Archive

WHEN Oxford’s The DFC comic folded less than a year after it was created, young readers were devastated. Now a new comic – aimed at improving literacy for reluctant young readers – is rising from the ashes. Called The Phoenix, it is

7.35: Keeperhill Katie, Carneys Law 2, CARRIGOE BIGPHIL, Mica Rainbow, Roadstown Peggy 3, Ballymac Queen. 7.50: ALL JACK, Annan Express 3, Gragane Leila, All Black Gus, Johnny Said So 2, Milton Campbell. 8.05: Demontforts Lady, Queen

THE county is preparing to share the tears of four stricken service families tomorrow when the bodies of their loved ones are repatriated from Afghanistan. Lance Corporal Peter Eustace from 2nd Battalion The Rifles (2 Rifles) was killed by

WHAT I’M CALLED: Kannaiyan Rabindranath or simply as “Rabi” as friends and colleagues call me. MY AGE IN YEARS: 37 years............wish I could quote something lower! WHAT I DO: I am a consultant nephrologist. In plain English, what it means is that

Regarding the recent debate on duration of conscriptions, being two years or 18 months, I was conscripted on June 5, 1947, served two years in the Royal Berks, came home on July 5, 1949, to be placed on the Z Reserve list. I was recalled

I am 90 years old. I was called to the Army on November 1, 1945 ,and did my six weeks in Carlisle Castle. I was sent to GHQ Cairo where I transferred to Royal Signals. I was sent to Palestine for a cipher course then transferred to a place called Nanyuki

I may not have at my fingertips all the information regarding the EU and Common Market, other than to disagree with Glyn Limmer. To the best of my knowledge, it was the formation of Nato that was introduced to prevent war between European nations, not

Let me clear up the many misconceptions on the EU expressed in G Limmer's letter (Oxford Mail, November 14). Under EU Procurement Law any large EU government contracts are awarded to EU members and not necessarily on the lowest cost basis. If the UK

I must agree with most of your readers regarding parking permits. We have to pay for permits to allow us to park on our streets (when there are functions gong on at the Kassam Stadium, ie Oxford United at home, plus every Sunday the boot sale). After

I think the Government is being hypocritical with some of its policies. Recently a woman from Blackbird Leys had a £25,000 benefit fraud hardly punished at all. Yet on the other hand the Government wants to appoint a panel of people to judge whether

Among this year’s Oxford Christmas decorations I noticed a bicycle pulling a sleigh above the High Street. I am unaware whether there is supposed to be any profound significance to this but what little kid is going to be daft enough to believe that sledges

It’s such an honour to say thank you to the tens-of-thousands of people in the UK who took part in this year’s CSV Make a Difference Day at the end of October. Although we are still doing the number crunching, it looks like we’ve beaten the 70,000 who

With reference to John Tanner’s letter (Oxford Mail, November 3), could he please provide evidence of prosperity and democracy that the EU has brought to us all in Britain? And also give sensible reasons as to why Britain should fully embrace the EU

Sometimes huge holes are torn in the fabric of our communities when individuals whose personality, heart and drive have carved better lives not only for themselves but people around them are cruelly taken from us. Such is the case with Peter

AT A time when it seems only dark clouds blot out the horizon, isn’t it reassuring to hear of a project that is actually, genuinely, 100 per cent working and helping to get young people into jobs? It may only be a modest initiative, but already

the debate about NHS funding will ineitably take a new twist. Oxfordshire gets far less NHS money than more deprived areas – that’s because we’re quite healthy, they say. But to keep chucking money at areas where people are putting their own

A WOMAN was driving home when she saw thieves making off in two of her family’s five cars after her Farnborough home was raided by burglars. The stunned woman chased the men who had stolen a BMW and a black Mazda TS2 from the drive of her house

ONE lane northbound on the M40 between Junctions 8a and 9 is closed after two cars collided today. Police were called to the incident, between a dark red Ford Focus and black Polo, at 11.15am. A woman has been taken to the John Radcliffe

AN ABINGDON minister has condemned the criminals who stripped thousands of pounds worth of lead from his church roof. Abingdon Baptist Church was targeted last week and became the latest town building to fall victim to thieves looking to make money from

YOUNG people in Wallingford are getting a new youth centre, thanks to town council leaders who battled for the past year to find them new premises. In September, the town’s youth centre in Clapcot Way closed its doors as part of a county council cuts

Hundreds of school pupils will fill the Wallingford town’s Market Place for a carol concert and festival of lanterns on Wednesday, December 14. The market place will be closed to traffic from 6pm to 7.30pm and the procession of children, like Jamie Reeve

NORTH Oxfordshire residents are being invited to the town’s Christmas knees-up with the spectacular switch on of Banbury’s festive lights. Emmerdale star Jeff Hordley will do the honours at 5.30pm on Sunday at a stage in front of the town hall

AEA Technology 0.22 BMW 4374 Electrocomponents 193.8 Nationwide Accident Repair 69 Oxford Biomedica 4.8 Oxford Catalysts 51 Oxford Instruments 924 Reed Elsevier 504.75 RM 71.6 RPS Group 179 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

Two men arrested on suspicion of duping a 90-year-old man of £700 in a distraction burglary at his Cherwell Drive home in Headington will not face charges. The 44-year-old man from Chatham and the 46-year-old man from Oxford were arrested after police

It took more than a year to complete at a cost of £1.3m, but less than two months after it opened Didcot’s revamped civic hall needs new doors at a cost of £4,000. The town council, that owns the building, says the three sets of wooden fire doors were

ALL aboard – the elderly and disabled will soon enjoy a ride on North Oxford’s miniature railway following a grant from the Big Lottery Fund. The Cutteslowe Park railway has been running for the past 25 years and about 20,000 passengers a year enjoy

A two-time rapist from Barton has been jailed for six years. James Hurst was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Monday having earlier admitted two counts of rape and an ABH on the same woman. Prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson said the

Jamie Dutton scored twice in The Tree’s 3-1 win at Cold Ash (Newbury) in the Berks & Bucks Sunday Junior Trophy second round. Adam Hogan also netted.

Women's football Tower Hill Ladies reached the second round of the Oxfordshire Cup with a 4-0 thrashing of Marston Saints. Lisa Freeman curled home the first, then Nicola Warner fired in. Emma Proctor’s shot hit Marston’s Rebecca Biefers and went

UNDER-THREAT journalists at BBC Oxford have been given fresh hope by the corporation’s director general Mark Thompson. Speaking before the House of Commons public accounts committee, the BBC boss, pictured right, acknowledged the public support for regional

THE remains of two children hastily buried in shallow graves have been found among bones dating back to the 12th century during a community excavation in East Oxford. The Archeox project spent six weeks working in the grounds of Bartlemas Chapel

DIDCOT Casuals have been left carrying the North Berks League flag in the Berks and Bucks Intermediate Cup following their 1-0 win at home to Thatcham Town Res in the third round. JR Willis scored the only goal that felled Casuals’ Hellenic League Division

DAVID Cameron paid a top lobbyist £137,500 for land neighbouring his home in Dean, near Witney. It has been disclosed the Prime Minister bought the land from Lord Chadlington, chief executive of one of the county’s top public relations companies and

OXFORD: Road works on Iffley Road are ahead of schedule, with phase one of the project now almost complete. The programme of road reconstruction, drainage work and the installation of a zebra crossing near Stockmore Street started on October 5 and was

MORE spacious trains are to be provided in a £29m investment to ease overcrowding for Oxford-based commuters, it was confirmed yesterday. Train operator First Great Western and the Department for Transport is investing in new carriages for the fleet

MOST of the groups who use Witney’s closed Corn Exchange have found new homes but users have still formed a campaign group to push for the entertainment centre to reopen. User groups were left in the dark when the arts centre suddenly closed

NORTH BERKS LEAGUE STAR of the week was Drayton Res goalkeeper Tim Absolom, who saved three penalties in five minutes against Division 3 leaders Dorchester, writes Phil Annets. Dorchester still won the game 3-0 with strikes from Dan Brind, Billy Warner

GILES SPORTS WITNEY YOUTH LEAGUE RYAN Barrass scored a 25-yard cracker as Chipping Norton Colts hit back for a share of the spoils in a 2-2 draw against Bampton Town Colts in the Under 15 A League. Hosts Chippy went ahead on 20 minutes when Lewis

Tom Franklin bagged a brace as Kidlington Royals won 4-3 at AFC Jericho to go six points clear at the top of Critchleys Upper Thames Valley League Division 1, writes TIM SIRET. Lewis Coyle and a Ryan Curtin penalty made up Royals’ tally, with Jack Hayhurst

Kennington eased to a 3-0 success against Marston Saints in the Oxfordshire Senior League Premier Division. The visitors were grateful to keeper Nick Hill who denied Tom Payne and Mark Gaul, but an own goal, along with a Stephen Lewis stike anda superb

TEACHERS and school headteachers indisputably have a right, like any other employee, to take industrial action against their employer. What they must avoid, though, is taking a truculent attitude that causes any more uncertainty and anguish

WANTAGE’S crumbling war memorial needs repairs costing £18,000 just seven years after a major restoration project. Wantage Town Council spent about £9,000 restoring the monument seven years ago, but errors were made on the plaques and the stone base

TEACHERS and headteachers have been asked to ‘play fair’ with parents and let them know as soon as possible if schools will be shut in next week’s strike. The four main teaching unions have all balloted members in favour of strike action, with

WITNEY & DISTRICT FA JOEY King hit a hat-trick as Premier Division leaders Hailey beat Charlbury Town 6-2. A Dean Mays double and a Sean King goal sealed the win, with Craig McCallum and Sean Gilbert replying. Kingham AB gained their first point

Rosemarie Ball, 43, of Woodcote Road, Bicester, admitted shoplifting food valued at £63.12 from Tesco in Bicester on October 21. Fined £70, a £15 victims’ surcharge and £40 costs. Claire Foster, 21, of Westminster Way, Banbury, admitted assault by

Chris Travis, 51, of no fixed address, admitted making off without payment for food valued at £17.85, entering a licensed premises while prohibited from doing so by the terms of an anti-social behaviour order and using threatening, abusive or insulting

THIS column is about “living with a disability”. Uh-oh...Did I hear you groan? Did I hear you say: “not them again”? Well, rest assured, it isn’t about ‘them’, it’s about ‘us’ – that is you and me; ordinary people living, working and playing

OXFORD MAIL GIRLS LEAGUE GEORGIA Goff’s brace helped Marston Saints defeat Summertown Stars 3-1 in the Under 16 League. Lauren Hemming and Cuff put Marston 2-0 ahead, but Summertown hit back with captain Katya Johnson-Ward’s second-half penalty.

A SUPERB display from goalkeeper Adam Peck helped Premier Division strugglers Bletchingdon knock Uhlsport Hellenic League Division 1 East side Chinnor out of the Oxfordshire Senior Cup with a 2-1 second-round victory. A surprise was on the cards when

THE new computer system the NHS is bringing in will undoubtedly cause delays in the coming few days. But at least the Oxford University Hospitals Trust is being open and warning patients beforehand there may be problems ahead. Implementing

A NEW £15.7m hospital IT system could result in initial delays for patients, health bosses have warned. The Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust will launch the new Electronic Patient Record at the John Radcliffe, Churchill and Horton hospitals

A FORMER Swindon Town footballer and two tradesman have gone on trial accused of swindling elderly Oxfordshire residents out of thousands of pounds. Phil King, who played more than 100 times for the Wiltshire club and went on to a Premiership

OXFORD: A plant has been nominated for a key social role at an Oxford University college. Jeremy the Plant secured a proposer and seconder for the post of Corpus Christi’s Junior Common Room president after being found in the street by current president

OXFORD: A man has appeared in court charged with a glassing at a city centre bar. Michael Rendell was at Oxford Magistrates’ Court yesterday charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Stephen Walsh suffered a serious neck injury at the Bell

OXFORD: A traumatised shop worker held hostage by robbers in her house is too scared to stay in the UK and has fled home to Latvia. The 27-year-old woman, who worked at The Money Shop in Cowley Road, was tied up by three masked men and threatened with

THE Environment Agency has launched an investigation after being tipped off about waste buried illegally at Hinksey Heights Golf Course. Officers uncovered bags of old fertiliser, containers of chemicals and hydrocarbon fluids partially buried in a large

FOR most A-Level students revising for exams can be stressful enough but one Kidlington teenager is juggling his sixth form studies with a high-flying music career. D-Sarb, otherwise known as 18-year-old Daniel Sarbatta, has reached number

Oxford City suffered extra-time agony last night as they bowed out of the FA Cup with a disappointing 2-1 defeat against Redbridge at Court Place Farm in their first-round replay. Ben Bradbury scored the winner in the first period of extra time as the

Oxford City boss Mike Ford expressed his dismay after his side bowed out of the FA Cup following a 2-1 extra-time defeat against Redbridge in last night’s first-round replay at Court Place Farm. Goals from Nathan Gordan and an extra-time

Didcot Town were handed a 4-0 home lesson by Division 1 South & West title-chasers Sholing in the Evo-Stik Southern League. Goals from Lee Wart (2), Lee Bright and a stunning 35-yard strike from Mark Draper put the Hampshire side 4-0 up at the break.

Combe Pre-school, in Park Road, has been rated satisfactory by Ofsted. To improve further, the pre-school was asked to support children’s understanding of good hygiene, give children the chance to share their home lives and experiences, work in partnership

A survey of pupils at an enterprise event in the city found more than half would rather borrow £50,000 to start their own business than go to university and leave in debt. The School to Start-up event took place at Said Business School, in Frideswide

A PIZZA restaurant has been given the go-ahead to re-model a £50m shopping centre only two years after it opened. Pizza Express plans to extend the unit previously set aside for Starbucks at Marriotts Walk, Witney. The unit will effectively double in

OXFORD’S one-time most-wanted criminal began a long jail sentence this week after a “painstaking” police investigation. Rohan Crooks ran over Orville ‘Dean’ Francis in Blackbird Leys in October 2008, but evaded capture until February this year. The