VILLAGERS rallied round to help finance Elaine Sturgess's venture into the world of board games. About 250 people in Hook Norton put £20 each into her project to launch a new game called Headlines, which is based on rearranging the words of headlines
A STOLEN safe which contained £5,000 of jewellery has been found dumped in North Oxford. The safe went missing over the weekend from the Jeweller's Workshop in South Parade, Summertown, and was found empty in a stream near the shop yesterday. A number
SNOOKER star Willie Thorne turned his attention to darts when he lent his support to a charity fundraising bid to play the longest ever match. Shiny-headed Willie turned up at the Ampleforth Arms in Collinwood Road, Risinghurst, Oxford, yesterday to cheer
LONG-SERVING Tory councillor Brian Hook has become chairman of Oxfordshire County Council with Liberal Democrat Harry Wyatt as vice- chairman. Mr Hook took over yesterday from David Buckle, the Labour councillor who has done the job since May, 1996. He
HENRY KISSINGER has welcomed Oxford University's new American Institute as a milestone in Anglo-US relations. The former American Secretary of State was speaking before a groundbreaking ceremony for the £20m institute, to be sited between Rhodes House
THE grieving parents of Naomi Sims called for urgent safety improvements to the River Glyme on the eve of her funeral. Naomi, ten, died after she fell into the river while playing with a friend on a public footpath in the Water Meadows close to her home
BICESTER residents turned out in force to show health chiefs it was time to give the town a new community hospital after 30 years of waiting. More than 300 people filled a crunch public meeting at Bicester and Ploughley Sports Centre on Tuesday . Speaker
FORMER soldier Raymond Hunt is to send back his Northern Ireland medal to the Queen in protest at being taken to court. The 43-year-old ex-taxi boss and Army gunner, who fell foul of council taxi regulations, said: "I laid my life on the line for the
GRESHAM Cheetahs wait on grand prix star Jason Crump as they prepare to do battle at Wimborne Road against Poole Pirates in tonight's Elite League speedway clash. The Oxford No 1, who has been in sensational form so far this year, went down with a flu
ELVIS Presley fans Paul Oliver and Mandy Bywaters knew exactly how they wanted to celebrate their wedding - as a tribute to the star. Instead of traditional wedding dress, the bride, groom, best man, bridesmaids, pages, parents and many of the guests
Riled rabbi criticises divorced duchess for trying to play happy families SARAH, Duchess of York, has been severely criticised by an Oxford Rabbi for her suggestion that children of divorced parents are better off having both parents living in the same
SIMON Marsh could be competing against his old Oxford United teammate Darren Purse for one of the England Under 21 centre back positions after both defenders got the call for the prestigious Toulon Tournament which starts tomorrow. Marsh was named yesterday
GEORGE FREW takes a look at the man behind the arms to Africa affair... PETER Penfold is a fully paid up, lifelong member of the Africa Corps - the Diplomatic Corps, that is. He'd been busy serving his country for 33 years, mainly in Africa, long before
STUDENTS from Oxford University protested around the city yesterday at Government plans to scrap grants. About 500 demonstrated on the streets after meeting at lunchtime near St Anne's College in Bevington Road on the day before the Teaching and Higher
A DANCE group and a theatre company in Oxfordshire have won more than £173,400 from Southern Arts to bring different kinds of entertainment to the county. Anjali, a pioneering dance company based at The Mill Arts Centre in Banbury, is celebrating after
PROF Terry Willis, 71, raced to the rescue when he spotted a canoeist stuck up a bush without a paddle. The stricken paddler had run into trouble on the swollen River Cherwell, crashing into a fence and bushes on the bank. But Prof Willis paid a high
TIGER Woods and Ernie Els, winners of the opening two events on the 1998 European Tour, won't be at The Oxfordshire this week, but the cream of Europe's leading golfers will. There have been eight different names on Tour trophies since the turn of the
BRITAIN'S going to the dogs - as greyhound racing throws off its flat cap and pint of mild image. After years in the doldrums, business is booming at the country's 70-plus tracks. And with Damon Albarn - Britpop rock group Blur's frontman - among racing
ADVENTURER Sue Stockdale's plans to walk 600 miles across floating pack ice to the North Pole have already thrown up one surprise. The Scot, who has just come home to Faringdon from a test run to the Arctic, bumped into top explorer David Hempleman-Adams
Jan couldn't fall apart because of her young son, who needed her. FIONA TARRANT reports... THREE years ago, Jan Harvey, a former Oxfordshire Businesswoman of the Year, had to ring the Samaritans first thing every morning. "I had to ask them for a reason
