ONE of the county’s longest-running festivals is preparing for its 47th event. Originally set up as a small event to raise money for community groups, Towersey Festival now attracts up to 10,000 people and takes over most of the village near Thame.
PARISH councillors are trying to clear up confusion over a persistent sewage leak in Shipton-under-Wychwood. The problem affects Trots Brook, which runs through the middle of the village, with sanitary items spotted in the stream. The leak is thought
CHILDREN leaving Oxford’s Kids Unlimited nursery this summer enjoyed a special graduation ceremony, attended by Deputy Lord Mayor Alan Armitage. Three-year-old Magnus Aldridge, from Uffington, who has been going to the nursery at Oxford Business Park
YOUNG people at a Witney youth centre will take its fundraising efforts to businesses in person. Base 33 in High Street, which was visited by Prime Minister David Cameron this week, is asking traders for donations. Meanwhile, a new youth club is set
On a dreary day during the height of the Second World War, a plane suddenly appeared above what is now Oxford Airport. The Kidlington airfield was then used as an RAF training base but, due to wet weather, every plane was grounded. Personnel thought
An exhibition featuring the best of the south east’s architecture is coming to Oxfordshire. Inspire features more than 20 projects in the region which won awards last year from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) including the Ashmolean
A WATER firm has given mussels the bullet in a bid to stop them clogging up Banbury’s water pipes. Every year huge infestations of zebra mussels from the Black and Caspian Seas cost UK water companies millions of pounds by clogging up pipes and treatment
A HOSPITAL radio station has much to celebrate after attracting thousands of new listeners and winning an award. Last November, Radio Horton started broadcasting 24-hours a day over the Internet waves, giving more than just hospital patients a chance
TWO football teams are to play a memorial match for former player Jay Wills, who was killed in a car crash last week. Hook Norton Football Club will play Bloxham Football Club at its ground in The Bourne, on Sunday, September 4. Mr Wills, 17, died
RIGHT UNTIL THE day she died, Carol Steward fought tirelessly to make other people’s lives better. Now her son is carrying on in her name — starting by backing an Oxfordshire blood drive. Mrs Steward was a well-loved Bicester town councillor, who passed
DELAYED roadworks in north Oxfordshire are giving drivers a bumpy ride because diversion routes are so bad. A stretch of road north of Banbury was closed on March 21 for flood prevention work by the Environment Agency and was meant to reopen on July
AN OXFORD family has been left furious after their six-year-old daughter’s bike was stolen the night before they went on holiday. Then, when the Wests, who live in Buckingham Street, Grandpont, returned from France they found the mother’s bike had been
GARDENS near Wheatley have been playing host to a children’s summer orienteering trail. Throughout August children have been attempting to find their way around Waterperry Gardens with the help of compass directions and plenty of fun clues.
OXFORD remains one of the best places to find a job in the country despite the latest surge in unemployment, according to a new survey. According to the job search website adzuna.co.uk, there are just 2.57 people claiming unemployment benefit for every
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FOR MANY it is a quirky festival, but for the gardeners at Elder Stubbs it is much more. The Elder Stubbs Festival in Rymers Lane celebrates its 20th year tomorrow with its customary mix of live music, performing arts, community stalls, and
THIS year’s Barton Bash will go ahead after all, despite organisers cancelling it because they were ‘buried by paperwork’. The estate’s annual fun day, which last year attracted more than 2,000 people, was due to be held on Saturday, July 9
Deddington Farmers’ Market will be in the Market Place tomorrow. About 50 stalls will running from 9am to 12.30pm.
Police from the town’s neighbourhood team are holding a Have Your Say event tomorrow. They will be at Carterton Community Centre, in Marigold Square, Shilton Park, from 10am to 11am.
Patisserie Maison Blanc has been awarded a Gold Star at the Great Taste Awards for its Tarte au Citron. Nearly 7,500 foods were entered into the 2011 Great Taste Awards, with only 1686 awarded a Gold Star. Maison Blanc was founded in Oxford by Raymond
Regulars at a popular football pub could make a huge difference to a toddler who lost all her limbs to meningitis. Drinkers at the Priory, next to Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium, are planning a whole season of fundraising events for Charlotte
September 13 is the date businesses in a parade of Oxford shops have been told they must close by. Businesses on the corner of Walton Street and Little Clarendon Street have been given notice by a developer planning to renovate into 41 student
A PUB will bring a bit of the countryside to East Oxford when it reopens today. The James Street Tavern, off Cowley Road, shut in March but has been refurbished. The new owners plan for it to become a community pub and will offer live
A TEENAGER who lost his niece to cancer in the middle of his studies has managed to pull through and make the grade. Sophie Whipp, 15, from Greater Leys, Oxford, was studying for her GCSEs at the Oxford Academy when she died of leukaemia
DETERMINED Elly Haigh is heading to a top university after securing two As and two A*s despite battling a brain tumour throughout her sixth form years. The 18-year-old, from Cholsey, has lost all her sight in one eye, and half her vision in
FOUR years ago, Ann Tivey found it hard to even think about the future after her mother Jacqui died of bowel cancer. But yesterday the 18-year-old Burford School student, pictured, was awarded a place at Oxford University after receiving four
FEW of the sixth formers picking up their results yesterday at Oxfordshire schools were planning a gap year break, because of fears over the 2012 tuition fee hike. More students are scrambling for university places to avoid fees of up to £9,000
One of the most welcome sights for United fans on Tuesday night was the return from injury of midfielder Paul McLaren. The former Tranmere player has been sidelined by a calf injury which saw him miss out on the U’s pre-season and he showed
SATURDAY FOOTBALL EVO-STIK SOUTHERN LEAGUE Premier Div: Bashley v Banbury Utd, Cirencester Utd v Oxford City. Div 1 South & West: Abingdon Utd v Paulton Rov, Didcot Tn v Hungerford Tn, Stourport Swifts v North Leigh. FA CUP Extra prelim round:
Abingdon United have struck oil by attracting a sponsorship deal with American company Armadillo Energy Inc. The Oklahoma outfit have made an initial cash injection and will add their support on the business side by developing the commercial
TEENAGER Doug Booker took an extra year to complete his A-Levels after his mum, radio star Ali Booker, died during his studies. But the 19-year-old’s hard work was rewarded yesterday when he got some top grades at King Alfred’s sixth form in
OXONIAN riders captured the 25-mile Leiden Plaque Handicap Time trial on the Cumnor course. The 60-year-old trophy is to commemerate the annual exchange visit and is fought out between Oxonian CC, Oxford City rc and Banbury Star CC, the best
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Here's my reason why rioting has happened and caused so much devastation to so many lives: a meaning for life. The violence on the streets is a warning that people are growing tired of these cutbacks, cutting too fast and deep. As for the riots and
It is easy for David Cameron to condemn looters as criminals. So indeed they are. It is easy for some others to blame the parents. In some cases that may be true. However, our political masters would be well advised to look closer to home before seeking
Oxford United’s players will be looking to end their wretched league record at the County Ground on Sunday, having not won there for 38 years. The intense rivalry between the two sides started on August 21, 1965, when the game at the County
Oxford City boss Mike Ford has vowed to make changes for Saturday’s Premier Division trip to Cirencester Town after his side’s 6-0 midweek thrashing at AFC Totton. City were looking to get their first win following a decent display in their opener against
NERVOUS sixth formers across Oxfordshire picked up their A-Level results yesterday, with many heading straight to university in September to avoid substantial tuition fees in 2012. Oxford’s The Cherwell School posted the best results among
ABINGDON Rowing Club’s women crews enjoyed a successful day with four victories at the Maidenhead Regatta. Their intermediate 2 quad of Victoria Bennett, Claire Hutchings, Amelia Munsey and Laura Richards beat Weybridge to win their final. Munsey collected
Serious Cricket Home Counties Premier League HORSPATH captain Adam Krol says it is win or bust tomorrow as they visit Dinton in Division 2 West. Basement boys Horspath are 19 points adrift of safety with three games to play, having won just once this
So David Cameron says there is no doubt many of the rioters have no fathers. I don’t know how on earth he came to that conclusion. So he doesn’t think that far too many British jobs go to foreigners, while British men and women have to sit it out on
At a time when many people are going on holiday and MPs are normally taking a break from Westminster, it is important that we remember people who are struggling to afford everyday living, and for whom the idea of a holiday is out of the question. Earlier
Having no expertise in any relevant field, I don’t claim to possess any insight into the complex and varied causes (now being admitted by some more enlightened observers) of the riots and looting in some of our cities, let alone the solutions to the problem
In reference to the riots, police commissioners and so forth: in the past, the above have pronounced that more bobbies on the beat would not lower the crime rate. In that case, during the riots, how is it that more ‘bobbies’ put on the beat diminished
Personally I didn’t find it amusing. Word that I was to attend Fairport's Cropredy Convention 2011 was for family info, not a signal for near-hysteria from my younger son. Was this an attempt to return to the Swinging Sixties or the Hippies’ era that
I am having a real struggle to understand the complexities afforded to tradesmen by Oxfordshire County Council (Parking battle for tradesmen, Oxford Mail, August 16). Why must a tradesman be forced to use the park and ride in order to come into Oxford
A THUG who subjected his girlfriend to a sustained attack during a night out in Oxford was jailed by magistrates. Lee Atkinson, of The Grove, Abingdon, set upon Nina Mcgowan while the pair were on a date in Oxford on July 25. Such was the ferocity of
MORE than 16,000 chickens will be going ‘cheep’ tomorrow as an Oxfordshire farmer hatches a cracking plan for charity. Peter Reade is calling on all smallholders, farmers, shop owners and omelette lovers to make their way to his farm and shell out £1
It seems our politicians agree that the riots are a sign of a breakdown in our society, but as to why and what to do they are silent or simply populist. One approach that gets little if any time is to understand that people behave according to their
Let us not forget for one moment that both the Government and the police have been involved in high-profile cases of ‘criminality and greed’ with the expenses scandal as well as bribery and corruption. Neither have any right to criticise anyone of the
Oxford United’s key players have returned at just the right time for Sunday’s massive derby clash against Swindon at the County Ground. Last Saturday, Simon Heslop signalled his return to fitness with a cracking strike in the 1-1 draw against
FA Cup HELLENIC League clubs embark on the Cup trail tomorrow at the extra preliminary round stage. Kidlington host Hillingdon Borough, from the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division, and will be confident after winning their two league outings
Minor Counties Championship OXFORDSHIRE have received mixed news on the injury front ahead of Sunday’s final Western Division clash with Cheshire at Alderley Edge. Opening batsman Richard Kaufman, who made 156 and 80 in the last match, is ruled out
GUYS and Dolls from across Oxfordshire are treading the boards for a summer production of the much loved musical. About 150 youngsters are performing the hit gambling-themed show at The New Theatre in George Street, Oxford. The musical opened last night
The latest figures on overcrowding of rush-hour trains between Oxfordshire and London Paddington from the Department for Transport make seriously uncomfortable reading. With commuters already paying more than £4,000 a year for a season ticket — with
MORE than 200 people lined Headley Way in Headington yesterday for the repatriation of the body of Lieutenant Daniel John Clack from 1st Battalion The Rifles. The cortege made its way from RAF Lyneham to the John Radcliffe Hospital, arriving in Headley
HOSPITALS in Oxfordshire will get a research cash boost of more than £100m which could save thousands of lives nationwide. The money, which will be paid over five years, will fund trials into groundbreaking medicine and treatments for cancer, diabetes
A man was last night remanded by magistrates after a woman was allegedly threatened with a sword in Abingdon. Kevin Stone, of Andersey Way, Abingdon, is accused of threatening to kill his ex-partner Sara Payne in Caldecott Chase, Abingdon, on Wednesday
A 20-year-old woman punched a man who tried to grab her in East Oxford. The victim was walking along Meadow Lane at about 9.15pm on Wednesday when she became aware of someone following her, police said. She changed direction but was then pushed from
A FATHER-OF-TWO was fined £1,000 for drink-driving with his children in the car. Antonino Bellinvia, of Gaisford Road, Cowley, appeared before magistrates charged with being three times over the legal limit when he was stopped in Henley Avenue
SQUATTERS have taken over a disused industrial unit in East Oxford and are planning to turn it into a self-styled ‘Pleb’s College’. Five squatters moved into 55 Randolph Street, formerly a fishing tackle factory, overnight on Saturday.
THE squatters who have taken over a disused factory in East Oxford are at pains to portray themselves as being committed to the local community. That’s a good outlook to have and we hope they are genuine that their presence will be, at worst
GAZING into our crystal ball, there may be an unintended benefit out of the rise in university fees planned for 2012. Those looking at their A-Level results yesterday are the lucky last under the old fees structure – although it means no gap
Oxford United legend Joey Beauchamp says he wishes he could turn back the clock 15 years and help them to victory against another former team Swindon in Sunday’s derby clash at the County Ground. Beauchamp, 40, made 362 appearances for the
FIREFIGHTERS were called to a chimney fire in a farmhouse near Stanton Harcourt last night. The crew from Eynsham found a fire involving the flue and surround of a wood-burning stove on the ground floor at around 9pm. The crews identified the
