THREE people were treated for minor injuries at the scene of an accident on the A40 Eastbound near Witney earlier today. A rapid response vehicle sent was sent by the ambulance service at 4.33pm and three people were found safely outside of their
THE Golden Cowpat is not only a wonderful title for a children’s show but taking the country by storm, enlivening our little ’uns’ lives every time it performs. Coming to Oxford’s Story Museum on Saturday, Robin Hemmings, who co-wrote and co-produced
The North-East’s premier comedian Gavin Webster may be better known for his confrontational style of stand-up comedy, but he recently revealed his versatility by spreading his wings into the world of acting. The Newcastle-based funny man, who performs
Oxford is overflowing with tours and performances that promise to reveal the City of Dreaming Spires as you’ve never seen it before, but none of them will make you see the streets like Oxage can. Telling the story of a world much like our own,
Theatre news from around Oxfordshire Pride and Prejudice, Oxford Trinity College Gardens, until July 20 ticketsoxford.com, 01865 305305 Fall in love with Jane Austen’s vibrant characters, acerbic wit and sparkling dialogue when Trinity Gardens
I first became a chef officially in 2010 after finally realising that the academic publishing world was not for me. I discovered the website for the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland, decided that I had to go there, and handed my notice in shortly
A fly-on-the-wall look at the trials and tribulations of opening a restaurant... It’s an enormous undertaking opening a new restaurant both financially and personally, being one of the riskiest ventures known to man. So here we present you with
If the setting and the ambiance allow for it, there can be something quite deliciously decadent about dining out for breakfast. And stepping from the charm of Little Clarendon Street directly into the warm welcome and comforting, ever-so-slightly
Perhaps it’s The Dashwood’s proximity to the A34 that makes it such a practical choice for a first date, or because it’s a boutique hotel offering just the right balance of anonymity and hospitality, but either way I was surprised to find on a rare
Macky's food news from around Oxfordshire Rick Stein is returning to Oxford’s Waterstones to sign copies of his new cookbook India, which accompanies the series currently running on BBC2. Meet the famous celebrity chef in person on Wednesday
Music news from down your way After a victorious breakthrough performance at last year’s Truck Festival, young and hopeful indie pop boys Very Nice Harry, above, are sadly calling it a day with their last gig this evening. Of course, their final
IT’S only a matter of time before Simon Cowell pops up on our TV screens again with another star-searching mission. Wantage Stage Musical Company might not have quite the same budget – their auditions were in the local church hall – but their annual
The most noticeable difference since moving to Yorkshire has been the northern weather. The first game of pre-season saw me scraping ice off my windscreen, so it’s a huge understatement to say the heatwave has been most welcome to play cricket
A TOTAL of 25 groups have been nominated in this year’s Oxfordshire Charity and Volunteer Awards. They range from newcomers, such as a co-operative farm for people with autism, to longstanding institutions, such as Sobell House Hospice at the Churchill
AFTER dedicating their lives to helping others, community stalwarts from projects across Oxfordshire have been singled out for praise. In this year’s Oxfordshire Charity and Volunteer Awards, there are 25 groups nominated, ranging from newcomers
ENTREPRENEUR James Brown was so sure his business idea was a good one, he bet his house on it. Luckily, the company he and wife Zoe started 12 years ago has gone on to be an international success story, with offices in Oxford, New Jersey and Sydney
COMPETITION is fierce for the chance to become an apprentice at a major Oxfordshire manufacturer. This year Siemens Magnet Technology, based in Eynsham, received more than 80 applications for places on its engineering programme. The business
BUSINESSES looking to trade with Europe are being offered the services of a major new support network. Oxford Innovation has joined the Enterprise Europe Network, the world’s largest group of 600 business support organisations that specialise in
IT IS no secret that booking Christmas parties at the office, or any other kind of large group meal for that matter, can be a logistical nightmare. But Oxford entrepreneur Andrew Norton, inventor of online food and drink pre-order system Tell The
FOUR school friends who have already raised more than £1,200 in sponsorship for Race for Life put a cherry on top of their fundraising by hosting a breaktime cake sale. The Puppy Crew – Georgia Knowlden and Emily Poyser, both eight, and Rose Poyser
NURSES lent a helping hand at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre open day in a bid to recruit more staff. The hospital in Windmill Road, Headington, employs about 900 people. It is looking for new health care assistants and other trained staff.
SCIENTISTS at Oxford University have developed a hot new invention designed to spice up the food market. Professor Richard Compton and his team of researchers have created a device that can measure the hotness of chillies to help customers tell
A CHILDREN’S play and teaching pool will be closed indefinitely after council bosses discovered problems with its foundations. The toddler pool at Bicester Leisure Centre has been closed since December 5 last year after tiles suddenly cracked on
AT THE age of 27, Sara Anscombe is already reaching the pinnacle of her chosen career. Ms Anscombe is an investment manager at Abingdon-based stockbroker Redmayne Bentley and although she makes her career path sound relatively smooth, she has made
HIGH-SPEED broadband has finally come to a small Oxfordshire village thanks to a fundraising campaign led by local residents. Villagers in Islip, near Kidlington, raised more than £11,000 for telecoms giant BT to lay a new fibre-optic cable network
Argentinian journalist Graciela Iglesias Rogers is a lecturer in Modern European and Latin American history at St Peter’s College, Oxford. In British Liberators in the Age of Napoleon (Bloomsbury, £65) she unveils the role of British volunteers
The story of how an Oxfordshire villager challenged art history experts by proving that ‘gloomy’ pictures in St Andrew's Church, Chinnor, were linked to Westminster Abbey is told in a new booklet. A Pictorial Guide to St Andrew's Church, Chinnor
The seeds of this excellent book were sown by a French assistant in Douglas Boyd’s grammar school who told his class about the flattening of Caen, the assistant’s home town, by Allied bombers in 1944, and the consequent deaths of thousands of innocent
There is no such thing as kids’ food. There is just food. It’s up to adults to make sure that kids eat good food, a balanced diet of predominantly fresh produce that we make taste as good as possible without adding too much fat, salt and sugar.
Chipping Norton has been making the headlines again, with one of its locals telling the Sun of a tattoo in his pubic area proclaiming: “To women, from God.” In explanation he adds: “It’s because we are God’s gift to women. There is a thin line between
START-UP businesses will soon be testing their wares on shoppers in Wantage in a new pop-up shop. The “Flashop” in Mill Street, opening in the next few weeks, is part of a programme from Town Team co-ordinators Iain Nicholson and Mim Norvell to
AN Oxford academic and human rights lawyer who advised the United Nations and helped in the Lockerbie bombing investigation has died. Sudanese-British Omer Yousif Elagab passed away on May 12 from a kidney disease, aged 67. He leaves five children
AN OXFORD don who has died aged 82 was an expert in medieval handwriting. Malcolm Parkes was a respected palaeographer who produced a large number of books which went on to become classics. His first book, English Cursive Book Hands 1250-1500
A PENSIONER swindled almost £7,000 in benefits. Christine Luke, 65, was this week given a three-month community order after admitting illegally taking the benefit money over a near three-year period. Luke, of Overmead Green in Blackbird Leys
DANCERS showed off their moves at the area final of a competition designed to highlight the work of an international charity. Abingdon Stagecoach used the plight of child soldiers to show the contrast between their lives and those of youngsters
OPPONENTS of plans to dig for gravel in South Oxfordshire have welcomed news that a key minerals policy has been scrapped. Oxfordshire County Council said yesterday that it had shelved its minerals and waste core strategy. Under the plan, 1.2
With the lovely Cornbury Festival done and dusted for another year, attention turns to the county’s next big gathering – Truck. As reported, this year’s incarnation of the popular rock, pop, folk and country shin-dig at Hill Farm, Steventon,
Over the years I have attended loads of tastings, many of which have been conducted by celebrity chefs, but I have never been invited to take part in a dog-biscuit tasting before. What fun life can be at times. I was visiting the 16th-century Horse
Nut Tree Inn Main Street, Murcott, OX25 2RE 01865 331253 nuttreeinn.co.uk Mike North is not so much sitting on a golden egg as a chocolate one. Not just because he’s managed to hold on to his Michelin star at Nut Tree Inn for the past
MAGISTRATES have today ordered the identity of a man accused of raping one of the Bullfinch victims must be kept secret. The 26-year-old was yesterday charged with raping the then-15-year-old and sexually assaulting another 16-year-old. He
Nine bands, a great venue and all for a good cause. Tim Hughes finds out about this one-off show IT’s one of Oxford’s loveliest venues, but for most of us, it has remained out of bounds. The rooftop amphitheatre at Oxford University’s Said
A HEAD chef whose cooking won praise from Prince Harry has taken over a popular Abingdon pub. Romanian-born Dan Sminticiuc has stepped up to run The Broad Face in Bridge Street with his brother Bogdan. He worked as head chef for Michael Riemenschneider
Rising local band Dance à la Plage tell MATT AYRES why they think staying close to home could help them hit the big time Banbury has become one of the best Oxfordshire towns to go to for up-and-coming independent bands, largely due to its super
Producer Ethan Johns tells Tim Hughes why he’s so happy to be on the road AS one of the world’s greatest record producers, Ethan Johns has worked with the best of them. Kings of Leon, Ryan Adams, Tom Jones, Rufus Wainwright and Crowded House
FOUR STARS ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that an Oxford College garden in summer must be in want of a play.” So says director Simon Tavener in his programme notes, in an adaptation of one of the most famous lines from Pride and Prejudice
Jamie’s Italian 24-26 George Street, Oxford OX1 2AE Contact: 01865 838383 Visit jamieoliver.com/italian/oxford The last time we met, Jamie Oliver was hungover like a dog, having celebrated his birthday in his restaurant on George Street
BAT hunting, bug counting and bird spotting are on the cards at the first Oxford Festival of Nature. Organisers of the two-day festival, that starts tomorrow, are teaming up with the annual West Oxford Fun Day for their biggest event at Botley
William Poole discovers a university institution high in the French Alps I’ve just been down to St Cross Church to pick something up. No one was answering the door at first, so I wandered around the graveyard of this decommissioned church. It is
The Lib Dems’ Layla Moran on her fight to stop juveniles being detained Child detention of asylum seekers is a scar on our society that campaigners have fought against for years. It is not something you can believe exists in modern-day Britain. Can
THE man accused of holding police at bay during a 12-hour stand-off in Kidlington has today been remanded in custody. Daniel Rodriguez, 38, has appeared before Banbury magistrates accused of five crimes in relation to the incident in Morton Avenue
Freddie Whittaker talks to Oli Steadman ahead of this weekend's 2000trees festival OXFORD bands Stornoway and Gunning For Tamar will represent the city at Gloucestershire’s 2000trees festival this weekend. The small festival, in Withington,
LONG-RUNNING plans to build 2,500 homes on Grove Airfield are expected to take a major step forward later this year. Negotiations about the 10-year long plans to build on the site west of Grove are being finalised. Vale of White Horse District
DEVELOPERS behind plans for a new shopping centre and cinema at Botley in Oxford are delaying the next round of consultation. Doric Properties was due this month to present more detailed proposals to transform West Way shopping centre into a multi
COWLEY residents say they are opposed to plans for a new betting shop in Templars Square shopping centre because it could encourage more people to gamble. Betfred submitted a betting licence application to Oxford City Council in June for a new
Tim Hughes enjoys the charms of a traditional English summer at the UK's most rarefied festival Cornbury Festival Great Tew Park, Oxfordshire July 5-7 You know you’ve got things right as a festival organiser, when
Gill Oliver talks to the founder of The Art Room, a charity with a rather high-profile patron She arrived in Britain as a child refugee who was unable to speak English, so Juli Beattie knows exactly how it feels to have no voice. It is this
Our weekly pic of the best upcoming gigs... Jazz JAMIE CULLUM Henley Festival Tonight (Thurs) Tickets from £50-£100 henleyfestival.co.uk The swanky post-regatta partying gathers pace this weekend
After more ups than downs, Jason Pierce of Spiritualized is as sharp and talented as ever. He gives Tim Hughes a dose of his insight Many people have claimed to suffer for their art, but few have died for it. Jason Pierce has. Twice. A lifetime
BRIDE-TO-BE Niki Benjamin passed up the chance of a luxury spa on her hen night to complete the Oxford Moonlight Stroll. Instead of getting pampered, she will be among 1,000 walkers doing a nine-mile route in aid of Sobell House Hospice on Saturday
OXFORD: Olympic champion Denise Lewis is preparing to take to the stage again on Saturday to raise £10,000 for Helen and Douglas House. This is the third week of ITV talent show Your Face Sounds Familiar which features six celebrities who all impersonate
RESIDENTS of Jericho yesterday voiced their hopes for their derelict boatyard. Oxford City Council launched a consultation into plans for the abandoned Castle Mill Boatyard next to St Barnabas Church off Canal Street. Outdoor public space, a larger
AN INVESTIGATION has been launched into the cause of a fire which spread from a caravan to a house in Barton yesterday. Residents were woken by an explosion which rocked Bernwood Road at around 6.50am. Five fire engines rushed to the scene
Oxfordshire hurdling star Lawrence Clarke has recovered from a hamstring injury and will compete in this weekend’s UK Championships in Birmingham. The 23-year-old, from Christmas Common, near Watlington, defied expectations by finishing fourth
FIVE people won the opportunity to have their hands cast in concrete and displayed outside the cinema — just like Hollywood celebrities. Gina Coles, 40, of Orchard Way, was nominated by her friend Viv Burgess, 38, from Danes Road, for always putting
KIDLINGTON: Burglars smashed a window in an attempt to break into a house in The Phelps. The incident happened between June 29 and Monday. Nothing was taken. Police ask anyone who saw suspicious behaviour in the area to call them on 101.
OXFORD: A group of travellers who pitched up at the Kassam Stadium overflow car park have moved on. Residents living in Falcon Close, Blackbird Leys said the group left yesterday. Oxfordshire County Council officers and police refused to get involved
THE custody cells at Oxford’s main police station will be closed in a bid to save £2.5m, it was revealed yesterday. People who are arrested in the city who would have been held at St Aldate’s police station will be taken to Abingdon Police Station
North Leigh have rearranged their friendly match at home to Conference South side Eastleigh. Eastleigh, owned by Witney-based Bridle Insurance, were due to visit Eynsham Park on Saturday, July 20 as a pre-season curtain-raiser. The match will
Vikings battled back from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 at Group A leaders Masons in the Johnsons Buildbase Oxford Summer League. Alan Lowe (6,000 & 9,390) and Martyn Wood put Masons 3-1 in front, but Lewis Stratford (13,960) and Bob Allsworth (4,980
Kyle Ennis broke Banbury Harriers’ 100m record with victory in the latest round of the Plastics Plus Midland League Division 4 at Worcester. The 21-year-old burned up the track in 10.6secs, and completed a sprint double by taking the 200m in 21.4
EVERY year as the weather gets warmer Four Paws receives tragic reports of dogs that have died of heatstroke in cars. So if you’re driving around Oxford please think about what you are going to do with your dog. You should never leave a dog alone
I MUST have gone through Saturday’s Oxford Mail from cover to cover at least three times before discovering my favourite weekend column: “Loose Ends — Jason Collie’s, pictured, round-up of queries and corrections”. It was tucked away at the bottom
Tony Augarde’s letter on traffic mismanagement (ViewPoints, July 4) struck a chord with me. In my youth I thought nothing of walking around Oxford for hours and carrying all my shopping back to the bus stop. In those days there were buses that
IN response to the letter (ViewPoints, July 2) regarding the Russell family animal cruelty case. Speaking as one of the ‘welfare brigade’ who according to Ms St Clair: “hang around the University of Oxford science area”, I wish to challenge the
Liberals, too, want to leave the European Union. It is not necessarily right-wing to want to leave the EU. Right-wing UKIP is not the only political party committed to that. The continuation-true Liberal Party which, unlike the EU-fanatic Liberal
OXFORD United supporters have launched a campaign to buy Dave Langan’s medals. Financial difficulties have forced the former Republic of Ireland international, who played in United’s successful sides during the 1980s, to put his Milk Cup and Division
OXON: A burglar who stole wine and drugs from a home and a chemist in Abingdon is due to appear in court today. Anthony Martin, of Prince Street, Ryde, Isle of Wight, pleaded guilty to two burglary charges at Oxford Crown Court on June 7. The
WANTAGE: Pupils at King Alfred’s Academy got a visit yesterday from five-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Steve Redgrave, pictured. The rowing legend is an ambassador for Matalan Sporting Promise as part of the Youth Sports Trust charity, which
Fatima Jammeh Kinteh reeled off a hat-trick of wins as Abingdon held on to overall second spot in the Plastics Plus Midlands League Division 5 by claiming a hard-earned fifth place at Brierley Hill. With a number of key athletes missing due to
Woodstock Harriers’ James Bolton defied the sweltering conditions to storm to an impressive victory in the Didcot 5. The vet 40 runner showed a clean pair of heels to his younger rivals by by crossing the line in 25mins 38secs. That was more
Melissa Hawtin broke the women’s course record as she stormed to victory in round three of the Mota-Vation Series at Combe. The 20-year-old Oxford City athlete clocked 22mins 2secs for the undulating 3.9-mile course on her Mota-Vation debut.
A RECENT correspondent declared himself a bad driver. Well I can tell him and everybody, I am the worst kind of driver. I am the driver who, finding himself on an empty motorway, drives at 70 plus miles an hour (what I believe to be the maximum allowed
FROM the response received from Oxfordshire County Council concerning my complaint about the unsafe pavements, which are, I am told, inspected regularly, either the inspector is blind or walks along with his eyes closed, as the number of defective
AN ARTICLE in Community News Kidlington, (July 9), highlighted poor air quality on the Bicester Road. This is surely not helped by the large number of LGVs and coaches that illegally use the 7.5-ton limit road as a shortcut from the southbound
I AM pleased that Roger Tucker has had such good service from the ambulance service (ViewPoints, July 5). The experience I had on October 6, 2012 will affect me for the rest of my life. I was unable to sleep because of severe stomach pain. My wife
IHave a great relationship with the father of my children but we never agree about child maintenance. How can we resolve this and do we have to go to the Child Support Agency? Even where separated parents have a positive relationship, there may
Plans to use part of the Town Hall as a flat have been approved by Oxford City Council. The authority’s west area planning committee gave the thumbs-up to proposals for a change of use from an ancillary to an independent dwelling. The two-bedroom
A woman from The Vineyard has been given an injunction ordering her to let gas boiler engineers into her house to conduct safety checks. Keziah Wilkins, 20, was taken to court by a housing association after she repeatedly failed to respond to requests
THE long-term future of Oxford’s first free school is being discussed at a planning hearing today. Tyndale Community School has been given approval to open in September, but was refused permission for a change of use of its planned site, the former
REACHING the grand age of 99, most people would enjoy sitting back with a good book. But then Dorothy Pearce isn’t most people. Instead, she’s seen surfing the web, sending emails to her family and playing games on her laptop. Miss Pearce,
TWO firearms were recovered after police arrested a man following the 12-hour siege in Kidlington, it was confirmed yesterday. Further details – including that the man had not surrendered to police – have emerged about Tuesday’s stand-off in Morton
CHRIS Wilder was disappointed to see Oxford United concede a late goal, but was otherwise pleased with the 1-1 draw at Alloa Athletic. Deane Smalley scored for the second successive game to give the visitors a seventh-minute lead in their first
THE Olympic flame may have been extinguished at the end of last year’s London 2012 Games, but community spirit in the county has continued to burn. A celebration to mark one year since the torch relay was held yesterday at Oxford City Council’s
Given the strength and persistence of the campaign against the Castle Mill development, built on the edge of Port Meadow, Oxford City Council has been wise to announce an independent review. While nobody would want to underplay the visual impact
Since the demise of the University Congress three years ago, the Kidlington Congress has been the only annual weekend congress held in the county — but this year another event is born to rival Kidlington. The first Witney Weekend Congress will
Pablo Berger first announced himself as an acute critic of all things Spanish and a cineaste of considerable refinement in his debut feature, Torremolinos 73 (2003). However, it has taken him almost a decade to produce his second feature and it is
Documentarist Yaron Zilberman makes a touching transition to features with A Late Quartet, a measured drama about a cleft chamber orchestra that is full of beautiful music and skillfully modulated performances. Yet, for all its prudent insights into
London Welsh’s new head coach Justin Burnell is confident that the Exiles will be a competitive force in next season’s Greene King IPA Championship. New head coach Burnell believes that the Exiles, who will play their home Championship fixtures
OXON: Banbury MP Sir Tony Baldry, pictured, has called on churches to respect visitors when dealing with bat infestations. In his role as a spokesman for the Church of England in the House of Commons, Sir Tony answered a question on the subject
A 26-YEAR-old man was arrested yesterday in connection with the Operation Bullfinch inquiry into child sexual exploitation. The man, who is from Maidenhead was held on suspicion of rape, aiding and abetting rape and sexual assault. The allegations
RICHARD Lewington’s colourful designs for the Royal Mail’s new collection of first class stamps will wing their way around the country from today. Mr Lewington, from Appleford, near Didcot, painted 10 of the UK’s most colourful butterflies, nine
BANBURY: A safety project between Queensway Primary School and Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service has won a top award. The project, about having the right booster seat in cars for children, saw pupils use a model of an Aston Martin provided by
A SECOND mental health institution in Oxford has failed an inspection, raising questions about provider Oxford Health. Littlemore Mental Health Centre failed two of the 16 essential standards following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission
SCHOOLGIRL Molly Haynes has won a competition run by the new Sainsbury’s store in Cowley, to design an eye-catching image for the supermarket’s ‘bags for life’. The shop will be opening in the former B&Q unit in Templars Retail Park on Wednesday
THREE vehicles have been involved in an accident on the A40 Eastbound near Bampton Road. Police were called to the scene at 4.37pm to an accident involving a blue Peugeot 107, a black Mini Cooper and a silver Toyota Celica. One lane was blocked
FOUR STARS Under the guidance of chief creative officer John Lasseter, Pixar Animation Studios has reigned supreme for 18 years as masters of the computer-animated fable. Toy Story, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles affirmed animation
Wadham College Gardens have probably never seen anything like it. What appears to be an English summer garden fete, complete with usually prize vegetable, cream cake, and tombola stalls, has turned from conservative and gentile into a saucy, cream-pie
FOUR STARS An invitation to outdoor Shakespeare can sometimes seem more threatening than alluring. But what a difference ten degrees can make . . . Could anything be more agreeable than to sit on a warm summer night amid the mellow stone of
It’s a surreal moment. I’m sitting in a converted barn being serenaded by an all-female a capella trio, enjoying my own private concert. The singers are Victoria Couper, Clemmie Franks and Emily Burn, and together they make up Voice, an ensemble with
As the rapturous applause sounded through architect Frank Matcham’s lovely opera house in Buxton last Saturday, at the close of a magnificent first performance of Buxton Festival’s fabulous new production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s La finta giardiniera
Next week, this wonderful festival of fine art and crafts returns to Waterperry. Now in its 36th year, the festival runs for four days, and last year attracted a 25,000-strong crowd. Visitors are given the opportunity to observe the creative process
Westminster Williamson Voices USA CELEBRITY CHORAL CONCERT St John the Evangelist, Iffley Road, Oxford Friday, 7.30pm Tickets: 01865 613502 or sje-oxford.org A special visit from this American choir as part of a summer school for
