Archive

  • ART REVIEW: Views of rural Ireland

    This is Irish painter Bernadette Kiely's first solo show in England, writes Jeannine Alton. After studying and work at the Slade and in New York, she returned to rural Kilkenny, close to her birthplace, where time, seasons and elements provide her, as

  • Rowdy behaviour spoils prom night

    A prom night for school leavers in Witney ended on a sour note when police were called to deal with rowdy youths. Residents in Wood Green complained about noise and wheelie bins being overturned outside their homes at 2am yesterday. Police confiscated

  • Rushed road repair job to be reversed

    Victorian street paving ripped out during a rush job to use up last year's city council budget will be relaid following an outcry from residents. David Walker Oxford City Council has been criticised after it admitted taking a "shoot now, ask questions

  • New lease of life for old library

    The first steps in raising £200,000 to turn the Old Free Library in Wallingford into a combined church and community hall have been taken. Lay pastor Wendy Holt is pictured in the building Hard hats were the order of the day when residents visited an

  • Move to tackle mink threat

    A mink spotted in Letcombe Brook in Grove could be destroying the village's water vole population, parish councillors fear. Adrian Lunn told the council's environmental services committee he saw a mink in the brook, following an earlier reported sighting

  • School's fate set to be decided

    County councillors were expected to sound the death knell for Headington Quarry First School in Oxford today (May 15). The school organisation committee was expected to rubber-stamp the executive board's decision on Tuesday that the school should close

  • Bogus staff steal from pensioner

    Burglars posing as officials have struck in Bicester. An elderly woman was burgled in Buckingham Road, on Saturday (May 10) at about 2.30pm. Two men, wearing boiler suits with badges, claimed there was a problem with the water supply and they needed to

  • Fears mount for missing man

    Police are concerned about the welfare of a vulnerable man who has not been seen since Tuesday afternoon. Bruce Carruthers, 38, of Newland Place, Banbury, is 5ft 7in tall, of stocky build, with unkempt fair collar-length hair. He walks with a stoop and

  • Daughter threatened by teenagers

    A mother called police because she feared 30 teenagers were going to beat up her daughter. Police were called to Hazel Crescent, Kidlington, at 5.30pm yesterday, following reports that youths aged between 12 and 16 had threatened the woman's 12-year-old

  • Beat bobbies step out

    Banbury's Bretch Hill estate has two new beat bobbies. Pcs Jim Carroll and Emma Brooks Pcs Jim Carroll and Emma Brooks are patrolling the area in a bid to reduce car crime and anti-social behaviour. It is Pc Carroll's first beat assignment. He said: "

  • New bid aims to bring nursery rhyme to life

    A new bid to win charitable status for Banbury's Lady on a White Horse project is to be made within weeks. Pupils from St Mary's primary school show their lady and white horse models alongside their model of Banbury Cross A first application to the Charity

  • Music festival draws crowds

    The cream of the city's rock bands rocked six venues yesterday (May 14) in the sixth annual Oxford Punt. Nineteen bands were due to perform at the one-night festival, organised by Oxford's music freesheet Nightshift and sponsored by Borders bookshop.

  • Parade deadline extended

    The deadline for entries in this year's Lord Mayor's Parade and annual celebrations in South Park has been extended. The news comes after event organisers urged Oxford businesses to support the event, which takes place on Monday, May 26, to help make

  • Festival seeks support

    The organisers of a summer festival at allotments in Oxford are encouraging local residents to get involved. Restore wants support and ideas for its annual festival, which will be held on Saturday, August 16, at the Elder Stubbs Allotments, in Rymers

  • City centre hit by power cable blunder

    A power cut left 1,800 homes and businesses in Oxford without power yesterday (May 14) after a worker accidentally severed a live cable in the city centre. Motorists had to negotiate some of Oxford's busiest junctions without traffic lights after the

  • Friends make their mark

    The world's most tattooed man paid a visit to Oxford to catch up with a well-known tattoo artist who works in the city. Curly, Lucky Diamond Rich and Mr Duncan X Lucky Diamond Rich, who had his first tattoo 15 years ago, was recognised as the world's

  • Hospital to bid for foundation status

    The Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre has been given the go-ahead to bid for foundation status. But the Oxford hospital must retain its three-star grade, if it is to be successful. Foundation hospitals will be controlled by a board made up of community members

  • Baby birds rescued after lightning hits chimney

    A lightning strike sent a chimney stack crashing down and blew up an electrical socket at a house in Oxford. The two pigeon chicks Firefighters were called to Merewood Avenue, Sandhills, at about 2.45pm on Tuesday, after the lightning strike hit a chimney

  • £1m scanner on hold due to cutbacks

    A one-stop-shop to reduce waiting times at an Oxford hospital has been put on hold due to funding cuts. Managers at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, in Headington, were due to install a second magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, costing more than

  • Drive to revive centre

    Two city councillors are campaigning to get a disused Oxford community centre re-opened. Sabir-Hussain Mirza, left, and Dan Paskins at the thriving Bullingdon Community Centre Dan Paskins and Sabir-Hussain Mirza, who represent the Lye Valley ward in Cowley

  • Advertising banner safety questioned

    An Oxford councillor has questioned safety procedures allowing advertising banners to be strung across crowded city centre streets after Christmas lights fell and badly injured a passer-by 18 months ago. Tony Brett, re-elected as vice-chairman of the

  • School seeks specialist status

    Residents and traders in Wallingford are being urged to back the town's secondary school in its bid to attract £1m of Government funding. Wallingford School is applying for specialist status as a Sports College and needs to raise £50,000 by the end of

  • Consultation continues on special education

    Consultation is to continue on the sensitive issue of including pupils with special education needs in mainstream schools. Last year, the county council's policy on including special needs children was criticised by the Oxfordshire Secondary Heads Association

  • Iraqi war blamed for crime rise

    Robbery and burglary rose while police were tied up with protests against the war with Iraq. Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Peter Neyroud said efforts to reduce crime had been hampered by the number of officers prevented from carrying out their

  • School is sorry for fireworks

    One of Abingdon's leading independent schools has apologised to its neighbours after staging a noisy fireworks display as part of its centenary celebrations. St Helen and St Katharine School, in Faringdon Road, held a gala concert and rounded off the

  • Charity marks 450 years

    Celebrations begin on Sunday to mark the 450th anniversary of Christ's Hospital of Abingdon, the oldest charity in Oxfordshire and 39th oldest in the country. Christ's Hospital was incorporated 450 years ago, in 1553, and a service is being held on the

  • Children's artwork earns prizes

    A colouring competition on the Easter theme attracted many entries from children using Berinsfield Library. Ken Hall with, left to right, Alice D'arcy, three, Nichola Sutton, nine, Dellisia Harrop, five, Matthew Goldsbury, six, Shane Stevens, eight, and

  • Landlords fear new chain pub

    Publicans in Abingdon fear more pub closures if the national cut-price chain JD Wetherspoon moves in to the town early next year. Landlords and bar managers are considering objecting to the conversion of the old Congregational Church in The Square. In

  • Stun gun found in youth's bedroom

    A teenager has been told he may face custody after police found a stun gun in his bedroom. The 17-year old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, lives in the Ruscote area of Banbury. He appeared at the town's youth court yesterday (May 14), when he

  • Keith is the cream of the crop

    While most people are tucked up in bed, Midlands Milkman of the Year Keith Moore, is getting ready to deliver a pint of milk, a smile and a good turn to his customers. Keith Moore He arrives at the Co-op depot in Ferry Hinksey Road, Oxford, every morning

  • New venue sought for Galloway meeting

    Organisers of a meeting due to be addressed by controversial MP George Galloway are making a last-ditch effort to find a new venue, after Oxford City Council said it did not have space at the town hall. Between 400 and 500 people are expected to turn