A crash on the A41 caused delays for drivers heading into Oxfordshire yesterday. The road was blocked in both directions between the turn for Blackthorn and Grendon Road near Bicester at 9.12am. Two cars collided, with one ending up on its
A man rescued from a blaze in a flat was “fortunate to survive”, according to firefighters. The man was found, blackened by smoke, in his bedroom by firefighters using thermal imaging cameras. They forced through the flat door in Russ Avenue
A MOTORCYCLIST suffered minor injuries following a collision with a car this afternoon. Police were called to the collision between the Honda motorcycle and Daihatsu car on the A4260 Banbury Road, Kidlington, at 5.23pm. One patient, believed
Stacey Daniels, 32, of Dirac Place, Didcot, admitted stealing meat worth £90.75 from the BP garage in Oxford Road, Benson, near Wallingford, on April 21, and meat worth £265 from the same location on April 26. Also admitted stealing food worth £80.25
Olympic heroes Frances Houghton and Andy Triggs Hodge head Oxfordshire’s challenge at Henley this week, writes Mike Rosewell. Houghton from Wheatley is in a selected (seeded) women’s quad, the crew being composed of the GB double and pair crews
Dad-of-two Jason Ayres has turned his diary entries of staying home to look after his children into a book. The 43-year-old who lives in Chapel Street, Bicester, began writing an online diary about being a stay-at-home dad after he left his job
MOTHERS and daughters often have a stormy relationship, but one pair get along so well, they have launched a business together. Nurse Julia Dunne and her mother, retired office manager Laura Martin, opened vintage housewares shop Primrose Cottage
THANKFULLY the ambulance that arrived at Launton Fete on Saturday wasn’t there to whisk pregnant vicar Becky Mathew away, but to start the fun. The Rev Mathew arrived at Launton Sports and Social Club in a 1965 Land Rover field ambulance at the
PART of the Didcot power station site could be used for housing, according to the joint chief executive of Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire district councils. David Buckle believes the former Didcot A power station, which ceased operating
A BARBER in Bicester is looking for trainees to learn his trade in an eight-week course. Andy Willis, left, owner of Sheep Street barber’s shop Andy’s, is on a drive to find three new recruits for his business in the wake of additional footfall
THREE STARS Nothing is what it seems in Louis Letterier’s high-stakes game of cat and mouse between four crowd-pleasing Las Vegas illusionists and the FBI. Every narrative twist could be a double-bluff, every failure a carefully orchestrated diversion
There’s no need for John Mitchinson to put himself out for Cornbury Festival. He works ridiculously hard running QI in its various forms, has just celebrated his 50th birthday and should be allowed to enjoy the event on his doorstep in relative peace
WHILE farming enjoys a resurgence, the high price of land and a lack of skills still makes entering the industry a leap of faith. But a unique Earth Trust scheme is offering people help to make their dream of working the land a reality FARM-based
OXFORDSHIRE residents living in flood-risk areas could soon get help with their insurance. The Government has introduced a new Water Bill and is seeking to consult with the public on reform of the water industry. It wants insurance prices to
Volunteer befrienders are needed to support young people who have disabilities. Volunteers are matched up with a young person by Oxfordshire County Council and given training. The scheme involves committing two to three hours a week. For
Sainsbury’s has confirmed an opening date for its new Cowley store. The supermarket will open to customers on Wednesday, July 17 at 9am at the former B&Q unit in the Templars Retail Park. A community ‘taster day’ is being held on Saturday
IT was past her bedtime, but Evelyn Morley got the chance to practice patchwork chalk drawing in a late-night opening at Oxford’s Asmolean Museum. The attraction in Beaumont Street launched its Live Friday series earlier this year, and on the last
AN HISTORIC pub in Headington could yet be saved by being turned into a gastropub. After about 400 years of there being a pub on the site of the Crown and Thistle, its owner Greene King claimed it was “unviable” and closed it down on New Year’s
Pegasus Youth Theatre Company is taking its current production to Grenoble to take part in an international youth theatre festival. Fifteen youngsters aged 14 to 19 will travel to the French city, which is twinned with Oxford, to perform The Heap
The rhythms of West Africa bounced off the walls at Rye St Antony School. More than 100 junior school pupils played djembe drums last week in celebration of the school’s arts week. The sessions were lead by Beat Roots Drumming, an organisation
PUPILS at Berinsfield Primary School can look forward to a new name, logo and uniform when they return after the summer break. The school, near Wallingford, is currently in special measures and being led by “superhead” Martin Lester. It is to become
Rob Lovick hit an unbeaten century as Hanborough marched into the semi-finals of the OCA League's Steve Dixon Memorial Cup with a 121-run home victory over Marcham. Lovick led Hanborough to 190 all out, before Martyn Oliver claimed remarkable figures
Witney Mills skipper Richard Barnett triumphed in the club’s annual president v captain match. It means Barnett now leads Rosemary Robinson 3-2 in the overall standings following a 158-105 victory. “I had won for the last two years, but I think
TOM Fleming will have to wait another year to compete in the Open Championship after missing out by three strokes yesterday in the final local qualifying round for this month’s event at Muirfield. The Frilford Heath assistant professional shot
A man charged with hitting a driver over the head with a bike lock had his case at Oxford Maguistrates’ Court adjourned yesterday, after claiming he had lost his voice. Luke Wilmshurst, of Banbury Road, was charged with actual bodily harm and criminal
A NEW screening service has been rolled out in community hospitals and GP surgeries across Oxfordshire to help prevent men dying from burst abdominal arteries. Men will receive a letter on their 65th birthdays inviting them to receive the ultrasound
WORLD-leading research into heart disease in Oxford has received a £6m boost from the British Heart Foundation. The charity has given the money to University of Oxford British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence, based at the John Radcliffe
Underdogs Oxfordshire are hopeful they can spring a surprise in their crunch Middleton Cup clash against Kent on Saturday. Victory over their rivals will secure a quarter-final clash with Berkshire, but team manager Steve Gilkes says that they
Raiders broke into a garage and shed in Mandhill Close and stole power tools and a computer monitor on Saturday between 1.15am and 5am. Call 101 with information.
Oxfordshire Ladies enjoyed an emphatic win over Buckinghamshire in their friendly match at Oxford City & County. Wins on five of the six rinks saw Oxon run out 141-97 victors. Pat Ostler’s team were the biggest winners, triumphing 30-9.
Horspath recovered from 22-3 to surpass Banbury 2nd’s 163 all out with relative ease and strengthen their grip on the Cherwell League’s top spot. Previously unbeaten, the visitors had stuttered to 31-3 after 17 overs before Oxfordshire’s in-form batsman
Shrivenham marched on at the top of OCA League Division 1 after crushing Broughton & North Newington by eight wickets. The hosts bowled first and were soon into Broughton as they fell to 124 all out in the face of tight bowling from Scott Valentine
I have just been been lecturing in Japan during their rainy season, up in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture on Honshu. Every day starts with an onsen, a communal hot spring bath taken in the nude. Many of the ladies who came to my lecture later in
OXFORD City have been handed a tricky start to their second season in the Conference North. In their opening five fixtures they face four sides who finished in the top ten last season. Mike Ford's men, who came tenth in their debut campaign
Tools have been stolen from a shed in Chapel Way. Thieves forced their way into the shed in Childrey, near Wantage, on Monday. The theft took place between 5am and 6.53am. Call 101 with information.
Thieves were foiled during an attempted theft of a tractor. The owner of the vehicle caught the would-be criminals trying to steal his Kubota tractor from an outbuilding in Red Copse Lane, Boars Hill, on Friday. He chased the men off at about
A 24-hour burglary tweetathon is launched by Thames Valley Police today. The police will be tweeting the burglaries reported to its control room from 8pm tonight until 8pm tomorrow. The tweetathon is part of their summer burglary campaign to
THE MAN in charge of Oxfordshire children’s welfare during some of the ‘Bullfinch’ years is now overseeing an education department in Australia under fire over a school sex abuse scandal. Keith Bartley, pictured, left the UK in 2011 to become chief
THREE Pigeons boosted their outside chances of Premier Section glory in the Greene King Oxford & District League with a 3-0 win over Six Bells C Kidlington, writes ANDY BEAL. Chasing a set of 25 in the opener, anchor man Neil Lyon clanged off
Thieves stole a purse from a home in York Avenue after breaking in through a conservatory window. The burglary took place between midnight and 5.15am on Saturday. The purse was stolen from the kitchen.
A NEW piece of street art has sprung up in Oxford city centre. But far from being a piece of unwanted graffiti, the mural of Fort Jaisalmer, in Rajasthan, was a commissioned artwork produced by emerging street artist Jason Howarth. The Grandpont-based
Greene King Oxford & District Aunt Sally League RESULTS Premier/ Section 1: Vikings Sports B 2, Red Lion B Eynsham 1; Three Pigeons 3, Six Bells C Kidlington 0; Gladiators A 3, New Club A 0; Cricketers B 3, Ampleforth Arms A 0. Section
FORMER Oxford United midfielder Dean Whitehead has finalised a move to Middlesbrough. The 31-year-old midfielder was released by Stoke at the end of last season, having spent four years at the Britannia Stadium. He began his career with the
A man has been jailed for 12 months for two sexual offences against women out walking with their young children. Areldas Aputas, of Southam Road, Banbury, was sentenced yesterday at Oxford Crown Court, after admitting sexual assault and battery
A CARTERTON headteacher has backed the planned changes to school bus transport, saying they could lead to new teachers, curriculum and sixth form. Headteachers and parents have previously hit out at the plans by Oxfordshire County Council and said
So I try and keep my column as topical as possible and, with rest of the media going nuts over Glastonbury and the Rolling Stones, I thought I’d broach the topic of music too. Normally on a Saturday it’s not the Rolling Stones you catch on TV but
LET me introduce myself: I am the person who adheres to the 20 miles per hour speed limit in St Giles and the science area. I am the one who has to put up with your abuse, tooting horns and other intimidating ‘road rage’ behaviour. May I suggest
FURTHER to Jim Young’s letter “Reading between lines” (June 20), ARCh is a registered Oxfordshire charity, currently working with around 700 primary school children to impart a love of reading via a network of 240 volunteers. Each volunteer commits
All ranks from RAF, WAAF and WRAF or next of kin who served in Coastal Command are invited to join RAF St Eval Coastal Command Association at St Eval Church at the Annual Remembrance Service on Battle of Britain Weekend, Sunday, September 15, 2013.
I READ with interest your recent article regarding the short cut that motorists were using in Botley. We have the same dangerous problem in the Headington/Cowley area. There is a service road on the eastern by-pass that runs directly past the
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ROGER Goodall had to settle for runner-up position in last weekend’s World Aunt Sally championships at Charlbury. The event, the third to be staged, was won by Steve McAteer from Paxford, Gloucestershire. Goodall, who
SAM Agarwal became only the eighth player to score a double century in the Varsity Match when he made an unbeaten 213 for Oxford Unversity on the first day at Fenner’s. His innings, which contained 30 fours and three sixes, came off 264 balls.
A trampoline has been stolen from a garden in Garston Lane. Thieves made off with the item overnight between Saturday and Sunday.
A sports bag was stolen from a home in Godstow Road, Wolvercote, after thieves smashed a window to get inside. The theft occurred overnight between Sunday and Monday. Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101.
The Oxford Castle Quarter will be transformed into a beach today. Max Mason, owner of The Big Bang Restaurant in the quarter, is funding the £20,000 attraction with The Oxford Castle Quarter, pictured, to provide fun activities for visitors over
A man has been arrested in connection with an indecent exposure witnessed by a teenage girl. The 16-year-old victim was walking to school along Park Crescent, near Faringdon Road, at about 8.50am on Tuesday. A 32-year-old man from Abingdon
Swimmers raised more than £1,000 for a water pipeline project in Oxford’s twin town by taking part in a charity swim. A total of 51 fundraisers swam more than 500 lengths between them on Monday afternoon at Hinksey Outdoor Pool in Abingdon Road
MORE than 100 college staff protested against Government cuts to higher education and threats of redundancy. Teachers and staff at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College staged the action at the college’s Oxpens Road site yesterday. The protest was
Oxford City & County A beat league leaders Headington A 4-2 to reignite the race for top spot in the Oxford & District League, sponsored by Yarnton Nurseries. Both sides won two rinks each in a close battle, but the 18-shot margin of Alan
After a meeting a few weeks ago concerning the ‘bedroom tax’ and because there is social housing in the Barton, Sandhill and Risinghurst area, it was decided that advice was needed for those affected. So from July 6, and for the first and third
AS this once proud and fine country of ours hurtles towards becoming a Third World state – in 50 years of driving, never have I driven on such roads as ours. I am seriously considering putting a sign in my car rear window saying ‘I am not drunk but
IT fills me with confidence, when I go around Headington and Oxford areas, that our planners in local authority seem to think it better to re-tarmac the Slade driftway, when there are life-threatening potholes near the Green Road roundabout and the
TODAY I heard that the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) has suggested that MPs’ salaries should rise from £66k to possibly £75k. While I support the premise of the IPSA, I also believe that this move is crazy given the current
GEORGE Osborne’s, pictured, latest round of cuts brings more bad news for families especially those with parents in low paid insecure employment. Losing your job will become an even worse trauma from 2015 as you will then have to wait seven days
YOUR paper carried in its “in brief” column (Oxford Mail, June 25, page 7) that a police helicopter had been used to track a miscreant in the Blackbird Leys area, resulting in a charge of common assault being made against him. What a waste of a
Discussions will soon be held to allow Oxford City Council to take over all social housing in the Barton West estate. Work on the 900-home suburb will get underway late this year once planning permission is given. Oxford City Council now wants
SCHOOL pupils from Abingdon helped break the world record for the most people writing the same story at once. Around 80 students at Our Lady’s Abingdon queued to add two sentences to the yarn. The school has now received its certificate from
A FEMALE bystander was knocked unconscious during a brawl in Oxford city centre that involved up to four men. Police are appealing for information following the fight, which happened at about 3.45am on Sunday while the group of men were waiting
A MAN has been accused of two sexual assaults against a woman walking home in Oxford. Kenrick Swaby, of Gladstone Road, Headington, is standing trial at Oxford Crown Court for crimes he is alleged to have committed on June 25 last year. Prosecutor
UTILITY repairs and subsequent roadworks are a fact of life, but it defies belief that Thames Water did an inadequate job in Botley Road that will have to be done again. It is effectively getting away without penalty because it originally applied
The decision to scrap all 20 public recycling points in the Vale of White Horse has been “called in” for scrutiny. The district council took the decision to get rid of the Bring Banks on the basis they were being abused. Most of the 31 residents
DRIVERS face further delays on Oxford’s Botley Road after contractors re-surfaced it with the wrong materials. Work to repair a burst water main aws due to finish on Monday but ran into yesterday morning, causing traffic chaos in the area. And
ASA Hall is set to seal a move back to Oxford United – 12 months after leaving the club. The midfielder turned down the offer of a new contract at the Kassam Stadium at the end of the 2011/12 season. He instead agreed a two-year deal at League
YOU do not have to be a genius to figure out the motivation behind plans for a new “Oxford Garden City”. It is money, of course, because the land between the Hanneys and Abingdon that was once earmarked for the Thames Water reservoir remains hugely
FIREFIGHTERS rescued a man lucky to survive a fire in his flat in Faringdon last night. The man was found blackened by smoke in his bedroom by thermal imaging cameras as the fire raged. Firefighters forced through the flat door in Russ Avenue
BEGBROKE: Oxford Conservation Volunteers will be rebuilding a damaged dry stone wall at St Michael’s Church this weekend. The group aims to finish the wall on Saturday. They had taken down the collapsed wall and prepared it for rebuilding in two
MARCHAM: Villagers have a new replacement for their community minibus. Donations have made the replacement possible, including funding from Marcham Parish Council, Marcham School PTA and Oxfordshire County Council. The minibus is available
OXFORD: The first clergy conference in the Oxford diocese for 15 years has opened for bookings. A series of events will offer the opportunity to think about the freedoms and challenges of living as a Christian in the 21st century. The first Oxford-based
DIDCOT: Schoolchildren from the town who have clocked up excellent attendance records over the last six years are to be recognised at a celebration tea party. The youngsters will receive prizes donated by local businesses and join teachers and
HISTORY enthusiasts can discover Oxford’s past with a range of activities at a free archaeological day. There will be demonstrations, hands-on activities and mini-lectures during Archaeology Day at Oxford Castle on Sunday, July 14, from 11am, organised
THE owner of Oxford’s only lap-dancing club has vowed it will reopen after a High Court ruling forced it to close. The Lodge Gentleman’s Club in Oxpens Road was forced to close on Friday after the High Court backed Oxford City Council’s decision
HEADINGTON residents have been getting on their bikes over the past week following the launch of a “Boris bike” scheme. A total of 150 people have already signed up to the Oxonbike scheme in its first week. The scheme is designed to encourage
AN ENTIRELY new city of more than 30,000 houses south of Oxford is being proposed for land previously earmarked for a £1bn reservoir. But “Oxford Garden City”, the brainchild of one planning consultant working on behalf of a consortium of landowners
A man has been arrested in the US for allegedly committing sexual offences against a teenage girl. Nicholas Cheese, of Templar Road, Wolvercote, was arrested at 7pm on Sunday at a motel in Bangor, Maine. The 26-year-old has now been charged
