SATURDAY FOOTBALL COCA-COLA LEAGUE TWO Notts Co v Oxford Utd. SOUTHERN LEAGUE Div 1 West: Bracknell Tn v Thame Utd. GLS FOOTBALL HELLENIC LEAGUE Challenge Cup quarter-final: Tytherington Rocks v Letcombe. GLS Football Supp Cup 2nd round: Badshot
When people say that someone was born with a silver spoon in their mouth they mean that the person they are talking about is either posh or wealthy or both. The origin of this bizarre saying goes back at least to the 16th-century. In Tudor times, if
Friends of the Oxford Canal and Basin was set up recently to promote the reinstatement of the Worcester Street car park as a canal basin. Members believe that there is an opportunity to transform this part of Oxford into a vibrant centre of city life
The garden centres are full of packets of seeds in spring and some of the easiest of all to grow are the hardy annuals and they can be sown right now. Hardy annuals only last for one year,but they have several advantages for the gardener. They germinate
Several legends are attached to the picturesque medieval ruins of the manor house at Minster Lovell. Francis, Lord Lovell was a close friend of Richard III, who awarded him the post of Constable of the Royal Castle of Wallingford and Chamberlain of
I have to admit that I felt I should have been part of a presidential convoy, complete with motorcycle outriders with lights flashing and sirens wailing or at least transporting some Celebrity Big Brother contestants to their latest PR bash. I resisted
T he greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. Neuro-psychologists have discovered that, because our brain expects something to happen in a certain way, we often achieve
When you take your well-behaved dog for a walk in Shotover Country Park, or along the Thames towpath, the last thing you expect is for another dog to ferociously savage your pet without any apparent warning. Yet this has happened recently to two of my
Oxford Cheetahs were taken to the cleaners for the second time in 48 hours as the Swindon Robins rammed home an early-season warning to the rest of the Elite League with a 61-28 win. None of the Oxford septet, including six-times world champion Tony
A "SEVERE cutback" in opening hours at Chipping Norton police station has been criticised by councillors. From April, Thames Valley Police is changing opening hours at stations across Oxfordshire. Chipping Norton's station which has an average of 17
Banbury United 2 Bath City 3 BANBURY United went down to leaders Bath in an ill-tempered game watched by a crowd of more than 500 at Spencer Stadium on Saturday. And they can feel a little unlucky as the visitors created few chances and were fortunate
A HANDICAPPED boy and his dog have won a prestigious competition at this year's Crufts thanks to Banbury-based charity Dogs for the Disabled. Daniel George, 12, and his Labrador assistance dog Yogi, received a standing ovation after members of the
POSTERS have been put up warning shoppers to take care after a number of elderly women had their purses stolen in Banbury. Shopkeepers have also been asked to be vigilant after 12 incidents were reported to police since the beginning of the year.
THE High Court has rejected demands for a judicial review into social care proposals included in Northamptonshire County Council's 2006/2007 budget plan. The decision means that injunctions placed on the authority last month have been lifted. In February
AS many as 40,000 public sector workers across Oxfordshire are gearing up for strike action as the row over Government pensions hots up. Workers in education, the NHS, local government and the fire service who are members of the Local Government Pension
Leaders Oxford City are hoping to hang on to hitman John Mitchell after Conference North outfit Kettering put in a bid for the striker. Forward Ray Spence returns from suspension for tomorrow's Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division home game
Thame United striker Alex Stewart is hoping to pass a late fitness test ahead of their trip to fellow Division 1 West strugglers Bracknell Town. The tall hitman has had a groin injury that has forced him to miss their last three games. Joint boss
Chinnor can take a big step towards the South West 1 title by defeating nearest rivals Weston-super-Mare at Kingsey Road tomorrow (3). But coach John Brodley believes their promotion destiny won't be decided until at least the penultimate fixture.
MY sister-in-law's spring clear-out resulted in an exercise machine coming my way. The manic exertions required to make it work proved to be great practice for driving the Land Rover Defender. You start with a mountain goat leap into the driver's seat
MOTORISTS using hand-held mobile phones while behind the wheel are not only breaking the law but also driving other road users mad, a survey said. Talking on mobiles was voted by men as women's most annoying driving habit, while women voted the mobile
DRIVERS are being distracted by using in-car navigation equipment, according to a new report. A survey of 2,000 adults by Privilege Insurance found more than one in ten used the controls on their satellite navigation device while driving, instead of
MEN who get lost while driving are happy to ask for directions, but not from their female partner, a survey showed. Just 12 per cent of men would turn to their woman companion for direction advice and 13 per cent of males would not even get in a car
ROAD licensing managers are looking at how to tighten up procedures around ageing motorists and those with medical conditions that could impair their driving. The Department for Transport (DfT) confirmed that research had been carried out into the dangers
From my childhood as an avid reader of comics like the Beano and Knockout, I remember a joke about a teacher who asks a schoolboy to give her two examples of collective nouns. He replied: "A vacuum cleaner and a dustbin." Collective nouns are actually
LIKE it or not, the Vauxhall Vectra is one of the most reliable bellwethers of modern motoring. Sneering at Vauxhall's best-seller seems to be fashionable among Clarksonian petrolheads, but there is little justification for the jeering. Where the
With so many point-to-point fixtures biting the dust in recent weeks, it comes as no surprise that Sunday's Grafton Hunt meeting at Mollington, near Banbury, has been inundated with entries. The nine-race card, which is set to start at 12noon, has attracted
THE new BMW 3 Series was named Car of the Year in an event dominated by foreign manufacturers. BMW's 320d ES, priced at £23,695, won the top What Car? magazine award at a ceremony in London. What Car? group editor, Steve Fowler, said: "No other new
Documents obtained by the Oxford Mail reveal the land for United's new stadium was sold by Oxford City Council for even less than previously believed. 'I've got no comment. Your paper has done enough coverage and I have nothing more to add.' - Firoz Kassam
The proposal to install cameras in Oxford tower blocks (Oxford Mail, March 3) is a half-hearted attempt to bring security to a vulnerable section of the community who live in flats. It is another 'faceless' bit of bureaucracy which relies heavily on a
LEADERS Oxford City are hoping to hang on to hitman John Mitchell after Conference North outfit Kettering put in a bid for the striker. Forward Ray Spence returns from suspension for tomorrow's Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division home game
ABINGDON United have suffered a blow after defender Omar Takriti joined Southern League outfit Brackley Town. Takriti, who began this season at Oxford City before moving on to Witney United, spent only two months at Abingdon. Goalkeeper Nick Heritage
ROBERT Thornton claimed his second success of the Festival when powering My Way De Solzen home to a dramatic victory in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle. Thornton, who hails from Stratton Audley, near Bicester, went clear on the run to the final flight on the
The timing is unfortunate, to put it mildly. As Oxford United fans loudly berate the owner for failing to invest enough in the struggling team, Firoz Kassam appears to be pressing on with another -- probably more lucrative -- plan: opening a casino in
Police were still conducting a fingertip search of an Oxford churchyard yesterday where a man died following a struggle with officers. The man died on Tuesday in St Mary and St John churchyard, Cowley Road, and a post mortem was carried out at the John
A father has been fined £500 for disorderly behaviour at Oxford United's Kassam Stadium. Nigel Callaghan, 41, of Falcon Close, Minchery Farm, Oxford, had denied racially abusing Swansea City players during a match against Oxford United on December 8,
A violent thug has escaped a prison sentence after admitting his part in a city centre brawl -- five months after being given "one last chance" by the same judge. Nathan Strong, 24, of Kingfisher Drive, Witney, walked out of Oxford Crown Court yesterday
A Royal Mail employee forged his manager's signature to claim almost £1,500 in bogus overtime payments. Nicholas Giles, 43, was yesterday given a suspended prison sentence for the £1,454 scam in the second Royal Mail overtime fiddle to come before magistrates
Being caught short could soon be no excuse for late-night revellers urinating in the street -- if a push for 'pee pods' in Oxford city centre gets the go-ahead. Pee pods in Cambridge It is hoped the mobile urinals -- which are only for men -- would stop
A barman due to be a guinea pig for the company trialling the drug that left six men in intensive care told how he cried off because he was not given enough information. Tom Edwards, of Spring Lane, Headington Quarry, Oxford, had volunteered with Parexel
I wrote to you some months ago about the state of the Barracks Lane bridle path in Oxford, comparing it with a Third World country. I am sorry and embarrassed to inform your readers that I did these places an injustice -- the lane would now rate as a
I refer to your article, Abusive email row escalates, Councillor reported to watchdog (Oxford Mail, March 3), and the editorial, Animosity. Having published parts of the email, you describe it as "a tirade of cheap insults". Anyone reading the article
A turf firm boss fears the looming hosepipe ban will kill off his business. Turf firm boss Darren Field says he has lost £80,000 of business Darren Field, managing director of White Horse Turf and Landscape suppliers, said that since Monday's announcement
THAME United striker Alex Stewart is hoping to pass a late fitness test ahead of their trip to fellow Southern League Division 1 West strugglers Bracknell Town. The tall hitman has had a groin injury that has forced him to miss their last three games.
MICK Fitzgerald was overjoyed after his old favourite Fondmort continued his Cheltenham love affair with a thrilling victory in the Ryanair Chase on the third day of the Festival. The 35-year-old Irishman, who lives at Childrey, near Wantage, asked for
CHINNOR can take a big step towards the South West 1 title by defeating nearest rivals Weston-super-Mare at Kingsey Road tomorrow (3). But coach John Brodley believes their promotion destiny won't be decided until at least the penultimate fixture. He
SATURDAY FOOTBALL COCA-COLA LEAGUE TWO Notts Co v Oxford Utd. SOUTHERN LEAGUE Div 1 West: Bracknell Tn v Thame Utd. GLS FOOTBALL HELLENIC LEAGUE Challenge Cup quarter-final: Tytherington Rocks v Letcombe. GLS Football Supp Cup 2nd round: Badshot Lea v
OXFORD Cheetahs were taken to the cleaners for the second time in 48 hours as the Swindon Robins rammed home an early-season warning to the rest of the Elite League with a 61-28 victory. None of the Oxford septet, including six-times world champion Tony
THERE will be no let-up from new boss Darren Patterson and his players when Oxford United travel to Notts County tomorrow. On the face of it, Wednesday night's 1-0 win over Bristol Rovers has greatly taken the pressure off the U's, who have climbed to
DRIVERS can expect to be in nine crashes during their motoring lives, a survey said. The average motorist will be involved in an accident once every six and half years, research from Churchill car insurance found. There are 3.9 million car accidents
FIFTEEN years ago the arrival of the estate version of Saab's compact executive car would have been manna from heaven. My friend Brian and I were at the peak of our pursuit of salmon, taking us ridiculously often to the western highlands of Scotland
MICK Fitzgerald was overjoyed after his old favourite Fondmort continued his Cheltenham love affair with a thrilling victory in the Ryanair Chase on the third day of the Festival. The 35-year-old Irishman, who lives at Childrey, near Wantage, asked
Health reporter Victoria Owen provides an overview of how healthcare in Oxfordshire is organised and introduces its key institutions.... Patients in Oxfordshire are already served by a wealth of hospitals, four of which make up the UK's fifth largest
Of all the amazing buildings to view in and around Oxford the largest group must surely be its churches. Taken together they are a remarkable collection. For the purposes of a recent book I visited, or revisited, a large number of the 10,000 or so medieval
Didcot Town's prolific marksman Ian Concannon has always had the knack of being in the right place at the right time. And on Tuesday night, he was, for the 250th time in his Didcot career when he reached yet another personal milestone. The 28-year-old's
BRACKLEY'S Honda Racing team's Friday' test driver Anthony Davidson topped the second practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix but Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso was in ominous touch. Davidson's time of one minute 35.041 seconds beat
Denise Leicester discovered the healing benefits of Himalayan salt crystals after purchasing some in a Delhi market. She had been suffering from the debilitating illness ME, which causes chronic fatigue. The crystals boosted her energy levels, and made
When people say that someone was born with a silver spoon in their mouth they mean that the person they are talking about is either posh or wealthy or both. The origin of this bizarre saying goes back at least to the 16th-century. In Tudor times, if
Walk in springtime along the river at Godstow and you are likely to hear nesting rooks cawing high among the trees on Trout Island'. Or are they rooks? According to local lore, the age-old rookery's tenants are spirits of the nuns who, in mediaeval times
Are you looking for children's yoga classes, solar panels for your house, or an organisation that will help you swap your surplus carrots for somebody else's home baking, River Cottage-style? These, and many other goods and services, can be found in
I recollect walking in the late afternoon in Merton Street and Holywell, and looking at snow-laden gables which had scarcely altered since the Middle Ages," so wrote John Buchan in his 1940 autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door. "In that hour Oxford claimed
If you were asked in a pub quiz which English composer was a) once organist at Wyck Rissington Church, and b) a keen reader of Indian literature and philosophy, you might, like me, be stumped for an answer. Chipping Norton musician and Holst scholar
Forty years ago, French chef Alain Madoui decided to spend a short spell in England learning the language. He liked what he found so much, he never left. What's more, he has now realised a dream by becoming chef/patron of a quintessentially English pub
Road accidents can be like divorce: many people say that they were innocent victims but very few admit to causing one. Casualty data show that car drivers are responsible for 45 per cent of motorcycle casualties. In most of these cases a motorcyclist
WAR hero General Sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley, famed for his fighting spirit and leadership on the battlefield, has died aged 81. He was a prisoner of war in Korea who tackled the rebels in Aden and Cyprus and survived an IRA bomb attempt at his Oxfordshire
MARY Godfrey, the 'Bun Lady of Abingdon' who collected the baked goodies as souvenirs after they thrown from the top of the town's County Hall, has died at the age of 83. Bun throwing is staged by the town council to mark special events, usually Royal
THE company behind a proposed rowing lake near Oxford city centre is pressing ahead with key environmental studies to establish whether the scheme is feasible. Grandpont Waters says it has been encouraged by the level of support for a 1.8km rowing lake
A MAN who stabbed his wife to death told a jury how he only 'snapped out' of his trance-like state when he saw her blood dripping off his knife. Brian Smart who is accused of murdering his 27-year-old estranged wife Sarah claims he cannot remember
A DOCTOR has spoken of the moment he suspected a member of his hospital team had administered drugs which made 18 patients stop breathing. Dr Graham Walker was giving evidence at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday in the trial of nurse Benjamin Geen. Geen
Ford is promoting both the new S-Max and latest Galaxy models, having just put them on public display at the Geneva Motor Show. The S-Max, a sporty interpretation of a people mover, and stablemate, the Galaxy, were both designed in-house by Ford, and
Guy Salmon Jaguar is encouraging local drivers to live life to XS with a new special edition of the striking S-Type saloon. The Jaguar S-Type saloon is renowned for its style, refinement and dynamic driving characteristics but, in the S-Type XS, these
Sir It doesn't surprise me that Baa, baa, black sheep is banned in nurseries (Report, March 10). I have long suspected that Little boy blue, who falls asleep on duty, is a covert attack on the Tory Party; while the good Little Red Riding Hood is clearly
Sir Oxford City Council is consulting on the introduction of wheelie bins in Oxford, but appear not to have taken on board the visual impact of bins on the street scene. In cases of unsuitability, such as no access to back gardens, the council is offering
Sir I cannot understand why Oxfordshire County Council is so determined to extend their resident parking schemes over an ever-wider area in Oxford. From your report, the city council is also unhappy about the possibility of having to charge residents
Sir I am grateful to councillor Susan Brown for explaining her justification for resisting residents' parking charges, but I would suggest that the failure to understand is not unique to myself. While I do not relish making myself an even more unpopular
Sir Your item (Report, March 10) "Prime Minister under fire over mental health cuts in county" moves me to write as a past chairman of the Oxfordshire Mental Health Trust and now as an informed volunteer in the local health and social care system.
Sir You have published a story about Sharon Howe who gave her Oxford degree back in protest at the vivisection laboratory being built by the University. She said that she believes that there are alternative techniques, which can be used in place of animal
Sir I was delighted to read, as the lead story of last week's paper, that the county council is about to improve the appearance of the High Street. We were told by the council's cabinet member for transport that the pavements will be resurfaced in York
Sir The money wasted by the county highways department does not go only on large-scale fiascos like the £86,000 London Road study, nor does it end with the profligate use of outside consultants. I have recently tried to ascertain the costs of one of
Sir Everyone will rejoice to learn, in your last issue (March 17), of the projected rehabilitation of Bonn Square, which has long been so sadly neglected and misused. One of its nastier aspects in its present state is the droppings of pigeons. May
Sir So sign clutter and street furniture are to be removed from Oxford's High Street, once called by Pevsner "one of the world's great streets." Excellent news indeed. I'm looking forward to the day when the same Oxfordshire County Council starts removing
Sir Peter Travis (Letters, March 10) offers us the classic fallacy 'They also laughed at Galileo' in defence of the Oxford Community Boat House, and in passing also of the Sad Business School. Mr Travis cites the fact that 'Wren was so controversial.
Sir I was not surprised when Peter Travis (Letters, March 10) countered my criticism of modern architecture in Oxford, with the suggestion that people always tend to lag behind the vision of the architects of their day. That was perhaps the case with
HUGH McDonald, a headmaster at the Christchurch Cathedral School, Oxford, for more than 15 years, has died, aged 74. Originally from Dunbar, Scotland, Mr McDonald was appointed to the school in 1973, taking a house in the school grounds. He retired
HISTORIC buildings are to be lit up in the first phase of a scheme that promises to transform the middle of Oxford by night. Agreement has been reached which will see Oxford following cities such as Edinburgh and Bath by introducing architectural lighting
The new Jeep Grand Cherokee line-up gets a new range-topping addition this year. The Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland is one of many new products contributing to the on-going Jeep product offensive scheduled during the second half of this decade in markets
Thames Water's decision to impose a hosepipe ban from the start of next month raises some interesting questions. For a start, will those of us whose water use is not measured by a meter get a rebate on our water rates? If we use less electricity or
Sir I write to clear up a possible misunderstanding arising from your article on March 10 Hopes for a new city library damaged. I lead the 10.30am and 7.30pm meetings of St Ebbe's Church that take place 'off-site' in Headington (currently in Headington
Sir At the Oxford Primary Care Trust (PCT) public board meeting on January 23, I said that in view of the NHS's serious financial problems, they should not go ahead with this project costing £33m. They, nevertheless, approved the expenditure. Now we
Sir I have carefully studied the five district council adverts published in your blue Life supplement (February 24) about free travel from April 1 for the over 60s and disabled. But I have not seen in your columns, apart from a letter from David Walker
Sir I refer to the butcher, baker and candlestick maker approach to our transport system. The much-considered and originally proposed Wootton to Abingdon and Wallingford to Cholsey cycle tracks have been butchered', being no longer part of the county
TROUT fishing at the Farmoor II reservoir, near Oxford, has started well despite the cold weather. One of the best early bags came to Farmoor regular Steve Oxlade, who had six fish for 12.5lb and his boat partner Chris Stockdale, who had four for 8lb
Britain's Allan McNish made history as the first driver of a diesel-powered car to start an international motor race from pole position. Dumfries-born McNish, 36, shattered the lap record for Saturday's Sebring 12-Hour sports car endurance race with
My sister-in-law's spring clear-out resulted in an exercise machine coming my way. The manic exertions required to make it work proved to be great practice for driving the Land Rover Defender. You start with a mountain goat leap into the driver's seat
