Scores of ceramic flowers are set to bloom at Blenheim Palace to celebrate the Olympics this summer. About 200 ceramic delphiniums are set to go on show outside the Woodstock palace as part of a national installation named ‘The English Country Garden
Plans for 2,500 new homes at Grove Airfield are set to be revealed this month. Developer Persimmon Homes has pledged to put forward a planning application by the end of January. Vale of White Horse District Council is relying on the scheme to ease its
The deadline is looming for entries to a motoring writing competition for young people with some special prizes. A ride in an Aston Martin and £1,000 to spend on a holiday are on offer to someone aged between 10 and 16 for writing a short story.
KATHERINE MACALISTER goes to Essex to reach the heights of relaxation. Letting myself into our luxurious room at Lifehouse – an uber spaceship of relaxation that seems to have landed in the Essex countryside – I wondered where my friend was
THE ARTIST (PG): Drama/Comedy/Romance. Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, James Cromwell, John Goodman, Penelope Ann Miller. Director: Michel Hazanavicius. Silence is golden and in the case of Michel Hazanavicius’s gorgeous black
Katherine MacAlister pays a visit to her favourite restaurant, Branca. Oh come on, don’t be like that. I’ve done 52 restaurant reviews for you in the past 12 months. Admittedly most of them have been hugely enjoyable and, regardless of
WHAT a year it's been for the Oxford music scene. We've cheered along as some familiar faces have hit the big time, while others have hung up their guitars and called it a day. We’ve danced at lovely new festivals, like Wilderness and the re-imagined
CHILDREN used their Christmas party to help some less fortunate four-legged friends. Youngsters brought along dog treats and food to be donated to Ardley Rescue Kennels, near Bicester. About seven bags of items were collected at the Bure Park childminders
Fame is not without its flaws but TIM HUGHES finds nation’s sweetheart Katherine Jenkins very upbeat. AS Britain’s most famous classical singer, Katherine Jenkins knows a thing or two about being in the spotlight. A record-breaking, multi-platinum
The irrepressible Tommy Steele is back on stage as Scrooge. He tells KATHERINE MACALISTER about his joy at playing the ‘song and dance man’s King Lear’... Hello darlin’,” Tommy Steele says in his East End accent, still the cheeky chappy
THE IRON LADY (12A): Drama/Romance. Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Olivia Colman, Richard E Grant, Anthony Head, Iain Glen. Director: Phyllida Lloyd. In 1975, grocer’s daughter Margaret Thatcher became the first woman to lead a
A JUDGE has fined a man for assault after expressing “surprise” that he was cleared by jurors of two more serious offences. Karl McCarthy was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday following a trial in December. The 33-year-old was accused of throwing
IF YOU are worried about your finances, don’t ignore it. That’s the message from Jill Ewbank, who has been running free money coaching sessions at Oxfordshire churches for two years and is offering two new courses to avoid debt in the new year. Mrs
Sir – There is quite a simple answer to the loss of retail outlets in Summertown and elsewhere. With the nation becoming hooked on Internet shopping the need for High Street shops is apparently diminishing. The solution surely is therefore to close all
36 Little Clarendon Street, Oxford OX1 2HU Tel: 01865 311393 Email: info@lizziejames.com Website: www.lizziejames.com Poshfrocks in Oxford’s Little Clarendon Street is a truly one-stop destination for all “Mothers of”. Our aim is
Sir – Re. the county’s public health director’s comments about the rise in alcohol-related injuries (Report, December 22).What a pity that we cannot copy the Americans where the age at which alcohol may be bought and drunk is 21 years. Audrey Saunders
Sir – I recently bought a first-class, peak-time rail ticket from Avignon to Paris. It cost £43.50 for a journey of 426 miles. It is for one of their splendid TGV trains. You have a guaranteed seat reservation, and, unlike in this country,
Sir – I think the prayers-before-council meetings hoo hah has become something of a tempest in a teapot. While on an aeroplane to my Christmas holiday destination, the pilot tactfully said “To those who celebrate it, a very happy Christmas”.
Sir – Councillor Fooks puts more jobs as her reason to support Sainsbury’s plan to move into Summertown (Report, December 29). What a limited, damaging view of how to promote and improve this valuable shopping area. Does councillor Fooks have any ideas
Sir – Keith Mitchell is foolish to compare the democracy of the county council with that of Bodicote Parish Council (Letters, December 22). What he calls ‘the county council’s … democratic decision to allow the diversion’ of the public paths at Bodicote
Sir – It is not the narrowed cycle path by the Said Business School that may cause a fatality, inconvenient and badly drained though that is. The real danger lies at the end of the path where it takes pedestrians and cyclists out to the station forecourt
Sir – Perhaps someone could write a detailed, nuanced article about Oxford city primary schools. To quote Melinda Tilley’s criticisms (Council calls primary results ‘basically rubbish’), alongside lists of Key Stage 2 figures, undermines the true meaning
Sir – Councillor Tilley’s reported reaction to the results of Key stage 2 tests as “inexcusable” and “basically rubbish” do not reflect careful perusal of the details, which indicate that, in many schools, pupils have achieved the minimum standard and
Sir – So here we go again, on the roulette wheel of Key Stage (Two) Results (Report, December 22) and shoddy judgements about primary schools in Oxford city. Rather than indulge in semi-literate comments, it might be useful if Melinda Tilley
Sir – We have no wish to deny the benefits the development west of Barton will bring in terms of new homes for Oxford. However, we are astonished that planning officers see a further benefit in having housing for future residents directly fronting the
Sir – I would like to add a comment on the excellent letter from the chairman of Sustainable Woodstock, Colin Carritt, concerning domestic solar energy (December 22). To my mind, the framework that is needed is an obligation to be placed on all electricity
Sir – I am puzzled by the incomplete use of the Department for Education’s (DfE) own statistics that appeared in The Oxford Times (and many other newspapers) on December 22 (Council calls primary results basically rubbish). If, as I do, one takes the
Sir – I would not endorse Mrs Tilley’s use of the term ‘basically rubbish’ to describe Oxfordshire’s KS2 results (Report, December 22), as it doesn’t help solve the problem. However, when pupils in Hackney outperform those living in in the West Oxfordshire
Town Hall Bookings, Town Hall, St Aldate's, Oxford OX1 1BX Tel: 01865 252195 Email: townhall@oxford.gov.uk Website: www.oxfordtownhall.co.uk Oxford Town Hall is a stunning venue for civil marriage ceremonies and wedding receptions
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8 Webbs Court, Northleach, Gloucestershire GL54 3LR Tel: 01451 861300 / 07773 118070 Email: janemurrayphoto@aol.com Website: janemurrayphotographers.com Award Winning Wedding Photographer based in the Cotswolds. Established over the
A well-known face in the Headington Quarry area has died aged 100. Edith Lock died at Townsend House, Barton, Oxford, where she had lived for the last 10 years, on Boxing Day. Mrs Lock was born in Headington Quarry in 1911 and attended Quarry School
For the past five years this fine company has appeared regularly in theatres around our area. During that time it has proved to be probably the best of the Russian companies that tour this country, with high-quality performances of the classics
The Coach House, Ruskin Cottage, North Hinksey Village, Oxford OX2 0NA Tel: 01865 241444 Email: info@nostalgiatravel.co.uk Website: www.nostalgiatravel.com Arrive in style at The Oxford Wedding Show – hop on Nostalgia Travel’s vintage
It’s quite a commute from a North Oxfordshire village to the Victoria Palace Theatre in London, but it’s a journey that actor Gillian Bevan will soon know well. Gillian, who played Gina Hope for a year in TV’s Holby City, lives near Banbury
‘Hello darlin’,” Tommy Steele says in his East End accent, still a cheeky chappy and delighted to be back on stage when Scrooge reaches Oxford. As Len Goodman would say: “Cut Tommy Steele in half and you’d find entertainer all the way down the middle
YOUNG musicians are being urged to sign up to take part in the 2012 Oxfordshire Battle of the Bands contest. Heats will take place in Oxford, Banbury, Bicester Witney and Wantage. Prizes up for grabs include recording time, a place on the Hijack tour
HENLEY MP John Howell is opposing South Oxfordshire District Council over a proposal to rename his Henley constituency as South-East Oxfordshire. The proposal was put forward to the Boundary Commission as part of its consultation on revised constituency
LATE-NIGHT trains on the Cotswold Line between Oxford and Worcester will be affected by overnight track maintenance work next week. From Monday until Thursday, the 9.48pm train from London Paddington to Worcester will be replaced by a bus west of Oxford
PARENTS are being urged to get behind plans for North Oxfordshire’s first free school and register their interest. Based at the former US Air Force base at Heyford Park, Upper Heyford, the school would be open to pupils aged four to 18 from
My friend Chris and the former Governor of the Bank of England have quite a lot in common. At the time, 20 years ago, that Chris and I were talking to schools about green politics we both lived just a few streets away from Eddie George.
Groups of hardy workers were busy on our reserves during the Christmas and New Year holidays, completely unpaid and enjoying every minute! Their significant attributes include four legs, a thick skin and a good set of grinding molars to tackle rough
NEIGHBOURS in Abingdon have welcomed new street signs which make it easier for visitors and the emergency services to find where they live. People living in Thames View, off Audlett Drive, have been campaigning for three years for clearer street signs
THOUSANDS of pounds still needs to be raised to help children from Oxford’s estates dance their way to Disneyland. Two troupes, MJ BlackOut and MJ Krupt, from the Messy Jam dance school in Blackbird Leys last year won the right to compete at the European
STAFF from an Oxford company raised £50,000 to improve surgery for cancer patients – and their employer matched the money with another £50,000. The cheque for £100,000 was presented to the Oxford Cancer Centre by Mel Ewell, chief executive of Amey, which
Children’s lives could be put at risk if a marina is built next to a primary school, it has been warned. Residents said the plan for a marina for 31 boats and 21 parking spaces at School Lane, Cropredy, posed a “risk of drowning” to Cropredy Primary
A FAMOUS British motoring name has had its Oxfordshire foundations strengthened further. Gama Cars, based in Banbury, has acquired the Cropredy Bridge Garage from owner Bob Cherry, meaning both the production and resale of restored and re-engineered
BUSINESS leaders in Oxfordshire have highlighted a range of issues to tackle in a bid to protect the county’s economy from a further battering this year. The wishlist includes reviewing parking charges, cutting rates for small businesses and
Calls to resurrect a direct train service between Oxford and Bristol are gaining support as the future of the Great Western franchise is debated. The suggestion, floated by a West Country MP, has been backed by an Oxfordshire railway users’ group. A
NEW Year’s Eve celebrations were cancelled for Badvent suspect Dayne Smith, who was arrested on December 31 after a tip-off from an Oxford Mail reader. During our joint crime scheme with Thames Valley Police, six men wanted following thefts, robberies
LARRY POOLE knew to the exact inch when he completed running 20,000 miles. While runners tracking their runs and training routines through computer programmes and smart phone apps is now commonplace, Mr Poole has been charting his runs since January
Nigel Collier led off with a six to help his side Team Monarch B move into second place in the Gladiator Wed-nesday Indoor League with a 6-0 victory over Sports Club B. Results: Kidlington Sports 1, Gladiators 5; Team Monarch B 2, Sports Club A 4; Team
Chipping Norton trainer Charlie Longsdon beat his previous best number of winners in a National Hunt season when Ravastree won at Southwell yesterday – but it came at a cost. The six-year-old gelding pulled up lame with a fractured off-fore cannon bone
THE Duchess of Cambridge will become a patron of The Art Room, the children’s charity which uses art therapy to help youngsters with educational difficulties. The charity, set up in Oxford in 2002, is one of four organisations Kate Middleton announced
TWO Oxfordshire forensic scientists who unearthed the key evidence that helped convict the killers of Stephen Lawrence were praised yesterday. Roy Green and Edward Jarman discovered tiny but vital traces of blood while working at LGC Forensics in
Oxfordshire teenager Sabina Lossnitzer has just returned from Budapest in Hungary after playing for England’s Under 14 side in the Winter Cup. England won their opening match against Serbian Team HK Tas 3-1, before losing 6-0 against Slovakian
Oxford have been drawn away to Beaconsfield in the first round of the Kingfisher Beer Cup (formerly the ECB National Club Championship). The Serious Cricket Home Counties Premier League club, who are seeking a new first-team coach and captain following
Kidlington have appointed club captain Danny Leggett and vice-captain Christian Perkins as joint first-team managers. They take over from Gordon Geary, who announ-ced his decision to leave the Uhlsport Hellenic League Premier Division strugglers last
Tony Capaldi came through 80 minutes as an Oxford United side took on Bristol City in a behind-closed-doors friendly yesterday. Capaldi has not played a game for Oxford since joining from Morecambe in the summer. Adam Chapman played 90 minutes to continue
Jon-Paul Pittman says that he will take on board comments from manager Chris Wilder – and wants to stay at Oxford United for a long time. The winger, who spent three months of the season on loan at Crawley and only returned to United midway through December
A rural setting, a roaring open fire and food slow-cooked in an Aga — an idyllic scenario for those hankering after a taste of the the country life. And all this possible with two family homes in village locations available to let now. Heath Farm
OXFORD Civic Society has launched a campaign against “garish” posters and “dangerous” advertising boards members say are disfiguring the city’s historic shops. The society warned the city faced“a slow death” as a retail centre if more shops disappear
I AM astounded at the number of motorists in Oxford driving at night with only one dipped headlight working. My estimate is that one in 15 – that is approximately six per cent of cars – are breaking the law in this way. A vehicle travelling with inadequate
NO amount of warm words or photographs of cute children with beautiful hounds (Oxford Mail, December 27) can dilute the strong feeling of revulsion felt by the majority of the population towards those who participate and revel in the cruel reality of
ROYAL Mail has failed miserably (Oxford Mail, December 27). In early December I ordered a special deal of two replacement printer ink cartridges that were cheaper than two single purchases. On December 10 the cartridges were dispatched in two identical
RESOLVE is what I need now. Or so goes the Foo Fighters’ song of the same name. It is that time of year when people decide to take stock of all the holes and imbalances in their life and do something about them. At least they resolve to. These resolutions
Oxford City Stars’ fans have expressed their dismay after the team pulled out of the English National League South Division 1 on New Year’s Day. It followed a mass exodus of players after the sacking of player-coach Ken Forshee. He was axed following
The London Olympics, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, a new series of Lewis... 2012 seems to be the most-eagerly anticipated year for decades. So The Insider has got out his crystal ball, and made a few predictions about how the year will unfold... The
THOMAS Kelley (ViewPoints, December 28) tells us Government legislation is trying to give local communities more say on issues such as the proposed road on green space at Northway. In the same issue, Bill Bryson tells us the Government is proposing
I WAS very amused by John MacAllister’s letter (ViewPoints, December 22). Perhaps I go back further than John’s memories of the deep mid-winter of 1963. I can remember 1947, when the snow stayed under the walls and hedges until after Easter across
CHRISTMAS Eve, in Waitrose car park, suddenly there is a lovely sound, someone is joyously whistling a carol. It is so long since I heard whistling in a public space that I wonder if it is a dying art? JUNE BANHAM Elm Road Wantage
The letter from Douglas Hendrey (ViewPoints, December 21) prompts me to reply, in agreement with him, regarding people not receiving Christmas cards, because they are wrongly addressed and do not include a return address. This year, and in the past
KEITH Mitchell’s “three key failings in our school system” (Monday’s Oxford Mail ViewPoints) are puzzling. In point one he states that in Oxford itself “there is a crippling complacency based on an arrogant belief that we can do no wrong and no-one else
Weavers Place in Witney is a development of seven cottages, built by developers Rivar. The site includes a three-bedroom detached cottage including an open-plan kitchen/breakfast room and sitting room. Upstairs, the master bedroom is ensuite and there
Russetts is a Grade-II listed, three-bedroom cottage in Roke, near Wallingford, right. The detached property, which dates back to the 15th century, has many original features including exposed timbers and stonework plus flagstone floors. The sitting
A summerhouse with a hot tub and bar comes as part of the deal with a property near Bicester. The Scandinavian-style outbuilding also has an entertainment area and is next to decking and a well-screened sunbathing area. Farmside, in Wendlebury,
A Grade-II listed, two-bedroom property was once the coachman’s house of Chesterton Lodge, near Bicester. Chesterton Court was built in the 1890s as a stable block for the manor and was restored in 2006. The Garden House, one of eight
Oxford City Stars skipper Darren Elliott says the decision to pull the team out of English National League South Division 1 has left him devastated. The move followed a mass exodus of players following the decision to replace coach Ken Forshee
WHEN friends tell Anneltje Hacquebord she is half the woman she once was, she could not be happier. Because the 34-year-old is not far off – and yesterday she was named Career Woman Slimmer of the Year. Thanks to a New Year’s resolution Miss Hacquebord
Right now, you can’t pick up a newspaper or magazine without it screaming ‘Miracle Diet’. But for those of you who despair of hitting your target weight, Anneltje Hacquebord from Osney Island sets a fine example. Anneltje is living proof that New Year
OXFORD: Stephen Brown is to stand down as leader of Oxford City Council’s Liberal Democrats. The Lib Dem group leader said he would not be contesting Carfax, the ward he has represented since 2008, in the May local elections. He said he was leaving
A BICESTER man in his 30s was killed when he was hit by a flatbed lorry yesterday. The accident happened just after 2pm in Middleton Stoney Road, near the new Kingsmere housing estate. Sgt Scott Silk, the investigating police officer, said he was trying
PATROLS of ‘party-poopers’ will scour Oxford listening for noisy students, under new proposals from the city council. The Labour administration wants to spend £12,000-a-year on setting up night-time patrols during the universities’ Freshers’ Weeks, at
It SIMPLY beggars belief doesn’t it? Especially since there can be few people living in this country who don’t already know how stretched our emergency services are. Yet despite this fact, there are still individuals who, with no thought for the life
DRUNK people who dialled 999 for an ambulance to taxi them home and other crazy calls for help are costing the NHS hundreds of thousands of pounds in Oxfordshire each year. Today, South Central Ambulance Service staff spoke out to plead with
ONE lane of the A34 is blocked after two cars collided half an hour ago. Traffic is backing up on the southbound carriageway between the Islip and Kidlington junctions, and onto the M40. Police were called to the incident, which involved a silver
HANNAH England faces what could be the biggest year of her life. After making the giant stride from a very good athlete to a world class athlete in 2011, the eyes of the nation will be on Oxfordshire’s leading lady in London this summer. Her silver
“This illness can be lonely – friends and family drop away.” Jane’s husband, Roger, was diagnosed with young onset dementia in 2009, age 45. They had always had a lively social life, played sport, were regulars at their local pub, and their only diary
CINEMA: THE WHOLE STORY, Edited by Philip Kemp (Thames & Hudson, £19.95)Few would dispute that E.H. Gombrich’s The Story of Art is the finest book on its subject. But opinion is more divided where cinema is concerned. David A. Cook’s A History of Narrative
THE BODY of a teenage soldier who died in Afghanistan will be flown back to Oxfordshire today. Private John King, of 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, was killed on December 30. The 19-year-old, pictured, was on foot patrol with
What is the festive season without a good ghost story? With a day to spare before Twelfth Night, we already have Jason Figgis's A Christmas Carol showing exclusively on demand online at the Dickens Fellowship website and now we have on DVD a ghoulish
British film-makers have largely eschewed middle-class melodrama since the social realist new wave broke in the late 1950s. Admittedly, the scrutiny of bourgeois manners and mores continued in period pieces, but the contemporary focus was fixed firmly
POLICE chiefs have defended the use of stop and search powers for black and Asian people as new figures show it is not meeting equality targets. Thames Valley Police has yet to hit a target it agreed with equality bosses over use of stop and search in
THESE pictures show a normally quiet residential road swamped by cars abandoned by people heading to Bicester Village. The photographs were taken on Boxing Day by a resident of Kings Avenue as more than 30,000 people – equivalent to the population of
