Archive

  • Group makes birthdays special

    A birthday cake makes a child feel special on their big day, but sometimes for various reasons it is hard for families to give their childen one. Four years ago Henriette Lundgren set up an Oxford community group called Free Cakes for Kids. Her

  • Update: Trains now moving but further delays feared

    TRAINS are running up to 75 minutes late tonight following the signalling problem in Didcot. First Great Western services south were being held at Didcot Parkway station for over an hour tonight. Trains are now being allowed to move but staff

  • Train pain continues in Oxfordshire tonight

    RAIL passengers are facing further delays tonight because of a signalling problem in Berkshire. First Great Western trains heading south are being held at Didcot Parkway currently because of a signalling problem between Maidenhead and Slough.

  • Drivers go in search of treasure for hospice

    FUNDRAISERS darted around the Witney area over the weekend to gather money for a good cause. Kelly Houghton and Darren Moore were among the people taking part in the first Sobell House Car Rally and Treasure Hunt on Sunday. They were following

  • Postie’s appeal after dog bites

    CALLS for dangerous dogs to be kept under control have been backed by an Oxford postman who was the victim of an attack. Clive Homer, 45, who lives in Greater Leys, was attacked by a dog as he delivered mail in Sandford earlier this month.

  • COMMENT: A fitting scheme

    MANY road naming schemes are vanity projects, with residents barely registering who the ‘honoured’ person is within a few years. Not so the fitting plan to name roads within the Great Western Development in tribute to seven soldiers from Vauxhall

  • Street names salute Army’s fallen heroes

    STREETS in Didcot will be named after seven Army bomb disposal experts killed in action after the victims’ families gave their blessing. Town councillor Tony Harbour suggested the idea last year, after meeting soldiers based at Vauxhall Barracks

  • Legion honours vice-chairman’s dedication

    ROYAL British Legion Oxfordshire vice-chairman Mike Henderson has been given the organisation’s highest honour. Mr Henderson, who takes a leading role in repatriation ceremonies at RAF Brize Norton , received the Certificate of Appreciation last

  • Children’s play days a breath of fresh air

    WITH school holidays under way and the sun finally shining, a series of events kicks off this week to get children outside. The first of six free ‘play days’ begin in Banbury today, followed by Blackbird Leys tomorrow and then Witney, Bicester,

  • Colours of Africa light up community centre

    EAST Oxford Community Centre was lit up with the colours of Africa at a celebration day. Traditional dancers and food was laid on as the centre played host to a day of Acholi culture on Saturday. Grace Rwot-Lakica, 31, of Rose Hill, said: “

  • North Atlantic Oscillation: Fog Electric

    MOODY dreamy and hypnotic, this shimmering piece of uplifting orchestral alt-rock is among our favourite new albums. Skating along on a bed of fuzzed guitars it breaks down into flights of naive fancy and complex intricacy. Acid and sunshine-soaked

  • Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Americana

    A NEW album by Neil Young is cause for more than celebration, It is nothing short of the opening of a new chapter in rock. The release of a record by Young & Crazy Horse, then, ought to be doubly exciting. And, in the case of Americana - the

  • The School: Reading Too Much into things like Everything

    This is musical marmite. Either saccharine sweet or sunny and uplifting perfect pop, you will either love it or find it cloying. The whole thing is sprinkled in retro-sparkle - with heart-tingling harmonies, innocent vocals and warm fuzzy hammonds

  • Luke Ritchie: The Water’s Edge

    Acoustic wonder is underlined by passion, power and heartfelt emotion in this offering by a singer-songwriter who is destined for bigger things. This album of dreamy ambient folk is given atmosphere and gravity by producer Paul Savage (Mogwai,

  • Fleetwood Mac: 25 Years The Chain

    It’s Fleetwood Mac for heaven’s sake... and they’ve gone and re-released not just another greatest hits album but a four-CD boxed-set of ALL the best bits. What is there NOT to like? Hits (Sara, Little Lies, Never Going Back Again, Rhiannon...) sit

  • Archbishop-elect linked gay MP's death to his sexuality

    A SENIOR member of the clergy linked a gay MP’s death to his sexuality in a speech in Oxford. Archbishop of Glasgow-elect Philip Tartaglia made the comments when he appeared at Magdalen College in April, but the video of the speech has recently

  • Update: Heat causing trains to run up to an hour later

    TRAINS between Oxford and London are running almost an hour late. First Great Western has put speed restrictions in place because of the heat, which it says is causing "track issues". However it has not elaborated on that. Some trains have

  • Brize bids to cut Herculean noise

    RAF Brize Norton says it is “working hard” to cut noise problems after a spike in complaints from residents living close to the base. The Carterton airbase has received 958 complaints since the Hercules fleet moved there from RAF Lyneham in June

  • Oxford to London trains running slow due to hot weather

    PASSENGERS travelling between Oxford and London faced disruption this afternoon because it's "too hot". Network Rail put speed restrictions on London Paddington trains due to today's high temperatures. According to the First Great Western 

  • Assault victim: My life’s ruined

    A FORMER pub chef who lost his livelihood after a random attack has spoken of the difficulty of putting his life back together. Ravi Dalal, 32, was in a coma for six weeks following the attack outside The Crown in Woodstock where he worked. Doctors

  • Sports centre comes to rescue

    ONE of Oxfordshire’s popular charity events was in dire straits earlier this month when its usual venue became unavailable. But thanks to a sports centre in Berinsfield, the National Childbirth Trust’s nearly new sale will take place as normal

  • Future in air for student housing block

    THE new owner of a site earmarked for student housing has said it has “no firm plans” about what to do with it. Harcourt House, in Marston Road, has recently been bought by the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies after the previous owner, Oxford

  • Brothers face jail over golf course waste

    The owners of a golf course near Oxford have been handed jail sentences by a High Court judge for failing to remove illegal waste buried on the site. Deputy Judge John Leighton Williams QC sentenced brothers Michael and

  • Kurt Shanks: Kiwi music that deserves to fly

    NEW Zealand artist Kurt Shanks recently promoted his upcoming solo debut album in London and what a promising project it is. Shanks is effectively unknown in the UK - save for diehard Kiwis who remember his part in stellar*, one of the country's

  • Group nears target

    THE group hoping to buy back the solar farm at Watchfield has almost reached its £4m target. With only nine days to go until the share offer closes Westmill Solar Co-operative has received almost 800 applications for membership, raising over £3.5m

  • Hero Ray is a top fundraiser

    IT took charity fundraiser Ray Collins six years to raise £30,000 for good causes in a series of annual endurance challenges. But now the 42-year-old from Wantage has nearly doubled that total, after just one day. A total of £28,000 has been

  • Celebration for leavers

    SCHOOL leavers from The Cooper School in Bicester put on their glad-rags to party the night away and celebrate the end of school. A total of 170 students from the Churchill Road school attended the Year 11 prom at The Tythe Barn, Launton, last

  • Councillor celebrates 150th newsletter

    WHILE Bob Johnston is no stranger to local government corridors of power, he likes to keep a close eye on his own backyard. And for more than 30 years he has been documenting news and issues from the Radley ward he represents. The Vale of White

  • History of Olympics goes on display

    THE history of the Olympics is being told in a new exhibition at Banbury Museum. Dreams of Gold will run until September 8 at the Castle Quay shopping centre attraction. It includes news clips from the 1948 London Olympics and early Olympian

  • Venue change

    DISRUPTION caused by the Olympics has led a London judge sitting at Oxford Crown Court. Michael Gledhill has transferred from the South Eastern Circuit to Oxford for about three weeks.

  • Help for Heroes on the way

    OXFORD Mail readers have inundated the Oxfordshire Help for Heroes co-ordinator with offers to help. Dave Lewis , 49, of Carterton, appealed for more volunteers to come forward. His group had only 10 volunteers. But following yesterday’s article

  • Gene firm wins £2.3m EU grants

    BEGBROKE: Oxford Gene Technology has won two clinical research grants from the EU worth £2.3m. The company has won £800,000 to fund its work with the EU Life-threatening Infectious Diseases Study. The rest of the money awarded will go towards

  • 40-tonne crane solution

    IT was the operation that had challenged experts for almost a week. How exactly do you lift a 40-tonne crane from a ditch along a narrow country lane? Now that question was finally answered – you build a platform of compacted hardcore over the

  • Dogtrack lovers voice opposition to revamp

    RESIDENTS and dog racing lovers have voiced opposition to build houses at the Oxford Stadium site. Proposals for more than 200 homes on the site went on public display yesterday for the first time. But some Blackbird Leys residents and dog track

  • Tractor blaze

    EYNSHAM: A tractor caught fire at a farm near the village on Monday night, setting light to 100 square metres of stubble. Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service was called to the farm, off the B4449 to Stanton Harcourt, just after 11pm.

  • Smell’s source remains riddle

    FIREFIGHTERS were unable to identify the source of a smell which led to them closing off South Parks Road on Monday. The road was shut at about 8.30pm after reports of a “strong chemical smell” at Oxford University ’s Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory

  • Water pipe burst hits homes and hospitals

    BOWSERS and stocks of bottled water were sent out in Oxford yesterday after a burst water main cut supplies to thousands of homes and businesses. Both the Churchill Hospital and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC) also lost their mains supplies

  • Defence protest lifts off

    BALLOONS sailed into the sky above Witney as part of a nationwide campaign against planned military cuts. Lorraine Faulds, from Bampton, held a minute’s silence at Church Green at 11am yesterday in protest at moves to cut the Army from 102,000

  • Power problem

    ABOUT 500 homes in the north of the city were left without power yesterday. A fault was first reported at 6am in the Five Mile Drive area but homes in Sunderland Avenue were also affected. Power was restored by 10am. Southern Electric is investigating

  • CRICKET: Stringent penalty rules must be changed

    COMMENT SOMETHING strange happened in the Bernard Tollett Oxfordshire Cup tie between Oxford and Horspath at Roman Way – penalty runs for failing to bowl the overs in the allotted time. Oxford made 115-4, but this was increased by six runs

  • ROWING: Sleepy Purchase in golden dream

    Zac Purchase will be one of Britain’s medal favourites at London 2012 when he and Leander Club’s Mark Hunter team up in the lightweight men’s double scull. The pair claimed gold in Beijing and won the 2011 World Championships in Bled, Slovenia.

  • Families before students

    READING the article (Oxford Mail, June 28), regarding the proposed development of 190 student flats on the now vacant Travis Perkins builders’ merchant’s site in Chapel Street, East Oxford, isn’t it about time the city council got its priorities

  • Questions on Lockerbie

    B GIBBS (Oxford Mail ViewPoints, July 20) is right to challenge Susan Thomas about the shooting of Pc Yvonne Fletcher. The person responsible was identified long ago and only escaped justice because he was beyond the reach of British jurisdiction

  • Educational abyss

    SO Oxfordshire County Council ’s cabinet believes that all Oxfordshire (state-maintained) schools should become academies. Melinda Tilley, the cabinet member for education (no longer for ‘schools improvement’), is quoted (Oxford Mail, July 18)

  • Author prepares to see her cameo on screen

    OXFORD author Janie Hampton will be tuning in tonight to a TV film inspired by her book about the 1948 London Olympics. Doctor Who actor Matt Smith is starring as an Olympic rower in the BBC film Bert & Dickie. Written by William Ivory,

  • Funding change 'will hit schools' budgets

    CHANGES to funding arrangements could leave some schools tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket, an Oxford headteacher has warned. The Department for Education is changing the date on which the number of pupils is counted, meaning schools won

  • RACING: Samitar goes Stateside

    Mick Channon admitted to mixed emotions after Samitar, who gave him his first major Classic winner, left his West Ilsley stables to race in the United States. The Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine is to join trainer Chad Brown. But before then she

  • AUNT SALLY: Gladiators in first success

    Gladiators A broke their duck at the 12th attempt with a 2-1 home win over Six Bells C Kidlington in the Premier/Section 1 of the Greene King Oxford & District League. Chris Jenkins (4-5-4) led the way with 13 dolls as Gladiators won the opening

  • New boy Al's an instant hit, says Oxford United skipper

    Jake Wright says he is already feeling the benefits of Oxford United ’s revamped pre-season training programme this summer. The U’s have invested in sports science during the close season, hiring Alasdair Lane as a full-time strength and conditioning

  • Get fountains flowing

    IT WAS with amazement that I viewed the scene in Abbey Park in Abingdon. It was the first sunny day for months, the first day of the school holidays and the area around the water fountain feature fast filling with families with small children looking

  • Care for environment

    THE letter from Penny Little (ViewPoints, July 18) must surely strike a resonant chord with those of us who have striven over many years to convince the powers that be that modern homo sapiens can successfully walk upright along ancient byways, such

  • Cycle race was riveting

    I HAVE been known to criticise On Yer Bike columnist James Styring on occasions, but not this time (yesterday’s Oxford Mail). I have played the old ‘button game’ on the TV and in the past saw ITV4 showing the Tour de France cycle race – but this

  • Divert money to double up Dial-a-Ride services

    WE hear a lot about the increasing number of elderly people and how important it is to for them to be able to keep active, to get out and about to activities as well as just to do the shopping and meet friends. For some this is relatively easy; for

  • Scary, isn’t it?

    DID you know that since 1990, 1,433 people have died following contact with the police? Did you also know that not one single copper has been convicted of manslaughter in this time? To put this in perspective, you are eight times more likely to

  • CRICKET: Kaufman savours first win

    Minor Counties Championship RICHARD Kaufman declared himself “over the moon” after securing his first victory as Oxfordshire captain. Kaufman’s men saw off Herefordshire by 107 runs at Brockhampton in the Western Division yesterday, with left-arm

  • THE DISABLED SPACE: Lethal to just manageable

    Walking is a relatively subconscious activity, you don’t have to think about balance – it just works. The same is not true of using a wheelchair, it takes time to adjust to having variable stability depending on your environs. Another concern

  • Lead theft at hall branded 'disgusting'

    THIEVES have stolen lead worth about £700 from the roof of Langdale Hall in Witney. Police said the criminals climbed up scaffolding to get on to the building’s roof and steal the metal. The theft happened between July 13 and 16 and no arrests

  • Man bailed over teen sex attacks

    A MAN has appeared in court charged with three sex assaults in Didcot. Marek Stofej came before Oxford magistrates on Monday and was bailed to appear again on August 17. The 35-year-old, of Linacre Close, Didcot, is charged with sexually assaulting

  • The sun is here, but make the most of it

    THE county may be basking in sunshine as temperatures hit the late 80s, but forecasters are warning people not to get too comfortable on their sunloungers. While the good weather looks set stay around for the next few days, the Met Office has warned

  • COMMENT: Weary wait for too many Oxford plans

    THE proposed £9.2m pool in Blackbird Leys is, unsurprisingly, officially no longer going to be an Olympic “legacy” project. If it is legacy of anything, it is to how long it takes to ever get any substantial community project completed in this country

  • Assault claim

    A 40-YEAR-OLD was punched in the face after becoming involved in an argument between a man and a woman in Great Western Park. The incident happened between 2am and 2.30am on Tuesday, June 19, but was not reported to the police until last Thursday

  • £36,600 book

    A RARE first edition copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe signed by CS Lewis for an Oxford schoolboy in 1950 fetched £36,600 at Bloomsbury Auctions in London. The book was given to Nicholas Hardie, the son of Oxford University classics

  • All change for county’s dial-a-ride services

    DIAL-a-ride services across Oxfordshire have been tweaked. Oxfordshire County Council took over the scheme from district councils in April. Buses will now serve Banbury on Wednesdays and Fridays as well as just Tuesdays and Thursdays. And

  • OPERATION BULLFINCH: Ninth man charged

    ANOTHER man will be appear in court today charged with involvement in an alleged child sex ring in Oxford. The 25-year-old from Maidenhead, who police have not named, is charged with conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child and sexual

  • Company vows to return landfill site to farmland by 2030

    AN INTERNATIONAL waste firm yesterday promised to return its Sutton Courtenay landfill site to farming land within 20 years. But it wants to expand the site further in the short term. FCC Environment, formerly the Waste Recycling Group (WRG

  • Firm drawn into Olympic security row

    AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after it was alleged that stewards helping out with security at the 2012 Olympics were given a one-hour training session in an Oxford nightclub. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games

  • ROWING: Triggs Hodge aiming to repeat Beijing gold

    Oxford's Andy Triggs Hodge says he needs to win another Olympic gold medal to be considered a good rower. The 33-year-old bagged gold in the men’s four at Beijing in 2008. But with Britain’s history in the sport, there is no way Triggs Hodge

  • Leys pool plan stalls

    WORK on Oxford’s new multi-million pound “Olympic legacy” swimming pool has stalled indefinitely, Oxford City Council last night confirmed. A new £9.2m pool had been due to open in Blackbird Leys to tie in with the Olympic year. But with just

  • Oxford United keeper Clarke on a mission

    Ryan Clarke intends to use the disappointing end to last season as motivation to improve for Oxford United when competitive football restarts next month. The goalkeeper has now fully recovered from a deep muscle tear just below his ribs, which

  • ‘Devil is in detail’ in new milk price deal

    A DEAL between dairy producers and milk processing companies “needs to be enforceable” according to county farmers. Landowners have claimed a fall in the amount they are paid for milk by processors and unprecedented bad weather have put a strain

  • Bus route plan to help village teens

    PARISH councils could band together and create a community bus service to stop teen-agers being “trapped” in rural villages. Hanborough Parish Council has approached Freeland, North Leigh and Bladon councils to run the late-night service to Witney

  • Donations page for museum’s co-founder

    WALLINGFORD Museum has set up a donations page on its website following the death of co-founder Stuart Dewey earlier this month. Mr Dewey, 65, from Cholsey, opened the museum in High Street in 1981 and his wife Judy is curator. Following his death

  • Share your memories of old coroner's court

    WITH workers sat at computers, coffee machines and water coolers, this Oxford building may look like a normal office block. But decades ago it had a slightly darker purpose – housing the city’s mortuary and coroner’s court. From 1969 until

  • Oxford United open tour with victory

    Seacoast United Mariners 1 Oxford United 2 GOALS from Deane Smalley and Sean Rigg got Oxford United’s US tour off to a winning start on a muggy night in Maine. Smalley made it three goals in as many pre-season games with a first half penalty