Archive

MIKE BELLINGER was well-known for his beard, but now family, friends, and colleagues are growing moustaches in his honour. Mr Bellinger, pictured inset, who ran Bellinger’s Garage in Station Road, Grove, died in September aged 59 after being diagnosed

AN £8m housing redevelopment providing social housing and student accommodation is being planned for the centre of Oxford. Housing association The A2 Dominion Group wants to demolish buildings in Luther Court, off Speedwell Street, and replace them with

7.35: Zigzag Marcella 2, CLOYNE OAK, Clear Reasoning, Con Brio Destiny 3, Ridgedale Cool, Julies Hope. 7.50: Islandanny Man, Angel Risky, Call It Mylene 2, TRUE DAVEY, Igoyougo, Droumeragh Gale 3. 8.05: Liosgarbh West, Farley Zach 2, Eden Vixen, AERO

People convicted of offences at magistrates courts in the county recently: Robert Appleby, 20, of Chowns Close, Thame, admitted shoplifting alcohol valued at £11.99 from BP in Thame on September 11. Five other offences taken into consideration

OXFORDSHIRE is set to go off with a bang as people prepare to celebrate the noisiest night of the year. Firework displays will be held across the county this weekend for Bonfire Night, the celebration of the unveiling of the plot to blow up

My efforts this week to secure rail tickets on the Internet did not prove a signal success. Three times I typed in at laborious length my requirements and payment details. Three times the operation aborted at the final ‘get tickets’ stage of the

An excellent development on the obituary pages of The Times has been the ‘Lives remembered’ section that permits readers to offer their two penn’orth about the late lamented. There was a good one this week from former rail boss Steve McColl who wrote

Though I don’t actually play poker — too many vices already — I am not averse to watching it or reading about it. One place I have watched a game recently is my local pub on Osney, The Punter — soon to be ‘starring’ in the TV series Lewis, as reported

The Oxford Hub — to quote from its website — is “the focal point for charity and volunteering at Oxford University”. For the past five weeks or so, it has also been the operator of a fast-developing restaurant in the ground floor of its new headquarters

This lightly spiced fruit loaf is positively crammed with dates. Some are softened before adding to the cake mixture; the rest are chopped and added before placing it in the oven. The result is a delicious, moist cake which not only tastes of dates, but

In the middle of my bookcase sits a very worn little book. Its cover is smattered with grease marks and sticky fingerprints show which pages have proved most popular. If it fell to the floor it would automatically open at page 176. This contains

It is exactly 1,100 years since Oxford was first written about. In 911, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle referred to a settlement, which had grown up around the Saxon Priory of St Frideswide (now Christ Church), as Oxanaforda. A gallop through that invaluable

New Zealand-born screenwriter Andrew Niccol has consistently conjured dark clouds with his dystopian visions of life in the 21st century and beyond. His debut Gattaca, starring Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, cast a chill with its depiction of a society

‘I can detach myself from the world,” P.G. Wodehouse once declared, and in her programme notes elevonetheatre’s Helen Taylor tells us this was her inspiration as she set about directing The Play’s the Thing, Wodehouse’s witty adaptation of Jatek

‘In the last couple of years I’ve done quite a lot of recitals with harp, rather than the more usual piano,” Dame Felicity Lott told me in an Oxford Times interview. She added: “That’s really interesting, because it gives you a lot more freedom to experiment

Wings, as it turned out, was the third part of a triple bill which opened with a half-hour gig by the Oxfordshire group Kismet. They consist of Melissa Holding on accordion, Jackie Singer on violin and mandola, Kath Lewis on clarinet and John Fletcher

Edward Albee, the American playwright behind A Delicate Balance, is best known for penning the 1962 play Who’s Afraid of Virigina Woolf?, a seminal look at marriage turned catastrophically sour. With A Delicate Balance, he offers a similarly bleak

Over the centuries, the Tree of Life has acted as a powerful metaphor for the relationship between different life forms and for the way in which constituent parts come together as a whole. In her paintings Caroline Meynell explores the metaphor in relation

This exhibition pays homage to Didcot’s 50-year-old coal-fired power station. As plans are in place to demolish it, the show serves to recognise the impact it has had on the landscape, as a pollutant and as the provider of electricity on which we all

Dadbrook Gallery, in Cuddington, near Thame, is holding an exhibition of original prints by some of the great European masters of the 20th century, including Marc Chagall, Joan Miro (as above) and Pablo Picasso. It will also showcase some of Marc Chagall

Concerts for medical charities have been given by musicians working in the health professions in Oxford since 1978. They started in a modest way with a recital in the old Radcliffe Infirmary in memory of a young nurse who had died of melanoma.

Remember, remember the fifth of November? Compton Verney gallery (just north of Banbury) has done just that but in psychedelic style. Their new exhibitions include one on the history of fireworks — which appears to have gone full circle. Fireworks were

Viola players are the butt of jokes, but composers seem to have it in for horn players: it is they who often get the tricky solos, with nowhere to hide if a wrong note should accidentally emerge. So do you have to be a born risk-taker to be a horn

2.00pm on Sunday 4 December 2011 at Cornerstone Arts Centre, Didcot Theatre of Widdershins presents The Elves and the Shoemaker Elvis Schumacher, cobbler and craftsman, creates the most beautiful footwear. But he's hit hard times... everyone's

The Oxford Philomusica’s glorious Beethoven fest at the Sheldonian last Saturday was a triumph, both for its programming and the robust, powerful delivery from an orchestra that rarely puts a foot wrong. The programme recreated the one Beethoven

The new Music at Oxford season opened in typically adventurous fashion, with viol consort Fretwork presenting their unique version of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Originally written for harpsichord, the Aria and its 30 variations have been transcribed

Monday 12 December - Saturday 17 December 2011 at Cornerstone Arts Centre, Didcot One Snowy Night - A Tale from Percy’s Park by Nick Butterworth Cornerstone’s Christmas show is a real treat this year! Full on fun for all the family,

As an example of politically committed theatre in Brechtian style Earthquakes in London, which Headlong first staged last year at the National Theatre, is unusual — refreshingly so — in avoiding the hectoring tone usually associated with the genre

Waddesdon Manor Friday 9 December 2011 6.00pm - 8.00pm Price: £7.00 adults, £3.50 children, under 3s free Enjoy the fun of a circus and carol concert. Jugglers, fire-eaters, street performers, music and the Reindeer Trail

Waddesdon Manor Plant Centre Until Sunday 11 December 2011 10.30am - 4.30pm Entry: Normal Gardens admission charges apply Our longest running market - there is something for everyone including fresh ducks, cakes, sweets

Waddesdon Manor Plant Centre Thursday 3 to Sunday 6 November 10.30am - 4.30pm Entry: Normal Gardens admission charges apply Start your Christmas shopping early with over 50 stalls offering ideal stocking fillers, presents

Hannah Ensor started her stickmen stories to take her mind off her disability. Now the Didcot maths tutor is selling the quirky tales and has written two books for children. Miss Ensor, 29, of Marsh Lane, created the books Biscuit Baking and Welly Walks

A village near Oxford has moved a step closer to its dream of having its own shop, two decades after the last one closed. Neighbours in Sandford-on-Thames hope to open a community shop and cafe in the new year. The village’s last shop, at the old Post

A thunderbolt from Declan Benjamin gave Oxford City a 1-0 victory over Abingdon United in the Evo-Stik Southern League’s Red Insure Cup first round on Tuesday night. After an even first half, Benjamin scored the only goal with a cracking drive from 30

Knitters are doing their bit for this year’s Poppy Appeal selling woollen poppies at their local shop. Four East Hendred villagers have created more than 100 of the flowers which are on sale at Hendred Village Stores priced from 75p to £4.

A PUB near Faringdon is the pride of Oxfordshire after being voted the Central Southern Region CAMRA pub of the 2011. The Radnor Arms in Coleshill beat county champions from Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, and this is the third time in four years a White

Abingdon’s memorial is fit for heroes and ready for the remembrance day service after a £71,000 revamp. The town centre monument had been tilting due to problems with its foundations but it became unstable last year. So Abingdon Town Council spent the

AEA Technology 2 BMW 4878 Electrocomponents 208 Nationwide Accident Repair 88.5 Oxford Biomedica 5.1 Oxford Catalysts 52.25 Oxford Instruments 793 Reed Elsevier 527.5 RM 68 RPS Group 181 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

Red Bull Racing today confirmed that World Champion Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Christian Horner and Adrian Newey would attend the team’s celebration show run event in Milton Keynes on Saturday December 10. In collaboration with Milton

Oxford United have missed out on live TV coverage for the FA Cup first round. Their tie away to Sheffield United was not chosen as one of the two live games being screened by ESPN. Instead, they have gone for the matches between Blue Square Bet Premier

THE Lewis Oxford pub crawl continued yesterday as the cast and crew filmed on location at another city boozer. Just weeks after they shot scenes at the Head of the River pub on Folly Bridge, the camera crews were propping up the bar again,

Langford fought back to beat Souldern 3-2 in extra-time in their Banbury Charity Cup first-round clash. Stephen Reading put Souldern ahead, only for Stephen Lewis and Sam Cooper to give Langford a 2-1 lead. Reading’s second forced extra-time, where

THE delayed public inquiry into the controversial Cogges Link Road in Witney will resume on Tuesday. It will decide whether Oxfordshire County Council can compulsorily purchase land needed for the scheme. The road aims to reduce congestion and pollution

OXFORDSHIRE’S water bills must not go up to fund a major “profit driven” sewage works in London, a probe has found. The Selborne Commission said Thames Water’s £3.6bn plan to build a 20-mile pipe to stop sewage being pumped into the Thames in the capital

WOMEN'S FOOTBALL GEORGIA Rose and Stacey Oakey each scored hat-tricks as Carterton beat Didcot Casuals 8-0 in Division 2 of the Thames Valley League. Megan Glyn and Bryony Vaughan also found the net in a fine victory. In Division 1, Tower Hill stretched

Colin Ryan got the winner for ten man Rose Hill as they reached the semi-finals of the RT Harris Oxford City FA County Junior League Cup with a 2-1 win over Community All Stars. Michael Bateman fired Rose Hill ahead, only for James Riley to equalise.

Rob Belcher scored after only 20 seconds as Freeland Res edged to a 2-1 victory at Oxford University Press Res in Oxfordshire Senior League Division 2. Belcher put them ahead with a cool finish, only for Phil McCabe to chip the equaliser over Jamie Flood

NORTH BERKS LEAGUE Hat-tricks for Arran Gray and Paul Hessey helped Division 3 side Blewbury hammer Division 4 West Uffington United 11-2 in round one of the War Memorial Cup. Chris Crickmore and Nathan Jaggard bagged doubles, alongside a Tom Smith

John McMahon fired a four-timer as Oxford Yellows roared back from 3-0 down to win 4-3 at Barton United in the Critchleys Upper Thames Valley League Premier Division, writes TIM SIRET. The hosts had taken what seemed a solid lead through Bradley Fine

YOUTH FOOTBALL OXFORDSHIRE produced a fine all-round team display to beat Berks & Bucks 5-1 in the South West Counties Youth Football Championship. Alex Kederski gave Oxon a 25th-minute lead when he netted from close range. A fine strike into the

NORTH BERKS LEAGUE Steventon Res failed to close the gap at the top of Division 4 East, losing 3-1 at Westminster. Dave Neal scored their goal, but strikes by Leo Swadling, Tim Slater and Dean Stanford won it for Westminster. East Hendred Res secured

James Watkins salvaged a point for Kennington as they came from behind to draw 2-2 at Mansfield Road in the Oxfordshire Senior League Premier Division. Steve West fired the hosts ahead after 25 minutes after fastening onto a long throw-in. However,

TODAY we profile Stephanie Griggs-Trevarthen, who is a volunteer co-ordinator for Free Cakes for Kids, a community service which provides birthday cakes for families who struggle to provide for them. When she lived in Cowley Ms Griggs-Trevarthen

This week, music and festival organiser Hugh Phillimore speaks about his love of all things musical. *WHAT I’M CALLED? Hugh Richard Phillimore *MY AGE IN YEARS? 51 *WHAT I DO? I’ve been in the music business for about 32 years

I would like to thank the “bold headed” cyclist who hit me on Saturday and just continued unaware of the pain he had caused. The incident happened at about 6.10pm just opposite the Water Eaton park-and-ride. Firstly Mr Cyclist, the pavement is for pedestrians

THIS Coalition Government, isn’t good at all for any of us. All they seem to do is waste money. If they are not paying out for disasters, then they are throwing good money into fighting wars, such as Libya and Afghanistan. And to top it all, the International

THE recent report by one of the national newspapers regarding outbuildings such as shed and garages used without planning consent by unscrupulous landlords, for habitation, is something I wrote about before. At the moment any local authority, who have

THE Government’s proposed changes to planning law will see sweeping changes controlling development. The recent government consultation attracted more than 10,000 responses, proving this is a hot topic. In my response I raised my concerns that the new

This week I had occasion to use a small branch of a major supermarket in Oxford. At 8am there were no tills open with personal service, only the unreliable ‘self-service’ tills with long queues. I left and found a more obliging shop. Presumably this

I MUST disagree, as I am sure many others will, about breastfeeding. It creates a great bond, improves resistance to illness. In addition it is no problem if the milkman doesn’t call. • dad doesn’t have to get up in the night • the cat can’t get at

GILES SPORTS WITNEY YOUTH LEAGUE TOWER Hill cruised to an 8-0 victory over Hook Norton in the Under 14 A League. Using the slope and breeze in the first half, Tower netted through Tom Oddy, Calum McGinness, Connor Newcombe, Ben Thomas and Telmo Fernandez

WITH reference to the letter ‘Pavement is dangerous’, Oxford Mail, October 25, I was also unfortunate to trip and fall over the same slab at the corner of George Street and Cornmarket, like your correspondent Mr Jeff Lyes. I was bruised and hurt my hand

THE vote the majority of MPs took in the House of Commons last week flies in the face of democracy. Polls show that the people of this country not only want a referendum but want “out” of the European Union. Yet, more than 400 MPs voted “No”. Since

Kieran Cross bagged a brace as Charlton United won 2-1 at Kidlington Old Boys in Oxfordshire Senior League Division 1. Daniel Jones had earlier equalised for Kidlington. Northway saw off Chadlington 3-0, with goals from Liam Palfreyman, Daniel Vajestica

NORTH BERKS LEAGUE SAM White struck twice as Crowmarsh Gifford continued their unbeaten start to the Division 1 season with a 4-1 win over local rivals AFC Wallingford, writes PHIL ANNETS. Andy Allum and Liam Strudwick also scored for Crowmarsh, who

THIS is the man police want to speak to after an 80-year-old woman was conned by a burglar who tricked his way into her home and snatched her purse. The crook called at the home of an 80-year-old woman in Mill Street, Stanton St John, at about 3.30pm

A DAIRY farmer prosecuted for having unlicensed foreign workers says he is unable to find British employees for the job. Brian Barnett wound up in court last week and admitted employing two Filipino workers through an unlicensed overseas labour

The match might be four months away – but it’s still the one everyone wants to watch. Tickets for Oxford United’s League Two derby clash against Swindon went on sale on Tuesday. And supporters just couldn’t wait to make sure that they secured a seat

IT may have taken more than five hours of queueing but for fans of rapper Professor Green the wait was well worth it. The acclaimed artist was met with screams of delight from fans at HMV in Oxford’s Cornmarket Street as he signed copies of his new album

Secondary schools were last night encouraged to split from county council control as another school launched a bid for academy status. Melinda Tilley, council member for schools improvement, issued a “go for it” challenge as Eynsham’s Bartholomew

Melinda Tilley, the county council member for schools improvement, seems convinced that academies are the way to go. If secondary schools think they will be better off getting cash direct from the Government, then they should cut the apron strings with

THE Bay Tree Hotel in Burford won the Small Hotel of the Year gold award in the Oscars of English tourism earlier this year. So it is perhaps not surprising that senior spies from Libya, Britain and the United States chose it as a base for top-level

STRIKING workers yesterday protested against cuts to youth services outside an Oxfordshire County Council meeting. The members of the Unite union are unhappy at council plans to cut money spent on youth services from £3.7m to £2.3m. Mike Beal, Unite

TWO patients with a debilitating degenerative disease have spoken of their hope for a cure. Ann Payne, 63, from Chinnor, and David Thomas, 64, from Didcot, have motor neurone disease and are taking part in pioneering research at the Oxford

PRINCESS Anne unveiled the plaque at the new John Paul ll Centre, at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, in Bicester yesterday. She said: “To do this in this day is no mean achievement and I offer my congratulations to all of you. “You can enjoy

Brian Barnett found himself in front of magistrates last week. The Brize Norton farmer was given a conditional discharge for using an unlicensed overseas labour agency to take on two Filipino workers. There was never any question Mr Barnett had mistreated

Witney & District FA REIGNING Premier Division champions Hanborough fell to a 2-0 defeat at Spartan Rangers, who moved up to second place in the process. Dave Cross and Andrew Shaw scored Spartan’s goals. FC Chequers remain undefeated, following a

HUNDREDS of volunteers at East Oxford children’s hospice Helen & Douglas House have been honoured by the Queen for their fund-raising work. David Cryer, head of retail for the charity, received the Queen’s Award on behalf of the hospice from the Princess

CHIPPING Norton Town maintained their four-point lead at the top of Division 1 with a 2-0 victory over Witney Royals Res on Saturday, writes ANTHONY BARLOW. Warwick Tompkins and Shaun Weller scored the goals that keep Royals rooted to the foot of the

ELSIE Roots has lived through the Great Depression, the Blitz and two World Wars. But as she celebrated her 100th birthday at her home in The Chestnuts, Wantage, on Monday she was musing on issues closer to home. Asked how life today compared with previous

CHURCH leaders in Wallingford are planning a new food bank due to the “urgent” need in the town. The Churches Together Wallingford group had planned to run a facility from the disused evangelical church in Wigod Way that will be converted to a youth

VILLAGERS living near Didcot are demanding a new bridge over the Thames to cope with extra traffic created by more than 2,000 proposed new homes. As part of South Oxfordshire District Council’s core strategy – a development blueprint for the next 15