Archive

  • ‘Appiness’ really is a smart phone that reads to you

    MONTHS ago I wrote in this column that smart phones are really not very smart because they allow people to walk along whilst texting and bump into other people in this street. I take it all back, I was wrong. I have now discovered how useful they

  • West Oxfordshire District Council council tax to remain same

    WEST Oxfordshire District Council adopted its draft budget for the upcoming financial year at a full council meeting tonight. The council’s cabinet recommended the council freeze the portion of council tax it collects each year at £81.63 per household

  • Memorial charity will support Cowley Road Carnival again

    A CHARITY dedicated to a musician who died after a battle with cancer has been revealed as the latest sponsor of this year’s Cowley Road Carnival. The Patsy Wood Trust, set up in memory of Patsy Wood, will be lending its support to the county’s

  • Trader welcomes Covered Market £300k

    A TRADER has welcomed a £300,000 programme of investment in Oxford’s Covered Market. Sandie Griffith, who runs Jemini flower shop in the historic market, said although the city council funding would not pay for a major revamp, it would help to

  • Fight to get village hero his memorial

    THE grandson of a Victoria Cross war hero has called on villagers to join his campaign for a permanent war memorial. Keith Brooks launched a campaign last year for a stone memorial on Horspath village green to mark the centenary of the First World

  • Rural communities need help to change and adapt

    Andrew Ingram - Country Land and Business Association (CLA) Oxfordshire branch chairman The past two decades have been a period of great change for Oxfordshire’s farming businesses. For many farmers and land managers across the county, to avoid

  • Festival returns with mission for social change

    A WEEK-LONG festival celebrating social change will return to Oxford this spring. Marmalade, formerly OxfordJam, will take over the Old Fire Station in George Street and other venues from Monday, April 13 to Friday, April 17. Organisers describe

  • Family demands action after funeral flood

    A FAMILY is calling for action at a burial ground after a relative’s funeral had to be postponed because of flooding. Sally Bowers, 69, said up to 200 people were due to attend her sister Emily James’ funeral at Berinsfield Burial Ground on February

  • ‘Clampdown’ urged on workers’ parking

    DIDCOT Town Council leader Eleanor Hards wants South Oxfordshire District Council to clamp down on commuter parking. The district council dismissed a proposal to spend £280,000 on parking enforcement across South Oxfordshire at its budget meeting

  • Firm takes top award for home restoration

    THIS North Oxford property was transformed from student accommodation to a luxury home. And now the building firm behind the renovation project of the Victorian villa in Norham Road has won a national award for the work. Bicester-based Sporn

  • 'Please buy our Guildhall and preserve it’

    A CIVIC Society that won a moratorium on the sale of a historic building has appealed for groups to buy it and preserve it. Vale of White Horse District Council will be selling Old Abbey House, former home of Abingdon Town Council, for between

  • Asbestos find delays public loo revamp

    NEW public toilets in Littlemore will now not open until next month after the refurbishment was delayed. The toilets in Cowley Road are being revamped as part of a £450,000 Oxford City Council scheme to improve 21 toilets across the city. But

  • Residents asked to help trust remove graffiti from bridges

    VOLUNTEERS are wanted to clean up two graffiti-daubed bridges over Oxford Canal in the north of the city. St Margaret’s city councillor Elizabeth Wade said the Canal and River Trust wanted to remove the tags while it carried out work on a towpath

  • Callum O'Dowda delighted to sign new Oxford United contract

    CALLUM O’Dowda has committed his future to Oxford United, admitting it was a “no-brainer” to agree a new three-year contract. The winger, from Kidlington, put pen to paper yesterday on a deal which will keep him at the club until the end of the

  • Departing Piri Weepu praised by Rowland Phillips

    DEFENCE coach Rowland Phillips has praised Piri Weepu after it was confirmed the World Cup winner would leave London Welsh at the end of the season for French Top 14 side Oyonnax, writes JACK JOHNSON. The 31-year-old New Zealander was the Exiles

  • Traveller turned away from Bowlplex threatens legal action

    A WOMAN turned away from a bowling alley in Oxford for being a traveller threatened legal action yesterday. It came despite chain firm Bowlplex issuing an apology for the Friday night incident, into which it has launched an internal investigation

  • Man jailed for revenge attack over sex abuse claim

    A MAN cleared of a sexual offence against a boy stabbed the youngster’s stepfather in a revenge attack two years later. Robert Wells, 37, stabbed the man with a dart 16 times in the family home in Barton, Oxford, and then threatened to kill him

  • Faulty traffic signal blamed for M40 and A34 chaos

    A FAULTY link between traffic lights and a control room was partly to blame for the M40/A34 traffic chaos last week. Last Friday night the fault affecting signals at Junction 9 of the M40 near Bicester caused miles of tailbacks on the motorway,

  • We grew our own Crown Jewels...

    SCIENTISTS in Oxford have got their hands on the Crown Jewels – by making their own. Physicists at Oxford University’s crystal growth unit grew a replica of the Imperial State Crown, part of the famous jewels held in the Tower of London. They

  • Fire Brigades Union strike is under way

    Firefighters will respond to every 999 call during the latest Fire Bridges Union strike which started this morning. The dispute between the union and the Government over pension reforms continues and a strike runs for 24 hours from 7am today until

  • Half of rail landslip now removed

    ENGINEERS have removed more than half of the landslip blocking rail travel between Banbury and Leamington Spa. A spokesman for Network Rail confirmed yesterday that teams have been working 24 hours a day on the site at Harbury Tunnel, where 350,000

  • MP picked up £190,000 in outside earnings in 2014

    BANBURY MP Sir Tony Baldry was among the 10 MPs who had the highest earnings from outside interests last year, official data has shown. According to the latest House of Commons Register of Members’ Financial Interests, he earned a total of £190,903

  • 'We need volunteers to bring the new to the blind'

    A CHARITY which helps visually impaired people listen to the local news needs new volunteers after being forced to move premises in Oxford. OXTALK had to leave the home it shared with Radio Cherwell at the Churchill Hospital for more than 30 years

  • FOOTBALL: Hero Javier Hernandez puts Chequers in final

    Javier Hernandez struck at the death to give Chequers a 2-1 extra-time win over Wheatley in the semi-final of the Oxford City FA Premier Cup. Wheatley’s Tony Collins had cancelled out Martin East’s opener, but Hernandez struck with three minutes

  • RACING: Carruthers bound for Uttoxeter

    Carruthers will not take his chance in a veterans’ handicap chase at Newbury on Saturday and will instead be aimed at the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter on March 14. Sara Bradstock, assistant to her husband, Mark, at their Letcombe Bassett

  • FOOTBALL: McGowran is East Hendred's shoot-out hero

    SHANE McGowran came up with the winning penalty as East Hendred reached the North Berks League Charity Shield semi-finals at the expense of Berinsfield, writes PHIL ANNETS. A Ben Sutton penalty and a Liam McCullough half volley had given Division

  • RACING: Lesley White rewarded for years of dedication

    Lesley White, travelling head lass to West Ilsley trainer Mick Channon, admitted to being shocked after winning the Dedication to Racing prize at the Godolphin Stud & Stable Staff Awards. She was presented with the trophy by three-time champion

  • GIRLS' FOOTBALL: Oxford City grab title triumph

    Oxford City clinched the Oxford Mail Girls League Under 12 Red League title with a 6-0 victory at Didcot Casuals in their final match of the season. A Damini Bhagat breakaway goal after two minutes and an own goal gave City a 2-0 lead at half-time

  • FOOTBALL: Kidlington Old Boys see off Yarnton

    Kidlington Old Boys are through to the Oxfordshire Senior League’s Ben Turner Cup final following a 2-1 win at Yarnton. Yarnton’s Andrew White cancelled out Jonny Richards’ early opener for the visitors, but Old Boys wouldn’t be denied and a Danny

  • Man appears in court on rape charge

    A MAN accused of raping a woman in a flat in Headington has appeared at Oxford Crown Court. Catalin Horhota, of no fixed address, faces charges of rape and attempted rape on September 20, 2014, and two charges of sexual assault in South Park, East

  • £48m deal for 354 council homes at Barton Park signed off

    A £48 million deal for 354 new council homes to be built west of Barton has been signed off by council bosses. The homes will form part of the planned 885-home Barton Park estate, Oxford City Council said. It is the city’s biggest development

  • Finally the boiler at Rose Hill Primary is fixed

    STAFF and pupils at Rose Hill Primary School in Oxford felt cosy in class yesterday after persistent boiler problems were finally fixed. For the first time in months there was no longer a chill in the air after their failing heating system was

  • FOOTBALL: Referee Chloe Smart is out to make her mark

    Witney teenager Chloe Smart has set her sights on the Premier League – as a referee, writes ANTHONY BARLOW. The 16-year-old, who has played football from an early age, had already completed her basic referee training by the time she was 13.

  • FOOTBALL: Lang's on-song as Abba cruise past Exiles

    ABBA closed the gap at the top of Critchleys UTV League Division 2 to just three points with their 5-1 win at home to Abingdon Exiles, writes MATTHEW HARDY. Steff Lang bagged a treble with Mark Goode adding two more. John Woolhouse scored the

  • Pensioners hit out at new care charges

    A PENSIONERS’ group has hit out at new charges for people deferring payment for care in old age. Under new rules agreed at Oxfordshire County Council yesterday, anyone who defers payment for care will be charged a one-off fee of £680 and an interest

  • Alcohol and drugs blamed for man's death at hostel

    A MAN found dead at an Oxford hostel died of drug and alcohol misuse, an inquest heard yesterday. Oxford’s Coroner’s Court heard unemployed Zydrunas Viktorinas, known as Bruno, was found dead in his room at Lucy Faithfull House on September 25