Henrietta Knight admits Calgary Bay could find himself in no-man's land at the Cheltenham Festival in March after his impressive victory on New Year's Day. The imposing six-year-old created a huge impression in winning the Dipper Novices' Chase over
The cream of West Oxfordshire’s sporting and arts talent is being recognised by the distribution of thousands of pounds of grants. Twenty-eight young people have been selected by the district council to receive its Achievement Awards grants, to help
Oxford United have further strengthened their squad with the loan signings of defenders Adam Chapman and Shane Killock. Chapman is a 19-year-old full back from Sheffield United, who is comfortable on eitehr side of defence. He helped the Blades' youth
Vandals caused problems for drivers today by pouring containers of cooking oil on the ramp of Gloucester Green car park in Oxford. City council officials discovered the 30 gallons of oil at the entrance to the car park, in Gloucester Street, at about
Didcot's branch of Woolworths, in the Orchard Centre, shuts tomorrow after three years of trading. Hundreds of shoppers are expected to flock to the store, which opened in September 2005, to pick up last-minute bargains, after the firm went
Children on their Christmas holidays enjoying a range of craft activities and learned about their history and background at the Museum of Oxford, in St Aldate’s. Museum assistant Katie Timmins’ silk painting workshop, attended by 15 children, was fully
AEA Technology 17 BMW 2129 Electrocomponents 146.5 Nationwide Accident Repair 87.5 Oxford Biomedica 6.75 Oxford Catalyst 96.5 Oxford Instruments 152 Reed Elsevier 516 RM 170 RPS Group 141.5 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon
Oxford Stadium brought down the curtain on a successful year's entertainment with an almost packed restaurant hosting an early New Year's party enjoyed by young and old alike. A firework display saw out the old year as management now have to buckle down
Looking back on 2008, it was quite a year with the shock closure of premier track Walthamstow, and local venue Reading, which was always in the offing. The newly formed British Greyhound Racing Board took over from the National Greyhound Racing Club
Roadstown Reigh, owned by Ian Pattinson and trained by Terry Atkins, is the nap choice to land the Another Baby on The Way stakes tonight. The trophy will be presented by Michael Peterson and his partner Sabrina Allen, and no explanation is
Bosses at an opticians firm have taken a Skills Pledge to boost the training and development of staff. The scheme has been introduced by Robert Stanley Opticians at its six branches across the county. Set up through the Government’s Train to Gain initiative
A software firm has defeated a hostile takeover bid from a rival. Gladstone, based in Wallingford, successfully fought the move from Constellation Software after the Canadian concern failed to persuade enough shareholders to give the takeover the green
I would like to say what a great service Oxfordshire Fire Service gives to us, regarding its offer of free smoke alarms for all households. I recently persuaded my elderly father to have smoke alarms fitted in his house, and the firefighters came with
Oxford United started 2009 with a win. New manager Chris Wilder has injected some fire into the team with another win under his belt at Salisbury on New Year’s Day. It is still early days but there’s a positive wave of optimism about Oxford at the moment
Well, 2009 has arrived – accompanied by forecasts of doom and gloom in retail and most other areas of employment. A year’s break for the raising of the national minimum wage is proposed by some, and immediately opposed by the unions. Pundits say that
A DISABLED football team in the city is one of the first groups set to benefit from this year’s record-breaking firework display in South Park. Oxford’s Round Table raised about £25,000 at the event in November, which attracted a crowd of 16,000
A student who became a widow at just 22 after her husband died from leukaemia the day after their wedding is to return to university in Oxford. Nicola Carver, from Garforth, in Yorkshire, had put her degree on hold after his death last July. She said
I LEFT the Oxford Mail office with the cries of “Supersize me!” and “Bring me a Big Mac” still ringing in my ears. McDonald’s had invited me to spend some time working in one of their Oxford restaurants. They wanted me to help dispel the myth that
A museum offering children and adults the chance to learn about science is to shut down for two months. Science Oxford, in St Clement’s Street, Oxford, will close its doors on Monday for a £200,000 revamp. Work will include moving its ‘Hands On’ Science
Match fishing Beehive AC staged the fifth leg of their Beehive Cup on a very cold Lower Court, and with an easterly wind blowing, the fishing was hard. It was only in the last two hours of the match that the fish switched on to feed.
A 44-YEAR-OLD man was attacked while walking home from a New Year's Eve night out. The man was walking home with his wife from a party between 2am and 2.30am yesterday. At the junction of Westlands Drive and Maltfield Road, in Headington, Oxford, he
By Andy Webber This is the annual ‘review of the year’ time, so what happened in 2008 and can we expect to see things improve in the next 12 months, writes Andy Webber? Our big-fish waters like Linear Fisheries at Stanton Harcourt, Orchid
ODTTA Forum A completed the first half of the season with a 10-0 thrashing of Begbroke A that puts them on course to defend their Division 1 title. British Rail continued their fine form with a 7-3 victory over Forum B, then a 9-1 demolition of Gladiators
With reference to Tony Anchors’s letter about recycling (Oxford Mail, December 10), there is a big question mark as to whether the council taxpayers of this county, and indeed those of all counties, are being conned. All that money from council coffers
AEA Technology 17.25 BMW 2125 Electrocomponents 146 Nationwide Accident Repair 86 Oxford Biomedica 6.75 Oxford Catalyst 96.5 Oxford Instruments 149 Reed Elsevier 513.5 RM 170 RPS Group 141.5 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon
The Oxford Mail Centre in Cowley, Oxford, is a modern building with the most up-do-date equipment, and is worthy of city and county support. This facility not only provides full-time employment but part-time employment too for many young people on college
Hundreds of people who have campaigned to improve safety at an Oxford park have welcomed plans to install new lights. Almost 700 people signed a petition in July to get lights at Croft Road Park, Marston, and now Oxfordshire County Council
A multi-talented firefighter has turned one of his hobbies into a book. Flamenco dancer Chris Wilson has been studying the Spanish moves since 1996, but noticed a gap in the market for an English guide on the subject. So he decided to
Forget the New Year resolution nonsense. No-one buys it anyway. But if I could truly change something about myself this year, it’d be that I was attractive. Because let’s face it, almost everyone you know who is academically smart wishes they could just
A community pub targeted in a series of break-ins has reopened under new management. New licensee Jason Bunce threw open the doors to the Wolvercote Social — formerly known as The Canal Bridge — on Tuesday. Mr Bunce, 35, and his partner Debbie Hayes
Police are appealing for witnesses after a man was seriously assaulted in Northway, Oxford. Between 2am and 2.30am yesterday, a man and woman, aged 44, were at the junction of Westlands Drive and Maltfield Road when the man was assaulted by
Churchgoers in Didcot are putting their faith in the Almighty to help them beat the credit crunch and raise £600,000 for a new youth and community hall. All Saints’ vicar, the Rev Karen Beck, said they believed the vision for the new hall was inspired
When Strada opened in Oxford about 15 months ago, I wasn’t bowled over by the place, regarding it as a sort of Italian foodie version of All Bar One – pitched mostly at females with a few quid to lavish on Parma ham. However, I kept meeting
A city centre boutique has become the latest Oxford independent businesses to be hit by the financial crises. Lolapoloza, which sold accessories and also housed a small art gallery, closed its doors in Blue Boar Street, blaming spiralling overheads and
More than 180 pigs were moved following a blaze at a piggery at Upper Farm in Warborough on Thursday night. Fire crews were called to the farm in Thame Road at 11.49pm, after the fire broke out in the 10x36m shed. The pigs were moved to a different
People in Oxford are being urged to consider the environment when clearing up after Christmas. Oxford City Council will be providing 17 recycling points across the city where old Christmas trees can be taken and turned into wood chips free of charge.
Vandals caused problems for drivers this morning by pouring containers of cooking oil on the ramp of Gloucester Green car park in Oxford. City council officials discovered the 30 gallons of oil spread over the entrance of the car park of Gloucester
A new website where GPs’ surgeries can be ranked by patients seems like a good idea. However, it is nothing more than a gimmick, fraught with potential pitfalls. The idea is for patients to heap praise or pour criticism on their experiences of a visit
New centre forward Ricky Sappleton became the darling of the Oxford United fans – after a sensational debut. The on-loan Leicester City striker came off the bench for the last 30 minutes at the Kassam Stadium yesterday, and scored one and made
The future looked bleak for Jardell Townsend when he was born. The tot weighed just 2lb and had suffered a horrific brain bleed. He wasn’t given long to live. But out of the depths of despair has come hope, and now mum Hailey is preparing for her 18
A former steam train worker returned to his home town to sign copies of his book about life on the railways. Grandfather-of-two Patrick Kelly shared his memories with fellow train enthusiasts during a book signing at WHSmith in Didcot last Saturday.
A new NHS website allowing patients to rate their surgeries is “another stick for the Government to beat doctors”, GPs said. A new feature on the NHS Choices website allows patients to post praise or criticism about a surgery where they have
The mother of a “miracle boy” born four months premature who was not predicted to live into 2009 is looking forward to bringing him home for the first time. Eighteen-week-old Jardell weighed just 2lb when he was born at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital
I feel I must apologise for my previous letter about problem teenagers (Oxford Mail, December 6). I did not mean to suggest that all teenagers must be excused for their bad behaviour just because there are many other factors which are also to blame.
Cyclists, bus passengers and families will have their first opportunity to quiz Oxfordshire’s transport chief when he publicly makes the case for the multi-million-pound pedestrianisation of Oxford city centre. Ian Hudspeth will present the county council
