CHILDREN will be swinging from the trees in Oxford again as a popular playground reopens after a massive revamp. The South Oxford Adventure Playground (SOAP) landed £90,000 last year to replace worn-out equipment. Now the transformation is complete,
SCHOOLCHILDREN from across the county came together to discuss reducing carbon emissions. The Oxford Sustainable Schools Conference was hosted by Low Carbon Oxford for the third year at Magdalen College School. As part of the event, pupils from private
PLANS to open a post office branch in Summertown Library are gathering momentum, if enough money can be raised to extend the building. Friends of Summertown Library first mooted the idea of sharing the building with a post office in February, when the
Just how big, you might ask, is Canada? Well, as a thumbnail sketch, it encompasses almost 10 million square kilometres, spans six time zones, is bounded by three oceans, and boasts 6.7 per cent of the world’s land area which, when added up, makes it
LONG distance walker David Gibbard has raised hundreds of pounds to support his great nephew’s dream to walk. Last month Mr Gibbard, 73, walked 40 miles from his home in Courtington Lane, Bloxham, to Greatworth, Northamptonshire, and back in 11 hours
CHURCH leaders in parts of Oxfordshire face a funding crisis because of falling attendances and higher bills from their diocese. There are fears services could be axed as vicars have to cover more parishes or leave churches altogether. Churches generate
Horspath Hammers produced a great display to win the British Under 13 Team Championship at Hull. The five-strong side of Jordan Richardson, George Horsley, Jake Neighbour, Alice Neighbour and Alfie Wakefield came out on top by four points. Result: Horspath
TICKETS have gone on sale for the 52nd annual Bicester and Finmere Show on the weekend of August 6 and 7. There will be a large art and craft tent, food hall and bar, vintage tractors, a dog show, ferret racing, funfair, alpacas, and trade stands at
A NEW film by young people from Blackbird Leys has revealed the real impact of knife crime. Flesh and Blood was created by teenagers from the Blackbird Leys Youth Centre in Oxford and is set to be shown at youth centres and schools across the county.
YOUNG gardeners have been showing Oxford in Bloom judges the fruits of their labours. Judges Harry Robinson and Trisha Stevens visited five schools and community groups in the city for this year’s contest, backed by the Oxford Mail. They saw Rye St
Headington School’s Simi Fajemisin posted a double success in the English Schools’ Track & Field Cup national final at Tilsley Park, Abingdon. She was a clear-cut winner of the junior girls’ 100m in 12.3secs from Naomi Kpogho (Brentwood, Essex), who
Matthew Millard claimed two gold medals as Didcot Barramundi ended a successful season on a high in the Bletchley Meet at Aylesbury. The ten-year-old won the 100m individual medley and the 100m freestyle to be Didcot’s only victor. However, the club
NETWORK Rail has said there is no need to replace the aging Wolvercote railway bridge, as long as it remains single-laned. Residents of Lower Wolvercote had feared they would be cut off, with delivery lorries, dustcarts and buses unable to
WACKY inventions, eccentric artwork and unusual heirlooms are sought for an exhibition on eccentricity at an Oxford museum. The Museum of the History of Science, in Broad Street, is currently showing off some of the forgotten items in its archive. Now
Eight teams of six fished the third round of this year’s Summer League on a still and very tough Thames at Radley. The water still has virtually no flow and retains its brown algae tinge, but that didn’t deter Neil Reid (Fox Match ISIS), who triumphed
Three girls from Wantage-based club Kinetic Gymnastics won medals at the Oxfordshire County Championships. Courteney Taylor took silver in the level five seniors’ competition, achieving the highest beam score in the group. Theresa Demmel won bronze
Ten-year-old Katie Nutt, from Standlake,won the open age category at the Southern & GLSE Regional Championships at Thorpe Park, Surrey. Nutt won the trick event, increasing her personal best from 1,410 points to 2,010 points. She also slalomed consistently
TODDLERS at a Headington nursery watched 30 butterflies disappear into the sunshine as part of a project to teach youngsters about life cycles. Forty-eight children aged two to four have been watching the Painted Lady butterflies grow from caterpillars
A CONMAN who committed a series of “despicable” frauds against a 90-year-old widow was last night beginning a three-year jail term. Alfred Down “clearly targeted” Daisy Cassie as he extracted more than £45,000 from her over a six-month period
Oxford's Sam Mitchell has given himself a great chance of winning the Classic Hot Rod title. A first, second and third place at Great Yarmouth sees Mitchell seven points clear at the top of the standings with just four races remaining. His 27-point
Every so often in angling, you get a day when everthing goes right – the proverbial ‘red letter day’. I had mine last week on the Kennet at Aldermaston. My first three visits resulted in two small barbel and a blank, but last week I fished the stretch
THE first of the RAF’s new fleet of Voyager mid-air refuelling tanker planes, based on the Airbus A330-200 airliner, is making its public debut at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, this weekend. The 14-strong fleet
THESE dramatic pictures were taken by the fire service just 10 minutes apart and show the final moments of a 300-year-old barn. The blaze happened at Wood Hill Lane in East Challow, near Wantage, at about 10.40pm on Wednesday. Arson is suspected. By
A MAN broke the jaw of a “cocky and self-satisfied” teenager who had burgled his parents’ house, a court heard. Nathan Hewett repeatedly punched Robbie Ingham after the 18-year-old “brazenly” admitted to stealing a PlayStation. A judge at Oxford Crown
OFTEN judges find themselves in the court of public opinion because they display an astonishing lack of common sense. The decision by High Court judges to let six men who had an orgy with two 12-year-old girls walk free with a suspended sentence when
THE manuscript of a Jane Austen novel will go on display in Oxford in September after it was bought by the Bodleian Library for almost £1m. The Oxford University library yesterday announced it had bought The Watsons, an unfinished work thought
PRESSURE was last night mounting on Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire district councils following a damning report into the handling of May’s elections. An independent review published this week has highlighted a string of blunders. There are
SOUTH Oxfordshire District Council yesterday refused to come clean over some details of the shambles during May’s local elections or even promise there’d be no repeats. But we warn the council and its twin in the Vale (who both misled the public over
Oxfordshire won the inaugural ECB Under 11 girls triangular Twenty20 tournament in Buckinghamshire. Batting first in the first game against Suffolk, Oxon’s Rachael Potter scored 27 before being run out by a direct hit. Oxon finished on 77-5. In Suffolk
JOURNALISTS picketed BBC Oxford yesterday, above, during a 24-hour strike over compulsory redundancies. About 20 staff refused to work at the corporation’s Banbury Road office, causing disruptions to radio and TV programmes throughout the day. The walk-out
A CRASH on the A40 involving a private ambulance left two people suffering spinal injuries and shut the road for four hours yesterday. Police closed the road in both directions following the crash at about 8am at Barnard Gate, near Eynsham. A 4x4 green
CANCER campaigner Clive Stone has been nominated to be an Olympic torch bearer. The Oxford Mail columnist said he was shocked but hoped people would get behind his nomination so he could raise awareness for all cancer patients. He said: “If we could
A superb innings of 116 not out from Joel Washbourne-Calcutt was in vain as Bartholomew (Eynsham) slipped to a seven-wicket defeat against Burford School in the Oxfordshire Under 14 League. Batting first, Bartholomew rattled up a formidable 169-3 in
Includes three bottles of each of the following four wines: Asti Spumante Araldica NV, Italy Just off dry and quite low in alcohol, this is the perfect aperitif wine on a fine Summer’s day with its floral hints of orange blossom and
Matt Warner claimed a hat-trick in figure of 3-7 as Kingston Bagpuize kicked off their Oxfordshire Under 17 League campaign with a three-wicket win over Ducklington. Warner’s treble helped to restrict Ducklington to 86-8, then Jamie Cox hit 25 as Kingston
Banbury Twenty won the eight-a-side Under 13 Gau-ntlett Goblet on finals day at Abingdon Vale. With teams starting on 200, losing runs for wickets lost, Twenty’s tight bowling and fielding restricted Goring to 206 in the final. Twenty suffered an early
Joe Barrett slammed a super century as Oxfordshire Under 15s continued their unbeaten season with a crushing 118-run victory over Wiltshire in the ECB County Cup at Magdalen College School. The visitors won the toss and with a damp wicket, asked Oxon
emergency striker next season. Chris Wilder revealed to Yellow Player after the centre back came on up front for the final ten minutes of Thursday night’s 1-1 draw with Seacoast United Phantoms that it’s something he may look at in npower League Two.
Dan Berwick went through the card unbeaten to win the third round of the British Solo Dirt Track Championship at Oxford Stadium last night, writes ROBERT PEASLEY. Dean Hillier twice got in front of Berwick during the heats, but both times slid off.
GaryBoyd, from Banbury, made the cut after yesterday’s second round of the Open championship at Royal St George’s Sandwich, but there was misery for Oxfordshire’s other two competitors. Boyd added a level- par of 70 to his first round 71 for
OXFORDSHIRE’S England Under 21 international Josh McEachran is hoping for an opportunity to show new Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas what he can do in today’s pre-season friendly at Portsmouth. The highly-rated 18-year-old midfielder from Kirtlington
Captain Max Mannering was the star of the show for Oxfordshire Under 14s as they edged a low-scoring ECB Under 14 Cup clash against Northamptonshire by four wickets at Kettering. The victory moved Oxon up to fourth in their group, and with
BANBURY United last night appointed their former defender Ady Fuller as their new manager. It follows the resignation earlier this week, due to health reasons, of Billy Jeffrey. Fuller, who was boss at Southern League Midland Division side Daventry
Adam Muttitt scored his first county century, but could not inspire Oxon Under 16 to victory as they were beaten by seven wickets in their clash against against Buckinghamshire at Radley College. Oxon will point to a poor first innings as the
WHEN Violet Cudd waved goodbye to the little evacuee boy she had looked after for four years, she never thought she would see him again. But more than 67 years later, the great-grandmother received a phone call out of the blue. That
Chris Wilder praised his Oxford United team for adapting to some ‘interesting’ conditions in their 1-1 draw with Seacoast United Phantoms on Thursday night. Alfie Potter was on target as United’s first match on their tour of America ended with honours
THE news TV presenter Fern Britton has just got her first tattoo at the age of 53 may have raised some eyebrows, but it seems that being ‘inked’ is a growing craze among the fairer sex. While tattoos were once only for men – and usually those in the
