Archive

  • MG owners have a rally good time

    MORE than 500 MG car fans turned out for a rally at Cotswold Wildlife Park near Burford on Sunday. Cars from the 1920s up to the modern day, including four MG3s, the newest model, were on display at the 16th annual gathering of the Oxfordshire

  • New pavilion to mark former clerk’s service

    A NEW Marston sports pavilion will be dedicated to a hard-working parish clerk. Members of the Old Marston Parish Council voted to name the pavilion after Roy Garner, who worked as the clerk for half a century. But they still need to raise

  • New singing group making its debut in historic venue

    TWO Jericho choir leaders have started a new monthly singing group which will practise in some of Oxford’s most historic buildings. Steph Pirrie and Philip Read, of Jericho, said the sessions will be aimed at people who may not be able to commit

  • Park plan to remember Armed Forces sacrifice

    A WAR memorial garden could be created in Barton to give estate residents somewhere to reflect and remember the work of the Armed Forces. Van Coulter, Oxford City Council member for Barton and Sandhills, wants to see part of Meadowbrook Park designated

  • ‘Lottery money creates new community spirit’

    ROSE Hill is celebrating as it reaches the halfway point of its Lottery-funded community programme. The area was given £430,000 – £370,000 of that from the Big Lottery Fund and the rest from GreenSquare housing group – in December 2011 for a five-year

  • Traffic lights failure in Buckland

    COUNCIL engineers are looking into the failure of traffic lights at Tadpole Bridge across the River Thames, between Bampton and Buckland. Oxfordshire County Council said engineers are looking at the problem. Our top stories:

  • Football helps estates shed negative reputations

    TWO of Oxford’s estates were united by their love of the beautiful game this weekend. The football match at Oxford City Stadium in Marsh Lane was organised to encourage a good relationship between Barton and Cutteslowe. It was organised by

  • Wood Farm car park starts now newts have woken

    NEWTS have woken up from hibernation allowing a £44,000 car parking scheme to start at Oxford’s Wood Farm estate. Work to bring nine new spaces to Masons Road was due to begin yesterday and is expected to finish early next month. The spaces

  • Web ruling will ‘raise the bar’ for internet use

    AN Oxford professor has said that a controversial legal ruling will change the way hundreds of millions of people use the internet. Prof Luciano Floridi, a professor of philosophy and the ethics of information at Oxford University, has been appointed

  • Cemetery bollards are difficult for disabled

    I AM asked by a visually impaired and disabled friend to re-rake up the problem of the bollards at Tower Hill cemetery. It seems that during the week, an appointment can be made to have the offending articles ‘dropped’ to allow car access.

  • Women on the ball in a league of their own

    FOR decades women’s football has been considered by some as the poor relation to its male counterpart. In fact, for 50 years, The Football Association banned women from playing on league grounds on the basis that “the game of football is quite

  • Saturday set to be wet as severe weather warning issued

    THUNDERY downpours are forecast for the county this Saturday. The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for rain in the South East. That means thundery downpours are expected and there is a risk of flooding due to the intensity of the storms

  • Two men on bikes wanted over attempted robbery

    POLICE are investigating the attempted robbery of a 35-year-old man by two men on bicycles in the early hours of Sunday. The encounter happened at aboput 2am in Rodger Dudman Way, Oxford, where the men threatened him while asking him to hand over

  • Man attacked in Oxford city centre over cigarette dispute

    A 23-YEAR-OLD man was assaulted in Oxford and taken to hospital after he became involved with a dispute over cigarettes. Police have appealed for witnesses to the incident, which happened at about 3.10am on Saturday. The man had been queuing

  • Helpers go the extra mile for Helen & Douglas House

    MICHAELA Middleton rarely gets a moment to herself. She works as a medical telephone operator for the 111 helpline, and spends the rest of her time caring for son Finley, who has a rare genetic condition. Five-year-old Finley has a condition

  • PM proved he wasn't just here for the beer

    DAVID Cameron was one of the guests at the 11th annual Chadlington Beer Festival on Saturday. The Prime Minister and Witney MP joined hundreds of visitors at Chadlington Memorial Hall in Chapel Road to raise about £7,000 for Chadlington Primary

  • Teaming up with rest of Europe our best option

    THE recent increase in support for UKIP is depressing and worrying. I can’t see cutting ourselves adrift from Europe will help the UK – in fact, the reverse. For a country to be successful, size matters; which is why the US and China do well. Britain

  • More attention must be paid to people’s wishes

    I WAS elated to see the main political party leaders cringing as they faced up to UKIP’s success at both local and EU elections. Both David Cameron and Ed Miliband said they ‘were listening’ and got the message, Nick Clegg is now an irrelevance. I

  • Building a bridge to provide new education opportunities

    IF someone has been out of education for a while or never got an opportunity to study in the first place – then a Brookes Bridges course is perhaps for them. We run 22 free adult education taster courses in community centres and colleges around

  • High energy for first low carbon week

    MORE than 50 events are lined up to take place during Oxford’s first low carbon week. Most are free and open to the public during the week which starts on Saturday, June 14. Local businesses and organisations are putting their energies into

  • Scam mail reveals con artists’ tricks

    STACKS of scam letters sent to the vulnerable by fraudsters are now being investigated. As part of May’s National Scam Awareness Month anyone who had a suspicious leaflet drop through their letterbox was urged to leave it in one of 85 boxes across

  • There are lots of great rides in the next weeks...

    With June properly upon us, we can officially say that summer has arrived. June also signifies that bike week is nearly here. In just under two weeks, on June 14, Oxford will see a series of organised free rides in and around the city as part of a

  • Surely there are other more important issues?

    I am writing concerning the decision by the city council to possibly use enforcement action over a Wendy house in a front garden erected without planning permission. Really, have councillors got nothing better to do? Don’t they understand that

  • Planning committee’s refusal to be applauded

    Recently you kindly published my concerns about a planning application for a large warehouse site to be determined at the Vale of White Horse District Council planning committee meeting of May 21. As the Mail has subsequently reported, the planning

  • Man charged following sexual attack on girl

    POLICE have charged a man in connection with a sexual attack on a girl.  Joshua Smith, 23, of Church Road in Long Hanborough, was charged last night with the assault of a girl under 13 by touching. He was remanded in custody to appear at Oxford

  • COMMENT: Charity deserves the highest accolade

    CONGRATULATIONS to Oxford Hub. It is most deserving of recognition given the fantastic work it does in the city. But to win the Queen’s Award – the highest honour for volunteering – is really something to celebrate. Its work has seen 50 volunteers

  • Education chief vows to get to grips with school absences

    MORE than 2,000 secondary school pupils missed at least 11 days of school in the autumn term. The Department for Education has published school absence rates for the first academic term which showed 6.7 per cent of pupils at state schools in Oxfordshire

  • The moment a paedophile was trapped

    THIS is the moment vigilante paedophile hunters snared an internet predator who was trying to groom teenage girls. Lee Middleton was jailed for three years yesterday after he was twice caught by “stings” when he planned to meet children after chatting

  • Child sex offender given 14-year sentence

    A 21-YEAR-OLD man has been jailed for 14 years after he was convicted of rape and engaging in sexual activity with a child. Omid Ali, of James Wolfe Road, Oxford, was also sentenced for inciting a child to engage in sexual activity with others.

  • Bus help for disabled

    Oxford Bus Company has produced a series of cards for disabled passengers to identify their needs to bus drivers. The 12 Journey Assistance Cards cover disabilities, including deafness and visual impairment or advise the driver to allow the passenger

  • COMMENT: Fitting tribute to hero of D-Day

    THE SECOND World War made heroes of ordinary men who did extraordinary things – including Major John Howard. From humble beginnings, unlike many officers in the Army at the time, he worked his way up the ranks. For many, D-Day starts with the

  • Update: Van on fire on M40

    A VAN is on fire on the M40 on the side of the southbound carriageway between junctions 11 and 10. Smoke is blowing across the carriageway but the van itself is on the hard shoulder. Drivers are advised to go through the area, about one mile before

  • Ceremony will honour hero major’s D-Day role

    ONE of Britain’s greatest war heroes, who led the daring raid to capture Pegasus Bridge on D-Day, is to be remembered at a wreath-laying ceremony. The ceremony on Friday, the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings, has been organised by the Oxford

  • Trafficking ‘city link’

    Two Lithuanian men arrested on suspicion of human trafficking operated in the city, it has been claimed. They allegedly lured men to Britain to pose as charity workers, who were paid £2 a day to hand out leaflets. It is claimed that they asked

  • West Way plan impact assessment submitted

    An environmental statement for the £100m redevelopment of Botley’s shopping area has been submitted. Development company Doric, which is planning to redevelop the West Way shopping centre, has already submitted a planning application and artist

  • RUGBY LEAGUE: Oxford are pegged back

    KINGSTONE PRESS CHAMPIONSHIP ONE OXFORD RL could not hold on to a half-time lead as they lost 32-12 at Hunslet Hawks. The visitors led 12-6 at the break, with Tommy Connick and Yannick Parker scoring tries. But Hunslet ran in 26 unanswered

  • RUGBY UNION: Exiles are banking on spirit to prevail

    Justin Burnell says London Welsh will be taking a lot of team spirit as well as 19 points into their promotion showdown with Bristol. The Exiles visit the Memorial Stadium tomorrow night leading 27-8 from the first leg of their Greene King IPA

  • RACING: Jarvis jnr gets the go-ahead to train

    Tim Jarvis has been granted a licence to train at Twyford, near Bicester, by the British Horseracing Authority. Jarvis, son of Alan Jarvis, had seen his application turned down last month by the BHA, but exercised his right for a reassessment.

  • City’s ‘oldest teacher’ was loved by all

    CAROL Tasker, who has died aged 103, could stake a claim to be Oxford’s oldest teacher – working until she was 94. Tributes have been paid to Mrs Tasker who passed away on Saturday at the Isis Care Home in Cornwallis Road, Oxford, where she had

  • GOLF: Play all the world's top courses at North Oxford

    GOLF clubs and cutting edge technology do not always go together, but a compiuter innovation is proving a big hit at one of Oxfordshire’s leading clubs. Last November, North Oxford took the plunge and teamed up with Chalgrove-based Golf Tech Systems

  • GOLF: Europe's big hitters coming to Heathfield

    Big hits are guaranteed at Heathfield Park this weekend as it hosts the latest round of the Long Drivers European Tour. The venue at Bletchingdon, which was officially opened last November, has been selected for the LDET’s first visit to the UK

  • CRICKET: Tew skipper Harris shrugs off Shipton appeal

    Great & Little Tew captain Andy Harris says Curtly Slatter is eligible to play in the Davidstow Village Cup, despite an appeal from Shipton-under-Wychwood. A change in the rules for this year’s competition means players become ineligible if

  • Two outbreaks of fire being treated as arson

    Two cases of arson were reported in Oxfordshire on Sunday night. In Headington a grass fire in a nature reserve was doused out by fire crews. An Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said the blaze, reported at around 7.45pm, measured

  • Tuesday, June 3

    12:53pm Get your brollies out for Satruday - it is going to be wet says the Met Office. 12:44pm Police are hunting for two men on bicycles who attempted

  • Charity day supports bid to raise legal fees for inquest

    FRIENDS and family of teenager Connor Sparrowhawk gathered to raise money to pay for lawyers to represent them at his inquest. The 18-year-old drowned last year at Slade House in Headington, a mental health unit, after suffering an epileptic fit

  • No demolition date

    The owners of Didcot A power station RWE npower say they still do not have a confirmed date for the demolition of three cooling towers. The towers are due for demolition this summer, following the closure of the station last March, after a European

  • Police raid home and find £10k of cocaine

    A 24-year-old man has been charged with plotting to deal Class A drugs after police found about £10,000 worth of cocaine. Thames Valley Police said they charged Carl Skelton, of Tubbs Close, on Friday following a raid at a Grove home on Thursday

  • Cyclist in hospital

    A cyclist was taken to hospital after he was involved in a collision with a car in Oxford yesterday. The collision was at the junction of Parks Road and Banbury Road at about 5pm. A man in his 30s was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital by

  • Jury told woman was raped while asleep

    A JURY has heard how a 33-year-old man “took advantage” of a drunk woman and raped her while she was asleep. Yohannis Urrutia Castro, of Church Street, Watlington, went on trial at Oxford Crown Court yesterday. He is charged with one count

  • Oxford Hub given Queen’s Award for charitable work

    STUDENT charity Oxford Hub has been given the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services, the equivalent of an MBE for charities. Oxford Hub coordinates 50 volunteering projects across the city with students giving their time up to benefit more than

  • FOOTBALL: Wantage sign up defender

    WANTAGE Town, who will be playing the Calor League for the first time next season, have signed centre half Ryan Millward from Flackwell Heath. The defender who spent more than ten years at Binfield, is according to Wantage boss Gary Ackling: “well

  • RUGBY LEAGUE: Benson double helps Cavaliers arrest Outlaws

    CONFERENCE LEAGUE SOUTH OXFORD Cavaliers picked up their third win of the season after a 28-10 success at Nottingham Outlaws. Centre Michael Benson crossed for two second-half tries and scrum-half James Roden contributed a try and four goals

  • RUGBY UNION: Two-try Jones on song for England

    IRB JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP OXFORD’S Gus Jones says England Under 20s have more to come after beginning their title defence with a 63-3 win over Italy in Pukekohe, New Zealand. Jones, who is also an Oxford University student and Wasps academy

  • DARTS: Marlborough see off rivals in thriller

    Marlborough Club pipped Section 1 rivals 5-4 Goodlake Arms B in a high-class Greene King ODDA Summer League encounter. The home side took the opening game when Simon Keys (180) defeated Les Radford, despite two maximums from the latter, Tom Baughan

  • Trust launches investigation following staff data web leak

    AN investigation has been launched after information about nearly 3,000 ambulance employees was published online. The Information Commissioner’s Office is looking into how the data breach happened and South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) has

  • Man released on bail after sex attack on schoolgirl

    A schoolgirl was sexually assaulted in a park in Long Hanborough on Sunday evening. Police said the girl was approached by a man in the park off Roosevelt Road and attacked. One of the girl's friends alerted people nearby and a man was held

  • Delay warnings as work begins on roundabout

    WORK is about to start on Oxford’s third ‘hamburger’ style roundabout with drivers being warned they face delays while the scheme is completed. Oxfordshire County Council is investing more than £6m of City Deal funding to revamp the Kennington

  • College wants easier access to wine cellar

    AN OXFORD college is hoping to make improvements to its wine cellar to make deliveries easier. Oxford University’s New College has applied for planning permission to alter its wine cellar which it says will make it easier for staff to access the

  • Buy-to-lets leading the way in a tough housing market

    A BOOMING rental market is making Oxford a buy-to-let hotspot. The lettings market is showing no signs of slowing, with agents reporting 10 would-be tenants for each available property. One- and two-bedroom apartments are snapped-up within

  • DARTS: Ladies A champs can't save Oxfordshire from the drop

    Oxfordshire’s ladies A team claimed their own title, but could not prevent the county falling to defeat against Glamorgan which confirmed their relegation from the top flight of British darts. Oxon knew they needed a miracle to avoid the drop after

  • FOOTBALL: Kidlington in Old Boys link

    KIDLINGTON FC have announced a partnership agreement with neighbours Kidlington Old Boys FC. The tie-up will Uhlsport Hellenic League club Kidlington work with Old Boys, who will retain their own identity, on and off the field.

  • Tips to prevent cold caller scam

    AN awareness day to help combat courier fraud in Oxford will take place this week. Thames Valley Police are urging people to attend tomorrow’s event to highlight crime prevention methods and approaches taken by fraudsters in the area. Officers

  • One million poppies to line repatriation route

    A CARPET of red poppies will line a route for military repatriation ceremonies to commemorate the centenary of the start of the First World War. James Gillies, 47, has started planting one million poppy seeds along a 1km stretch of Monahan Way,

  • Nature centre marks 80 years

    IT’S 80 years old and still going strong. The Hill End Centre near Oxford marked eight decades of educating children about the great outdoors with an open day at the weekend. Youngsters and their parents were able to explore the 62-acre site and