tonight described John Howell as “very personable, media savvy and yet a man with the common touch – a working class boy who went to grammar school and worked his way up in the world.”
    He added: “I’m sure he will do a sterling job in taking over the reigns from Boris.”

    Mike Welply, former Conservative Thame Town Councillor and a District Councillor who lost his seat in the 2006 local elections, also revealed that he himself will be standing in the local by-election in Thame on July 10, as will fellow Conservative, Mr Cliff Baker, of Coombe Hill Crescent, in Thame.