Archive

  • Missed appointments costing NHS £621,000

    THE number of people missing appointments at Oxford’s hospitals has grown despite a campaign to cut them. In 2008 the Oxford Radcliffe Hospital Trust (ORH) launched a text messaging service to remind patients not to miss their appointments, after it

  • Reading to rock.. win tickets to the 'biggest and best'

    IT may not be the prettiest festival of the summer, being short on fairy lights and hippy trappings. But if you like your bands, there is nowhere better. The country’s longest-running rock bash, Reading Festival is all about music. Its

  • The Low Anthem keep things fresh

    IN a world of formulaic rock, The Low Anthem stand alone. Consummate individualists, not only are they determined to musically stand head and shoulders above their contemporaries, they make a pretty good stab of not even sounding like themselves

  • Terrific teaser: The Randolph Hotel, Oxford

    I have just eaten the quickest meal I have ever ordered. And it was a wham, bam, thank-you Ma’am culinary triumph, which proves once again that fast-food doesn’t necessarily have to come with fries and a side order of coleslaw. Yes the staff wore uniforms

  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes: UK TV star has broken Hollywood

    ASK anyone if they’ve heard of David Oyelowo and they scratch their heads and look puzzled, even when you list his film credits. But mention Spooks and they’re with you. That’s mainly because over the past four years David has been making films back-to-back

  • Calls for traffic calming on Bicester road

    HOUSEHOLDERS want to see traffic calming measures in a Bicester road after two serious incidents in just four months. Last month 15-year-old Alex Cook spent two days in hospital after he was hit by a car on a blind bend in Boston Road. And in April,

  • Councillor wins road improvements to 'strangest' street

    A ROAD dubbed “Oxford’s strangest street” is set to see improvements after a 15-year campaign by a city councillor. Street lights are to be installed later this year in an unlit section of Roger Dudman Way, which runs behind the railway station from

  • Walks using Route 66 bus

    Exploring Oxfordshire by bus is an experience you will miss if you stay wedded to your car. For keen walkers, it is a journey to freedom, because you can finish when you get tired and you do not have to return to the dreary car park where you started

  • Simon Pullin: Devotion to life as nurse

    A FORMER Cherwell School pupil who dedicated his life to nursing has died from lung cancer aged 49. Simon Pullin spent three decades caring for others. He was born in Wales in 1962 and moved to Oxford six years later where he attended

  • Carol Steward: A tireless campaigner

    POPULAR councillor and environmental champion Carol Steward has died, aged 63. Mrs Steward was a Bicester town councillor for 12 years and led the town to win a string of awards in the Britain in Bloom and Thames and Chilterns in Bloom competitions

  • The Rev Conrad Meyer: former bishop converted to Catholic faith

    A FORMER Oxfordshire bishop who was among the most high-profile converts to the Roman Catholic faith has died aged 89 after a long illness. The Rev Monsignor Canon Conrad Meyer, right, died at home in Newquay on Saturday, July 23. Ordained as an Anglican

  • Local shares (PM)

    AEA Technology 2.75 BMW 5437 Electrocomponents 208.75 Nationwide Accident Repair 92 Oxford Biomedica 7 Oxford Catalysts 69 Oxford Instruments 932.5 Reed Elsevier 498.7 RM 106 RPS Group 230.6 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

  • The scales of justice

    Tracy Hickman, 45, of Speedwell Street, Oxford, admitted outraging public decency by having sexual intercourse in public on April 14 in Oxford. Fined £85 and a £15 victims’ surcharge. Deemed paid by detention in the court until the end of the day

  • Woman kidnapped outside village store

    Kidnappers bundled a woman into her car and burgled her Ambrosden home. The 30-year-old was leaving the Spar shop in Ploughley Road some time before 10.20am when she was snatched and punched by three men who drove her in her black Range Rover back to

  • Staying beautiful in Bicester

    A BEAUTY salon that has had a hand in helping the ladies of Bicester look lovely across two decades has celebrated 20 years in business. And to mark the milestone, Belle, in Bell Lane, has opened a hair salon to help women complete their look

  • Local author Kai Mansberger

    Kai Mansberger, who died in 2004 at 23, left a collection of short stories and poems on his laptop, which have been issued as Seeing the Invisible by mental health publisher Chipmunk. A former pupil of Isis Middle School and Cheney in Oxford, he studied

  • Tackling animal rights

    Oxford author Sarah Loving was overjoyed when her book, Fifty Fifty, was accepted for publication. And she says Oxford has played a big part in her success. Not only was the story inspired by the animal rights protests in South Parks Road, but the local

  • Historical fiction round-up

    On His Majesty’s Service Allan Mallinson (Bantam Press, £18.99) Anyone who has not followed the adventures of Matthew Hervey since his days as a young officer at Waterloo will be well advised to plunge into any of the cavalryman’s escapades in wars

  • In The Sea There Are Crocodiles

    IN THE SEA THERE ARE CROCODILES by Fabio Geda (David Fickling, £10.99)With all the current anxiety and antagonism concerning political asylum seekers, this moving story will bring a new understanding and awareness of the experiences and the desperation

  • An English country garden

    The gardening correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, Fred Whitsey, drew on a lifetime’s knowledge when he wrote The Garden at Hidcote in 2007. Now, two years after his death at the age of 90, it has been reissued in paperback (Frances Lincoln, £16.99

  • TheInsider

    HAS Oxford’s top cop decided against making a bid for the Met Commissioner job, vacated recently by Sir Paul Stephenson, or is she just biding her time? The Insider learns from whispers on the social networking site Twitter that not a single

  • A worthy response

    I am proud of our Government’s response to the famine in Somalia and its record on foreign aid. The UN doesn’t easily declare a famine, and the last one in Somalia was 20 years ago. It means that people are dying. If they were here in Oxford then,

  • Queries on the buses

    l I WOULD be interested in hearing the response of those responsible for the new, joint bus ticketing initiative in Oxford to the following queries: l There can now be 20-minute gaps waiting for a number five bus to the railway station, mid mornings

  • Irresponsible truck drivers are a hazard

    For the past two mornings I have experienced potentially dangerous situations on the very winding B4015 between Chiselhampton and the Golden Balls roundabout, near Oxford. As I negotiated a blind bend on this road (travelling within the prescribed

  • Korda by Charles Drazin

    KORDA: BRITAIN’S MOVIE MOGUL by Charles Drazin (IB Taurus, £15.99) Charles Drazin is among the better scholars of 1940s British cinema and this biography makes a good companion to The Finest Years and In Search of the Third Man. It starts

  • On the spot

    YOUR front page story of July 27, "We’ve been let down", carries one family’s message to Oxfordshire County Council after a hospital bed-block nightmare. On page two, under the heading Wife: I want some answers, the ending paragraph reads

  • A fishy issue

    THE debate on conserving the cod species is an interesting one (The Issue, Oxford Mail, July 28). There is little doubt that over-fishing and modern methods are depleting our oceans and damaging the whole marine environment. I decided a few years ago

  • A mean cutback

    LAST year I organised a petition to the county council not to discontinue the only bus service in the Headington Quarry area, which was the 108/118. It only came to Quarry three times a day, but it was better than nothing. The service did get a small

  • MP put to work

    OXFORD East MP Andrew Smith got a taste of the business world when he agreed to do work experience at a Headington firm. Mr Smith joined the five-strong workforce at Leopard Press in Windmill Road, Headington, as part of a scheme by Forum of

  • Bio-science brings boom

    THE bioscience sector in Oxfordshire is booming with the county taking the lion’s share of UK investment. A report by the Oxfordshire Bioscience Network (OBN) shows county firms in the field attracted £125m of investors’ cash – 80 per cent

  • Ashmolean nights are for dancing

    JUST a few years ago, the prospect of watching a decent band or dancing to DJs in the hallowed, if fusty, precincts of the Ashmolean Museum would have been unthinkable. Now, of course, Britain’s oldest public museum is in more enlightened

  • Health trust on award shortlist

    A staff development programme used by Oxford Health NHS FT has been shortlisted for an annual Training Journal (TJ) Award. The ‘Leading the Way’ Development Programme has been nominated under the Best Public Service Initiative category. Oxford Health

  • Volunteer lock keepers are loving their work

    AN ENVIRONMENT Agency recruit is swapping the airways for the waterways in a new scheme to sign up volunteer lock keepers. The assistant lock keepers, who work alongside lock and weir keepers, are taking part in an Environment Agency initiative

  • United unveil away strip

    Oxford United unveil their new blue and white away strip, modelled here by (from left) Simon Heslop, Asa Hall, Jon-Paul Pittman, Deane Smalley and Paul McLaren

  • Carrey's latest effort forces frozen smiles

    Based on the children’s book by Richard and Florence Atwater, Mr Popper’s Penguins is a cutesy tale of errant fathers, emotionally damaged offspring and feathered friends, whose fates collide in wintry New York City. A Christmas release would have better

  • A narrowboat cruise on the Midlands canal

    We’d just spent an hour with John from the boatyard learning how to handle our hired narrowboat and, crucially, the locks. When he asked “Do you feel ready to go off on your own?” we confidently dismissed him. However, when he added: “Where are you going

  • 'Parents set a bad example over cycle helmets'

    ADULT cyclists are setting a bad example to children by not wearing helmets, an Oxford community police officer has warned. PCSO Natasha Medlin spoke at the launch of a campaign set to reward youngsters seen wearing helmets, with a goody bag

  • Lanterns to remember atomic bombs give message of peace

    CHILDREN have created lanterns to be floated down the River Thames to mark the anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. About 25 children at Donnington Doorstep Family Centre, Townsend Square, Oxford, helped make lanterns for a riverside

  • Head for the Wilderness

    TAKING place on the rolling acres of Cornbury Park, Wilderness is set to be one of the loveliest festivals of the summer. In three days of partying, bands including Mercury Rev, Gogol Bordello, Antony and the Johnsons, Laura Marling, Daniel

  • Local share prices (AM)

    AEA Technology 2.75 BMW 5747 Electrocomponents 215.9 Nationwide Accident Repair 92 Oxford Biomedica 7.05 Oxford Catalysts 71 Oxford Instruments 935 Reed Elsevier 508 RM 114.4 RPS Group 242.3 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley

  • ATHLETICS: Chapel on song

    OXFORD City’s Maike Chapel finished fourth in the under 17 women’s heptathlon at the South of England Combined Events Championships. Chapel scored 3,720 points for her seven events at Tilsley Park, Abingdon. Her best results came with second places

  • BOWLS: Galletly bows out in last eight

    Carole Galletly’s bold bid to capture the two-wood singles title at the Bowls England National finals was dashed on Wednesday. The Banbury Central bowler had cruised through to the quarter-finals at Leamington Spa with three impressive victories before

  • RUGBY UNION: Cheesman joins Wasps

    FORMER Oxford University centre Alex Cheesman has signed a one-year contract with Premiership club London Wasps. Triple Blue Cheesman, 22, scored the opening try during the Dark Blues’ 21-10 Varsity Match victory over Cambridge University at Twickenham

  • Music mogul presents engine to rail centre

    MUSIC mogul and railway enthusiast Pete Waterman is giving Didcot Railway Centre a unique present to mark its 50th birthday next month. Mr Waterman, who launched the careers of such stars as Kylie Minogue with hits like The Locomotion, is making the

  • BAR BILLIARDS: Comrades go clear

    Comrades Club are seven points clear at the top of Group A in the Oxford Summer League after coming from behind to earn a 3-3 away draw at Marlborough Club. Arthur McIntyre (3,450), Chris Bateman (3,040) and a fortunate win for Chris Iagoe – after his

  • Woman rescued after car flips

    A WOMAN had to be cut free from a car after it overturned in a field near Burford. The emergency services were called to the scene beside the A424, at about 12.45pm yesterday. Police closed the road at the roundabout with the A361 and

  • COMMENT: It's a hit

    Pete Waterman’s love of the railways is well documented. But the pop guru, who has scored hits with acts such as Kylie and Jason, has a passion quite alien to the charts. Didcot Railway Centre is set to benefit from his generosity to mark its 50th anniversary

  • GOLF: Results round-up

    FRILFORD HEATH Skelton Salver (Blue Course): 1 H Sehmi 77-10=67, 2 A Gavrilovic 74-3=71 (cb), 3 J Summers 76-5=71. OXFORD CITY Stableford No 3: 1 N Fitzgerald 41pts, 2 B Glover 39 (cb), 3 M Broom 39. OXFORD LADIES Nine-hole Stableford: 1 H

  • Daughter says mum has 'new lease of life'

    A daughter says her elderly mother has discovered a new lease of life since moving to an over-60s development in Wantage. Alison Hammond said: “My mother lived in the same house for 45 years but after we had seen Pegasus Court she wanted to move straight

  • Bakery is hit by deep fat fryer blaze

    THE main road through Witney was closed yesterday after a cafe’s deep fat fryer caught fire. The blaze started at Cafe Bakehouse, in High Street, just after 8am and caused smoke logging to three neighbouring shops. Two people had to

  • ATHLETICS: Rivals on title trail

    RADLEY or Oxford City could clinch the Southern Men’s League Division 2 West title in the final round. The penultimate round saw Radley and City finish second in their respective meets at Yeovil and Woking, leaving Radley top of the table on countback

  • RUGBY UNION: It's university challenge

    THERE will be a university derby in round one of the Oxfordshire Cup next season. Oxford Brookes have been drawn against Oxford University Greyhounds, while Banbury will host Wallingford, with ties taking place on November 5 or 6. Henley Hawks, Witney

  • GOLF: Hinton to make England debut

    THE Oxfordshire’s Craig Hinton will make his full England debut in the Home Internationals at County Sligo, Ireland from August 10–12. Hinton, 22, who qualified for the Open at Sandwich, but failed to make the cut, is named in an 11-man squad as England

  • COMMENT: Keep options open

    It HAS been talked about for as long as anyone in this city can remember. Oxford desperately needs a new railway station. The cramped concourse and packed conditions on a busy day are familiar to any passenger. The station is a gateway for thousands

  • Molly sees iconic planes again ahead of air show

    A FORMER Hurricane and Spitfire pilot from Bampton yesterday watched on as historic planes flew into Oxford Airport. The planes arrived to celebrate the air show Fly to the Past, which will take place at the airport on August 21. Molly Rose, 90, was

  • ATHLETICS: England looks for capital joy

    HANNAH England will look to back up her recent success with victory in the Diamond League meeting at Crystal Palace on Saturday. The 24-year-old Oxford City athlete races for the final time on home soil before heading to the World Championships in Daegu

  • RUGBY UNION: Banbury appoint Kerr as coach

    Banbury Bulls have unveiled James Kerr as their new head coach. Kerr joins the club from from Grasshopper Zurich after relocating from Switzerland to North Oxfordshire. Having stopped playing rugby due to a serious neck injury, Kerr has developed his

  • Residents can’t stop university's £57m science building

    A LAST-minute plea by residents against two proposed Oxford University medical research buildings failed last night as councillors approved the plan. Oxford City Council’s east area planning committee backed the £57m scheme for the university’s Old Road

  • GOLF: Captain's relief at Tadmarton success

    TADMARTON Heath ladies finally ended their hoodoo by winning the Oxfordshire Captain’s Inter-Club Trophy. A 2½-½ victory over Oxford Ladies in the final at Witney Lakes earned Tadmarton the spoils in the foursomes event, which was first played for in

  • Ban on blood-stained clothing

    A CHAIN of laboratories which breed animals for medical research has won a High Court injunction banning protestors from wearing “blood stained clothing” outside their offices. Harlan Laboratories UK Limited experienced demonstrations at its site in

  • ‘I’ll go back to jail again, that’s fine’

    A BLIND woman who campaigns against nuclear weapons faces jail for refusing to pay court fines and charges. Susan Clarkson, 64, of Bath Street, in Cowley, will appear before Oxford Magistrates Court this morning, and said: “I am willing to go to prison

  • Little extra funding for ‘well-off’ county

    OXFORDSHIRE is set to get one of the lowest NHS funding increases in the country because we are seen as healthier and wealthier than most of England, the Oxford Mail has learned. The county will receive a 2.6 per cent increase to its annual health budget

  • Shorter stays, fewer beds for seriously ill patients

    FEWER beds, shorter stays for seriously ill patients and one-stop clinics is the way healthcare will be provided in the future at Oxfordshire’s hospitals. That was the message from Paul Brennan, director of clinical services at the Oxford Radcliffe

  • Everything in this flat is eco-friendly

    A couple who renovated their Summertown apartment believe it is Oxford’s greenest short let. Tim Nicholson and Joanne Bowlt went all-out to make the second-floor flat in Rogers Street sustainable and reduce its environmental impact. They chose materials

  • Garden house now on market after series of planning battles

    An architect-designed house in central north Oxford has taken four years, three planning applications and an appeal to complete. Owners Chris Smith and his wife Joanna spent £230,000 building The Garden House in the grounds of their 1930s home where

  • Fears over future of ‘transport hub’

    THE Government is being urged to help secure “a world-class transport hub” for Oxford by halting the sale of an eight-acre site at Oxpens. The British Railways Board (Residuary) (BRBR) is ready to sell off the Thames-side site, but a last ditch

  • United defender Duberry still loves it

    Michael Duberry says he is as enthusiastic for the game as he was when he first made his debut for Chelsea against Coventry aged 17. That was back in May 1994 and now Oxford’s new signing is looking forward to the trip to Rotherham this Saturday – his

  • Broken down train causes rush hour problems

    Commuters are facing delays after a train broke down at Oxford Railway Station. High speed trains, including services heading to London, are not stopping at the station. First Great Western hopes to fix the train and clear the route

  • County bioscience firms booming

    The bioscience sector in Oxfordshire is booming with the county taking the lion’s share of UK investment. A report by the Oxfordshire Bioscience Network (OBN) shows county firms in the field attracted £125m of investors’ cash — 80 per cent

  • 'Work experience' for city MP

    Companies often complain that politicians don't understand the business world, but Oxford East MP Andrew Smith rose to the challenge when he agreed to do 'work experience' at a Headington firm. He joined the five-strong workforce at Leopard

  • Cake encounters led to a life of wedded bliss

    WHEN Rosemary Smy began her job in a grocery shop in 1949 she didn’t think she would end up serving her future husband. The then 21-year-old Bill Clarke kept coming into Hooper’s in Rose Hill to buy some cakes but also, he later admitted, because he

  • Parky at the Pictures (In Cinemas 4/8/2011)

    With the new football season about to kick off this weekend, there couldn't be a better time to release Yves Hinant's documentary Referees. That said, one might quibble about why it's taken two years to reach this country, especially as Euro 2008 now

  • Parky at the Pictures (DVD 4/8/2011)

    Born in Tehran in 1940, Abbas Kiarostami worked as a commercial artist before forging a reputation in the early 1960s as an adverts director. In 1970, he was appointed head of the film unit at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children

  • Absurd claims

    Sir – The Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Oxford East claims that “air pollution is dangerously high across Oxford” (Letters, July 28). This is typical of green scaremongering and is completely untrue. If you tune to page 417 of the BBC Ceefax

  • Car park too far

    Sir – Oxford City Council, on July 27, submitted a planning application for a temporary change of use of the existing car park at Harcourt House, in Marston Road, Oxford, to provide a temporary replacement public car park during the proposed closure of

  • Living the words

    Sir – We applaud Keith Mitchell’s honesty and compassion in recognising that our social care system is “just about bust”. His job was not made easier by a 25 per cent cut in the county’s budget for adult social care by 2015, driven by a draconian public

  • Huge rise in students

    Sir – Your report and leader about objectionable encroachment by the universities on Oxford’s housing space (July 28) is more than justified. I cannot speak for Brookes, but as regards Oxford University the case is unanswerable, on academic as well as

  • Deteriorating service

    Sir – Walking along Pitts Road yesterday I was disgusted to see a dead rat rotting on the verge. It was near the London Road end, and there was a massive pile of refuse within sight, in the area of Coleman Hill flats. No wonder in this hot weather

  • Exemplary care

    Sir – We are all very quick to criticise and throw stones at the NHS. I would like to put the other side of the story, and sing the praises of our health service. Last week, my mother-in-law was unfortunate enough to need to use three separate departments

  • Rising travel costs

    Sir – Oxford’s bus companies have been trumpeting the unalloyed glories of a shared ticketing system, but behind the PR guff the city’s regular travellers have been stitched up. The cost of my three-month pass has gone up from £100 to £115, over three

  • Falling over backwards

    Sir – I was delighted to read your article regarding the “student rooms” on the front page (July 28), bringing it to the attention of all the Oxford citizens who read the paper — and hopefully to the council members who seem blind to the facts. For

  • BBQ mixed case offer, £63

    Wines with plenty of fruit complement the relatively strong smoky flavours from the grill, especially when you are eating outside. Spicy wines in particular do the job very well and are brilliant with marinated meats or just plain juicy sausages

  • Fears over flats development on Oxford United's old home

    PLANS for new flats on the site of Oxford United’s old Manor ground home are worrying residents in Headington. A £1.8m housing association project to build 27 flats in two three-storey buildings was last week awarded to Newbury-based Feltham Construction

  • Nina raises £1,500 for charity by getting her head shaved

    NINA Stickley had her glossy brown locks shaved off to show solidarity with cancer victims. The 24-year-old, from Tower Hill, Witney, said she was inspired to raise money after a colleague at work was diagnosed with breast cancer. The

  • Pedestrian overload

    Sir – I have great sympathy with Roger Moreton’s letter (July 28). So many of us have suffered from groups of visiting students in Oxford with ‘staff’ who are not prepared to take responsibility for their behaviour. Of course, if there were a bus route

  • Theme park Oxford

    Sir – On Saturday, July 23, I visited Oxford in order to go to the Ashmolean Museum and to do some shopping. I knew the city would be crowded at this time of year, and on a Saturday, but I was shocked by the huge numbers of overseas students and visitors

  • Win-win on buses

    Sir — Robin Gill had a bit of a rant (Letters, July 28) about Margaret Thatcher, but this lady solved the “British disease” during her tenure as Prime Minister and we would all do well to remember that. Perhaps our University might reconsider that Honorary

  • Short-sighted view

    Sir – I feel I must respond to Herbert Allen who continues to object to cyclists cycling on the road when there is also a cycle path available. Citing Marston Ferry road as an example he asserts that cyclists ‘shouldn’t be there’ and those who cycle

  • Free to ride

    Sir – May it be suggested persons such as Mr Allen (Letters, July 28) take a read of the Highway Code before accusing cyclists who use roads rather than cycle paths as ‘offenders’. Cyclists are free to ride on any road they so wish with the exception

  • Disregard for limits

    Sir – I travel some 24,000 miles each year using mainly the A34/M40/M42 and the M5 and I am amazed at the flagrant disregard for the maximum speed limits on these roads. I would estimate approximately 70 per cent of motorists exceed these limits by some

  • Non-essential work

    Sir – The county council cabinet is always ready to blame the previous government for all the financial shortcomings of this council’s administration. Now our transport department can enjoy the profligacy of an extra £5m handed down from the Conservative

  • Place to be a child and young person

    Based on the National Census of 2011 there are more than 11,000 unidentified young carers in Oxfordshire. The Oxford Young Carers Project is a charity that aims to support these young carers, aged five-25, whose life is in some way restricted because