Author: Sonja Francis

A MESSAGE from the Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, The Right Hon. Hugo Brunner.
THE Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will celebrate the anniversary of their Diamond wedding on Tuesday, November 20.
On that evening, at 6 pm, there will be a special service in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, at which the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd John Pritchard will preach.
The public are warmly invited to come to the service and the Dean and I would particularly welcome the presence of Oxfordshire couples who were married on the same day, 20th November 1947, as the Queen and the Duke.
We should be grateful if all such couples would contact us so that we can make it easy for them to get to the service and to the seats allocated to them.

Hugo Brunner, Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire,
01865 316431 or HMRBrunner@googlemail.com

Photo: The Lord Lieutanant of Oxfordshire (right) Hugo Brunner, with the Mayor of Thame, David Bretherton, at the official opening of Thame Museum earlier in the year.

THE couple that won a Thame eating house in the recent TV Series, The Restaurant, have been meeting the locals today.
Jane and Jeremy Hooper, who have now moved to Thame, today invited members of the local business community, members of the Press and local people who would like to join the couple and work at ‘Eight At The Thatch’ (formerly The Old Trout), to meet them at the Swan Hotel.
Jane told ThameNews.Net: “After all the media attention and the training we have been doing with Peach and Raymond Blanc, we just can’t wait to get into the building and actually start doing what we have been chosen to do. We are recruiting local people wherever we can to work with us and shall be sourcing ingredients locally too.
“We do so want to become part of the local community and contribute to the life of Thame.”
Although Jane discovered that she was pregnant just a month after the series began, she is confident that, although she will probably take a couple of months off “to get used to being a mum,” she still intends to take a full and active part in the business.
Chatting about children and family life, Jane said that she and Jeremy fully intend to be a family-friendly establishment where people can bring children at most times of the day, but that they will also have a separate section for private dining and somewhere where those who want to eat undisturbed can do so.
There will also be a bar and the lunch-time menu will be quick-to-prepare food suitable for business lunches.
For the time being, the Hoopers will not be running their establishment as a hotel, but will use the rooms on the first floor as staff accommodation. (Jane hadn’t heard about the ghost that is supposed to inhabit one of the bedrooms, and said that she was unlikely to tell staff members about it!)
As part of their prize, Jane and Jeremy will be financilly backed and mentored, for a year, by Raymond Blanc, who runs Le Manoir aux quat’ Saisons, at Milton Common, just outside Thame.
Throughout the afternoon, a television crew were filming at The Swan, making a follow-up programme about the Hoopers, to be shown sometime next Spring. The filming included an interview with the Chair of Thame First (formerly The Chamber of Commerce), Alun Rowe who welcomed the Hoopers to Thame, saying that their arrival with such a high profile enterprise, he was sure would be good for the town.
Eight At The Thatch is expected to open sometime in November.

Photo: Jane Hooper interviews two local young chefs, keen to work at the new ‘Eight At The Thatch’ restaurant in Thame.

THE Police are appealing for witnesses and information after a car and heavy goods vehicle collided on the A418 Aylesbury Road, at the junction with Church Way, Haddenham.
At 10.40am on Thursday (18/10) two vehicles, a blue Vauxhall Mervia and a white DAF articulated heavy goods vehicle, collided. The vehicles were travelling on the main road between Aylesbury and Thame.

The 53-year-old driver of the Vauxhall Mervia was transported to Oxford JR2 Hospital by air ambulance. She sustained serious injuries, but is stable and improving.

The surrounding roads were closed for approximately three hours.

If you have any information or witnessed this incident, please contact PC Mark Edwards at Aylesbury Roads Policing. He can be reached via the 24-hour Police Enquiry Centre on 0845 8 505 505 or, if you don?t want to talk to police or give your name, call the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.

You can also give information to the police in person by visiting any police station. To find out the opening times and location of your local station please call 0845 8 505 505 or visit: www.thamesvalley.police.uk/bcu/buckinghamshire/bcu-info/stations.htm

A MAN who was killed in a collision with a car near the M40 Services at Wheatley, has been named.
The victim of the collision, which happened last Saturday evening, was 27 year-old Gary Simon Pitt, of Thame.
It appears that at around 8.25pm on the night of the incident, Mr Pitt was walking along the A418 Oxford Road, towards junction 8a services of the M40, when he was in collision with a Peugeot 206.
The female driver was uninjured but was treated for shock.