Archive

  • Caravan destroyed in fire in Enstone

    A DISUSED caravan was destroyed in a fire in Enstone tonight. Firefighters were called to an old landfill site on the B4022 at about 9.15pm, a fire service spokesman said. One disused caravan was gutted by the blaze, she added. There was no notification

  • GREYHOUNDS: Thursday's Oxford runners

    7.35: Broadacres Saba 3, Pair Of Shoes, Central Banker, EXCEPTIONAL ART, Carrigmeidh Girl, Skipping Lomu 2. 7.50: Aggie Jo, LAST WORD EARLY, Greencroft Bell 2, Here He Goes 3, Springdale Blue, Boozed Scrappy. 8.05: Droopys Alan, Queen O The Mall,Sheffield

  • City centre robber is jailed

    A 30-year-old man has been jailed after a city-centre robbery. Nadir Teffahi, of John Williams Close, Tower Hamlets, London, was given a 12-month sentence at Oxford Crown Court after earlier admitting robbery and breaching a conditional discharge

  • St Helen's team is ace

    A team of tennis players from St Helen and St Katharine School has reached the quarter-finals of the National Schools AEGON Team Tennis competition. Alice Atkins, Elizabeth Shortis, Rebecca Carmen and Jemima Stobart have already been declared county

  • Children vie for special festive prize

    One lucky child in Bicester will get the chance to join the mayor and help turn on the town’s Christmas lights. This year town mayor Rose Stratford has rewritten the festive events rule book. She wants youngsters from all the town’s primary schools

  • Quiz the police

    Police will host a Have Your Say meeting in Barton next month. PCSO Nigel Pearce will be at the Play Barton shop, in Underhill Circus, between 1.30pm and 3pm on Tuesday, November 1.

  • Fallen Vijay on his final homeward mission

    Oxfordshire is preparing to honour the latest young soldier to be killed in Afghanistan. The repatriation of Rifleman Vijay Rai (2nd Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles) will take place tomorrow afternoon, with the soldier’s cortege making its way from

  • A rerun of 'filth' charge for the RSC

    The ructions over the alleged obscenity of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Marat/Sade, which I review on our arts pages today, is almost a rerun of what occurred when Peter Weiss’s play was first performed by the company in 1964. Indeed,

  • So many fun ways to enjoy your pumpkin

    I spotted the two pumpkins pictured while walking my dog through a Cotswold village last year. I couldn’t resist photographing them. I knew that the picture would come in useful one day — as it has. One amazing thing about modern technology is

  • Recipe for pumpkin cup cakes (makes 12)

    The minature pumpkin in the picture caught my eye when shopping at a farmers’ market last weekend. I bought several, confident that they would make excellent decorations which could then be cooked or hollowed out and used as decorative soup bowls

  • The tortoise that answers to Cynthia

    The postcard in a Summertown shop window was both amusing and, to any pet lover, just a little upsetting. It carried an appeal for a missing pet tortoise, with the distinguishing feature of a large dent on the left of its shell, which “answers

  • The Royal Oak, Woodstock Road, Oxford

    It was slightly unfortunate that on the day we visited the newly refurbished Royal Oak in Woodstock Road, the autumn/winter menu had been introduced, and yet it was so hot and sunny outside that most of the clientele were sunning themselves on

  • The Best Things in Life for College Clergy

    This may seem like a singularly unimportant anniversary: 250 years ago (on November 4, 1761, to be precise) a New College undergraduate got drunk. He also lost a half-crown bet that he could not drink four pints of wine in three hours and then write five

  • Pin-Hole Photography: O3 Gallery, Oxford Castle

    This hauntingly beautiful exhibition was commissioned by the O3 Gallery at Oxford Castle. The artist, Mary Foulkes, modestly describes herself as “not a trained photographer and relying heavily on trial and error”. Yet she has produced a wonderful

  • Sir Thomas Allen: Oxford Lieder Festival: Holywell Music Room

    A track from one of Sir Thomas Allen’s CDs was broadcast at breakfast time recently. It featured a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song — delivered at high speed in a broad Geordie accent. This provided two salutary reminders: first that Sir Thomas delights

  • Preview of Voices of Macmillan: New Theatre

    Take 800 amateur singers, one conductor and lock them in the New Theatre for a day to learn and then perform Fauré’s Requiem that night in front of an audience of 1000. David Lawrence is in The Guinness Book of Records for conducting the UK’s largest

  • Sister Act: The New Theatre

    Few sights and sounds are more invigorating than those of a gospel choir in full voice and full swing — a fact that the musical Sister Act joyously celebrates. The show is loosely based on the true story of Dolores Hart, who traded in a Hollywood

  • The Nutcracker: Aylesbury Waterside

    David Nixon’s Nutcracker for Northern Ballet at Aylesbury Waterside is one of the best I’ve seen. It has all the components required of this Christmas favourite: the warm atmosphere of a comfortable home, the large loving family and fond friends; loads

  • Promethan Boldness: Hemingwayart

    This exhibition’s takes its title from Charles Waterton’s book Wanderings in South America (1825), a treatise that includes advice on taxidermy, a field in which Waterton was an expert. He writes: “You must possess a Promethean boldness and bring down

  • The Big Sleep: The Mill at Sonning

    There must have been moments on Saturday afternoon when Simon Merrells (pictured), giving a true star turn as Philip Marlowe, wished he could aim some of the weaponry in use on the stage towards the couple beside me in the stalls and transport them to

  • Fragile Earth: Dorchester Abbey

    I joined a capacity audience (including some very welcome youngsters) for the premiere of Robert Hammersley’s Fragile Earth on October 15, writes Martin Noble. The work was inspired by the wonders of the Earth and the need to conserve the environment.

  • The Oxford Concert Party: Summertown

    Any group with the word ‘party’ in its name sounds a sure-fire bet for a fun-filled evening, and that is certainly the case with the Oxford Concert Party. With their relaxed and informal approach, combined with outstanding musicianship and a touch of

  • Dick Turpin's Last Ride: Chipping Norton Theatre

    I confess to a particular interest in this show as I grew up in Loughton, near Epping Forest, where 300 years ago highwayman Dick Turpin did some of his most dastardly deeds. This musical production more than lived up to the old stories, cleverly intermingling

  • Family Business: Oxford Playhouse

    It’s William’s birthday, and his adult children are arriving to mark the occasion. William (Gerard Murphy) and his wife, who has died after a long illness, set up and ran a highly lucrative travel business in Stratford-upon-Avon. But William has now left

  • The Picture of Dorian Gray: Oxford Playhouse

    The marvel was that having created a fictional character as good-looking, narcissistic and unpleasant as Dorian Gray in 1890, Oscar Wilde could fall in love the very next year with a young man of a precisely similar sort in the comely shape of Magdalen

  • School reunion

    A school reunion is looking for the class of 1972. The reunion for former Langtree School pupils is being held at Woodcote Village Hall on Saturday, November 19, at 8pm. Anyone wishing to attend should contact Moyra Redhead (née Woods) on mazr24@hotmail.com

  • Just for laughs

    A comedy night will raise money for the town’s secondary schools. The improvised show will take place at the Unicorn Theatre on Friday, November 11, at 7.30pm, and tickets are available at The Bookstore in Bury Street Precinct.

  • Cannabis plants seized in raid

    POLICE seized about 65 cannabis plants from outbuildings on the edge of Cassington earlier today. The plants were discovered in two outbuildings in the Eynsham Road home, 45 “mature” plants in one and 20 younger plants in the other.

  • Help to build a puddled pond

    Volunteers are needed to help build a clay-puddled pond at Barracks Lane Community Garden and learn a traditional skill at the same time. The free workshop will take place this Saturday and Sunday and people can volunteer for part or all of the weekend

  • Planning rethink in Vale to hit housing target

    PLANNING rules could be relaxed to allow new homes to be built in villages to relieve a housing shortage. Vale of White Horse District Council needs to provide 808 homes after failing to meet a housing target set five years ago. Developers are heavily

  • Pastor patrol: help on the streets

    A team of street pastors in Wallingford is about to go on patrol for the first time to help the drunk and needy. Churches Together Wallingford had the idea of starting a Street Pastors team after a group of volunteers in Wantage celebrated their first

  • Police issue warning to trick or treaters

    NIGHT-time police patrols have been increased across South Oxfordshire to combat anti-social Halloween pranks. Officers in Didcot and Wallingford launched Operation Munitions in a bid to protect residents in the run-up to Halloween. The annual operation

  • New look after hotel's facelift

    Hawkwell House Hotel in Church Way, Iffley, has had a £550,000 facelift. More than £500,000 was spent on refurbishing 50 bedrooms, and a further £50,000 on the reception and restaurant. Further work is planned including a new restaurant and 11 new bedrooms

  • Christmas lights details

    Preparations are well under way for Banbury’s Christmas lights switch on, which will be performed by Emmerdale star Jeff Hordley. Banbury Town Council’s Christmas light committee met last week to hammer out the finer details for the Sunday, November

  • Guide to promote area’s best pubs

    OXFORD pubs are struggling like everywhere else, according to the creators of the new Oxford Pub Guide. The book, compiled with the help of 40 willing contributors, details 320 pubs in Oxford, Abingdon and Witney and has been put together by CAMRA, the

  • 'Scrooge council' cuts grant for fair

    The organisers of Didcot’s Christmas street fair have accused town council leaders of Scrooge-like behaviour after they failed to provide grant funding for the first time in 18 years. Each year, there is a themed parade and a street fair filling Broadway

  • Cheers to raising a glass in market

    ABINGDON’S Market Place could be brought to life under plans to allow people to enjoy a beer during special events and celebrations. Under the terms of the licence, alcohol could be sold at the town centre location from Monday to Sunday, 8.30am-5.30pm

  • SCHOOLS' FOOTBALL: Patterson hits treble for super Oxford

    Kaylem Patterson hit a hat-trick in Oxford City’s 7-1 win over Banbury & District in the ESFA Under 15 Trophy second round at Ardley United. Josh Smile (2), Luca Headford and AJ George also netted for Oxford, who are now at home to Coventry. Mid Oxon

  • FOOTBALL: Yousif's hat-trick boosts Sutton

    Yousif Shahab’s hat-trick helped Sutton Revolution turn their form around as they beat Tilehurst Titans 5-3 in the Berks & Bucks Sunday Junior Cup second round. After picking up only one point in Division 1 of the Critchleys UTV League this

  • FOOTBALL: Rover deliver 17-goal salvo

    Rover Cowley went goal crazy with an amazing 17-3 win at Abba Athletic in the Critchleys UTV League's Devenney Cup second round. Ryan Macer led the goal spree for the Premier Division outfit with a four-timer. Aaron Andrews hit a hat-trick, Warren Ryan

  • FOOTBALL: Smith fires up Nuffield

    Lee Smith’s double set Nuffield Arms on the way to a 5-2 win at Union Street. Kerry Walters, Mark Mossop and Kenny Saunders completed Nuffield’s tally. Rose Hill remain unbeaten this season following a 4-2 win at arch rivals Golden Ball

  • Men jailed over city robberies

    TWO men responsible for a string of city- centre street robberies have been jailed. Leslie Prince and Lewis Steer were locked up for a total of 44 months at Oxford Crown Court. Three robberies were committed in Oxford on July 6 and 7 and both men asked

  • Knitting marathon for charity

    VILLAGERS have been raising money for charity not from running a marathon, but by knitting in one. About 40 people, aged from six to 90, have spent a day knitting hats, gloves and hundreds of squares that will be made into blankets, shawls and scarves

  • FOOTBALL: It's hero Holloway

    Matt Holloway scored twice as Charlbury sprang a surprise with a 3-2 win at Eynsham in the Oxfordshire Charity Cup first round. Steven Knight also netted for the Witney & District FA Premier Division outfit, with Kris Clark and Andy Glossop on target

  • FOOTBALL: Eudell and James star

    Hat-tricks from Jonny Eudell and Jonny James gave Ardington & Lockinge a 7-4 victory at North Berks League Division 2 rivals Steventon in the Berks & Bucks Junior Cup second round. Chris Hogan also struck for Ardington while Darren Smee, Dan McArdle,

  • Green parking ticket machine

    One Bicester parking meter has literally gone green overnight after a council installed the district’s first solar powered ticket machine. Motorists using the Cherwell District Council-run car park in Market Square will be pumping cash into the machine

  • FOOTBALL: Blackwell on song in upset

    Nathan Blackwell’s double saw Freeland upset the formbook with a 2-1 home win over Oxfordshire Senior League Premier Division leaders Adderbury Park. He opened the scoring when his 25-yard drive squirmed through young Adderbury keeper Charlie

  • Compromise over club noise dispute

    A licence compromise between a sports and social club and the residents which surround it has been reached after concerns were raised about noise. The Viking Club, on Old High Street in Headington, had wanted a blanket licence to play live and recorded

  • FOOTBALL: Didcot book trip to Worthing in FA Trophy

    Didcot Town set up a visit to Ryman League Division 1 side Worthing after a 4-0 victory against Matrlow in Tuesday night’s FA Carlsberg Trophy first-qualifying round replay at Loop Meadow Stadium. Tom Mudge, son of boss Dave, opened the scoring

  • FOOTBALL: Abba's super troopers

    Abba Athletic extended their 100 per cent record in Division 1 with a 2-0 home win over Bloxham. Keiran Costello broke the deadlock with a curling 25-yard free kick in the second half. And a Peter Poole penalty on the hour, after Danny Heaton, had

  • FOOTBALL: Allum hits deadly double

    Andy Allum struck twice as Crowmarsh Gifford ended Benson AFC’s 100 per cent record in NOrth Berks League Division 1 with a convincing 4-0 victory. John Fanstone and Liam Currell also scored for Crowmarsh, who go second. Saxton Rovers stretched their

  • Driver fails to stop after incident

    Police are trying to track down a driver who failed to stop after colliding with a cyclist in Oxford Road, Abingdon. The 25-year-old woman was knocked from her bike at 8pm on Monday night and was taken to Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital for treatment

  • Single-sex schools are such a success

    OXFORDSHIRE’S two single-sex state schools are among the most improved schools in the county at GCSE in the past three years, new figures have shown. Didcot Girls’ School saw the second biggest increase from 2009 to 2011 in pupils achieving

  • Hall is Oxford United hero

    Rob Hall once again showed why he is so highly thought of with a sublime double as Oxford United got back to winning ways at the Kassam Stadium last night. Hall scored once in each half, with James Constable also netting a brace, as Chris

  • Walks by bus: Oxford Tube

    You might wonder what a bus service to London has to offer Oxfordshire walkers. The answer is that it can be a convenient gateway to the Chilterns. While the Oxford Bus Company’s X90 service glides effortlessly up the white chalk scar made by the M40

  • Taxi driver denies sexual assault claim

    A PRIVATE-HIRE driver has denied sexually assaulting a passenger in the centre of Oxford. Haroon Sidiq gave evidence in the second day of his trial at Oxford Crown Court yesterday. The 25-year-old denies two counts of kidnap and one

  • FOOTBALL: Wright brace lifts leaders

    Hailey moved five points clear at the top of the Witney & District League Premier Division after crushing Spartan Rangers 4-0. Mark Wright bagged a brace, with Joel King and Jacob Hambidge also netting. Mike Duerden scored twice as Carterton A thumped

  • Questions on golf club waste

    IN THE recent Loose Ends column, Jason Collie states that it is important the Oxford Mail continues to cover the case of the county council versus the Wyatt brothers over alleged illegal dumping of waste at Waterstock Golf Club. He said Rob Dance of

  • Plans meeting

    Banbury town council’s planning committee meet tonight. Members will be asked to give their views on ten applications, including plans for two new homes in Dover Avenue. It will meet at 6.30pm in the town hall. The public are welcome to attend. Cherwell

  • Loss of half-price bus fare will hurt vulnerable people

    THE decision by this Government to remove the fuel duty rebate from coach companies, which allowed them to offer a discounted half-price fare to elderly and disabled travellers, will have a devastating effect on our most vulnerable citizens. Many people

  • Thanks to you all for your support at a difficult time

    THANKS to all the wonderful staff at the John Radcliffe Hospital Intensive Care Unit, Section B, for the great care, attention and understanding shown to my partner, Brian Knight. Nothing was too much trouble for them. Despite their best efforts, sadly

  • Modern work takes place on ancient coffin

    FOR nine months, experts have been using a hyperdermic needle and catheter tubing to slowly restore a single 2,750-year-old coffin. A small team of conservators at the Ashmolean Museum are finishing their painstaking work to restore and preserve

  • Some people do want a Tesco

    YOUR report (Oxford Mail, October 13, p.8) carrying the headline We don’t want Tesco in Jericho begs the question: who exactly is ‘we’ in this context? Would it by any chance be the silent majority of people living in the Jericho area who have yet to

  • Expenses are small fortune

    I AM grateful to Keith Mitchell (Oxford Mail, October 17) for throwing a glimmer of light onto the matter of councillors’ remuneration. I am also glad to learn that allowances have been frozen for the third year running, a fact which must be comforting

  • Will hospitals face the law?

    WE ARE told that it has recently been discovered that the treatment of the elderly in some 20 per cent of our hospitals is so appalling that these institutions are in fact in breach of the law. Blow me down! Can we therefore expect a superabundance

  • Junction is clearly not safe

    ON Friday, October 21, I watched as a young girl on a pedal cycle, aged 12, collided with a car at the notorious Temple Road/Oxford Road junction in Cowley. In the past there was a school crossing patrol, lighter traffic and rush hour was mainly pedal

  • Cleared doctor still suspended

    A GP cleared of sex charges remains suspended, the Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust has confirmed. Yenugula Srinivas was acquitted of 11 counts at Oxford Crown Court on Monday. Yesterday, the PCT confirmed Dr Srinivas has been suspended

  • Final salute for Dunkirk veteran

    STANDING on the beach at Dunkirk 71 years ago, Les Collett never thought he would live to see his old age. Being pounded by German artillery after a miraculous escape through Flanders, the battle-weary soldier with a bullet-hole in his back

  • United manager Wilder wants Rob Hall to stay longer

    Chris Wilder says that Oxford United will be trying to keep Rob Hall at the club for longer than a second month. Hall hinted last week that he would be keen to stay with the U’s until the end of the season – and after his two goals in last night’

  • Celebration on the write lines

    MUSIC, dance and readings will celebrate the life and work of Bengali author Rabindranath Tagore at Modern Art Oxford. The gallery will be hosting the event in his honour on Saturday – the 150th anniversary of his birth – between 7pm and 9.30pm

  • FOOTBALL: Ace Abi secures cup joy

    ABI Currie grabbed the winner for Oxford City as they booked their place in the third qualifying round of the FA Cup with a 2-1 win at Brentford. City looked the better side throughout, and took the lead after a well-worked goal from Mikaela Green just

  • FOOTBALL: Oxon ease in

    OXFORDSHIRE beat Wiltshire 2-0 in the South West Championship Under 16 Bluefin Cup. Holders Oxon went in front after five minutes as Ahmed Chrediy was brought down in the penalty area and Liam Marshall converted the spot-kick. Wiltshire did find the

  • FOOTBALL: City bag deadly dozen

    Oxford Mail Girls League There were goals galore at Stonesfield Strikers, where Oxford City ran out 12-0 winners in the Under 13 League Cup. Lauren Page, Shelley Knight and April Bedford all bagged hat-tricks for City, while Lily Hernandez added a

  • Father and son stabbed by burglars

    A TEENAGE boy and his father were repeatedly stabbed by masked burglars when they confronted them in their home in the early hours of yesterday. The knife-wielding thugs were disturbed by the victims’ wife and mum who screamed when she found

  • COMMENT: Figures do not always tell full story

    BEHIND the headlines about school results there is often a different story. The raw data showing the percentage of pupils gaining A* to C results does not always give the full picture. That is why the figures released today offer particularly

  • COMMENT: A sad reminder

    MANY will be saddened to hear Dunkirk veteran Les Collett has passed away. Mr Collett was shot in the shoulder as he fought to escape from France in the Second World War and each year led remembrance ceremonies in Wolvercote. His actions remind us

  • The Price of Education

    THE PRICE OF EDUCATION by Ann Waswoo (Matador, £7.99)Art fraud investigator Akiko arrives at Exton University, jet-lagged from Tokyo, at the urgent request of Sir Christopher Ryan, Warden of Thaddeus Hall. A Kutani-style vase, given to the college by

  • History of Dig For Victory

    THE SPADE AS MIGHTY AS THE SWORD by Daniel Smith (Aurum, £16.99) This country didn’t learn an important lesson from the First World War as far as food was concerned. Food supplies were under pressure throughout that engagement, not least because of

  • Pupils' bikeathon is ride on the money

    CHILDREN hopped on their bicycles or scooters to lap the school playground and raise cash for new equipment. Foundation and nursery pupils from Bure Park School, Lucerne Avenue, Bicester, were sponsored to each complete 10 circuits of their

  • Paperless NHS

    THOUSANDS of patient paper notes and files could soon be a thing of the past at one hospital. Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC) bosses believe the move to become one of the country’s first ‘fully digital’ hospitals by next year will improve patient

  • Lotto’s big cash boost to groups

    AN OXFORD homeless centre that had faced homelessness itself has been given a cash boost to refurbish its new premises. The Gatehouse is one of five Oxfordshire groups set to share in more than £40,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards For All scheme

  • Homeless centre to get lotto cash boost

    AN OXFORD homeless centre that had faced homelessness itself has been given a cash boost to refurbish its new premises. The Gatehouse is one of five Oxfordshire groups set to share in more than £40,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards For All scheme