Archive

  • Women's festival returns

    THE breadth of women’s experience will be celebrated at this year’s Oxford International Women’s Festival. More than 40 different events are planned to mark the two-week festival, which will take place for the 23rd time starting on Thursday, March 1.

  • Fundraiser buys school a sandpit

    Fundraisers for Wantage CofE Primary School have shown their grit after raising more than £3,000 to buy the youngsters a sandpit. The pit, which can also double up as a stage, was installed as part of a scheme to improve play facilities. Last year a

  • Residents in fight for land

    residents who fenced off a grass verge have been told to get off the land by the end of the month. The people from Marston, Oxford, want to seize ownership of the land outside the old Friar pub to safeguard one of the area’s memorial trees for future

  • SCALES OF JUSTICE: Oxford Magistrates' Court round-up

    OXFORD Christopher Berry, 56, of no fixed address, admitted using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress in Oxford on November 16 and being drunk and disorderly in Oxford on November 18. Fined £80

  • Bus passengers left standing

    Bus passengers travelling from Oxford to Wallingford are missing out on a regular seat home due to overcrowding on the last remaining service. Travellers on the Oxford to Reading bus claim up to 15 people have been left behind at peak times

  • Drug dealer goes to jail

    A personal trainer found with thousands of pounds worth of drugs was the cousin of a man murdered in Oxford. Ryan Dixon was jailed at Oxford Crown Court on Friday after a stash of heroin and crack cocaine was found in his Blackbird Leys bedroom. His

  • Good school aiming to be outstanding

    Bboth Didcot’s state schools now have a good rating following a recent visit from inspectors. Didcot Girls’ School was given a satisfactory rating by Ofsted inspectors in 2009, but has now been rated a good school with strong capacity for further

  • Picture perfect

    This stunning image of a pastel-coloured Italian village clinging to the edge of a cliff, taken by an Oxfordshire photographer, has won a national competition. Martyn Ferry, 37, from Fulbrook, near Burford, won the landscape category in the contest run

  • House blaze in Cowley Road

    A HOUSE in Cowley Road is currently on fire, sending smoke billowing into the road. Fire crews were called to the property near the Cowley Road Methodist Church at around 3.45pm. They are currently still there battling the blaze.

  • Preview for Return of the Uke, Holywell Music Room

    f you’re looking for the feel-good factor in these days of doom and gloom, look no further than the Holywell Music Room where, on February 26, you can catch ukulele player Andy Eastwood in what promises to be a fun and energetic show. Andy is returning

  • Save the Last Dance for Me: Aylesbury Waterside

    Following on from the success of their pop musical Dreamboats and Petticoats, the comedy writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran have once more fashioned a musical to showcase some of the wonderful pop hits of the early 1960s. The focus this time is

  • Mogadishu: Oxford Playhouse

    For those of us conditioned through life to be colour blind — and especially so where theatre is concerned — there is something profoundly shocking about a play like Vivienne Franzmann’s Mogadishu, which is brought to Oxford Playhouse this week

  • Less laughter please from sultry Moira

    My sympathy for the allegedly underpaid women of the BBC — about whom so much has been heard this week — would be greater but for the horse-like laugh of Moira Stuart (above). This has had me reaching for the volume control on many mornings recently during

  • It was all made up, says novelist Ben

    The exclamation marks as I wrote them — !!! — appeared in my notes neatly to parallel the scribbled page reference — 111 — to the phrase that had prompted them. “Lower-middle-class” — narrator Eliot Lamb’s placing of himself in this precise stratum

  • Recipe for vegetable and lentil soup (serves 4-6)

    This is a high-fibre, well- balanced soup, devised by Susan Hamilton-Mallet. It can be enjoyed as a complete meal that will keep your body sustained for many hours, as it contains all the nutrients that you need to keep energised. YOU WILL NEED 2

  • Delicious food from the best ingredients

    My invitation to a New Year Healthy Eating Cookery Demonstration at Ditchley Park arrived in the middle of the recent cold snap. Snow may have turned the world into a winter wonderland but the last thing I wanted to do was crank up my trusty old

  • John Piper: A brilliant recorder of our landscapes

    Here we are in the second decade of the 21st century, and the 20th century — the one in which most of us grew up — is already turning into history, something to be viewed from afar, as if from a boat that has weighed anchor. I felt that strongly

  • Phantasm: Magdalen College Chapel

    Viol consort Phantasm, Magdalen College’s Consort-in-Residence since 2010, took audiences on a fascinating and engaging journey through 17th-century England on Friday, exploring works by Byrd, Gibbons, Purcell and lesser-known contemporaries with exceptional

  • The King and I: New Theatre, Oxford

    You can count the hit songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I with three fingers: I Whistle A Happy Tune, Getting To Know You and Shall We Dance? One might wish there were more. So it’s crucial that any production of this musical should

  • A Dangerous Method and Extremely Loud & Incrediblyl Close

    Let’s talk about sex. Screenwriter Christopher Hampton does so with arch detachment in A Dangerous Method, an artfully composed portrait of intellectual one-upmanship adapted from his 2002 stage play, The Talking Cure. Set in the early 20th century, David

  • Local shares (PM)

    AEA Technology 0.31 BMW 5884 Electrocomponents 240.75 Nationwide Accident Repair 66.5 Oxford Biomedica 3.05 Oxford Catalysts 44.5 Oxford Instruments 1090.5 Reed Elsevier 533.25 RM 87 RPS Group 225.1 Courtesy of Redmayne

  • Oxford Music Festival Closing Concert

    Anything that encourages youngsters into the classical music world has to be a good thing, and the Oxford Music Festival has been doing that successfully for nearly 40 years. Now attracting 700 to 800 entries, many of them from schoolchildren, the festival

  • William Cotterill: Art Jericho

    William Cotterill graduated from Central St Martin’s six years ago. Now aged 27, he is Oxford based, and the majority of his work derives from rural and urban scenes in and around the city. Cotterill is clearly rooted in the classical tradition. His

  • County jobless figure rises

    The number of people out of work and claiming job seekers’ allowance in Oxfordshire increased last month by 243 to 7,854, or 1.8 per cent of the working age population. The rise follows four successive months in which the number of people claiming benefit

  • Simon Munnery: The North Wall, Oxford

    Though Simon Munnery’s publicity material shows him to be a familiar figure on BBC radio and television, I confess that his somewhat memorable name (“Get thee to a munnery!”) was until last month utterly unknown to me. This should not be a surprise, I

  • The Heresy of Love: The Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

    ‘The ribald roistering on the Swan’s stage during House of Desire — a play packed with sexual scheming and farcical naughtiness — makes it very hard to credit that this is a work penned by a nun.” Thus ran the first sentence of my review of the

  • 'Fink' outside the box

    FINK is a musical chameleon. Going beyond eclectic, this stalwart of the ultra-cool Ninja Tune Records dance label has proved himself as a DJ, producer and songwriter. And now he is doing the same with blues-rock... and folk! The Cornish-born

  • Pupils' gym vision becomes reality

    ABINGDON schoolchildren have unveiled a revamped gym, created with £20,000 they won for designing it. Fitzharrys School opened the fitness suite with the help of Oxford United football stars on Thursday. The facility has been redecorated

  • Old Gaol redevelopment enters final stretch

    THE MULTI-MILLION-POUND redevelopment of Abingdon’s historic Old Gaol will be finished by the end of next year. Savills, which is marketing the site, yesterday said the completed project would mark a new era for the town. Karen Mole,

  • School aims to become academy

    GOVERNORS at Burford School have voted to proceed with an application to convert it into an academy from July 1. Governors said the 1,200-pupil secondary school would be better off financially and could move away from the constraints of the National

  • GPs invest in their new £5.5m health centre

    DOCTORS in Witney have pumped £5.5m into their brand new health centre. The Windrush Health Centre, in Welch Way, will open on March 5, replacing the current 1970s building. It will treble the floor space, increase the number of consulting

  • Pre-school launches after-school club

    A NEW after-school club has been launched in an Oxfordshire village thanks to a Big Lottery grant. Organisers of Southmoor Pre-School wanted to extend their hours to offer after-school childcare to children in the village. And now, after successfully

  • Railway club on the right lines

    MODEL train enthusiasts are going loco over their new test track. Members of Banbury and District Model Railway Club have unveiled a 22ft by 14ft layout for trains of various gauges. Secretary Keith Bristow said: “It means the guys with the bigger engines

  • Landlord gets £4,900 court bill over gas safety case

    AN OXFORD landlord has been ordered to pay almost £5,000 in costs after a faulty gas boiler risked the lives of his student tenants. Glasgow GP Dr Tariq Mahmood was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to maintain the boiler

  • Missing man sparks police search

    A MAN who has been missing from his Didcot home since Sunday is being sought by police. Andrew Acreman, of Broadway, Didcot, was reported missing yesterday after he was last seen at home by his family on Sunday evening. The 32-year-old

  • Man to pay back £8K after drugs charge

    ABINGDON: A 26-year-old man has had more than £8,000 confiscated after being found with drugs. Alexander Jones was ordered by Oxford magistrates to pay back £8,101 under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Jones, of Abbott Road, Abingdon, was

  • No date yet for repatriation

    OXFORDSHIRE: A date for the repatriation of a serviceman from the Royal Air Force Regiment killed in Afghanistan on Monday has not yet been set. The airman was killed by small arms fire while on a routine partnered patrol in the Nad ‘Ali district of

  • Cadet's fight to bail out of plane

    BRAVE schoolboy Nicholas Rice tried desperately to bail out of a doomed aircraft after his tutor was killed in front of him in a mid-air collision, an inquest heard yesterday. The 15-year-old air cadet had been enjoying a flight experience with retired

  • Pupils' fundraiser is a soaraway success

    BALLOONS floated above an Oxford school as a charity day proved a soaraway success. Pupils at Rye St Antony, in Headington, put on a series of events yesterday to raise money for the NSPCC and children’s charity All As One. The annual charity day, organised

  • SCHOOLS' FOOTBALL: Battling Vale caught cold

    Vale of White Horse Under 11s beat the big freeze to play their friendly against Jersey – but were caught cold in the opening exchanges as they slipped to a 4-1 defeat. The visitors raced into a three-goal lead in the first 13 minutes of Monday’s clash

  • Hopes rise for temple plan

    PLANS for a Sikh temple in Headington look to be back on track after the application was withdrawn for amendments last month. Pargan Singh, of Cherwell Drive, said he hoped to resubmit the application for 295-301 London Road today.

  • FOOTBALL: Mansfield and Zubry try out City's 3G pitch

    While the Critchleys Upper Thames Valley League programme was wiped out by frost, Mansfield Road, from Division 1, and Division 3A outfit Zubry Oxford beat the freeze by playing a friendly on Oxford City’s new 3G surface. Players from both

  • RACING: Calgary Bay's burden

    Calgary Bay, from Henrietta Knight’s West Lockinge stables, near Wantage, was allotted 11st 6lb when the weights for the John Smith’s Grand National at Aintree on Saturday, April 14 were unveiled yesterday. Roulez Cool, trained by Robert Waley-Cohen

  • Jail term suspended over child porn

    A 53-YEAR-OLD man was given a suspended jail term for possessing thousands of images of child pornography. Ian Philip was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Friday after admitting three counts of making indecent photographs. Philip,

  • Women admit £17k benefits fraud

    TWO Oxford women have been sentenced for benefit fraud totalling more than £17,000 between them. Mandy Rowland and Isabel Pires De Lima were each sentenced at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on Friday. Rowland took £11,445.78 in housing benefit, council tax

  • RACING: Gannon back in the saddle

    Wantage-based jockey Cathy Gannon has returned to the saddle as she sets her sights on being fit for the start of the Flat turf season. The Irish-born rider, who enjoyed her best year in 2011 with 71 winners before breaking her right leg in a fall at

  • Blinkered approach

    I was appalled to see Larkrise Primary School in East Oxford has been designated by Oxfordshire County Council as a failing school (Oxford Mail, February 7). This in spite of an Ofsted report that says the following: “All staff are utterly committed

  • LIFE LESSONS: I probably don’t allow enough time to reflect

    WHAT I’M CALLED: All sorts of things, from Rector, Vicar, Rev, Father, Padre, God-man, Oi you or even simply Toby. MY AGE IN YEARS: 36 WHAT I DO: I’m the team rector of Witney, which means I lead a great team who look after four churches covering

  • THE DISABLED SPACE: Change attitudes by example

    Is your fridge door littered with magnets? Mine is; in fact 44 of them, ranging from reminders of places I have visited to a variety of messages. They all jostle for pride of place and are a source of interest to people who visit. My latest acquisition

  • RUGBY UNION: Kane handed hooker role

    WILL Kane, tight-head prop in the last two Varsity Matches, starts at hooker as Oxford University take on the Royal Navy at Portsmouth tonight (7.15). Kane is one of only six Blues named by captain John Carter in a youthful side .

  • Schooling may be done on one site

    ROMAN Catholic children in Oxford could be able to do all their schooling on one site if proposals to move a primary school go ahead. Early discussions are taking place about the possibility of moving Our Lady’s Primary School, in Oxford Road, Cowley

  • Police seize bikes in Oxford home raid

    A RAID at a Rose Hill home recovered four bikes which police believe were stolen from around Oxford. Acting on a tip-off, officers rushed into the property in Nowell Road just after 9am yesterday and found four mountain and road bikes which are thought

  • Bullingdon criticised over death of Chinese prisoner

    A REPORT into the death of a Chinese prisoner who killed himself at Bullingdon Prison while awaiting trial found that despite being on suicide watch he was unable to phone his family for two weeks. Upon his arrival at the prison on April 29, 2010 the

  • Animals deserve rights

    IT is becoming more and more widely accepted that animals experience many of the same emotions and sensations as humans do, such as fear, contentment, anger, happiness, sadness and physical pain. So perhaps it is about time we recognised that animals

  • Dangers facing Europe

    ISN’T it interesting that at the same time as Germany announces a record trade surplus of 188 billion Euros, Greece is “instructed” to introduce further austerity measures. Germany is wallowing in money while Greece is wallowing in greater poverty.

  • Questions to answer over academies plan

    IN YOUR report on Oxfordshire primary schools becoming academies (Oxford Mail, February 7), county councillor Melinda Tilley talks of a “bright new future” for Oxfordshire education. However, the picture of what is going on is muddy with questions.

  • Let’s give credit where it’s due

    IT IS very popular to knock the postal service but let’s give credit where it’s due as well. Both the post offices and the delivery office give a great service in Kidlington. Despite the recent snow, our local postman Phil was on time on his rounds.

  • Unconscious woman dragged from burning building

    AN unconscious woman was pulled out of a burning house in the early hours of this morning. Firefighters were called to the blaze in Stainfield Road, Northway, at about 3.30am, where they found the alarms sounding and smoke in the front sitting room

  • Playroom flooded

    A BASEMENT playroom flooded under more than a metre of water from a burst pipe in Aston Upthorpe on Monday. Firefighters were called at 5.15pm and took nearly four hours to pump the water out.

  • UPDATE: Forklift truck death

    A MAN who died following an accident with a forklift truck in Banbury was not driving it at the time, police said. David Hewson, 60, of Osterley Grove, Banbury, died at the Horton hospital after the accident at builders Jewson in Beaumont Road at 3.40pm

  • Rough sleeping bags a way out of debt

    THE “impossible” task of finding somewhere affordable to live has led to this piano tuner sleeping in a string of unlikely places across Oxford. Richard Roberts, 29, has been sleeping outside for the past year to avoid paying what he calls

  • COMMENT: Web connection is vital

    As one businessman in Wallingford rightly points out: “In the past, the internet was a luxury but nowadays it’s just as important as using the phone.” Dare we suggest: maybe even more important? Five years ago, the internet was still viewed and used

  • Services hit

    PROBLEMS were experienced at Oxford Brookes’ campuses in Wheatley, Marston, Harcourt and Headington. West Oxfordshire District Council reported problems with power lasting about 10 minutes at the Woodgreen offices in Witney. At the John Radcliffe Hospital

  • Thousands affected by power cut

    A WORKMAN cut through a main underground cable killing power to 100,000 homes and businesses across Oxfordshire yesterday. Southern Electric said the power cut, which happened between noon and 12.45pm, was caused by a contractor hitting a main underground

  • Superfast broadband on way

    MILLIONS of pounds are being invested in rolling out superfast broadband connections for rural communities across Oxfordshire. The investment of £3.6m capital funding by the county council will match money being provided by the Government.

  • Man, 24, admits glassing attack

    A 24-YEAR-OLD man admitted slashing a drinker’s neck with a glass in Oxford. Michael Rendell appeared at Oxford Crown Court on Monday and admitted one count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Stephen Walsh suffered serious injuries at the

  • COMMENT: Life on the edge

    EVERYONE is entitled to choose their own lifestyle, particularly if it does not place a burden on the taxpayer. So who is going to criticise Richard Roberts for opting to sleep rough in order to save money to pay off his student loan? He has a job,

  • Oxford United striker Beano into double figures

    James ‘Beano’ Constable admitted that his first goal since December had seemed like an eternity in coming. Oxford United’s leading scorer reached double figures for the season with a fine strike with ten minutes remaining to give his side a 2-1 victory

  • Store’s veg oil van ban baffles grocer

    COMMUNITY grocer Chris Waites says he was banned by managers at a Tesco store for buying vegetable oil to fuel his delivery van. Mr Waites, of Long Wittenham, said the ban from managers at the store in Didcot came after he bought six five-litre

  • Diesel spill closes A34

    THE A34 southbound is closed between the Chilton Interchange and junction 13 of the M4. Nearly six miles of queues have formed after a crash between two lorries at 2.30am led to a diesel spill, which is currently being cleaned up. A Highways

  • Scrap thieves strip fence of wire worth just £20

    A COMMUNITY centre in Oxford was stripped of its fencing as metal thieves tore out more than 45 metres of plastic-coated wire. It is estimated the metal is worth just £20 as scrap but repairs will cost much more. The thieves struck overnight at the

  • Road repairs will slow A34 traffic

    WORK to repair the surface of the A34’s southbound carriageway at the Portway bridge near Harwell will take place overnight tonight. One lane will be closed from 10pm until 5am tomorrow, with a temporary 10mph speed limit in force for traffic passing

  • Duchess of Cambridge announces Oxford visit

    THE Duchess of Cambridge will make her first official visit to Oxford next week. Kate will visit two city schools on Tuesday, February 21. The Art Room charity, of which she is patron, runs classes at Rose Hill Primary School and Oxford Spires

  • Academy could run leisure centre

    KING Alfred’s Academy could take control of community facilities in Wantage to protect them against a future cash drought. Vale of White Horse District Council is exploring the idea of handing the school Wantage Leisure Centre to save it for students