PLANS to build a Travelodge hotel in Abingdon Road were this evening unanimously rejected by Oxford councillors. Members of the city council's west area planning committee agreed with planning officers that the four-storey building would create
CASES heard recently at Banbury Magistrates' Court: Michael Grimes, 29, of Van Diemans, Stanford in the Vale, admitted possessing cannabis in Witney High Street on June 5. Fined £200, a £15 victims’ surcharge and £85 costs. Ben Higginson, 21, of
Banbury's Marussia F1 team said tonight that Maria De Villota was making a 'remarkable recovery' following her accident at Duxford Airfield whilst testing for the tam. A spokesman said that her recovery during the eight days since the crash
CAMPAIGNERS who successfully fought the Cogges Link Road proposal in Witney are now pushing an alternative scheme. Oxfordshire County Council was refused permission by the Government to compulsorily purchase land needed for the Witney link
TRAFFIC is queueing at Pear Tree after reports of an overturned car. Onelane is closed on the entry slip road at the A44 Woodstock Road after reports the car has gone off the carriageway.
EAST Oxford took a lot of pleasure in raising about £7,000 for charity on Sunday. The cash was raised for Oxford children and young adults’ hospice Helen & Douglas House at the fun day at St Gregory the Great School. The day included an inflatable obstacle
A DRUNKEN lout committed “a truly shocking catalogue of random violence” as he went on the rampage through Abingdon. In what a judge called “a perfectly gratuitous piece of hooliganism”, Christopher McKenzie attacked five people in three different
They might not be much use in the current climate but a series of folding fans have gone on display at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The decorative fans from China and Japan have been long used to keep people cool and were symbols of status
STUDENTS let their hair down after finishing their GCSE exams with a glamourous prom evening at the Oxford Spires Hotel. About 200 pupils from Didcot Girls’ School and the town’s St Birinus School came together to celebrate last Thursday.
A KEY witness in a robbery and fraud case was jailed for six weeks after refusing to give evidence. Bernard Muiruri, 21, of Banbury Road, Oxford, told police he had seen someone steal a credit card then use it at a cash machine. But he then
A historic canal building once threatened with demolition is to be opened as a small museum. The Wilts and Berks Canal Trust has been handed the 18th century Sack House in Wantage by developer Barratt Homes. And the trust is raising £10,000 to have
Christ Church’s glorious 18th-century library could scarcely be improved upon as a setting for a book launch and it was there, last Friday night, that author Griselda Heppel invited guests to celebrate with her the publication of Ante’s Inferno (Matador
‘This is one of the country’s best kept secrets.” I heard these same words — or very slight variations on them — twice in four days. Each observation concerned an area of England little known to tourists but, as the speaker thought, deserving of
‘Have you arranged to murder me?” Mr Greedy enquired nervously, as we crossed a railway bridge on foot, which led to another isolated path through the back of beyond. He had a point — it was perfect mugging country. “Why, have you done something
Like a fragile flower struggling to survive in less than fertile soil, Oxford University came into existence some time in the middle of the 12th century. But ironically, it was the riots between Town and Gown of the 13th century — which nearly destroyed
Scrat the sabre-toothed squirrel’s pursuit of his beloved acorns has cataclysmic consequences for an entire continent in the latest chapter of the hugely popular Ice Age series. Directed with vim by Steve Martino and Michael Thurmeier, Ice Age
This is Paul Barlow-Heal’s favourite tart as its smooth, tangy lemony custard nestling in glorious sweet pastry makes a perfect summer dish when served at room temperature. YOU WILL NEED 9 whole eggs 330g caster sugar 5 large lemons (zested and
When a master baker can boast of having spent several years working under the expert guidance of Michel Roux Senior at the Waterside Inn, Bray, he is someone to take seriously. Paul Barlow-Heal, who set up his own baking business, Cotswold Baking
On its tenth and final visit to the glorious Nevill Holt estate in Leicestershire, Grange Park Opera presented a lucid, affecting and extremely good-looking production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, under conductor Toby Purser. One of the great
‘The nurturing of nature is our creed, though some of us are going a bit to seed.” Thus Mikron Theatre introduces the quirky characters in Losing the Plot. Quirky they may be, but Brenda, Bert, Simon, Ruth, and Maud are united in sharing a common
There are few things more quintessentially English than Shakespeare in a garden, and the Oxford Theatre Guild’s Much Ado About Nothing, in a leafy setting at Trinity College, is a treat. Being outdoors presents challenges for the performers, though, and
In the midst of its tour Shakesepeare’s Globe’s Hamlet has reached the Bodleian Library. This production, which has been well received at each stop of its journey around the country, marks the fifth collaboration between the Oxford Playhouse, the
It was pampered pooch Bruiser who stole the show for me when I saw the hugely entertaining production of Legally Blonde earlier this year at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre. But human stars Jennifer Ellison and Gareth Gates will doubtless prove an even
Oxford Saints’s four-match winning streak in South West Conference Division 2 came to a juddering halt in a 16-0 home humbling by Cornish Sharks. They went behind early on when Lee Ambridge cut through a flat-footed def-ence for a touchdown, which was
Every July, 400-plus artists, craftspeople, performers, musicians and lecturers come together in the beautiful house and grounds at Waterperry (right) to demonstrate their skills and their love of their chosen art form. The result is a hugely rich experience
HUNDREDS of the UK's poorest bright teenagers are to be given scholarships to attend Oxford University. It comes after the university was handed a £75 million donation by a former student. The institution has been gifted the funds by businessman
The Dreamboats and Petticoats brand is well established: at the last count there were five CD collections of 1950s and early 1960s hits. This is where to come for the likes of Del Shannon, Chubby Checker, Dion and the Belmonts, Roy Orbison and Johnny
Adam von Trott was a principal figure in Count Claus von Stauffenberg’s bomb plot of 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He paid a terrible price for its failure: after days of torture by the Gestapo, he was executed by hanging from a meat hook,
After its successful launch last year, the Oxford Philomusica’s Summer Baroque series is back — and it’s even bigger and better this year, with no fewer than six concerts in Oxford and a further three in Bath, Bristol and Malvern. The series title
This exhibition, 40 years after the death of this remarkable artist, focuses on his later work of lithographs and colour prints. It provides a wonderful introduction to, or re-acquaintance with, Richards’s work and a spur to seek out more of it, including
Full-blooded music swells. A cast of thousands mills about in the background as the credits roll. Thus it was with the wide-screen epic films of the 1960s. Magdalen College School Theatre Academy’s production of The Aeneid opened in much the same way,
‘Rather dismal, thinly characterised, and ill-lit variation on Pygmalion,” complained critic Leslie Halliwell when the film version of Educating Rita was released in 1983. But that didn’t stop the film from being nominated for three Oscars, and
A PIONEERING housing project aimed at helping people build their own homes has been heralded by a Government minister. Cherwell District Council’s Build! scheme was praised as “innovative” by housing minister Grant Shapps. The Conservative council
Organisers of the second World Aunt Sally Singles Championship are hoping an Oxfordshire player will win this year. The traditional pub game is played almost exclusively in the county, but last year’s champion came from Gloucestershire.
THE rain mercifully held off Banbury’s historic hobby horse celebration on Sunday. More than 1,000 people flocked to the town centre and People’s Park for the event. They welcomed an Olympic-style procession from Banbury Town Hall to the park for an
TESCO wants to extend its Abingdon superstore despite telling the Oxford Mail in April that it had no plans to do so. A planning application for a new 470 sq metre sales floor area has been submitted to Vale of White Horse District Council.
A HEADTEACHER who spent most of the last 27 years at a tiny rural Oxfordshire school is preparing to say goodbye to her charges for the last time. Liz Robertson has been headteacher at Uffington Primary School, where there are about 80 pupils, for the
MORE recycling banks are to open in north Oxfordshire after 10 were added to Banbury, Bicester and surrounding villages. The Cherwell District Council facilities take items including glass and recyclable containers. The council now has 88 banks and
ACTOR Jonathan Oliver, who plays money lender Shylock, is hoping a new production of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice will make lots of cash. The Creation Theatre Company is staging the play at the Said Business School’s open-air amphitheatre
PEOPLE from north Oxfordshire played their part in the Olympic torch relay as it arrived to Oxfordshire. Although the procession did not come through Banbury, residents appeared across Oxfordshire – and further afield – holding the famous flame aloft
HUNDREDS of Oxfordshire students are to be offered completely free travel to and from college thanks to a new bursary scheme. Abingdon & Witney College wants make it easier for the poorest students to come to college and will offer a means-tested bursary
Four men have been arrested after an 18-year-old woman was raped in a Banbury car park. The attack happened on Friday, July 6, just after midnight in a car park near George Street. The men, who are all 20, were arrested on suspicion
John Neill has been appointed chairman of the Unipart Group and promised to continue to grow the company through training and recruiting “exceptional people”. Mr Neill, who will continue in his role as chief executive of the company based in
OXFORD Food Bank is back in business after a cable thief cut the power to their West Oxford depot last week. About £700 worth of food kept in a huge fridge at the Lamarash Road warehouse was spoilt when the building’s main electricity supply
Martin Herbert almost joined the maximum men as he clanged off 17 dolls in Red Lion A Eynsham’s 3-0 home win over Greene King Oxford & District League Premier Section leaders Three Pigeons, writes ANDY BEAL. Herbert struck with his first 15 dolls before
SUMMERTOWN was last night in shock after hearing a stranger sexually assaulted a young woman in the grounds of a care home. Police say the victim was dragged off Banbury Road and subjected to a “serious sex attack” in the grounds of Fairfield Residential
LUKE Ryan, Wesley Morrick and Simon Hole top their divisional charts at the halfway point of the Serious Cricket Home Counties Premier League season. Banbury spinner Ryan leads the Division 1 bowling standings with 26 wickets, which have come at an
WOLVERCOTE CC stalwart and former Oxfordshire Over 50s player Brian Gillham died on on Friday. For more than 25 years, Mr Gillham was associated with Wolvercote, where he had been heavily involved in the youth side of the game. As well
A TEENAGER who robbed a takeaway delivery driver has been locked up. Cameron Nicholls attacked Pizza Hut employee Omar Khan and tried to set his dog on him. The 18-year-old was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Monday after earlier admitting one count
Didcot Town went down 3-2 to a Reading XI in front of a crowd of around 450 at the Loop Meadow Stadium on Tuesday night. Reading, fielded mainly a development side that included the sons of former England internationals Martin Keown and Neil Webb, stormed
LES Hole says the rain is making this the toughest season of his ten as Freeland CC groundsman. Hole could do little but don his wellies on Satuday as Freeland saw their OCA Division 2 match at home to Oxford Caribbean abandoned without a ball
LASHINGS’ Oxford double-header survived the weekend rain, but they did not spare their opponents two hefty beatings. Magdalen College School hosted the renowned side of former internationals on Sunday, but had to move the Twenty20 matches to the nearby
IT’S clear to see that eye health is an issue which affects us all – in fact, over 85 per cent of people across the UK say they value their sight above all other senses. Therefore we feel it’s crucial that everyone has the opportunity to have their say
IN a recent Oxford City Council questionnaire, under the heading ‘Sexual Orientation monitoring information’, we were invited to declare whether we were ‘Bi-sexual [sic]’, ‘Gay man’, ‘Gay woman/lesbian [sic]’, ‘Heterosexual’, ‘Other’, ‘Prefer not to say
COUNCILLOR Jean Fooks rightly appreciates the publicity given by your features editor Jeremy Smith, to the need for better toilet provision in Oxford and puts forward some useful suggestions for achieving this (Oxford Mail, July 2). I recall that this
LOOKING at the results of the polls for London Welsh (70 per cent for) and the Olympic Torch (70 per cent against) highlights what an intelligent lot your readers are. Readers support real competitive sport with little disruption to local people and
WHAT a lot of utter tosh Alba Thorning writes (Oxford Mail, July 9). Since religion is an entirely man-made invention it is surely up to anyone in the world to interpret it in any way they wish without having to revert to dogma. DERRICK HOLT, Fortnam
Pet Cemetery our house should be called. Not that we’ve had many. But the pet debate has been raging for years in the MacAlister household and would definitely be one of the first subjects brought up should we ever need marriage counselling. So when
WHAT I’M CALLED: Bob – Robert (by my wife) – Dad – Grampy. MY AGE: 59. WHAT I DO: I work for Unipart Automotive Logistics as a vendor account manager, dealing with suppliers from all over the world, making sure parts are delivered to our packers
READ David Williams’ letter referring to Oxford United’s famous victory over Blackburn Rovers in 1964 with great interest and not a little nostalgia. A group of mates and me watched the match in the temporary stand which consisted of scaffold poles
I WONDER if the elderly and disabled people of Oxfordshire who are told that their care is being reduced, because of a lack of money, will enjoy seeing the Olympic Torch Relay, which must surely cost millions. I hope they will realise that it is much
I AM writing in response to your article (July 7, Football: Chief’s backing move to Friday). I was appalled to read that additional greyhound racing will be conducted on Fridays at the Oxford track. One of the trainers, Ron Bicknell, states: “By the
OXFORD has missed out on becoming Unesco World Book Capital, it was confirmed yesterday. The city was bidding to win the title for 2014 but it has instead gone to Port Harcourt in Nigeria. Oxford’s bid, one of 11 worldwide, was co-ordinated by Oxford
THE news that Oxford has lost out on its bid to become the Unesco World Book Capital for 2014 will disappoint many. Oxford and the wider county have a long and prestigious history of critically acclaimed and hugely successful authors. Philip Pullman,
THE Olympic Torch has begun its journey out of The Thames Valley this morning. It has just gone down the Thames towpath in Caversham, Reading, cheered on by hundreds, including Alex Collie and Oscar George (pictured). It will travel to Newbury and then
Defender Michael Raynes says he is relishing the challenge of battling for a place in Oxford United’s starting line-up when they kick-off their npower League campaign at Bristol Rovers on August 18. The centre half, 24, who has signed a
FOUR-minute mile legend Sir Roger Bannister returned to the track that made his name to proudly hold the Olympic Torch. The 83-year-old attended the Iffley Road running track where he ran the first sub-four minute mile in 1954 on the second
A 27-year-old man was arrested after streaking at the Olympic Torch Relay in Henley. The man, from Henley, was arrested on suspicion of outraging public decency and taken to an Oxfordshire police station. The runner had “Free Tibet” written on his back
THE Olympic Torch has begun its journey out of The Thames Valley this morning.It has just gone down the Thames towpath in Caversham, Reading, cheered on by hundreds, including Alex Collie and Oscar George (pictured).It will travel to Newbury and then
SOME of the biggest crowds in living memory turned out in Wallingford and Abingdon to give a warm welcome to the Olympic torch. The torch was greeted in Abingdon early yesterday by about 15,000 people lining the streets eager to catch a glimpse of the
THERE can be few events in recent memory that have attracted the same level of excitement as the Olympic torch visit. As many as 100,000 people are estimated to have lined the streets of Oxford and its surrounding towns and villages in the
The Williams F1 Team today confirmed that it will run Valtteri Bottas during the Young Driver Test at Silverstone on Thursday and Friday. Valtteri was promoted to Official Reserve Driver at the start of the 2012 season, and has so far taken
THE Olympic Torch has begun its journey out of The Thames Valley this morning. It has just gone down the Thames towpath in Caversham, Reading, cheered on by hundreds, including Alex Collie and Oscar George (pictured). It will travel to Newbury and then
TOP Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson will again run an auction of promises in aid of Chipping Norton Lido. The outspoken journalist will help raise money for the outdoor swimming pool, which is owned and run by the community. It needs thousands
THE Olympic Torch has begin its journey out of The Thames Valley this morning. It has just gone down the Thames towpath in Caversham, Reading, cheered on by hundreds, including Alex Collie and Oscar George (pictured). It will travel to Newbury and them
THE Olympic Torch has begin its journey out of The Thames Valley this morning. It has just gone down the Thames towpath in Caversham, Reading, cheered on by hundreds, including Alex Collie and Oscar George (pictured). It will travel to Newbury and them
COUNCILLORS will tonight decide on plans for a Travelodge hotel in Oxford which planning officers say would “over-dominate” one of the main entrances to the city. Oxford City Council’s planning department is recommending councillors to refuse permission
Do you recognise any of the names from these walls? That is the question volunteers at a newly reopened playground want Oxford Mail readers to help with. An abandoned garage at the Blackbird Leys Adventure Playground (Blap) stood empty and overgrown
EXCITEMENT is growing in West Kidlington Primary School as pupils, staff and the wider community pull together in a bid to win £7,500 of improvements. The school is one of six primaries across Oxfordshire in with a chance of winning this year’s School
Recently I have been doing some work about disability awareness, putting able-bodied people in wheel-chairs to get a feel for a life spent in wheels. This got me thinking. How can I get more people to experience disability? My dad recently confessed
A SCHOOL rowing club is hoping a video featuring a shark attack on the River Thames will bite a chunk out of its fund-raising target. Cheney Falcons Rowing Club, based at Cheney School, Oxford, is one of the few state school rowing clubs in
THE Rose Hill Summer Garden Party may not have been in a garden, but that did not stop residents enjoying the summer. Dozens of residents came along to the event on Saturday, which moved into the primary school when heavy downpours started.
Gavin Henson has become the first high-profile signing of London Welsh’s promotion to the Aviva Premiership – but Exiles head coach Lyn Jones has warned supporters not to expect miracles. Henson arrives at the Kassam Stadium-based club with a big reputation
