Police are appealing for witnesses to an aggravated burglary in Kingham. Officers were called to a property in Churchill Road at approximately 11am yesterday, following reports that three men had entered the property and demanded money from the occupant
A MOTORCYCLIST was left lying 80 metres from his bike after a head-on smash with a sports car driving on the wrong side of the road. Gareth Jenkins, 23, suffered multiple injuries after being struck by Michael Parslow’s Toyota MR2 as the sports car overtook
WITH throngs of tourists, cobbled streets, and bikes attached to every lamp-post, Oxford is not the easiest city for disabled people to live in. Now a top councillor says he will never look at the city the same way again after spending three
My last reviewing visit to The Lamb at Satwell could hardly have been more badly timed. The South Oxfordshire pub was closed by its owner, the celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson, within days when his company went into administration. By the
Last week I travelled to Ozleworth, one of the quietest and most beautiful places in the Cotswolds and miles from anywhere. Actually, I don’t think I have ever walked in such a lovely place — it was mind blowing. Throughout the Ozleworth valley wild garlic
I shouldn’t have been surprised to find Juliet Harbutt standing alongside a table of freshly harvested asparagus when I visited the Chipping Norton Food Festival last week. But I was. I’ve always considered Juliet the doyenne of cheese rather than
It was just seven years after the end of the Second World War and anti-German feeling was still running high in Oxford, not least among some sections of the University. In December 1952 that astonishing and wonderful old man Konrad Adenauer (1876
Time and again, when nasty extraterrestrials invade Earth, they choose the trigger-happy US as the point of inception. And every time, there is a square-jawed hero, striking a pose in front of the Stars and Stripes, who single-handedly repels their
Familiar to most as “the one with the bed-trick”, All’s Well That Ends Well has never found the popular favour of Shakespeare’s other Problem Plays. That this should be the new Globe’s first production is telling, a testimony to the work’s unsettling
With more than 40 events over two weeks, the Newbury Spring Festival is alive and kicking. On Monday, the much-admired Vienna Piano Trio took to the platform at a new venue: St George’s Church, Wash Common. It is possessed of a cavernous acoustic, far
Garsington Opera has traditionally staged a series of chamber music concerts each spring at Garsington Manor, home of Rosalind and the late Leonard Ingrams, who started the opera tradition at the house in 1989. With the move of the opera company this
Back for a fourth year, Wood Festival, the folkier, mellower little sister of Truck Festival, is set to take place over the weekend of May 20-22. Set in the idyllic surroundings of Braziers Park, just outside Wallingford, the festival rivals Cornbury
You could almost taste the salty air and feel the sea breezes in this nautical-themed concert by Woodstock Music Society and Kidlington Amateur Operatic Society. In the first half, it was interesting to hear the Beethoven and Mendelssohn settings of Goethe
Matthew Bourne has set his Cinderella in the year 1940, with London under attack from Hitler’s bombers, the blackout in force, and Londoners seizing what moments of happiness they can among the carnage and destruction. This is a dark telling of
Slough upstarts Brother have polarised opinion in their few months in the public eye. Self billed as the heirs to Oasis’s gobby, beer-swilling throne, they’ve been derided as a band trying to grab an audience that doesn’t exist any more. The legions of
The Fitzwilliam String Quartet doesn’t get all the credit for the innovative programme it played for the Iffley Music Society. “I was sent a long list, and asked to choose,” IMS artistic director Michael Bourdeaux told us. No doubt it was this unusual
This selling exhibition draws together work by 20 members of the Craft Guild, serving to remind how broad the world of crafts is and of the levels of skill, imagination and expertise our local craftspeople possess. A selection of the work on show
A slog though it always is, I find myself obliged each year to trawl through the annual Rich List supplied by The Sunday Times. This is partly in order that I can marvel at the vast number of what Dame Edna Everage would call “squillionaires” that
In a very odd review in the Mail On Sunday this week theatre critic Georgina Brown slagged off the RSC’s new production of Macbeth, starring Jonathan Slinger (pictured), while revealing her own ignorance about the play. She wrote: “The three
It took barely a minute, but with his practised artist’s eye and the dextrous manipulation of a pair of small scissors silhouette artist Charles Burns produced a study that was instantly recognisable as me. True, there are overtones of Winston
THE UK’s regional and local press is being celebrated during Local Newspaper Week. Here Witney MP and Prime Minister David Cameron highlights why newspapers like ours matter: "I AM delighted to send my full support to the Newspaper Society
An Oxford toddlers’ group was given 500 reasons to celebrate when they heard about their grant from the Red Nose Day Community Cash fund. Rainbow House drop-in centre, based in the Wesley Memorial Church in New Inn Hall Street, was given £500 towards
Marston Saints fought back twice before beating Mansfield Road 3-2 in the Premier Division. Dan Trinder fired the visitors ahead with a penalty, only for Alex Gordon-Weekes to level from 25 yards. Simon Dickie restored Mansfield’s lead, but Billy Young
Berinsfield became the first Division 4 side to lift the North Berks Cup in the competition’s 100-year history. Goals from Mark Ingram, David Murphy, who scored in every round, and Luke Saunders gave them a 3-0 win over Division 2 side Benson
POLICE are planning a series of undercover operations to tackle Oxford’s “massive problem” with bike thefts. Although thefts have dropped slightly in 12 months, the city still accounts for one third of all bike thefts across the Thames Valley Police
No schools should want to miss out on our SoS competition launched today in association with Abingdon construction company Leadbitter. One school will win £7,500 worth of building work. Parents and pupils can help their school by collecting tokens
Marston Saints fought back twice before beating Mansfield Road 3-2 in the Oxfordshire Senior League Premier Division, writes BRIAN KIRK. Dan Trinder fired the visitors ahead with a penalty, only for Alex Gordon-Weekes to level from 25 yards. Simon Dickie
THE former boyfriend of an Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member faces more than six months in prison after attacking her outside a Witney pub. Dale Clack, of Stow Avenue, in Witney, admitted assaulting Louise Chapman at the Carpenters Arms in Newland
Barton United and AFC Hinksey are in hot water after their stormy Division 1 top-of-the-table encounter en-ded in two red cards and crowd trouble. As a result, league chiefs have launched an enquiry with the teams ordered to appear before a disciplinary
Didcot Town boss Ady Williams has told his players that the hard work starts now after informing chairman John Bailey he wants to stay at npower Loop Meadow Stadium. He said he wanted his side to be at the peak of fitness as they look to bounce back
A half-century from John Barrett helped Oxford ease to an eight-wicket victory over Amersham in round one of the ECB National Club Championship. Oxford dominated the Group 12 match after winning the toss and choosing to bowl. Amersham were all out for
AEA Technology 4.3 BMW 5573 Electrocomponents 287.4 Nationwide Accident Repair 97.5 Oxford Biomedica 5.85 Oxford Catalysts 96 Oxford Instruments 742.75 Reed Elsevier 558.25 RM 140.25 RPS Group 240.2 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley
FARM labourer John William Cooper yesterday denied any involvement in the murder of Witney couple Peter and Gwenda Dixon. Giving evidence for the first time at his murder trial, Cooper said he had nothing to do with murder, rape or any of the 31 crimes
South Oxfordshire Amateurs, the county’s premier wandering club, have launched an active recruitment campaign under the leadership of this year’s president, Dick Giles. The club, which was founded in 1933, have a full list of 45 fixtures against strong
Zubry Oxford completed their first season in the league in style, by winning the Alan Alder Memorial Trophy with a 2-0 win against Iffley Harriers at Abingdon Town. The Polish side controlled much of the first half and went ahead after four
DISABLED Oxford residents are heading to London today to take part in protest march against Government plans to cut benefits. Paul Scarrott, 40, and his wife Jackie, 41, who both have learning disabilities, are among a dozen users of Park End
THANK goodness for the sanity and generous-mindedness of Esther Hyman (Oxford Mail, May 4). Public rejoicing over a death is a disturbing sight. It is certainly “morally blind” to deny that such behaviour is highly provocative and likely to contribute
Rob Martin (ViewPoints, April 21) is right: too many Oxford cyclists flout the law, but cycle campaigners want more blame laid on motorists. James Styring claims (On Yer Bike, April 19) “cyclists killed no pedestrians in 2009, but per mile cyclists
Last year I made a life-changing decision. Okay, admittedly I was forced into it by a severe lack of money, but nonetheless, it was still life-changing, and having just done a huge spring clean, I’m so glad I did. It’s official, I have given up my addiction
Berinsfield became the first Division 4 side to lift the North Berks Cup in the competition’s 100-year history, writes PHIL ANNETS. Goals from Mark Ingram, David Murphy, who scored in every round, and Luke Saunders gave them a 3-0 win over
A GROUP of parents have outlined plans to open a revolutionary 800-pupil secondary school linked to hi-tech companies and offering a curriculum focused on engineering, science and business. The New Oxford School Trust has put forward the most
BEFORE plans for a new free school focusing on engineering and science go any further, its proponents and local schools should sit and talk to each other. Five parents have put forward the scheme to take advantage of the Government drive for schools
THE capture and shooting of Osama bin Laden could indeed be considered a merciful execution. What trial was needed for a man who had masterminded a horrendous death to almost 3,000 innocent civilians? Having shown no remorse for those deaths, he had
MY ATTENTION has been drawn to an item you ran about a “Yellow Ribbon” campaign by Oxford Pedestrians Association (Oxford Mail, April 12). This campaign highlights the problems caused to pedestrians by pavement clutter. As the representatives of people
CPRE Oxfordshire is delighted that a planning inspector has, for the second time, dismissed Oriel College’s plan for student accommodation in the Bartlemas conservation area in East Oxford (Oxford Mail, May 5). At the hearing, the CPRE argued that the
What is it about cyclists’ mentality that makes them consider themselves, not only above the law but, so ignorantly righteous when causing havoc to other road & pavement users? As I recently succumbed to foot damage and am temporarily reliant on crutches
As a method of saving costs to protect local services, isn’t it time we considered having a unitary authority in Oxfordshire? We have four district councils, a city council and a county council. Since the county council provides 80 per cent of services
The George and Cricketers B produced a feast of Aunt Sally in Section 1 of the Greene King Oxford & District League, containing five sixes and 188 dolls, writes ANDY BEAL. Cricketers set the opening leg with 26, which George passed with ease on 32.
Oxford United owner Ian Lenagan says the club’s board will give manager Chris Wilder what he wants to strengthen the team for next season. And he confirmed that means an increased budget for United’s second season in League Two compared to their first
A YEAR after Kingfisher School in Abingdon won a fabulous new seating area and improved sensory garden worth £7,500, the hunt is on for a new winning school in the Leadbitter/Oxford Mail School SOS competition 2011. The Oxford Mail is joining forces
A 19-year-old man arrested by police investigating the world’s biggest Internet child sex ring has been rebailed. The man, from Thame, was one of 180 suspected paedophiles arrested around the world in January as part of Operation Rescue. Last night
IT is time for someone to take responsibility. Today the Oxford Mail has compelling evidence that Oxfordshire’s roads became more dangerous during the withdrawal of speed cameras for eight months, just as we predicted they would last August. Yet the
A HUGE rise in the number of drivers caught speeding in Oxfordshire has led to claims that switching off Speed cameras made the county’s roads more dangerous. Last month, Thames Valley Police switched the cameras back on after an eight-month
RAIL operator First Great Western has this morning announced it will not seek an extension to its franchise. The company was awarded a seven-year contract to run services between Oxfordshire and London in 2006 but has said it will not trigger
SAVING public loos and keeping an eye on thawing scampi may not sound like the most exciting of hobbies. But they are just some of the ways campaigners in Oxford have been fighting for consumers’ rights over the past half a century. Now members of Oxford
SINGERS from a parish choir in Wallingford are rubbing shoulders with the Foo Fighters and Mumford and Sons in the pop charts. Wallingford Parish Church Choir’s CD of heart-warming hymns entered the classical charts at number two following
