THESE baby red-footed tortoises are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand now. But the four youngsters, which weigh about 30g each and are less than 2in long, will soon grow to 15in in length. The bunch were discovered while staff were
Good evening and welcome to the first midweek game at the Kassam Stadium this season. The Johnstone's Paint Trophy isn't too high on the priorities for many, but after Saturday's flat defeat to Southend, the U's are in need of a reaction tonight
Roads will be closed to accommodate this year’s Abingdon Marathon. On Sunday, October 20, Dunmore Road, Twelveacre Drive and Radley Road will be closed from 8.30-9.30am, and the western end of Dunmore Road will be closed to eastbound traffic from
Community groups can apply for up to £15,000 in funding. South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils are offering grants for projects such as improvements to buildings or new equipment. Projects the council helped to fund in
City residents have £2,464 worth of free goods and services at their fingertips via a new “free bank”. Streetbank.com calls itself the largest neighbourhood sharing website of its kind. Members offer anything from the use of a lawnmower to
THEY helped to expose the baby milk scandal of the 1970s, predicted the latest global financial crash and continue to champion the rights of people without a voice around the globe. And yet walking down Rectory Road in East Oxford you could easily
All former pupils of King Alfred’s School, Wantage, are invited to the Old Alfredians’ Winter Dinner at the Bear Hotel in Market Place on November 30. Booking is essential by November 16 and costs £26. The Old Alfredians’ Club has been in existence
A NORTH Oxford resident has been inspired to a write book about the area’s First World War dead by a campaign to refurbish a war memorial. Polstead Road resident Liz Wade is hoping the book will be published in time for Remembrance Sunday next
LITTER pickers at the ready: A big clean up of Rose Hill is planned as Cleaner Greener Oxford comes to the estate and residents are being asked to get involved. The Oxford City Council campaign is launching in Rose Hill on Monday, October 14 and
BARTON’S first women’s football team is doing the estate proud and gathering support. Barton United Football Club – which was founded more than 30 years ago in 1981 – unveiled its new ladies team at the club fun day in the summer. Club secretary
A NEW playgroup is to begin next month to give parents a break on Saturdays. The West Oxford Kidz Klub will take children aged four to 12 from 10am to noon from November 9. The not-for-profit club will be held at West Oxford Community Centre
HOMELESS people are to serve up a meal for 150 people as part of a charity’s first ever fundraising gala. They will be making chicken casserole, leek and potato soup and blackberry and apple crumble using ingredients they have grown themselves.
HEADINGTON residents and a councillor are angry about “tacky” council signs that have appeared in the area, including one at a park. The Oxford City Council signs were put outside Bury Knowle Park, Headington Hill and London Road a week ago.
CASH will be raised for charity at the Kidlington branch of clothes shop M&Co on Friday from 7pm. Staff member Linda Brown said: “The store is holding a fashion show and raffle in store. Tickets are £4 which includes a glass of wine and 10
WORK to pave the way for a controversial 54-bed care home in Kidlington has started. Construction staff have already cleared the site of the former Thornbury House children’s home in The Moors. It comes after the Bedfordshire Pilgrims Housing
UPTAKE of school dinners at St Swithun’s Primary School, Kennington, has soared since a new kitchen was built at the school. About nine years ago, the school kitchen was removed to make way for a computer room. Now that technology has become
Winterbrook House, near Wallingford, is said to be the model for Danemead, the cottage home of Agatha Christie’s fictional detective Miss Marple. It is also where Christie lived with her husband, Sir Max Mallowan, during the last years of her life
JON Meades is due to have surgery to correct an ankle injury after the Oxford United midfielder suffered a setback in his rehabilitation. The 21-year-old tweeted from hospital in London this afternoon: "Ready to go under the knife. Hopefully sort
BLACKBIRD Leys Amateur Boxing Club is hoping its search for a new home could end in an empty swimming pool. The club is on the look-out for a new home to accommodate its more than 50 members. It wants to move into Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre
MP John Howell flagged up a welcome sight at Chinnor railway station near Thame. For the first time in 57 years on Saturday, passengers were able to ride on trains between Chinnor and Princes Risborough. Henley MP Mr Howell greeted the first
MORE than £500,000 has been awarded to two Oxford scientists for heart disease research. Dr Jurgen Schneider, British Heart Foundation senior basic science research fellow at Oxford University, has been given £260,906 by the charity for his project
A RARE bird bucking the national trend could be here to stay after a £109,000 funding boost. The money is to be used over the next four years to increase the number of snipe at Otmoor Nature Reserve, near Beckley. The 1,000-acre Royal Society
FLOOD prevention work has been carried out in Burford to stop a repeat of last year’s disastrous flooding. Heavy downpours at the end of last year flooded the main car park and it had to be shut for a total of three weeks, hitting local traders
TOOLS used by Oxford’s first farmers have been uncovered by a team of archaeologists. It is thought the scrapers and knives could date back 4,000 years, after they were unearthed by two professionals and about 50 community volunteers from Archeox
MEAT roasted in a rock oven and bread cooked on rocks feature at a prehistoric-themed cooking day. Bushcraft expert Zoe Bicât is holding a Wild Cooking workshop at Hill End outdoor centre in Eynsham Road, Oxford, on Saturday, October 19. A
STUDENTS past and present joined a reunion at Wood Green School in Witney. This year sees the secondary school celebrate its 60th anniversary and the reunion on Friday was the second event it has held to mark the occasion. Joy Gosling, 74,
THEY have worked through scorching heat and have been delayed by downpours of rain. But the team revamping Oxford University’s Museum of Natural History is determined to finish most of the work by the new year. The museum in Parks Road has
GREEN activist Elise Benjamin has said investment in the HS2 rail link “doesn’t stack up”, after she was appointed her party’s national spokesman on business. Ms Benjamin, the Green Party’s official voice on business, innovation and skills, has
I AM the president of Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) – elected by students to serve for a year as their lead representative to the university, the local community and Westminster. I’ve been in Oxford as a student for more than three years
BIG kids have their own play equipment for the first time at a recreation ground in North Oxford. New swings, monkey bars and a seesaw were officially opened at Aristotle Lane. It is now more than a decade since a newly-built, £37,000 skate
HENLEY Hawks beat Hull Ionians 40-20 at Dry Leas in the battle of last season’s champions promoted to National 1. National 2 South winners Hawks outscored North champions Ionians by six tries to three, but took time to settle. Henley are now
JACK Robinson scored a club record six tries as Oxford Harlequins went top of South West 1 East with a 79-7 home hammering of morning leaders Swindon. Full back Robinson, who is known as ‘Flash’, led the way in a 13-try demolition that saw Quins
OXON duo Deta Hedman and Casey Gallagher are celebrating after success in the World Cup in Canada. Representing England, Hedman led the way with a 7-5 win over Russian-born German Irina Armstrong in the ladies’ singles final. And she made it
SOME brilliant darts from Clare Bywaters was the rare bright spot as a depleted Oxfordshire side crashed 24-12 to Warwickshire in their BDO Inter-Counties Championship Premier Division match at Bicester over the weekend. Bywaters, from Wantage,
OXFORD: Toys and alcohol were among the items taken in a break-in in South Oxford. The thief smashed a back door to get into the Abingdon Road home on Sunday between 3.45pm and 6pm. A television and DVD player were also stolen. Police asked
BANBURY: A 69-year-old runner suffered a broken jaw when he was punched in the face by a tattooed fisherman at Grimsbury Reservoir. Police said the victim was blocked by the angler who then attacked him before they both fell down the embankment
A WHEEL was stolen from a car left parked in the Woolgate Centre car park, near the Waitrose supermarket. The theft happened on Saturday between 8am and 2.15pm. Call 101 with information.
BICESTER: Jewellery was stolen from a home while the owners were on holiday. The house in Ruck Keene Close was raided between September 19 and last Wednesday. Police said the thieves got in through the back door. Call 101.
PLANS for new accommodation and other buildings at St Cross College have won the support of planners. The college wants to build 53 new student rooms along with a lecture theatre, library and seminar rooms. Now officers have recommended that
A NOT-for-profit organisation could be set up to run the county’s music service after plans to privatise it were scrapped. Oxfordshire County Council will investigate establishing a trust to run the service instead of asking a private company to
DIDCOT Town manager Andy Wallbridge is ringing the changes ahead of tonight’s FA Trophy preliminary round replay against Cirencester Town, writes MATTHEW BRUCE. The Railwaymen were held to a 1-1 draw at home on Saturday and Wallbridge said he is
TWO tries from Ben Bodinham helped Gosford All Blacks win 25-17 at previously unbeaten Slough in the BB&O Premier Division. Gosford’s lack of a bonus point saw them drop to second behind Tadley, whom they host on Saturday. Slough took the
BANBURY Bulls won 26-13 at Droitwich after a strong second-half performance. Bulls trailed 6-5 at the break, despite playing with the wind, but recovered well. Fly half Alex Fogavini gathered his own kick ahead to feed winger Alex Gandy for
CHINNOR stayed second in National 2 South, despite losing their unbeaten record with a 20-13 defeat at Canterbury. Fly half Will Millett’s late penalty earned Chinnor a losing bonus point, keeping them a point behind leaders Clifton, who also lost
RICH Barlow claimed the winner as Oxford Hawks survived a late Staines rally to secure a 3-2 home victory in their South League Premier Division 1 opener. The hosts took the lead after ten minutes when Ethan Chapman found Steve Kelly for a simple
A MASTERPLAN which aims to integrate Oxford’s Barton and Northway estates has been rejected by a community leader. A regeneration strategy for the two areas has been drawn up by Oxford City Council, setting out plans to create a link between the
BICESTER residents were given a glimpse of the past at a new exhibition. A history and archaeology exhibition was held at the Methodist Church Hall, in Sheep Street, last week. Items on show included a Roman tombstone, artefacts excavated in
A £1M expansion of a “commercial hidden gem” was unveiled yesterday. And Wallingford mayor Bernard Stone said he was “staggered” by how impressive the Fugro laboratory in Hithercroft Road, was as he attended the event. The renewable energy
COWLEY: Discount supermarket Poundland is opening in Templar’s Shopping Park on Saturday. It will employ 30 staff. There are already Poundland stores in Oxford’s Westgate Centre, Abingdon, Banbury and Bicester.
OXON: A jury has started watching videos of police interviews of five men accused of “turning a blind eye” to undercover police officers posing as metal thieves. The defendants, from TR Rogers and Sons in Nuneham Courtenay, deny attempting to conceal
COUNCIL bosses are likely to agree to spend £11.1m on a scheme linking Oxford’s rail network to Milton Keynes and Bedford. Oxfordshire County Council will decide next week if it should help fund the East West Rail project over 15 years. But
AY... it’s Happy Days for Cameron King. The 10-year-old from Grove has just landed a role acting alongside Henry “The Fonz” Winkler in a new TV series. The show, Hank Zipzer, is adapted from a series of books written by Winkler based on his
A WOMAN found in a lay-by on the A361 outside Burford Golf Club died of a wound to her head, a post mortem has found. The woman, 71, from Lechlade, has not been named by police, but her relatives have been informed. She was found by a driver
IT might feel too early to think about Christmas but there is only two months to go until Helen and Douglas House’s annual Santa run through Oxford. The East Oxford-based charity is hoping 1,700 Santas will sign up for the seventh annual two-mile
BICESTER: Thieves entered a building site to steal a boiler from a new house. The crime happened in Launton Road between 4.30pm on Thursday and 6.30am on Friday. Police asked witnesses to call 101 with information.
WALLINGFORD: A bike has been stolen from a building in the town. The theft of the man’s silver cycle happened on Saturday between 3pm and 6.25pm in Hithercroft Road. In another incident, a thief tried to get in to a home in The Murren by smashing
MOST parents are unlikely to learn until the last minute if next week’s teachers’ strike will close their school. Teachers will hold industrial action on Thursday, October 17 in a move that is expected to affect all of the county’s 278 schools.
OXFORD Hawks went down to successive defeats at the hands of Buckingham in league and cup at the weekend. On Saturday, Hawks slumped 4-1 at home to their visitors in Conference West of the Investec National League. Trailing 1-0 at half-time
THE recent Labour Party pledge to freeze energy bills demonstrated how to have a political cake and eat it. The pledge is an attempt to rectify a heinous political mistake caused by political hubris and vanity. In 2008, the then energy minister
I NOTE that the council leader has asked for suggested savings. May I suggest he starts with, firstly, a reduction of all councillor remuneration and allowances to a level 15 years ago, and then adjusted by inflation to the present day. Secondly
Oxford City Council’s Strategic Plan for Jericho’s Canalside Development is reported in the current Jericho Echo and its site plan shows two alternative locations for a bridge across the canal for pedestrians and cyclists. The southerly of the
THE prospect of a trip to Wembley has fired up Michael Raynes to help Oxford United start a run in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy against Portsmouth tonight, writes DAVID PRITCHARD. The competition struggles to capture the imagination for many, but
OXON: Money for two new buses is being made available in the county. The money has been dished out as part of a £2.4m nationwide Department for Transport grant to fund 55 new low emission buses with the aim of improving air quality. The money
A PENSIONER has admitted downloading and sharing indecent images of children online. Keith Godfrey, of St Nicholas Road, Littlemore, appeared at Oxford Crown Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to 15 counts. The 71-year-old, who had no previous
SIX-year-old Iona Willcox looked fear in the eyes as she grabbed the chance to hold a snake. On Sunday, Evolution Reptiles and Pets, in Wood Farm, invited visitors to handle the creatures and talk to staff about keeping them as pets. Snake
AFTER watching the Tory Party conference at which David Cameron announced measures to turn long-term unemployment into a state of criminality, and that they, the unemployed, would have to sign on every day, has he thought of the intolerable burden
RECENTLY returned from a visit to the south of Ireland. I was very impressed by what I saw. The roads were in very good condition, no potholes, no rubbish thrown on the sides of the roads and the roundabouts were all well kept with short grass and
I am writing concerning ‘Parking permits and CPZs are not the answer’ (September 28) to the traffic problems in Peat Moors. We have not only trouble with hospital staff leaving their cars here all day, but people who work in the city at the universities
It’s the time of year when the sun likes to go to bed earlier and earlier, daylight saving time is yet to take place and forgetting your lights is a major pain in the behind. Cycling without them is risky and illegal but the thought of your normal
ABANDONED kittens less than a week old have been found in a skip at Minster Lovell, near Witney. The kitties are now being hand-reared round the clock at Blue Cross animal rehoming centre in Burford. They were found dumped in a skip in Brize Norton
OXFORD: A cyclist in her 20s was knocked off her bike after a collision involving a BMW in Cowley Road yesterday. The woman, who was not injured, was involved in the accident at about 4.15pm by the Kebab Kid shop.
OXFORD: Two teenagers appeared at Oxford Crown Court yesterday charged with sexual offences against a boy. Ghausel Tarakhail, 19, of Cowley Road, Oxford, and Iztullah Qudrat, 18, of High Cross Way, Headington, are both accused of engaging in sexual
EUROPE’S longest street fair returned to Abingdon last night. Visitors from near and far wandered through more than a mile of rides, stalls and games, including Waltzers and a carousel. Bob Wilson, who organises the event, said: “We’ve got
WANTAGE: An 18-year-old man has been released without charge after being arrested on suspicion of exposing himself in front of women and children. The suspect, from Wantage, was arrested in August following reports of indecent exposures on four
TRAFFIC on the M40 southbound was affected by a broken-down lorry between junction 10 at Ardley and junction nine at Wendlebury on Monday at about 7.30am. A 40mph speed limit was imposed and the vehicle was left on the hard shoulder.
TRAVELODGE has written to councils in Oxfordshire to ask them if it can rent land to build hotels. The Thame-based firm said the step would create jobs and raise cash for councils. The company said that by borrowing money from the Government
A JAILED paedophile who lost his job at Didcot power station has won a redundancy settlement of more than £30,000 after suing his former bosses. Robert Wills, of The Croft, Didcot, was due to be made redundant by RWE npower in the run-up to the
THE £30,000 employment tribunal win by paedophile Robert Wills brilliantly illustrates the distinction between the law and justice. As we report, RWE Npower decided to withhold money from Robert Wills, who was due to be made redundant, after discovering
TONIGHT’S Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie cannot come quickly enough for Oxford United as they seek to make amends for defeat on Saturday, according to first-team coach Andy Melville. The U’s host Portsmouth in a second-round clash, three days after
ALMOST £2m in NHS cash is being wasted on more than 29,000 patients on Oxford GP registers who do not live here, new figures show. Calls have been made for a Government investigation after data revealed 29,393 so-called ‘ghost patients’ – people
ONE of the biggest criticisms the NHS has to counter is that it wastes a significant amount of money. The £2m lost because of ‘phantom patients’ – those who remain registered with GPs but who have died or moved away – in the city is a classic case
WHEATLEY held on to beat visitors Faringdon 17-8 in their BB&O Championship derby. No 8 Jason Wilson crashed over for Wheatley’s opening try, but Faringdon hit back with a penalty from Darren Clark. Wheatley struck decisively with tries
ALCHESTER remain second-from-bottom in Southern Counties North after a 23-3 home defeat to Drifters. Adam White scored Alchester’s solitary points via a first-half penalty. Both he and Adam Thompson were yellow-cared as Drifters led 15-3 at
NORTH Oxford’s Les Morton may be approaching his 85th birthday, but it did not stop the pensioner from racking up his eighth hole in one. Morton used a driver to ace the 198-yard fourth hole last week. After treating everyone in the clubhouse
Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Sara Thornton will speak about the force’s work at a Cherwell District Council area meeting next week. She will address Monday’s full council meeting, to be held at Bodicote House, White Post Road, Bodicote
SHAW GIBBS OXFORDSHIRE FOURSOMES LEAGUE KO Cup semi-final Drayton Park 1, Chiltern Forest 2 (Drayton scores first): A Elmey & D Boulton lost to M Williams & E Lloyd 4 & 3, H Wilkinson & C Naylor bt J Taylor & N Trew-Smith
A LANDLORD is £30,000 out of pocket after trying to stop his tenant from being thrown out of his shipping container home on his land. Vale of White Horse District Council last year refused to allow the converted container in East Hendred to be
Doctor Who fans can take a break from seeing their time travel hero on screen by visiting an exhibition created by a devotee from Witney. The exhibition includes annuals, posters and copies of early scripts. Gordon Hendry worked as a projectionist
Oxford Utd 1 (Constable 89), Portsmouth 2 (Agyemang 65, Marquis 82) JAMES Constable's late strike proved to be just a consolation as Oxford United exited the Johnstone's Paint Trophy at the hands of Portsmouth. The striker's late response
