Archive

  • Hospital closure nears

    PLANS to replace Fair Mile Hospital in Cholsey with a multi-million pound hospital in Reading have moved forward. The Government has decided that West Berkshire Priority Care Service NHS Trust's £25m scheme, which also involves replacing some of the psychiatric

  • Hunt for missing girl

    POLICE today appealed for missing Oxford teenager Sabrina Chant, 17, to contact home. Sabrina, of Chillingworth Crescent, Wood Farm, was last seen on Friday when she left for college. It is believed she has run off with her boyfriend. Her mum, Maureen

  • Tourist nearly drank poisoned wine

    A HOLIDAYMAKER from Oxford had a narrow escape after fellow travellers in Italy drank wine thought to contain caustic soda. Six Britons needed treatment after being poisoned at a restaurant in Ravello, near Amalfi, according to the British Consular Office

  • City are relegated

    OXFORD City's two-year stay in the Ryman League Premier Division is over. Their relegation to Division 1 was confirmed last night when fellow strugglers Carshalton Athletic won 2-0 at home to Enfield. Kevin Brock's side have gone down despite still having

  • Ford back after injury

    OXFORD United skipper Mike Ford returns to action after serious injury when he plays for the reserves against Watford at Northwood FC tonight. Ford has missed the last seven first-team games with a thigh injury, but physio John Clinkard reckons he was

  • April fooler proves he's on a roll!

    THE mystery prankster who is giving old folk in his village a new lease of life has struck again. Last year he doctored the traditional sign warning drivers about old folk out walking to show an old man riding a unicycle and juggling his zimmer frame.

  • OXFORD CITY COUNCIL

    Are Tories ready for a comeback? THE question this year in Oxford's local elections is whether or not the Conservatives can re-establish a presence on the city council. The Tories have had no city councillors in Oxford since 1996, when they were wiped

  • Smudger set to miss United derby

    VIRTUAL ever-present David Smith looks like being suspended for Oxford United's local derby against Swindon Town at the Manor Ground this Saturday. 'Smudger' picked up a fifth booking in the 2-0 win over his old club Norwich on March 28 which, it is believed

  • Trump in bill squabble over £36,500 party

    WEALTHY socialite Ivana Trump and top people's party organiser Lady Elizabeth Anson have been rapped in the Appeal Court over a bill for a posh bash at Raymond Blanc's Oxfordshire restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons. Three appeal judges said Mrs Trump

  • Unipart celebrates £1bn sales bonanza

    SALES at Oxford-based Unipart have soared to more than £1bn for the second year running, writes David Duffy. The logistics and car parts firm saw a rise in sales of 6.6 per cent to £1,078m, compared with £1.011m in 1996. Pre-tax profits were £28.6m compared

  • Shoe lorry explodes

    SHOES were scattered all over the A34 last night when a lorry trailer caught fire and exploded. Police were inundated with calls from members of the public frightened by the noise. The driver, who was unhurt, was travelling south near Tilsley Park at

  • Watchdog raps 'sadistic' prison ad

    A 'SADISTIC' TV ad campaign filmed at Oxford prison has been rapped by watchdogs after more than 50 complaints from viewers. The saucy commercial, for snack Pot Noodle, showed a male convict being forced to do naked press-ups in the prison yard by a '

  • Hunt on for wartime bombs

    UNEXPLODED bombs from the Second World War are lying hidden throughout Oxfordshire, it was revealed today. Up to 60 unexploded shells could still be buried in fields and post-war housing sites following German wartime raids. Now county council emergency

  • Rape trial soldier says girl consented

    A SOLDIER accused of raping a 15-year-old girl behind a school classroom says she repeatedly turned down his pleas for sex but then consented. Private Craig Lovitt, 19, said the girl, who cannot be named, put a condom on him and did not resist sex despite

  • Teenager talked out of jumping

    A TEENAGER who had a blazing row with her mum was talked out of jumping from a multi-storey car park yesterday by three police officers and one of her friends. The girl, thought to be 16, had been led away from The Charter car park, in Abingdon, earlier

  • Customers save Roy's baking

    BAKER Roy Gibbons's family business looked certain to close nearly 140 years after it was founded by his great, great grandfather. The oil-fired oven at Oxford's oldest family bakery, in Hertford Street, east Oxford, had broken down for the third time

  • OFA dish out £240 fine to Marston

    MARSTON Village have been handed a whopping fine after being found guilty of playing a player while under suspension. The Morrells Sunday League side had earlier denied the offence in a written statement, but after two meetings, at which several witnesses

  • Living history to go on show

    A CURIOUS house built for Sir Francis Drake's descendants in rural north Oxfordshire is opening its landscaped gardens again. Bignell House in Chesterton last threw open its gates to the public in the summer of 1994 when a fair was held on the 20-acre

  • Election is a family affair

    CHERWELL DISTRICT COUNCIL CLLR Sandra Mold could be joined by her husband Royston on Cherwell District Council after the elections on May 7. Sandra is a Labour member for Banbury Calthorpe and Royston is standing for another seat in the same ward. The

  • Majority of one

    WEST OXFORDSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL IT will only take a small change to alter the balance at West Oxfordshire District Council. Elections next month could bring an end to the Labour and Liberal Democrat pact, based on a slender majority of one. The council

  • Meet the nightclub noisebusters

    IN a throbbing Oxford nightclub, two respectable women listen to the latest dance classic and turn to each other and grin. Dance-mad clubbers Helen Wheeler and Peta Donaghy have just landed their dream job - and are determined to make the most of it.

  • Residents on estate face challenge to become... fghting fit

    BY the year 2000, people living on Oxford's Blackbird Leys estate could be turning into models of fitness for the rest of the city to look up to. The estate has been singled out as a site for a Healthy Living Centre, a scheme funded by National Lottery