Archive

  • Oxford City Council candidates

    The nominations for Oxford City Council elections on Thursday, May 3 Barton and Sandhills Ward CIBULSKIS, Alexander Michael Liberal Democrat LOVELOCK, Graham Edwin Conservative ROWLEY, Mike Labour

  • Skaters get top backing in bid to replace Botley Bowl

    A TOP skateboarder has backed a campaign by teenagers to replace a Botley skate park wrecked by arsonists. The Botley Bowl was closed and filled in after a van was dumped there and set alight in 2009. Now youngsters are calling for North Hinksey Parish

  • GREYHOUNDS: Thursday's Oxford runners

    7.45: Lively Steps 2, Springlawn Jacko, American Dude, Grogeen Lodge, MINNIES LUSELLE, Holycross King 3. 8.00: Malbay Elite, WINETAVERN TADGH, Light The Way, Queen O The Mall, Greenfield Tim 2, Sudden Decision 3. 8.15: Hondo County 2

  • RUGBY UNION: Banbury crowned county champions

    Banbury Under 16s were crowned Oxfordshire champions with a 23-10 victory away to Witney in the inaugural County League play-off. Witney led, but Banbury hit back with tries from Ed Yeates, Tom Letch and Hugh Saar. Alex Caviezel Cox kicked two penalties

  • Man shared hundreds of child abuse images

    A PAEDOPHILE has admitted sharing hundreds of indecent images online. Stuart Clarke pleaded guilty to 15 charges at Oxford Magistrates’ Court yesterday after a raid on his house. The 26-year-old had viewed and shared a number of stills and videos rated

  • Cyclists press for safer roundabout

    PLANS for a £2m revamp at an Oxford traffic blackspot provide an ideal opportunity to improve the site for cyclists, campaigners say. The Oxford Mail revealed in October that council bosses were considering big changes to the Kennington

  • Lambs enjoy sunshine while they can

    THESE new lambs picked the perfect time to come into the world — in an unseasonally warm spell last week. Caroline Tyler is pictured with some of the newborn lambs at the Old Farm Shop near Abingdon. They were born while temperatures

  • UPDATE: A420 back open after fatal crash

    THE A420 is back open this afternoon following the fatal crash this morning. A 25-year-old woman from Oxford was killed in a collision between a van and a lorry just before 9am near Buckland.

  • Local shares (PM)

    AEA Technology 0.26 BMW 5553 Electrocomponents 242.25 Nationwide Accident Repair 64 Oxford Biomedica 3 Oxford Catalysts 49.5 Oxford Instruments 1180.5 Reed Elsevier 550.25 RM 80.6 RPS Group 243 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

  • My chance discovery of Chicklade

    The Forthcoming Marriages announcements on the Court Circular page of the Daily Telegraph are one of the last bastions of glorious snobbery and therefore compulsive reading for me. Though the rival Times long ago gave up compiling the list in order

  • Alice theme to literary festival closing dinner

    Since I have no wish to Marr a curious tale in the telling (W. Shakespeare), I shall desist from mention of the guest speaker at the Oxford Literary Festival’s closing dinner and merely show you KT Bruce’s excellent study of him in action.

  • UPDATE: Woman killed in A420 crash was 25 and from Oxford

    The woman killed in a collision between a van and a HGV lorry on the A420 this morning was a 25-year-old from Oxford, police have confirmed. An ambulance spokesman said that the woman, who was driving a small Citroen van, died at the scene

  • Save for the things you want in 2012

    Whatever you’re planning this year, whether it’s some home improvements, a new car or a dream holiday, you can help pay for it with a savings account from Lloyds TSB There are plenty of accounts to choose from too, from a Lloyds TSB Monthly Saver which

  • New route for Oxford half marathon

    SIX thousand runners wanted for the 2012 Oxford Half Marathon in aid of Helen and Douglas House Plans for the second Oxford Half Marathon are on track, with a completely redesigned route to take more runners. Last year, more than 2,000

  • Faults not glossed over in two new lives

    Highlights of the latter stages of The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival came for me in fascinating talks by two biographers. (This is deliberately to overlook on this part of the page the marvellous Alice in Wonderland festival dinner dealt

  • The Fat Fox, Watlington

    There was a welcoming feel about The Fat Fox that struck me the moment I crossed its threshold — as I remarked to landlord John Riddle when he stepped forward to say hello. In fact, we felt at home even before we left the car, having been guided into

  • Ready to bake us a Good Friday treat

    buns with the ancient heritage wheat that goes into so many of his breads, he does use traditional methods to make them. His business, the Cornfield Bakery, is a real family concern, established by Geoff’s father in 1972, and now run by Geoff, his wife

  • Titanic 3D and Mirror, Mirror

    James Cameron’s mega-budget love story set aboard the doomed ocean liner Titanic was a phenomenon. Buoyed by the on-screen chemistry of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, Titanic sailed away with a record 11 Academy Awards and broke box office records

  • Recipe for hot cross buns (makes 12)

    When the aroma of hot cross buns baking fills your kitchen with a delicious fragrance, you will know all the effort put into making them yourself was well worthwhile. YOU WILL NEED: 1lb 3oz (625g) strong white flour 1 tspn salt 2 tspn ground mixed

  • A miracle wrought by human genius

    Anyone planning to view The Last Supper at Magdalen College this Good Friday will be disappointed, since the painting was removed at the end of last year to become part of the Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery, London (and subsequently at a

  • Oxfordshire Craft Guild: The Turrill Gardens, Summertown

    On a spring day a visit to the Craft Guild show in the gardens next to Summertown library will delight you. Displayed among flowers, shrubs and trees are innovative sculptures that would enhance any garden. Anne Arlidge’s Temptation Apples are made

  • Sisters ride out in memory of father

    THEY may not have been on a bike since they were kids, but that is not going to stop the daughters of a popular pub landlord cycling 120 miles in his memory. And keeping his bar-room promise, Prime Minister David Cameron is set to allow some riders to

  • NationalTheatre Connections: Oxford Playhouse

    The past week has seen a significant contribution by young people to activities on the local stage, as is clear from the reviews by me and David Bellan elsewhere today. Youngsters are also showing us their mettle in a three-day programme, NationalTheatre

  • The Dream of Gerontius: Burford Parish Church

    Elgar’s epic choral masterpiece, setting to music the visionary poem of Cardinal John Newman, requires a “no holds barred” effort from singers and orchestra, and on Sunday it was given just that. The Cotswold Chamber Orchestra was far from chamber-sized

  • Animal Farm: Oxford Playhouse

    The grunts, whinnies and baas supplied by a large and enthusiastic cast of appropriately garbed young actors transported us last weekend to a location that could only be Animal Farm. What a thoroughly impressive piece of work this proved to

  • The Duchess of Malfi: The Old Vic, London

    John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi is a glorious celebration of the English language, and it is not surprising that it should have been name-checked by two of our greatest 20th-century poets, T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden. It is Eliot, indeed — whose own

  • Crave: Actors Touring Company: The North Wall

    ‘There are worse things than being fat and 50. Being dead and 30.” These words struck home horribly as they were spoken last weekend by Jack Tarlton, in the role of a character known simply as ‘A’, in Sarah Kane’s Crave. For as every member of the North

  • Woodstock Music Society: St Mary Magdalene Church

    The discovery of a long-lost work is a cause for celebration, and it is usually a mystery why such a piece has been neglected. Herbert Howells’s choral epic Sir Patrick Spens was discovered by Howells scholar Paul Spicer in the Royal College of Music

  • Pegasus Theatre double bill

    This imaginative double bill began with The Listeners, performed by the Pegasus Youth Theatre Company. With a clever script by Mojisola Adebayo, it looks at the human need for someone to talk to, someone to listen. In the England of 2017 a massive earthquake

  • The Odyssey: Creation Theatre

    The Odyssey is Creation Theatre’s second collaboration with theatre group The Factory, following last month’s semi-improvised Hamlet. The two productions share many similarities (no scenery, no costumes, plenty of audience participation and use

  • Oxford Harmonic Society: Town hall

    Carl Loewe, who was born in 1796 and died in 1869, isn’t exactly the best-known composer ever to set foot on this earth. His songs occasionally appear in recital programmes, but otherwise he is little heard. There was a sense of anticipation, therefore

  • Cardinall's Musick: St Barnabas Church, Jericho

    Easter came early at St Barnabas’ Church in a concert of William Byrd’s sacred music. The renowned vocal ensemble The Cardinall’s Musick is touring a series of concerts of Byrd’s music. On Friday they were in Oxford. In the first half they performed

  • BT Art of Sport: O3 gallery, Oxford

    As part of the Cultural Olympic Programme, 11 artists have captured the spirit of the London Olympics and the skill, passion and commitment of Team GB. In Olympic Swims I and II (pictured), Dominic J. Wheadon explores swimming and swimmers by cleverly

  • The Lord of the Dance: New Theatre, Oxford

    A member of the company’s management sourly refused me a complimentary reviewer’s programme. I firmly refused (on behalf of The Oxford Times) to fork out an outrageous eight quid. So, rightly, did almost all of the New Theatre audience — I only saw perhaps

  • Golf centre will become caravan park

    Plans to convert an Oxfordshire golf centre into a caravan park have been approved. Investfront Ltd applied to Cherwell District Council to create a holiday park at Heathfield Golf Centre, Heathfield, near Bicester. Plans include spaces for up to 150

  • Dealer is caught after four days

    A teenager caught with 126 wraps of drugs in his pants had “only been dealing for about four days”. Andrew Small was arrested as part of a police operation as he rode his bike through Didcot. The 19-year-old was found with 47.5g of drugs, including

  • UPDATE: A420 still closed after fatal crash

    THE A420 remains shut near Buckland following this morning's fatal crash between a van and a lorry. The crash - which claimed the life of a woman driving the van - happened just before 9am. The road is closed both ways between the Buckland

  • FOOTBALL: Stewart sees red in Senior Cup semi

    North Leigh are through to the Oxfordshire Senior Cup final after seeing off a gutsy challenge from Thame United 2-1 at Oxford City’s Court Place Farm on Tuesday night. The Hellenic League outfit were not helped by having Alex Stewart sent off after

  • Ideas emerge on hall's future

    The future look of Witney’s dilapidated Corn Exchange and the facilities it will contain are beginning to emerge. Witney Town Council closed the Market Square hall in November after a report showed it had major problems with fire escapes, stonework and

  • Pupils explore nature's garden

    A lottery grant and the tireless help of parents has helped children at one Oxfordshire village school get to grips with nature. Horspath Primary School has opened its new wild garden – to the delight of pupils. Chris Jarvis, education officer at Oxford

  • Thursday, April 5: Weber BBQs to win

    YES, it’s Easter this weekend - the start of Spring, of brighter evenings, warmer days and of course, BBQs (even though we've got this snow worry). And we at the Oxford Mail have got together with those wonderful folk at the Weber Grill Academy in Marsh

  • FOOTBALL: Highfield heroes grab Sam Waters glory

    WAYNE Blossom’s ex-tra-time winner gave Highfield Social Club a pulsating 3-2 victory over Kidlington Royals in a thrilling final at Oxford City, writes TIM SIRET. The Banbury Sunday League team had taken the lead after 37 minutes, when Dan Bone stooped

  • FOOTBALL: Hinksey keep treble hope alive

    AFC Hinksey’s unique treble is still on after a 4-0 home win over Barton United sent them into the Hedley Toms/Michael Brown Memorial Trophy final, writes Tim Siret. Jelroy Constant’s double, plus goals from Steve Haines and Lance Williams

  • £350m resignalling upgrade

    A KEY element of work to modernise Oxfordshire’s rail links with London, the South West and South Wales gets under way today, with the launch of a £350m resignalling project which will see trains as far away as Bristol controlled from Didcot. The work

  • Director post

    OXON: General director of Garsington Opera Anthony Whitworth-Jones will retire at the end of October after seven years. The company is now seeking a world-class artistic director to join the team at its new home on the Wormsley Estate in the Chiltern

  • Car fire probe

    ROSE HILL: Fire crews tackled a blaze in a car in Westbury Crescent on Monday night. They were called to the incident at midnight and no one was injured. Police are investigating the cause. Police are also still appealing for witnesses after four cars

  • ‘New lease of life’ for college campus

    MORE than £1m is to be spent to give Abingdon’s college campus “a new lease of life”. Abingdon and Witney College, which educates about 2,000 students, is preparing a major revamp of its Wootton Road site, coming just after it completed its

  • Appeal arrest

    OXFORD: A 22-year-old man has been arrested after police issued a most wanted appeal to track him down. Liam Pipkin, who was linked to the Wood Farm, Cowley and Iffley Road areas, was arrested on suspicion of burglary yesterday morning in Oxford, and

  • War medals stolen in raid

    DIDCOT: Four war medals and 20 commemorative coins were stolen from a house in Reading Road, Harwell, last Thursday. Offenders forced open the front door between 11.20am and 12.40pm. They also took an air rifle with telescopic sighting and 10 gold rings

  • Local shares (AM)

    AEA Technology 0.26 BMW 5553 Electrocomponents 242.25 Nationwide Accident Repair 64 Oxford Biomedica 3 Oxford Catalysts 49.5 Oxford Instruments 1180.5 Reed Elsevier 550.25 RM 80.6 RPS Group 243 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

  • UPDATE: Woman killed in A420 crash

    A WOMAN has died in a collision between a van and a HGV lorry on the A420 this morning, paramedics have confirmed. An ambulance spokesman said that the woman, whose age is not known, died at the scene from her injuries. The HGV driver

  • Oxfam wants a million bras

    OXFAM has launched a drive to collect a million bras in a month. The Oxford charity wants women to drop the underwear items into its shops throughout April. They will then be sold on or donated to a second-hand-clothing project in Senegal. London Road

  • Teen charged over Rose Hill stabbing

    THIS is the face of the teenager accused of murdering a man in Rose Hill. Haydan O’Callaghan appeared at Oxford Magistrates’ Court yesterday charged with killing Aaron Buron in St Martin’s Road on Saturday night. The 18-year-old also stands accused

  • FOOTBALL: Ducklington are crowned champs

    Byron Townsend netted a double as Ducklington clinched the Giles Sports Witney Youth League Under 10 Green League crown with a 2-1 comeback victory at title rivals Banbury United Youth Puritans. Harry Godden gave Banbury the lead in the second half.

  • THE DISABLED SPACE: I want a holiday from paralysis

    It’s Wednesday afternoon. Apparently the hottest day in March for decades. I decide to get off the bus a few stops early and hit the park. There is not a cloud in the sky, the sound of fun echoes all around me. It’s a taste of the summer and despite being

  • LIFE LESSONS: I wish I had set up my own business earlier

    What I’m called: Dave Beesley. My Age: 63. What I do: Chairman of B-Line Business Supplies and chief executive of Bayswater Framing. Member of Oxfordshire Prostate Cancer Support Group’s committee. Where I live: Headington. I’ve lived in Oxford

  • Disincentive to save

    BY reducing the tax relief for pensioners in Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget last month, the Coalition Government has succeeded in discouraging more and more of the population from providing for themselves in their old age. The extra tax allowance

  • Time to hold by-election

    YOU reported on the resignation of South Oxfordshire district councillor Christopher Quinton from the Conservative Party (Oxford Mail, March 27). His resignation from the Conservative Party is, in itself, not a problem. However, he says that he has

  • Solar subsidy a rip-off

    FOR those rich enough to be able to install wind turbines and solar voltaic panels, the electricity generators must, by law, pay the owners more per kilowatt-hour than the electricity is worth. This handsome profit is guaranteed, index-linked, for at

  • Give us back our lifeline

    ENGLAND is a changed country – we had our own industries, the miners, steel workers, shipbuilders, our own motor company, our own manufactured goods. We came through a war. Today, we have no industry. Who were all these workers who did their bit? They

  • Planning decisions letting us all down

    I WRITE with reference to the development at 1 Hayfield Road, in North Oxford, which includes an electricity substation, highlighted in your report on March 23. We would like to point out the role played by Oxford City Council’s planning department in

  • Send ministers message

    WHAT a funny old game politics is. Wealthy donors influencing the Tory Party (Oxford Mail, April 2), the unfairness of the ‘granny’ and ‘pasty’ taxes in the Budget, as well as the artificial petrol shortage, all showed the incompetence of the coalition

  • Bus drivers are brilliant

    PEOPLE are quick to moan about the bus service. I often use the S5 Bicester-Oxford route. I am registered disabled and use a walking stick. The drivers either wait or move slowly toward me as I hobble towards them: credit where it’s due. ROGER

  • Cyber war win

    An intelligence agency has recognised Oxford University as an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research. GCHQ awarded eight universities. It means work will be done here to protect the UK from cyber attacks. The centre will open on Sunday

  • 'Bomb' charges

    A 37-year-old man has been charged with creating a bomb hoax. Steven Thomas is accsued of calling 999 on Monday and telling the operator he made a device at home in Awgar Stone Road, Headington. No bomb was found. Thomas appeared at Oxford Magistrates

  • Person dies in crash - A420 shut near Buckland

    A PERSON has died following a collision between a lorry and a van on the A420 this morning. The A420 is currently closed in both directions near Buckland and Kingston Bagpuize following the crash shortly before 9am. A police spokesman

  • Queen to host Henley party

    The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are to meet Oxfordshire residents as part of the Jubilee celebrations. About 4,000 guests from Oxfordshire, Bucks and Berkshire will be invited to a garden party near Henley-on-Thames on June 25. A public ballot will

  • SCHOOLS' FOOTBALL: Vale's title hopes sunk by draw

    A LATE equaliser thwarted Vale of White Horse Under 13s in their bid to lift the Meeson Trophy as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Southampton at Abingdon Town. Needing a win to clinch top spot in the league-based competition, Vale started

  • Homecoming troops march in city

    Crowds will line the city streets today to welcome home hundreds of soldiers from an Oxfordshire regiment. For the first time in its 50-year history, the 23 Pioneer Regiment based in Bicester will march through Oxford. The homecoming parade, which features

  • There's no bones about THIS history

    Skeletons uncovered in Oxford city centre could have been the remains of Viking pillagers rather than settlers killed in a famous massacre. Experts now believe the group of 37 men whose remains were found off St Giles’ four years ago could have been

  • GIRLS' FOOTBALL: Knight brace earns City semi win

    SHELLEY Knight scored twice as Oxford City booked a place in the Under 13 League Cup final with a 3-2 win at home to Kidlington. Goals from Knight and Lara Althorp cancelled out Isla Hastings’ opener, but the visitors levelled through Ellie

  • End of an era as council leader Mitchell takes last meeting

    Oxfordshire County Council leader Keith Mitchell has taken his last full council meeting. Mr Mitchell, right, has led the ruling Conservative group for more than 10 years, but will step down from the role on May 15. He became a county councillor for

  • Moto2: Bradley Smith's Qatar quest

    Bradley Smith will feel like a “movie star” when the Moto2 season begins under floodlights in Qatar this weekend (April 7-8). The Oxford racer is raring to go in his final year in the series before stepping up to the elite MotoGP for 2013.

  • COMMENT: It’s the right move

    THE scheme by councils to help first time buyers to get on to the housing ladder with affordable loans is a sensible one. The councils may be exposing themselves to a small financial risk should there be a wholesale collapse of the housing

  • COMMENT: Fine principle but there’s little benefit

    THE reduction of speed limits on most of Oxford’s streets to 20mph was fine in principle but has had not tangible success to merit its price tag. The decision by Thames Valley Police to ignore them has been known since before they were brought

  • YouTube appeal to ‘save’ Didcot

    YOUNG people from Didcot have made a YouTube film to attract funding from “Queen of Shops” Mary Portas. The retail expert is linking up with Local Government Minister Grant Schapps to give 12 towns a share of £1m to help turn around their ‘unloved and

  • New walk will be poetry in motion

    A NEW tour round Oxford is taking visitors on a unique walk through the city’s literary history. The Oxford Poetry Walk, an hour-long audio wander through the city centre, was launched at the Oxford Playhouse on Monday. Walkers are guided from the theatre

  • Teacher raises £4k for ActionAid

    MOST people considering retirement are thinking of slowing down and relaxing. But not for Jeanette Gill, a semi-retired teacher from Stanford in the Vale. The 62-year-old instead raised £4,277 for the anti-poverty charity ActionAid and travelled to