A suspected gas leak being investigated in South Parks Road looks more likely to be odours from cleaning products. The road remains closed off and Oxford University buildings were evacuated earlier this evening after reports of
SOUTH Parks Road in Oxford is cordoned off tonight following suspected gas leak. The road is shut to traffic and pedestrians and there is a police and fire presence. We are awaiting further details of the incident from the emergency services
People convicted of offences at Oxfordshire magistrates' courts recently: OXFORD Gary Hughes , 44, of Cumnor Road, Oxford, admitted possessing cannabis (Class B) and assaulting Pc Phillip Ansell in Saunders Road, Oxford, on May 20. Given a
VILLAGERS in Eynsham were devastated when their cricket pavilion was destroyed in a suspected arson attack earlier this year. Now, after raising funds, members of Eynsham Cricket Club are looking forward to a replacement building going up at their
A family was evacuated from their home in Windmill Road, Headington, after a fire broke out at about 3pm today. It is believed the fire, in a bedroom, was caused by an unattended candle. One adult and a child suffered slight smoke inhalation
AFTER starting out as an afternoon of folk music in a pub more than two decades ago, Chalgrove Live Music Festival is now well and truly on the map. It can’t compete with the likes of Cornbury or Truck festivals, but the three-day event attracts
STAYING active over the summer will be child’s play in Oxford thanks to a city council initiative. The authority has announced its programme of “street sports” summer activities across the city. This year the selection of activities will include
SAMANTHA Bowring pays tribute to her three children, who mucked right in after their Abingdon home flooded. Mrs Bowring, 42, said: “We live in Turberville Close and when the River Ock burst its banks ours was one of 433 homes and 21 businesses
TWO Oxfordshire teenagers have taken their education campaign to the heart of the Government. Alex Cotter and Bobo Kalungu- Banda, both 15, were part of a 12-strong group of students who lobbied Stephen O’Brien, the Minister for International Development
A 53-year-old woman grazed her knee in a robbery as her bag was snatched by a man in Magdalen Wood this morning. The incident happened at about 9.35am and the victim’s bag contained cash and paperwork. Anyone with any information should call
TELEVISION star Martin Clunes opened the North Aston village fete on Saturday. The Doc Martin star had been invited by a friend who lives in the village. He said: “It is a gorgeous village and this fete is lovely. I will have to have a go at
PARKING restrictions are set to be introduced to parts of Old Marston to help combat congestion. Oxfordshire County Council is planning to introduce double yellow lines along Marsh Lane and Horseman Close. The scheme would also involve introducing
FRICTION is a very hot property right now. This drum and bass legend is widely-regarded as one of clubland's biggest names. His Back To Your Roots Remix is a dancefloor epic, and his Radio 1 show goes out to millions. This weekend he plays
A NEW way of going to the shops opened its doors on Cowley Road on Saturday. The People’s Supermarket sells locally produced food and will be staffed by its 132 members. In return for a 20 per cent discount on their shopping, members must pay
A NEW smartphone app will help remind residents in southern Oxfordshire when they need to put their bins out. The app, which is called Binfo, is now available on Apple’s App Store and the Google Android Play Store. The service tells residents
A UNIQUE project celebrating the life of a single oak tree has reached its finale. All 40 items made from the felled Blenheim oak were brought together for the first time at the Art in Action festival at Waterperry. The products range from
Information about roads and public transport during the 2012 London Olympics is available online at getaheadofthegames.com and for details of train services see nationalrail.co.uk or call 08457 484950 Oxford Bus Company 01865 785400
We've seen plenty of street parties in recent times to celebrate Royal occasions. This one was held to mark a different but equally important event – the end of the Second World War. Children from Seacourt Road and Hazel Road at Botley, Oxford
IT MAY closely resemble a building site, but that hasn’t stopped Wood Farm Primary School getting a boost from Ofsted inspectors. When the school was previously visited in 2009, it was given a satisfactory grade, but when inspectors revisited last
Michael Alexis scored the winner as Blue Square Bet South new boys Oxford City got their pre-season friendly programme off to a perfect start with a 1-0 victory at Banbury United on Saturday. After a goalless first half, City started the second
Thame Town’s relegation worries increased after they crashed to 71 all out in an 82-run defeat by Slough in Serious Cricket Home Counties Premier League Division 2 West at Church Meadow. Thame, who had dismissed Slough for 153 after winning the
Police want to speak to this man in connection with shoplifting. Thames Valley Police are investigating five thefts at Co-op shops in Bloxham and Banbury between April and July. Meat worth £248 was taken. The man is white, in his 30s, about 6ft
A five-wicket defeat at home to Falkland sees Shipton-under-Wychwood remain deep in relegation trouble in Division 2 West of the Serious Cricket Home Counties Premier Division. Shipton were bowled out for 152 after being put in to bat with Joe
THE new team behind Oxfordshire’s Truck Festival says the event is here to stay after music-lovers enjoyed an “amazing” weekend in the sun. About 5,000 people turned out for the event at Hill Farm, Steventon on Friday and Saturday to enjoy tunes
Jockey Andrasch Starke described his thrilling success on Danedream in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on Saturday as the biggest moment of his life. The 38-year-old rider’s mount pipped Nathaniel by a nose to become the
Protesters gathered outside an Oxford petrol station to voice concerns about Shell’s plans to drill in the Arctic. Greenpeace organised protests across the country on Saturday, including a demonstration at London Road, Headington. Organiser
A 22-year-old man, arrested over an attack on a 56-year-old man at a house in High Street, Chalgrove, has been released without charge. He was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm over the June 17 attack but released without
Oxford City’s Hannah England continued her bid to regain her sharpness and fitness ahead of the London Olympics by finishing second in the 1,500m at the British Milers’ Club Solihull Grand Prix. The 25-year-old, who had a six-week lay-off with
Oxfordshire are on course for their first Minor Counties Championship Western Division win of the season after gaining the upper hand on the opening day of their clash at Brockhampton. Oxon were bowled out for 210 after winning the toss and electing
LAST week, a friend sent me a clipping from the Oxford Mail (July 12) of an obituary about Rose Skinner, that mentioned she was illiterate. It made me and other people who knew her very annoyed, as we thought it was not necessary to mention it.
WE live in strange times when the nation is no longer supported by those in public life who have a sound grounding in ethics and who value the benefits brought to society by those who know the worth of holy marriage in which to raise healthy children
WE read the Oxford dog track is earmarked for housing (Thursday’s Oxford Mail). What a disaster this could be, now that the Cowley Speedway and Greyhound Stadium is under threat again, just a few months since the city council designated it for
T’S a well-worn path of speed dating conversation that if we could be reborn as animals, would we choose avian, mammalian or chameleon? I’m ashamed to admit that I too was intrigued by this conundrum when I learned that Oxford’s favourite athiest
THE Daughter left primary school last week. I was quite emotional and not just because it’s the end of an era and The Daughter is growing up, but because I have realised that I too am going to have to make new friends. The children had an end-of-school
Banbury won by 18 runs at Burnham in Division 1 – despite Aftab Khan taking all nine of the north Oxfordshire club’s wickets to fall. Off-spinner Aftab picked up 9-51 as Banbury made 137-9. But then the hosts collapsed to 119 all out. After
South African Ryan Canning hit a superb century to save Oxford from defeat at leaders High Wycombe in Serious Cricket Home Counties Premier League Division 1. Facing Wycombe’s daunting total of 296-4 dec off 64 overs after the Bucks club had won
Aston Rowant trainer Lawney Hill celebrated the biggest success of her career with I Have Dreamed in the Betfred Summer Plate at Market Rasen on Saturday by hosting a music festival for 1,500 fans. Hill, who took out a licence to train in 2005,
WHAT I’M CALLED: Michael Soper. MY AGE: 70. WHAT I DO: Researching electroquantics, penning articles and placing them, penning poetry, making DVD books, and investigating UFOs. WHERE I LIVE: New Marston, Oxford. WHO I LOVE: Spouse
THE Oxford Mail recently carried a photograph (July 11) of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, northern Spain, as if it were some kind of entertaining spectator sport. The reality is that this is just another display of human brutality and primitive
WITH reference to your report ‘No football is allowed here’ (Tuesday’s Oxford Mail), I am one of the parents pictured and I feel that our point wasn’t put across properly. We are fighting to get our communal garden back, which we have to pay a
REGARDING Mr Limmer’s letter (Wednesday’s Oxford Mail ViewPoints) and with reference to fumes from diesel engines being a major factor in the cause and spread of lung cancer. The particulates from a diesel engine, that is the invisible particles
THE superficial thinking displayed by Sue Holden (Oxford Mail, July 9) in stating she believes the proposed Barton West housing development is a wonderful idea – without any comment by her on the need to preserve the present wildlife habitat and
Shoppers in the Clarendon Centre were surprised by an all-singing and dancing “flashmob” on Saturday. About 60 children from the West Oxfordshire Academy of Performing Arts took part in the performance. For full story see tomorrow's Oxford Mail
POLICE cordoned off a section of Oxford’s Cornmarket Street yesterday to talk a man down from the top of a church tower. Street traders said patrol cars cordoned off the area around St Michael at the North Gate church about 4.50pm after a young
Cyclists and residents have welcomed plans to introduce an “innovative bicycle street” in Oxford. Jack Straw’s Lane in Marston is set to become the first such scheme in the city after Oxfordshire County Council has taken inspiration from the
An entrepreneur who was one of the leading lights behind a golf club has seen his construction firm go into administration. Steve Hill Construction, in Aylesbury, made its 97 staff redundant before administrators took over. Mr Hill helped establish
A 55-year-old man has appeared in court charged with attempting to rape an eight-year-old girl. Mohammed Rafique is also charged with sexual assault. The offences are said to have taken place in Cowley on June 24, 2008. Rafique, whose address
IT MAY not be up there with car chase movie classic Bullitt but this smash from TV detective drama Lewis stopped crowds in Oxford on Saturday. Stars Laurence Fox and Kevin Whately were in Broad Street, outside Blackwell’s art and poster shop,
A former firefighter threw a vacuum cleaner down the stairs at his Oxford home, fracturing his wife’s eye socket in an argument. Keith Fowler then assaulted his step-daughter on September 29 last year. The 54-year-old, who served
A man who ransacked his aunt and uncle’s house and then left the county to avoid community service has been given another chance. Ben Parker broke into his relatives’ home in Brize Norton Road, Carterton, and “carried out a systematic
SCISSORS, pencils and sticks are among the weapons that children in Oxfordshire used to stab their teachers and each other, according to county council figures. Information obtained by the Oxford Mail under the Freedom of Information Act revealed
A man who repeatedly failed the theory section of the driving test bought a fake Italian licence and tried to swap it for a real British one. Arshad Ahmed, who has dyslexia and a low IQ, was denied extra time to take it the test, Oxford Crown
Oxford United depart for their pre-season tour to the United States today confident it is money well spent. It is the second successive summer the squad will have visited New England, building on a link with hosts Seacoast United. Chris Wilder
AN EXTRA 500 applications for primary school places for September this year were made to Oxfordshire County Council compared with a year ago. Dozens of schools have been taking on extra pupils under informal, temporary arrangements for several
Unemployment in Oxford stands at about 1.8 per cent, according to the president of Oxfordshire Chamber of Commerce Nigel Wild. That puts the city well below the national average – but he said that what businesses had noticed was a skills shortage
CAN Oxford cope with a surging population? That is the question our front-page story poses today after the 2011 census found a 12 per cent increase in residents over 10 years. City council leader Bob Price says immigration has played a part, along
The number of babies born in Oxfordshire, 9,041 last year, has grown by about three per cent each year for the past decade, according to the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. The trust runs the county’s major hospitals. Spokesman Stephanie
THE result of the current public inquiry into plans to develop 1,200 homes on land west of Oxford’s Barton estate is set to be announced later this year. A housing and sites development document which highlights a series of potential places to
Housing, jobs, schools and social care are all under pressure as new statistics reveal how Oxford's population has soared. Figures from the 2011 Census released last week showed that Oxford had grown much faster than the other council districts
MORE than 2,000 children from Oxfordshire called ChildLine last year for support and advice. Figures from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which runs the service, showed there were 2,068 calls from children and young
It's ironic that the designers of a new building planned for an Oxford college expect controversy about a design that uses a distinctly classical form. Where modernist structures once courted controversy, they are now largely seen as the established
PLANS have been put forward for a “jewel-like” clock tower and student rooms in the heart of Oxford. But the architects behind the plan for Oxford University ’s Harris Manchester College are expecting it to generate considerable debate. It
