Archive

  • Heritage 'loses out' at city castle site

    Plans for a £34m hotel and heritage complex at the Oxford Castle site have become too commercial, according to a leading city councillor. Colin Cook, the council's executive member for planning, spoke out as councillors agreed the latest series of amendments

  • Tories tighten grip on county

    Just one of the four district councils to go to the polls on Thursday night changed hands -- but the night threw up a few surprises. New Witney Central independent councillor Harriet Ryley About a third of the electors in the four districts turned out

  • Cricket fixtures

    Matches to be played on Sunday, May 4, 2003 CLUB MATCHES Sir Paul Getty's XI v Oxford Univ, Oxford & Horspath v Oxford Nondescripts, Banbury v Evesham, M Lovell B v Oxford Wayfarers (Brize Norton). OCA LEAGUE Div 3: Minster Lovell v Hailey.

  • Taylors impress but Goring fall

    Despite seeing their first pair of Mark and Sue Taylor winning all three rubbers, Goring went down 6-3 to Bicester in Mixed Division 1 of the OLTA Inter-Club 3-Pair League. A superb performance from the Taylors proved too much for the entire Bicester

  • Vouchers proposal to solve schools row

    A radical solution to the financial problems facing schools has been suggested by the leader of Oxfordshire County Council, Keith Mitchell. Mr Mitchell wants the Government to introduce education vouchers, a controversial idea first proposed under Mrs

  • Gritty Leo makes a winning debut

    Leo D'Erlanger made a winning debut for Thame ABC at the club's final tournament of the season in front of a packed crowd at the Thame United Social Club. He excelled by outpointing Bulmershe's Ibrar Riyaz, another ring debutant, after setting the pace

  • We'll bounce back, says boss

    Hellenic League preview: Bicester Town manager Eddie Nix has vowed to bounce back after his team were relegated from the Hellenic League Premier Division for the first time. Dwaine StrongFounders members of the league 50 years ago, Bicester bow out of

  • Football fixtures

    Games to be played on Sunday, May 4, 2003 MORRELLS OF OXFORD SUNDAY LEAGUE Jack Sadler Cup final: North Oxford Cons Club Res v Nelson (Oxford City FC, 5). President's Cup semi-final: Blackbird Sunday v Mansfield Road. Premier Div: Oxford Exiles v Cowley

  • Meeting to discuss flooding

    Residents can air their views on the way the flooding, which blighted the new year for hundreds of people across Oxfordshire, was handled at a public meeting later this month. The meeting will be looking at how floods wrecked homes and left Abingdon Road

  • More low-cost homes

    A £1M regeneration scheme on the outskirts of Bretch Hill, Banbury, has boosted the number of affordable houses in the town. Ten prefabs in Withycombe Drive, owned by Banbury Homes Housing Association, were demolished to make way for 16 new properties

  • Tenants face crucial vote

    A crucial vote will take place this summer to decide the future of every council house tenant in north Oxfordshire. The ballot will determine if Cherwell District Council's 3,900 council homes remain under the ownership of the council or transfer to a

  • Vale of White Horse: Tories take bite out of Liberals

    Liberal Democrats are still in control of the Vale of White Horse District Council - but the Conservatives mounted a strong challenge and reduced the Lib Dems majority to eight seats. The count at Abingdon Leisure CentreLabour was wiped out, the Independent

  • Didcock doubtful

    Abingdon Town could be without Tristan Didcock (knee) as they go for the double at Leyton in Division 2 on Saturday. Luke Beachamp (groin), Dave Tregurtha (thigh) and Chris Potter (ankle) should play.

  • United target Dartford

    Jon Corbett makes his last appearance for a full-strength Banbury United as they travel to Dr Martens League Eastern Division rivals Dartford. Corbett is retiring due to family commitments, after making more than 200 appearances for Banbury.

  • United keep focus

    Ian Atkins is urging his Oxford United players to focus on themselves - and forget what is happening at Lincoln - as they bid to win their final game of the season against York City at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday. Ian AtkinsThe U's boss has made a

  • Football fixtures

    Games to be played on Saturday, May 3 NATIONWIDE LEAGUE Div 3: Oxford Utd v York City. RYMAN LEAGUE Div 1 North: Thame Utd v Oxford C. Div 2: Leyton v Abingdon Tn DR MARTENS LEAGUE Eastern Div: Dartford v Banbury Utd. CHERRY RED RECORDS HELLENIC LEAGUE

  • Election 2003: Tories tighten grip on county

    Just one of the four district councils to go to the polls on May 1 changed hands - but the night threw up a few surprises. About a third of the electors in the four districts turned out to vote - similar to the national average and to the turnout for

  • Cherwell: Tories drop three seats

    The National Front vowed to put up candidates in all Bicester wards in next year's elections. Bicester Conservatives Rose Stratford and Diana Edwards The party opened a branch in the town earlier this year. Last night its first Cherwell District Council

  • Recycling helps appeal

    A businessman is helping pupils recycle waste and raise money for the Oxford Children's Hospital campaign at the same time. At St Aloysius RC First School with a collection box are, from left, Mr Russell, Brian Clarke, eight, Guille Zamora, five, Raheem

  • Victim, 58, dragged by car

    A disabled woman was dragged along by a getaway car as she tried to hang on to her purse which had been snatched by thieves. The 58-year-old victim was approached by a woman wanting change for a £20 note in Headley Way, Headington, Oxford, at about 7.30am

  • Courts clash delays trial date

    A policy of listing two trials on the same day in one court at Oxford Magistrates' Court set back a burglary trial on Thursday, May 1. Mansour Chasebi, 45, of Weldon Road, Marston, Oxford, was due to stand trial for alleged burglary of the fishmonger's

  • Cherwell -- Tories drop three seats

    The National Front vowed to put up candidates in all Bicester wards in next year's elections. The party opened a branch in the town earlier this year. Last night its first Cherwell District Council candidate, James Starkey, got 142 votes. He said: "I'm

  • Vale of White Horse -- Tories take bite out of Liberals

    Liberal Democrats are still in control of the Vale of White Horse District Council -- but the Conservatives mounted a strong challenge and reduced the Lib Dems majority to eight seats. Labour was wiped out, the Independent candidate clung on to his seat

  • Fulke's Seul aim is Guineas glory

    Fulke Johnson Houghton is revelling being back in the big-race spotlight. Tout Seul, flanked by Fulke Johnson Houghton and his daughter Eve Returning to his Blewbury stables after picking up the morning papers, Johnson Houghton has a sparkle in his eye

  • Wander along towpaths

    A series of guided canal walks will take place in Oxfordshire this weekend. The Oxford Canal Walking Weekend includes a two-hour route along the River Thames and Oxford Canal on Sunday, May 4, and Monday, May 5, at 2pm. There will be a two-mile Health

  • Body found at city allotment

    The decomposed body of a man has been discovered at allotments in Oxford in what police have described as suspicious circumstances. A man working at his plot made the gruesome discovery at about 9pm on Thursday, May 2, at allotments off Barton Village

  • Tennis fixtures

    Matches to be played on Sunday, May 4, 2003 WILSON OXON LTA LEAGUE 3-PAIR Ladies Div 3: North Oxford D v Banbury. Men Div 1: Oxford City v Witney. Div 3: Woodstock B v Witney B (9.45am). 2-PAIR Ladies Div 1: Watlington v Wantage. Div 3: Wantage B v Oxford

  • Event offers deals

    A flight in a light aircraft, off-roading in a Mercedes at Cliveden, tickets for Henley Regatta and a trip for ten in an RAF helicopter will be on offer at an auction of promises in Benson. The event will be held at the parish hall next Saturday at 7.30pm

  • Working the Inca way

    The Incas of Peru have always fascinated Sarah Stephenson -- and now she is going to be working in that civilisation's sacred valley. Sarah Stephenson Ms Stephenson of Wallingford Road, Cholsey, a liaison officer at the Warneford Hospital, Oxford, will

  • Rugby fixture

    TETLEY'S BITTER 20 COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP: Semi-final: North Midlands v Oxfordshire (Dudley Kingswinford, Saturday 2.30).

  • Tennis results

    Recent results in local tennis competitions WILSON OLTA LEAGUE 3-PAIR Mixed Div 1: Oxford City 8.5, Oxford City B .5; Bicester 6, Goring 3; Woodstock 7.5, Abingdon 1.5. Div 2: Thame 3, Woodstock B 6; North Oxford C 4, Banbury 5; Bicester B 1.5, Witney

  • Craft club turns tea bags into art

    Handicraft enthusiasts in Grove enjoyed an afternoon learning the intricate art of tea bag folding. Jenny Marriott Eighteen people took part in the workshop at Grove Methodist Church organised by the village's handicraft group. Pat Fox, of the Craft Cabin

  • Golf fixtures

    Matches to be played on Saturday, May 3, 2003 SHAW & CO OXFORDSHIRE FOURSOMES LEAGUE Section 1: Tadmarton v Studley Wood. Section 2: Buckingham v Brailes. Section 3: Rye Hill v Bicester, North Oxford v Hazlemere.

  • Tennis fixtures

    Games to be played on Saturday, May 3, 2003 WILSON OXON LTA LEAGUE 3-PAIR Ladies Div 1: North Oxford v Witney, Oxford Sports B v Cholsey, Oxford City v Bicester, Woodstock v Oxford Spts. Div 2: North Oxford B v Abingdon, Thame v Woodstock B. Div 3: Bicester

  • Weary City take point

    Barking & East Ham Utd 0, Oxford City 0: A weary and much-changed City continued their excellent run when they returned from a difficult trip to Essex with a well-earned Ryman Division 1 North point on Thursday night. Showing six changes from Tuesday's

  • Cricket fixtures

    Games to be played on Saturday, May 2, 2003 REPRESENTATIVE Banbury v Oxfordshire OCA LEAGUE Div 1: Westbury v Hook Norton, Tetsworth v Ox Caribbean, Brill v Garsington, Gt Horwood v Witney Swifts, Shrivenham v Freeland. Div 2: Eynsham v Harwell Int, Horley

  • Caribbean bids to light up top flight

    The name of Oxford Caribbean has returned to the OCA League - and they look mounting a real challenge for the Division 1 title as the new season gets under way on Saturday (May 3). Playing as Cowley, they romped to the Division 2 title last season, and

  • Top officers quit sports group

    Hundreds of sportsmen and women face an uncertain future after three key officers quit a major organisation over its 'old-fashioned attitudes'. In recent weeks Bicester Sports Association (BSA) has lost its chairman, Henry Evans, vice-chairman, Ken Walton

  • Footpath 'delay' upsets

    A disabled man says his wife is having to push him two miles to a shopping parade, which is only one hundred metres from his house. Richard Murray and his wife Angela Richard Murray, 58, has Motor Neurone Disease, a degenerative muscle wasting disease

  • Football fixtures

    Games to be played on Saturday, May 3 NATIONWIDE LEAGUE Div 3: Oxford Utd v York City. RYMAN LEAGUE Div 1 North: Thame Utd v Oxford C. Div 2: Leyton v Abingdon Tn DR MARTENS LEAGUE Eastern Div: Dartford v Banbury Utd. CHERRY RED RECORDS HELLENIC LEAGUE

  • Charity benefits from 150th anniversary

    A building society marked its 150th anniversary by donating a cake to a charity for older people. Staff at the Oxford branch of Skipton Building Society presented the cake on May Day to Age Concern during a party to celebrate the occasion. Manager Lisa

  • Healing sounds

    An Oxford hospital was filled with music on Thursday, May 1, when members of a city orchestra performed for patients, visitors and staff. Oxford Philomusica's education and community manager Kate Comberti listening to musicians with her son Tobias, four

  • Quarry are kept waiting

    Hellenic League preview: Quarry Nomads' hopes of clinching the Division 1 East title last night were thwarted when their match against RS Basingstoke was postponed. The Hampshire club failed to turn up after their minibus reportedly broke down. The game

  • Footbal fixtures

    Games to be played on Monday, May 5, 2003 CHERRY RED RECORDS HELLENIC LEAGUE RPM Records Supp Cup final: Southall Tn v Didcot Tn (Abingdon Utd, 3). Anagram Records Reserve Cup semi-final 2nd leg: Cheltenham Saras v Eton Wick. SEAGRAVE HAULAGE COMBINED

  • Superstore battle proves the ticket

    West Oxfordshire: Grassroots politics won the day in west Oxfordshire when Harriet Ryley took a seat on a single issue - the fight to stop a superstore developing Witney's Marriotts Close. Harriet Ryley celebrates She said: "This vindicates the strength

  • South Oxfordshire: Conservatives sweep back to power

    The Conservatives swept back into power with a convincing victory in south Oxfordshire. After eight years in the political wilderness in a council run by a Liberal Democrat and Labour pact, the Conservatives now have an overall majority and will form

  • Warning on explosives

    Dangerous explosives were stolen from a van in Didcot, police have warned. The industrial explosives, used to stop trains in an emergency, were stolen from a van in Church Street on Tuesday, April 29. They are in two-inch yellow tubes, labelled 'Explosive

  • Brother offers the gift of life

    Warehouse worker and charity fundraiser John Wilkins is to donate one of his kidneys to his brother. John Wilkins Mr Wilkins, 56, of St Nicholas Road, Littlemore, Oxford, has already helped raise more than £16,000 for the bone marrow and haematology ward

  • New school opened

    A new north Oxford primary school has been officially opened -- but nearly half its pupils will continue to be taught at its old site until a planning problem is sorted out. Students at the opening of the school Students, teachers and parents gathered

  • West Oxfordshire -- Superstore battle proves the ticket

    Grassroots politics won the day in west Oxfordshire when Harriet Ryley took a seat on a single issue -- the fight to stop a superstore developing Witney's Marriotts Close. She said: "This vindicates the strength of feeling in the town. "I'm delighted

  • Vouchers proposal to solve schools row

    A radical solution to the financial problems facing schools has been suggested by the leader of Oxfordshire County Council, Keith Mitchell. Mr Mitchell wants the Government to introduce education vouchers, a controversial idea first proposed under Mrs

  • Man cleared of racist attack

    An Oxford scaffolder has been found not guilty of a racist attack on an Asian man who has been banned from every pub in Kidlington. Scott Roger, 19, of Green Road, Headington, admitted causing grievous bodily harm but denied the assault was racially aggravated

  • Dredging to aid riverbank repairs

    Dredging is taking place at Osney Lock in west Oxford as the first stage of a major restoration project to counteract the effects of erosion caused by the River Thames. Dredging work takes place at Osney Lock Water pouring downstream and diverted through

  • Union fears rail job cuts

    Rail union leaders fear job cuts announced by Thames Trains will lead to poorer station services for passengers in Oxfordshire. The Transport and Salaried Staffs Association, which represents administrative staff workers, said the company's plans to reduce

  • Festival season gets under way

    The summer season of festivals, fairs and fun gets under way this weekend with the start of this year's Fun in the Parks events. The series of family events, sponsored by the Oxford Mail, kicks off on Saturday, May 3, with Oxford's first lesbian and gay

  • Russian airship joins Balloon Fiesta

    A Russian airship will join dozens of hot-air balloons for the first time at this year's Oxford City Council Balloon Fiesta. Organisers confirmed the spectacular Russian "Baltika" hot-air ship will be part of the event in Cutteslowe Park on the weekend

  • Watchdog investigates summerhouse dispute

    The dismantling of a historic summerhouse at an Oxford school is to be investigated by the local government ombudsman. The ombudsman will examine Oxford city council's involvement in a bitter conservation wrangle at St Aloysius First School, in Woodstock

  • Thame gun for derby glory

    Thame United boss Andy Sinnott aims to end the season on a high by beating near neighbours and Ryman Division 1 North rivals Oxford City in their last match of the season at Windmill Stadium on Saturday. Mark AveryAfter winning 2-1 at high-flying Wealdstone