THE Mayor of Bicester has organised a charity walk for Good Friday. The three-mile walk, starting at Garth Park, will raise money for the Hummingbird Centre, which provides support for cancer patients, The Army Benevolent Fund for soldiers and
STUDENTS from West Oxfordshire have been cutting through the competition after winning awards at an international hedge laying competition. Countryside management students from Abingdon and Witney College won in a number of categories at the Annual
A PENSIONER battled snow and rain to climb the highest mountain in Africa in six days for charity. Derek Bird, of Valence Crescent in Witney, flew to Tanzania and climbed to the 5,895-metre summit of Mount Kilimanjaro with an old business colleague
COLOURFUL designs for Witney’s new £250,000 splash park and adventure playground set to open in August have been revealed. The plans involve a series of water features, such as weirs, bridges and touch button activators, as well as climbing frames
VILLAGERS are hoping to grow their own food and sell it at a new community centre and cafe. Volunteer group Talking Shop this week signed a 50- year lease on an annexe at Sandford-on-Thames Village Hall. They are planning to install a £20,000
PROFESSOR Stephen Hawking and Sir David Attenborough visited the newly renovated Weston Library this afternoon. The physicist and broadcaster opened the Bodleian Library’s Mark of Genius exhibition at a private event ahead of the Broad Street library
LITERARY stars will take centre stage when they appear at the city’s most iconic buildings for the Oxford Literary Festival this weekend. Book lovers from across the world are expected to gather in Oxford for the nine-day annual event, which begins
OXFORD was lucky to see the clouds lift partially for today's solar eclipse. We put our man Ed Nix on top of Blackwell's book shop in Broad Street to shoot this brilliant video of the show.
A NEW chapter will begin in the 412-year history of the Bodleian as the Weston Library opens its doors to the public at 8am tomorrow. For some months now readers and researchers have been enjoying fruits of an £80m scheme which has seen the transformation
ONE person has been taken to hospital after a motorbike and car have collided in an accident on the A420, causing traffic problems in the Cumnor area. Ambulance crews took one person to the John Radcliffe Hospital, but did not give any more information
AFTER thirteen years of grief following the death of her son, Beatrice Crawford tackled her demons with a trek along the Great Wall of China. Ten years on from that journey, she has written a book to help other bereaved parents and raise money
THERE is a simple reason why Mitsubishi’s ASX feels and handles more like a car than an off-road-style crossover vehicle. Underneath its chunky, off-road looks and 4x4 capability sits the platform of the powerful Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, a
A LANE of the A34 western bypass northbound has re-opened after a one-vehicle crash. Traffic is backed up to the Botley interchange because of the collision, which happened between the Peartree Interchange and Kidlington junction. Police said
A WOMAN was punched, slapped and kicked in the head at an Oxford nightclub on Saturday, police have said. Officers said a woman threw a drink in a 19-year-old man’s face at the Bridge nightclub in Hythe Bridge Street just after 12.30am. Our
WHILE Oxford United’s strikers go into tomorrow’s game in need of a boost, their defenders will be well aware of the danger posed by one of Shrewsbury Town’s forwards. Tyrone Barnett spent three months on loan with the U’s earlier this season.
A BOXING event will help the fight against stigma surrounding mental health problems and homosexuality among young people. The first OX-BOX tournament will feature competitors from seven of Oxfordshire’s clubs and promote the benefits of the sport
THAMES Water says it has put in a temporary water supply as a stop gap while it fixes a broken pipe in Culham. The problem caused tap water for many homes in Abingdon to become cloudy and smelly yesterday. Our top stories The firm
RESEARCHERS at Oxford University will receive a £15m grant from the Government to help find more reliable access to clean water for hundreds of millions of people in Africa and South Asia. International Development minister Baroness Northover will
MICKY Mellon thinks Shrewsbury Town’s comfortable victory at Oxford United earlier this season will have no bearing on their meeting tomorrow. The Shrews produced the best performance United have encountered this season, cruising to a 2-0 win at
IN REFERENCE to your front page article ‘Back to the dark ages’ (Oxford Mail, March 17), when will the trusts – like Oxford Health – realise that ready chilled meals are horrid and are not what the patients deserve? They are full of additives and
ELOQUENT youngsters proved they are top of the class after winning a public speaking contest for the third time in a row. A team of Year 7 and Year 8 students from Oxford Spires Academy, in Glanville Road, were crowned champions of the Winston
WILL we ever be able to trust the banks and building societies again in this country? Tax evasion, inflated bonuses and ill performing insurance policies, the list goes on. The trouble is it’s nothing new; 30 years ago we had seedy little men
A FEW weeks ago I met with campaigners from the Tax Dodging Bill coalition at the Christian Aid office in Oxford. As a Parliamentary candidate, this is now the issue about which I have been lobbied the most - remarkably, even more than the NHS,
JOHN Tanner in his letter ‘Blackwood is struggling to hold on to her position’ appears to have got his figures mixed up. The Ashcroft poll based on asking people how they intended to vote in the Oxford West & Abingdon constituency: Conservative
MAY I say thank you to Keith Brooks for answering my letter “age doesn’t add up”. I certainly meant no disrespect to the gentleman concerned. I am appalled to learn that he is still waiting to have his blue badge renewed, especially after HMS
NOW we’ve heard it all from Ukip (March 16). The daft party’s local representative claims to support the NHS. The reality is that Nigel Farage wants to scrap the National Health Service. He wants to replace it with an insurance-based health system
WHILST I support Oxford United I cannot fathom the thought of the club being dragged into another relegation battle that could disrupt the good work that Kelvin Thomas and Ian Lenagan have done for the club. Can Darryl Eales and Mark Ashton come
THE Bullfinch Report into the organised sexual exploitation of young girls in care is a very serious document. Clearly there were failures in the operations of social services and the police. We should not hesitate to identify the individuals
Sir – OxClean and Oxford Civic Society are grateful to councillor John Tanner for the thanks he expressed in your columns last week. We very much echo the thanks to the city council Streetscene team who supported the weekend and work throughout
Sir – I wonder if all of the citizens of Oxford are aware that the city council no longer sends information about planning applications to neighbouring residents. All that it does is to pin a small yellow notice on the fence, with the barest details
Sir – Daniel Emlyn-Jones (Letters, March 12) accuses me of being ethnocentric, but I did not mention the specific example of Charlie Hebdo, preferring to make a more general point. I can assure him I would feel the same way regardless of race or creed
Sir – Chiltern Railways intend unilaterally to rename Bicester Town station “Bicester Village”, ignoring the many objections voiced, despite the very limited window of opportunity so to do. I’m sure I’m one of many who believe they have no moral
Sir – It could not be a better time to take up outdoor swimming. With outdoor and open water swimming becoming more popular, and lidos making a comeback, there are venues and training opportunities round the country open to people who are keen to develop
Sir – As I approach Didcot town centre from the Harwell end, I notice the Remembrance Day poppy seller, standing in a doorway silently, proudly (and rightly so) still doing their bit for Armed Forces, present and past. The Big Issue seller whispers
Sir – I am very grateful to everyone at The Oxford Times for publicising the talks we arrange by interviewing authors. It is interesting, however, that women writers are always described first and foremost by their age, whereas male writers remain
Sir – I am surprised by your report that Veronica Hurst, chair of Friends of Old Headington, has persuaded Oxford City Council to remove solar panels from affordable houses built by the city council, because “they aren’t particularly sympathetic to
Sir – Like Veronica Hurst of the Friends of Old Headington, I don’t especially like the look of solar panels. I want to see more of them, though. I need to check if the Friends know about the problems of relying on fossil fuels? Because that
Sir – Empty chairs for Tory MPs/parliamentary candidates seem to have reached Oxford. The sitting MP for Oxford West & Abingdon has failed to attend, and in some cases respond to, speaking invitations to local meetings and election hustings so
Sir – The buses run in this city of spires by the Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach do not have clean windows. Profits should go towards scrubbers. As a frequent user I like looking at this beautiful city but not when my vista is obscured by
Sir – Last week, I participated in the Public Examination into Oxford City Council’s Northern Gateway Plan. I was appalled to find that the city could not answer simple questions about the size of the development which were posed by the Inspector at
Sir – In its coverage of the Bullfinch Serious Case Review, The Oxford Times reports (March 12) that the former leader of Oxfordshire County Council, Keith Mitchell, “insisted there was nothing he could have done differently during his time as leader
Sir – It warms the heart that in these austere times and amidst the seemingly endless cuts to local services that I find myself writing to commend the councils of the shire. Oft do I travel the county’s greens lanes, its byways, highways, streets
Sir – Could the council have found a new way of reducing landfill by distributing the waste on the verges of the A34 and other roads in the area? It certainly looks that way. G J Alner, Chilton
OXFORD University is the second richest in the UK after Cambridge with an endowment worth about £3.8bn some of which is invested in fossil fuel companies. Is this a sound investment and helpful to the university or is it harmful to the values the university
SAINT Patrick’s Day started badly. I’d barely set foot in the city when I sprawled full length in Broad Street. Passing the Museum of Science I spotted a notice inviting the public, young and old, to an event entitled Inside the Brain, which
STUDENT volunteers who have been refused £70,000 of funding have said that they fear vital community projects could suffer. Members of student-run organisation Oxford Hub have said they have not received core funding from the University of Oxford
Sir – We would really love to hear from your readers about their favourite National Lottery projects and the great work they do for their community. If you believe they deserve national recognition then please nominate them for a National Lottery
Sir – Once again we have county council officers Daniel Round and Stuart Wilson not facing reality, when one says we do not need a link road between the A40 and the A44 and the other that there has been no significant change in the volume of traffic
Sir – What is happening to our urban trees? I live in a ‘leafy’ area of the city, where supposedly the residents are concerned about amenity, yet recent months have seen a steady erosion of mature trees. If they are replaced at all, it is by small
Sir – I know there have been many complaints about cyclists having no lights on their bicycles. This is the opposite. Please cyclists, when you have LED lights on your bike, can you have them pointed towards the road, not up in the air. I can
Sir – Oxford has an opportunity that won’t soon be repeated. The University has decided to work on the famous Port Meadow flats. Now, these buildings have large roofs – unshaded, south-facing roofs. So please, Oxford University, put solar panels
Sir – Reference the article (March 12) about people parking in Risinghurst and commuting to London. This is a growing problem for Risinghurst residents as well as the businesses on the Roundway. I often return home, perhaps with a load of shopping
A REFRESHED Danny Hylton is available again after suspension and is aiming to help ease the frustrations he saw first-hand in midweek among Oxford United supporters. The U’s top scorer makes a welcome return to the fold for tomorrow’s trip to high-flying
OXFORD United’s strikers should feel their places are under threat after going ten games without a single goal from open play, according to Derek Fazackerley. James Roberts was the last player to find the net, scoring a late equaliser against Exeter
CHILDREN at some Oxford schools were banned from watching this morning’s solar eclipse over health and safety fears. The Oxford Mail spoke to several schools who said they were not letting children watch the rare event. St Francis CofE Primary
IT would be oh so easy to skewer those schools “banning” youngsters from going outside to look at the solar eclipse on the barbs of ‘health and safety gone mad’. But the schools are showing admirable common sense. Increasingly they have legal
A 70-YEAR-OLD man was taken to hospital with head and hand injuries after a car and a bus were involved in a crash at the entrance to the Churchill Hospital in Headington yesterday. The Silver VW Golf collided with the double-decker Stagecoach
A compound used in the lining of water pipes was responsible for the smelly cloudy tap water experienced by residents in Abingdon yesterday, Thames Water has said. About 50 residents complained to the company their water was cloudy and smelly.
PATIENTS are missing appointments due to a “chaotic” lack of parking spaces at the city’s hospitals, it has been warned. Oxford University Hospitals Trust has now called on Oxford City Council, which determines available parking slots, to allow
GEORGE Baldock says a connection he feels with Oxford United owes more to the welcome received from teammates and staff than his time spent watching the side as a child. The right back has been a big hit since arriving on loan from MK Dons last
THE stance taken by Oxford City and Oxfordshire County councils that “there’s no more room at the inn” over car parking at the city’s hospitals is almost King Canute-like. Of course it would be a dereliction of duty to just turn a blind eye and
ANYONE who happens to be in the centre of Oxford tomorrow afternoon can expect to see a military spectacle. Army Reserve band The Waterloo Band and Bugles of The Rifles, based in Abingdon, will be performing in Broad Street at 2pm. Passers-by
OXFORD United loanee Giorgio Rasulo has been shortlisted for the League One Apprentice of the Year at the Football League Awards. The Banbury-born midfielder, 18, joined the U’s on a short-term deal from parent club MK Dons last month. Rasulo
TOP scorer Adi Yussuf has urged his Oxford City teammates to maintain their high standards when they welcome Bradford Park Avenue to Marsh Lane in Vanarama Conference North tomorrow. City came away from Bradford with a 5-0 victory when the two
THE departing chairman of Oxford United’s Supporters’ Trust has called on fans to get behind the side during their battle to stay up during the run-in. But Mark Sennett, who stepped down after four years as OxVox chairman last weekend, admits he
VILLAGERS are in uproar at their parish council’s plans to exterminate moles which they say amount to murder. Merton Parish Council near Bicester have said the animals have been digging up playing fields, allotments, a children’s play area and
AN APPEAL to build 140 extra homes on an approved development at Hardwick Farm in Banbury has been thrown out. London-based company Pandora Trading Ltd had received permission from Cherwell District Council for 90 homes at the site off Southam
One lane is currently blocked on the A4142 Eastern Bypass southbound in Oxford between Green Road roundabout and the Kiln Lane junction, because of a broken down car. Traffic is moving slowly in the area.
Olympic gold medallist Dr Katherine Grainger will officially be made Chancellor of Oxford Brookes at an inauguration ceremony today. The British rower, who won gold at the London 2012 Olympics, will replace human rights activist Shami Chakrabarti
BANBURY United have announced groundbreaking plans for their supporters to take over the club. The Evo-Stik Southern League Premier Division side’s supporters’ club and national body Supporters Direct have been in talks with the board of directors
TWO boys from Cowley are swapping lessons for the limelight as they take part in a professional production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. Elliott Molloy and Daniel Wilson, both 11, triumphed in open auditions to take part in this week’s performances
OXFORDSHIRE’S “Mr defibrillator” has said he is “buzzing” after the Government promised to set aside £1m for new machines. South Central Ambulance Service divisional responder commander Dick Tracey said George Osborne’s Budget pledge this week
DIDCOT Town joint boss Ian Concannon has targeted nine points from the next three games to keep their stuttering Evo-Stik Southern League Division 1 South & West play-off hopes alive. The Railwaymen are six points off the play-offs, but with
A TEAM of Oxford researchers has been given a £94,000 grant to develop a new form of pacemaker for heart failure patients. The Oxford Heart Centre at the John Radcliffe Hospital received the money from national charity Heart Research UK. Currently
JUST one person applied to replace police chief Sara Thornton, the office of Police and Crime Commissioner Anthony Stansfeld has admitted. Deputy Chief Constable Francis Habgood was named as Mr Stansfeld’s preferred candidate for the job after
CHAIRMAN Neil Hopper says Oxford Harlequins will not be relegated from National League 3 South West without a fight. Harlequins are five points from safety, with four games remaining. Their task doesn’t get any easier this weekend, with league
THE injury which saw Patrick Miller stretchered off in Oxford United’s midweek game ended the referee’s career. The official fell awkwardly in the second half of United’s 2-0 defeat to Hartlepool United at the Kassam Stadium. Miller was taken
AFTER being a bellringer at her village church for 50 years, Jenny Jeskins never imagined her hobby would one day leave her with two fractured hips and a broken wrist. Mother-of-two Mrs Jeskins, the bell-ringing captain at St Mary’s Church, Cholsey
4:44pm A crash involving a motorbike is causing delays on the A420 at Cumnor Hill 3:38pm Thames Water has put a temporary water supply in place in Abingdon
ABINGDON United entertain high-flying Kidlington in the Uhlsport Hellenic League Premier Division tomorrow. Keeper Lewis Noice makes his home debut, while Lewis Coyle returns for the visitors. Abingdon Utd: from Noice, Steedman, Smith, McNeil
ENGLAND star Manu Tuilagi will help out at a rugby skills course at Oxford Harlequins over the Easter half-term. The four-day Tuilagi Rugby Skills event, run by Manu’s older brother Freddie – a former Samoan international – will take place at Marston
CAMPAIGNERS are threatening a major protest campaign targeting Prime Minister David Cameron in the run up to the General Election. New Fathers 4 Justice says it will try to disrupt Mr Cameron’s election campaign in his Witney constituency.
A DRAGON’S Den style awards show has seen nearly £40,000 given to community projects. The Oxford Brookes University-run Social Entrepreneur awards handed out money to a number of local schemes, with five receiving £5,000 or more. Fifteen projects
OXFORDSHIRE under 13s have booked a place in the Shires League County Championship play-offs. A 16-4 win at Dorset ensured they qualified to compete for a place in the finals at Walsall University on May 31. They will not know their play-off
SAHARA Osborne-Ricketts fired Oxford United to a 1-0 home victory over Watford in last night’s FA Women’s Super League 2 opener, writes MATTHEW BRUCE. The U’s captain, who celebrates her 24th birthday today, fired home a 20th-minute free-kick.
HEAD coach Tim Rumford says Oxford will have to avoid the distractions of a potential glamour tie when they face Leigh Miners Rangers in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup tomorrow. Kingstone Press League 1 club Oxford face amateur side Rangers in the
A woman who was jailed for 13 years for killing two children in an arson attack has had an appeal bid to cut her sentence thrown out. Fiaz Begum Munshi, 39, travelled with seven others from Stevenage to Amjad Khan's house in Magdalen Road, Oxford
THIS WEEK'S FIXTURES SATURDAY FOOTBALL SKY BET LEAGUE TWO Shrewsbury Tn v Oxford Utd VANARAMA CONFERENCE NORTH Oxford City v Bradford Park Avenue. EVO-STIK SOUTHERN LEAGUE Premier Div: Biggleswade Tn v Banbury Utd Div
ABINGDON’S Alexis Canter has made the semi-finals of the Tashkent ITF Juniors in Uzbekistan with a hardfought 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over Sharobbidin Abzalov. Canter, seeded third, faces Saida’lo Saidkarimov today. At the British Tour in Edgbaston
COMMUNITY members in East Oxford and Cowley have said they will work to build bridges after the child sexual exploitation scandal that shook the city. Dr Hojjat Ramzy, director of the Cowley-based Oxford Islamic Information Centre, said the community
Shanghai 30's 30% off when you show your Loyalty Card. The Name Shanghai means 'on the sea' and the city lies on the east coast of China, just south of the Yangtza river. In the 1930's, Shanghai was called the ‘Paris of the Orient’. It
The Oxford Wine Company Botley Road, Oxford The company has a large warehouse which is open to the public for case or single bottle purchases. Over 1500 wines and spirits are stocked and the company also specialises in vintage Armagnac, as
