Thame.net

Author: Sonja Francis

  • Clock Is Ticking For Big Prize Candidates (Contributed)

    FLEDGLING South Oxfordshire businesses are being reminded that the clock is ticking on their chances of winning a great prize and taking their venture to the next level.
    The deadline for entries to the South Oxfordshire New Business Competition is now just days away. Competition organiser, Paul Mabbutt of Jennings of Garsington, says: ?Entries close on February 28. We?ve had some great new businesses put in their forms already. But we know that people take their time to put together their submission carefully and run up to the deadline. We?d hate them to miss the closing date and miss out.?

    The winner will get a cutting edge business advice package from competition co-sponsors Oxford Brookes University Business School and Business Boffins, plus their choice of either: a FREE furnished office in Hampden House for a year or a FREE virtual office for a year. To enter, the business must have been less than two years old on December 31st 2006.

    The furnished office is free for 12 months and has an equivalent value of

  • Speed Reductions On County’s Roads

    OXFORDSHIRE County Council has moved a step closer to introducing 50 mph speed limits to make seven roads in the county safer.
    The council’s own research has shown a reduction in accidents of 30% on other routes that have had 50mph speed limits introduced.

    Formal public consultation on the proposed speed limits was carried out between December 15, 2006 and January 12, 2007.

    Where will the new speed limits be?

    On the A329 from Milton Common to Thame
    On the B4027 from Holton to Islip
    On the B4012 from Thame to Postcombe
    On the B4011 from Ambrosden to Borstall
    On the B4437 from Charlbury to Wootton
    On the A417 from Faringdon to Wantage
    On the A361 from Shilton to Lechlade

    Councillor David Robertson, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “We know that 50 mph speed limits reduce accidents. Last year we had a high number of accidents in Oxfordshire and the causes of many of those were down to speed. I hope that by introducing these speed limits we will make the roads safer for motorists, pedestrians and residents in the areas involved.”

    Highways officers have now been told to undertake detailed design work in the seven areas where 50mph limits are proposed. The speed limits will come into force later this year, provided any concerns or comments that arise from detailed design work can be resolved.

  • Thame And Abingdon Entertain In The Mud

    LEAGUE MATCH 13/02/07 – REPORT: Abingdon Town 3, Thame United 1
    Officials from both clubs were surprised that this game went ahead. The pitch was heavily waterlogged. Both goalmouths had the consistency of treacle whilst the rest of the pitch was a quagmire. Surprisingly however, despite heavy rain falling for the first hour, this turned out to be an entertaining match.

    Thame?s defence was strengthened by the return of Robbie Eason and Greg Boult, whilst Adam Rhodes returned to midfield. Despite the result this was an encouraging performance from the young Thame side. The first 15 minutes was fairly even with chances at both ends. Thame then started to pressurize the home goal with Darren Moore, Adam Rhodes, Ant Dawson, and Nathan Jack all forcing good saves from the Abingdon goalkeeper Jonathan Beames 10 minutes before halftime Dawson hit the post with the Beames beaten. The visitor?s pressure was rewarded in the 44th minute when Jack made a great run on the right before cutting in and beating Beames from 20 yards. Thame went in for half time deservedly in the lead.

    Abingdon came out fired up after the break and the pressure was on Thame. The equalizer came in the 55th minute when Daryl Hutt headed in from a corner. Four minutes later the ball was played into the path of onrushing substitute Andy Hough whose strong shot found the back of the Thame net. Thame fought back and both Jack and Dawson forced outstanding saves from the on-form Beames. On 78 minutes the contest was effectively ended when Hutt raced onto a through ball, and hit a shot which took a deflection before rolling into the net to make it 3-1. The final few minutes saw heavy pressure of the Abingdon goal but they held out the take the points.

    Thame United: Farrow, Boult, Graves (Watkins), Hocking, Eason, Kitson, Connolly, Rhodes, Jack, Moore (Gough)

    Thame travel to Witney Town next Saturday(17th) but are at ?home? to AFC Wallingford in a Cup game on Tuesday 20th February. (KO 7.45)

  • Cash Back Phones May Be A Con Warns CAB

    THE Problem-solving charity, Citizens Advice, is warning people to be wary of cash back mobile phone deals promising refunds that may never materialise.
    The words of caution comes during Scams Awareness Month, run by the Office of Fair Trading to alert people to common scams costing the British public a total of

  • Thame Town Council To Look At Future Of Fair

    FOLLOWING a petition and complaints about Thame’s annual fun fairs in the town centre, the town council is to consider its future.
    Local residents have complained about noise and air pollution from generators, public announcements and amplified music, to South Oxfordshire County Council’s Environmental Health Department.
    Principal Environmental Health Officer, Craig Miller,
    speaking at a meeting of the town council’s Culture and Leisure committee last night, said that the council needed to think about whether the agreement between it and the Showmen’s Guild was being adequately controlled, whether Control Orders needed to be used to strengthen stewarding of the events, to think about whether the scale of the attractions and rides are having a detrimental effect of residents in the area, and to consider ideas about alternative locations.

    He suggested that the council could consider adding conditions to the agreement, for example, stopping the noise etc earlier in the evening.
    The current agreement between Thame Council and the Showmen’s Guild is due to be re-negotiated in 2008 and there is to be a meeting involving the police and the Town Clerk next week to discuss the fair.

    Although Cllr Beatrice Dobie said that she could hardly hear the noise from the fair where she lives in Bell Lane, Cllr Nigel Champken-Woods said that he could hear it 3/4 of a mile away in the Lee Park area.

    Cllr Adam Buckland, who runs a hairdressing salon business in the Buttermarket, said:”When the fair is here, the town shuts down for a week. It effects businesses, commuters and residents. It would make sense to look into an alternative site.”

    “You, the council, hold the key,” said Craig Miller. “I can only help you with the controls which I will do in any way I can.”

    Photo: Copyright- Iain Fairweather

  • Second Burglary In Thame – Ringmaster Message

    ON Saturday, February 10, in the early hours of the morning, between 01:00hrs and 03:00hrs, a property in Glenham Road, Thame, was burgled.
    It is not known how entry was gained. This is the second burglary in Glenham Road, over the past week. Property stolen included a handbag, a wallet and two mobile phones.

    It is thought that the offenders may have been looking for car keys in order to steal vehicles parked in driveways.
    Please remind all ‘watch’ members to keep house & car keys out of sight and to put vehicles in garages overnight if possible.

    If you have any information relating to this message, please call the police on 08458 505 505 and quote URN 243 of 10/02/07.

  • Salvage for The Three Pigeons

    AFTER years of decline at the hands of lap-dancers and then ravers ? the nadir being a stabbing incident in October ? The Three Pigeons at Milton Common has new owners.
    The freehold has been bought by LASSCO (The London Architectural Salvage & Supply Co.) who, with a thirty year history of buying and renovating dilapidated historic buildings and putting them to use, has been tackling the immediate problems on site; fly-tipping, rat infestation and serious flooding being foremost amongst these. A spectacular architectural salvage shop is soon to welcome its first customers.

    LASSCO deals in architectural antiques with an internationally celebrated shop on the southern end of Vauxhall Bridge in London – in the Duke of Brunswick?s Georgian mansion ?Brunswick House?. Saving elements from London?s most interesting demolitions and strip-outs ? be it the stone portico, the fireplaces, floorboards, radiators or railings, the garden ornament or doorknobs, LASSCO has been the pioneer in the restoring and selling of these ?Relics of Old London? for thirty years. Recently the BBC followed the company for their series ?The Reclaimers?.

    The purchase of The Three Pigeons and continuing refurbishments in Brunswick House, has realised enough space to enable the company to relinquish its original headquarters at St. Michael?s Church in Shoreditch, East London, and centre its activities in Vauxhall with its grand eighteenth century spaces and central location on one hand complimented by the space and accessibility offered by the Milton Common site on the other.

    Latest clearances, all on offer at ?LASSCO Three Pigeons? include a wide selection of marble and scagliola sculpture pedestals from The National Portrait Gallery and numerous display cabinets as well as Victorian plaster casts and further marble pedestals from The Victoria & Albert Museum. In the gardens, currently undergoing landscaping, can be found a series of enormous relief-carved stone plaques ? an half-ton each ? depicting the old signs of The City. These remarkable sculptures, the work of Sir Charles Wheeler, President of the Royal Academy in the 1950s, were commissioned for the Lombard Street home of Barclays Bank. A delightful panelled room of nineteenth century Chinese wall-papers laid onto mahogany panels has just gone on display having been removed from an huge demolition underway next door to St. Paul?s Cathedral. You can buy large chunks of Piccadilly stonework for the garden or perhaps the staircase balustrade from the Royal Albert Hall? the list goes on.

    LASSCO, characteristically, has committed wholeheartedly to the Three Pigeons project. Anthony Reeve who has managed the Shoreditch shop for a number of years has moved to Great Milton and enlisted the help of Amanda Garrett to run the shop and numerous Oxfordshire tradespeople have already been involved in the project.

    Anthony and Amanda are researching the history of The Three Pigeons and are keen to track down source material and any records of the site ? particularly its early days: How soon after the intersection of the turnpikes were buildings first erected? Was ?The Hutte? located on the Three Pigeons site? Did the ?Three Pigeons? name come from a precedent in Thame or was it Tetsworth? Does anyone have references to the gibbet at Milton Common and the hanging-in-chains of John Price in 1785?! ? or of his victim Thomas Knight who lived in Great Milton.

    The opening of the shop will soon be announced ? all are welcome to come and marvel at the latest discoveries. Readers of the Thame News are welcome to come to a preview if they telephone prior.

    or more information see: www.lassco.co.uk
    Contact Anthony or Amanda on 01844 278328 or 3pigeons@lassco.co.uk

  • Is What You See What You Get On Food Labels?

    OXFORDSHIRE County Council has joined forces with trading standards services across the South East of England to call on the food industry to give consumers the true picture on food labels.

    A survey has revealed that consumers are cynical about the accuracy of pictures on food labels. They may not bother to complain about potentially misleading foods and this can make it difficult for trading standards services to challenge the food companies.

    Nineteen authorities took 223 samples with experts judging that just over 10% of the pictures on the labels, when compared to the product inside, could have been misleading. The worst offenders were desserts, breakfast cereals and meat pies/stews.

    Six of the worst offenders were then presented to ordinary consumers. One product picture was found to be misleading by 95% of the consumers surveyed with the other five being judged to be misleading by between 77% to 37% of the consumers.

    However only 13% of the consumers who found the pictures misleading would complain to Trading Standards. Reasons varied from feeling that we have more important things to do to saying that the whole industry had to change its ways.

    Trading Standards services would like to assure consumers that their complaints about food labels they feel to be misleading are taken seriously.

    Although action may not be taken on every occasion, by complaining consumers are helping build a bigger picture so that we can challenge the food companies more effectively on these issues.

    Head of Trading Standards Nigel Strick said, ?Pictures on food labels are important as food companies use them as a marketing tool. Consumers are entitled to expect them to be truthful. Whilst some leeway may be given for marketing it is a sad reflection that many consumers simply do not feel able to rely on the expectation created by the food industry on its packaging.?

  • Professional Musicians Set To Dazzle Thame

    The Le Page Ensemble, one of the UK?s most exciting chamber groups, will be bring their music to St Mary’s church, Thame, on January 27, at 7.30pm.
    Their extensive repertoire ranges from Purcell to the music of the 21st Century. During 2006 they gave a series of acclaimed concerts centred round the music of Mozart and Bach. This concert will be the beginning of a series to feature the chamber music of Franz Schubert.

    The programme will include Joseph Haydn Quartet Opus 76 No. 1. Opus 76 which is generally reckoned to be Haydn?s greatest complete set of quartets. They dazzle and amuse; they contain moments of extreme lyrical beauty and confirm Joseph Haydn as the ?Father of the String Quartet.”

    Franz Schubert Quartet D. 810 ?Death and the Maiden? is one of the most profound and dramatic works written for the genre. From the unforgettable opening bars, the mood is sustained through tense rhythms, bold harmonic progressions and stormy emotion.

    Also on the programme will be music by J. S. Bach

    David Le Page was born on the island of Guernsey and began playing violin at the age of seven. He gained a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School at the age of eleven, studying with Margaret Norris, Maurico Fuks and Sidney Griller. In 1986 he was a finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition. After the Menuhin School he continued his studies in Switzerland with Igor Ozim, after which he returned to England to begin a career as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher.

    An eclectic musician, David has performed with the Kreutzer Quartet with whom he recorded and broadcast extensively, the Tippett Quartet, the Caractacus Quartet and the Osino Piano Trio. He has performed with the theatre group the Gogmagogs both at the Edinburgh Festival and in New York, and with Jazz pianist Keith Tippett.

    In 1999 David was invited to become the leader of the Stratford ?upon- Avon based Orchestra of the Swan, with whom he performs as soloist and director on a regular basis. He retains strong links with the island of Guernsey where he returns to perform and coach frequently.

    Tickets

  • Covent Garden Soloists To join Thame Choir

    LORD Williams’s Festival Chorus will be performing the Verdi Requiem on Saturday 24th March, at 7:30pm at Thame Leisure Centre.
    The choir will be accompanied by the Ealing Symphony Orchestra under Musical Director, John Gibbons, with soloists from The Royal Opera House.
    Tickets: