LONDON’s Leicester Square is only a quick coach ride away from Kingston Bagpuize and Southmoor. But the journey for budget movie Tortoise in Love, from shooting scenes to its premiere on the big screen, has been a mammoth one for the villagers who helped
A new sculpture trail has brought history back to a modern 195-housing development in Wantage. Five large sculptures and 12 small pieces will be officially unveiled at St Mary’s tomorrow. The large artworks, by renowned sculptor Steve Geliot, were
MAKING sure you haven’t made a mistake is an admirable quality, but for one woman it turned to obsession. As Jacqui Vincent-Potter struggled to get to grips with a new job, she took to checking and double-checking her work. Eventually this behaviour
AEA Technology 0.21 BMW 4940 Electrocomponents 207.5 Nationwide Accident Repair 69 Oxford Biomedica 3.55 Oxford Catalysts 45.25 Oxford Instruments 1107.5 Reed Elsevier 492 RM 73.25 RPS Group 213.9 Courtesy of Redmayne
LONELINESS charity the Archway Foundation has been making the most of Artweeks to celebrate its birthday. The charity was set up 30 years ago in Oxford to help relieve some of the distress caused by loneliness. An exhibition of work
A £750,000 redevelopment plan for a community centre in Northway could still go ahead despite concerns. The scheme, to demolish and replace the existing Northway Community Centre, is part of a deal between Oxford City Council and the housing association
WANTAGE has been applauded for schemes to boost business and tourism. The Wantage Means Business project was highly commended in the Action for Market Towns awards this month. The project, run by the town and district councils and the Wantage chamber
TWO young people from Didcot Barramundis raised more than £300 in a charity swimathon. Danny Amphlett, 15, and Charlotte Smart,12, pictured above, each swam 5km at the Didcot Wave Leisure Centre pool where they regularly train. The pair raised a total
A CUTTING-edge art installation will be the venue for a showcase of the best of Oxford’s music scene tomorrow. Indie-rockers The Scholars and Half Rabbits, Phil McMinn – former frontman of pop acts Fell City Girl and Winchell Riots – Deco Child and
A POPULAR Oxford pre-school could be forced to close if plans to relocate its host primary school go ahead. Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School, in Oxford Road, Cowley, is consulting on proposals to move to a site in Cricket Road, next door
SHE’S just 10 years old, but Amy Broome, above, has raised more than £1,000 in the space of three years. The Tackley schoolgirl completed a 100-length swimathon in aid of Tackley Village Pre-school. Amy, who is a junior swimming club member
WITH just one day to go before the big event, Alison Pitt is urging others to “battle cancer head-on” by joining her in the Breast Cancer Care Pink Ribbonwalk. Mum-of-two Mrs Pitt, 45, from Witney, will be among hundreds of men and women taking
A CHARITY that opens up a world of sport and fun to disabled youngsters says Jubilee Fund cash would help keep them ‘in the game’. Keen (Kids Enjoy Exercise Now), based in Turl Street, Oxford, offers sporting activities to about 240 children and young
PLANS for six affordable homes in Mollington, near Banbury, will not go ahead, a planning inspector has ruled. The Cascade Partnership cited a lack of affordable housing in the village and said the Chestnut Road site was its only option. But Cherwell
FOR years the humble aspirin has been heralded as a ‘wonder drug’ which can help battle a host of ills. Now a team of Oxford researchers want to know if it could help protect diabetes sufferers from heart disease and stroke. Experts at the Diabetes
A 55-YEAR-old woman found dead at the Prospect Park caravan site in Horspath this morning was stabbed, detectives believe. A post mortem examination later today is expected to confirm the cause of death. A murder investigation was launched
A £70,000 study of the prospects for recreating a direct rail link between Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon, by rebuilding a route between the Cotswold Line and the Warwickshire town, is under way. Consultants Arup are looking into whether there is a business
THE Bunn family don’t need a sat nav – thanks to their teenage orienteering champion. Abingdon schoolgirl Fiona Bunn beat 26 other runners in the under-14 category at the British Orienteering Championships this month. The St Helen and St Katharine School
CRICKET SERIOUS CRICKET HOME COUNTIES PREMIER LEAGUE Div 1: Banbury v Burnham, Oxford v High Wycombe. Div 2 West: Cove v Gerrards Cross, Falkland v Shipton-u-Wychwood, Thame Tn v Falkland. CHERWELL LEAGUE Div 1: Bletchley Tn v Cumnor, Great
TERRY Bishop (pictured), a well-known character in Oxford sporting circles, died in the Abingdon Community Hospital on Sunday, aged 69, after a short illness. Mr Bishop, of Shorte Close, Headington, was heavily involved in cricket and football
North Oxford will be looking to former professional Jeff Hunter to help boost their Aegon Team Tennis League Southern Regional Division promotion hopes. Only victory against Worcestershire’s Beckford on Sunday at Banbury Road sports ground (12pm start
MOVIEGOERS attending this year’s sixth Oxford Film Festival are gearing up for tonight’s screening of the Woody Allen classic Manhattan, right, which closes the festival’s most successful season ever. Suzy Sheriff, manager of the Phoenix
OXON: Uncertainty surrounds the future of the Oxfordshire branches of Clinton Cards after plans were announced to close 350 stores. It is not clear whether they are among those to be shut or part of the remainder of the 784-store portfolio to escape
OXFORD: A 29-year-old man appeared in Oxford Magistrates’ Court yesterday charged with assaulting a charity shop worker in Headington. Richard Hunt, of no fixed address, appeared before magistrates accused of causing actual bodily harm after Juliana
Chinnor's Alex Cook won a gold and two bronze medals at the Oxfordshire Badminton Association’s national open tournament at Abingdon White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre. Fellow Oxfordshire player, Rubie Gray, from Witney, also went home with a bronze
MANAGERS at two Oxford theatres pledged to take drama out into Oxfordshire communities after getting a major funding boost yesterday. Oxford Playhouse, Pegasus Theatre and Modern Art Oxford were among 15 successful applicants in the South East
PALOMA Faith, Razorlight and Supergrass’s Gaz Coombes are among the line-up announced today for Alex James’s latest food festival. Mr James and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver will be hosting nearly 10,000 people on Mr James’s Kingham farm as part of The
Serious Cricket Home Counties Premier League OXFORD have suffered a blow ahead of tomorrow’s Division 1 clash at home to High Wycombe with young seamer Tom Geeson-Brown ruled out by a knee injury. Geeson-Brown, who was earmarked for a big role this
Serious Cricket Home Counties Premier League ASTON Rowant captain Wesley Morrick is hoping for a quick return after suffering a hamstring tear. Morrick will miss tomorrow’s Division 2 West trip to Farnham Royal, as will all-rounder Nick Ferraby, who
WAYNE Brown turned down an offer from overseas to re-sign for Oxford United out of a sense of loyalty to manager Chris Wilder. The experienced goalkeeper signed a two-year contract with the U’s yesterday, which will see him combine playing
The proposed 'hamburger' roundabout at Kennington, and slip lane at Hinksey Hill, will reduce congestion and delays as councillors John Sanders and John Tanner acknowledge in their letter (Wednesday’s ViewPoints). This will significantly improve journey
YOUR article (Oxford Mail, May 9) about parents’ opposition to plans to convert Cheney School into an academy was timely but unfortunately contained inaccuracies and omissions. It said that out of 139 parents responding to a consultation, 105, or 68
Bruce Ross-Smith (Tuesday’s Oxford Mail ViewPoints) is concerned at the proposal that the city council should work in partnership with the county council in improving attainment levels in the city’s primary schools. There are undoubtedly big policy differences
MCCA Trophy OXFORDSHIRE will reach the quarter-finals if they avoid defeat against Devon at Challow & Childrey on Sunday. Because of their superior net run rate, Oxon would progress from Group 1 even if the match is tied or abandoned, but
THREE of Britain’s Olympic team were in Oxford last weekend to take part in the first Archery GB National Series tournament of the year. Alison Williamson, Naomi Folkard and Simon Terry, who will all be competing at London 2012, provided the star turns
I HAD popped into Queen Street’s Marks & Spencer to pass on good wishes to new manager Kevin from his former customers at the Banbury store, catching up with him in the basement. This floor is served by adjacent escalators – one up, one down. Pleasantries
IT was good to see First Great Western have made an effort to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by decorating one of their High Speed Trains (Saturday’s Oxford Mail). I wonder if the Oxford Bus Company has any plans to decorate one of its buses,
I AM trying to trace a family who attended the Christ Church Roll of Honour Page Turning, held on Saturday, May 5. They are the family of Private Edwin Edmunds, of the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars. I would like to establish contact with the family
Ralph Leavis asks me (Wednesday’s ViewPoints) why I support Palestinians and I will answer. But to even suggest what the Nazis did regards the Holocaust, one of mankind’s worst-ever atrocities, and imply that is in any way related to the current political
NOT only has quick-thinking nine-year-old Brandon Trafford proved himself worthy of congratulation, but so too has his mum Liza, for having the foresight to teach her son about her allergy. As a result, what could so easily have turned into a tragedy
IT'S so simple, so obvious, so glaringly evident that, as the saying goes, you can’t help wondering why no-one thought of it before... But now someone has, the plaudits are theirs for the taking. Oxfordshire County Council take a bow, because on behalf
HISTORY came in for a bashing in the centre of Oxford when parishioners carried out a centuries-old tradition. Members of St Michael at the Northgate Church in Cornmarket Street went around their parish to confirm the extent of its boundaries and pray
TWO boys were hurt when a cricket ball was thrown at them in a Headington park, police said last night. Officers said the incident involving boys aged 11 and 13, happened after they argued with two Asian men at the basketball court in Wood Farm Park.
A drug dealer caught receiving cocaine from Costa Rica has been told to pay back just £325. Clifton Bullock, 58, of Heath Close, Headington, was jailed in March for five years and eight months. At a hearing at Oxford Crown Court yesterday it was decided
Police last night said they were not investigating an incident in which an 11-year-old boy’s foot was crushed by a bus. He was injured at 8.15am on Wednesday, in School Lane, Stadhampton. The Tappins bus was taking pupils to Icknield Community College
OXFORD University Press has printed more than 20,000 Bibles for schools in a new Government initiative. To mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible, the Department for Education is giving a copy to every state school in England
A BOTTLENECK on one of Oxford’s busiest commuter routes is set to be eased as work got under way yesterday on a new £250,000 project. Work has started on an eight-week scheme to create an extra lane at the traffic lights in West Way, Botley. The
IT WAS once the place where couples first got together. Now the former Regal in Cowley Road, Oxford, will become the place where they can take their vows. The Christian Life Centre Church operates out of the Grade II-listed building and has been given
A crossbow, a Taser, knives and suspected drugs were found in a police raid in Stowood Close, Northway, Oxford, on Wednesday. A 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs with intent to supply and possession of offensive weapons
A MOTHER who owes her life to her nine-year-old son said she was glad she had taught him what to do in an emergency. Brandon Trafford was last night praised for saving his mum Liza’s life when she collapsed at their home in Barton, Oxford,
THIEVES smashed their way into a cash machine at Tesco Express petrol station in Oxford Road, Eynsham. A gang of three struck between 1-3am yesterday. Det Sgt Jim Holmes said: “We are particularly keen to hear from anyone who was driving by and witnessed
THE father of a fallen serviceman from RAF Brize Norton spoke of his pride for his adventurous and determined son. Corporal Brent McCarthy was killed alongside Lance Corporal Lee Davies while they were training and mentoring Afghan police officers.
A MURDER investigation has been launched after a woman’s body was discovered in Horspath this morning. Police were called at 2am to an address in Prospect Park and a body of a woman in her 50s was found. She was declared dead on the
PLANS for a new country park in Banbury should be approved, a council officer’s report has recommended. The report urges Cherwell District Council members to approve the plan, for land at Wildmere Industrial Estate, next week. The council scheme will
HERE’S one man who can mix it with the best of them. Alex Proudfoot travelled to London this week to compete for the title of the UK’s best bartender. The 27-year-old, who works at Raoul’s Bar in Walton Street, Oxford, had to sit a written exam and
NO ACTION will be taken for the time being over a derelict house in an Oxford conservation area, despite two months having gone by since a city council order to improve it expired. Oxford City Council had ordered Martin Young, who owns 29 Old High Street
ONE of the last great feats of the age of the Victorian navvies will be recreated at Didcot Railway Centre this weekend. While creations of the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel like the Clifton suspension bridge, the Royal Albert Bridge at
THE prospect of Premiership rugby coming to the Kassam Stadium has strengthened after London Welsh received an encouraging audit from the Professional Game Board. Only minor issues with the ground were raised in the report, which was filed earlier this
