YOUNGSTERS show you do get many of those to the pound when they handed over a basket of apples to cover a farm’s annual rent. Oxfordshire County Council accepts the tasty treat as rent for Witney’s Cogges Manor Farm, which it owns. Charity
Katie Nutt, who broke her foot in training at the start of the year, showed she was back to full fitness with an excellent display in the Hazelwood Multi Event in Lincoln at the weekend. The 13-year-old (pictured), from Standlake, won her age group
The day that split my life in two: breast cancer survivor speaks out From jockey to model and salon boss - meet Leonna Mayor How to get your little blighters to eat their greens ALSO See what our columnists have
Stop reading, get out on the town You may not like me being so bold, but if you’re reading this and you’re single – and if you don’t fully enjoy being single – then really you should do something about it. Right now, in fact. Put the newspaper
Dearest Belles, it’s official. Summer is over. I’ve seen the first woolly scarf on the tube. Gone are the white summer dresses, the sheer maxis, the flip flops and floppy hats. All hail the slow invasion of trench coats, brollies and winter warmers
A study published in a plastic surgery journal last month discovered that going under the knife doesn’t make you look all that better – and only an average of three years younger. This came as no surprise to me. Does anyone honestly think that
She may be young to be running her own business but that’s not the most unusual thing about Leonna Mayor. For the lively 23-year-old has had a big change of career, hanging up jockey silks to concentrate on launching Bake & Shake tanning and
A few weeks ago, I wrote about a new service to make it easier to switch bank accounts. As of last week, it takes just seven days to dump your bank and move to a new one. Thanks to the government and The Payment Council, which oversees all bank
There are not many mums who could boast that their seven-year-old daughter’s favourite snack is dried squid or that their 14-year-old son was happy to eat a pigeon’s heart but Claire Potter can. Her children are adventurous eaters... but it’s no
Last week I based my article around my own experience of overtraining. Today I want to talk more about this and how you can recognise overtraining symptoms in yourself and others. These are the signs and symptoms of overtraining to look out for
Wednesday August 8, 2012 - five days before my 29th birthday - is the day my life became split by ‘before’ and ‘after’. It was the start of a life of thinking about cancer every single day, something I’d thought little about before. I’m not one
TERROR struck for a three-year-old when her trousers got caught in the escalator at a new supermarket in Bicester. Ashlee Wyllie’s uncle had to tear her trousers, prompting concerns others could be at risk at the Pioneer Square branch of Sainsbury
How quintessentially English is the Church Harvest Festival? Last weekend I was one of the judges at the St Lawrence’s Church Harvest Show and Fair in the lovely little village of Combe, not far from Woodstock. Amid the gentle atmosphere of the
This country has the biggest collection of native breed sheep anywhere in the word – and Oxfordshire has its very own named variety. The Oxford Down breed originated in the 1830s, emerging from the combination of Cotswold rams and Southdown ewes
There are few things I would enjoy less than navigating my way through a 12-metre long screaming, er, vagina. However, apparently it’s art and I should therefore applaud it. That’s right: last week, 30-year-old artist Reshma Chhiba unveiled – or
It can be easy to forget just how great a train journey can be – no maps, no motorways or roundabouts to negotiate – and no frantic leg crossing as you anxiously count off the miles to the next service station toilets. Yes, our wise decision to
So how much money do you make?’ I swear you could hear the whole of Oxfordshire gasp at the question. Anyone who was listening in to BBC Radio Oxford last Sunday morning will have heard Will Gomperzt – with his signature cardigans, wild hair and
I’ve never thought that September has many redeeming features as a month. Autumnal weather, the re-emergence of the Christmas tat in shops and the return to school or Uni with associated routine and drudgery. Thankfully, Julian Fellows has
It is political party conference season. Having been a local politician until recently, I am the last person to belittle politics. I also in a nerdy way get a bit excited about the conference season. Not a popular view I know, but I firmly believe
Life is like a stake-out at home, we are still on ‘milky white incisor watch’. It’s imminent, the excessive dribbling, the fractious disposition and the disturbed night’s sleep… it’s all gathering pace for the first sight of that little protrusion
Maybe I’m being harsh, but on the whole, social media does maybe seem best left to the younger generation... I was at a dinner last week with a load of people that, quite frankly, are getting on a bit, and the virtues and pitfalls of Facebook were
WHEN NIKKI Todorovic goes to work each day the first thing she does is think of her mum. She was devastated after her mother, Mary Margitson, died of cancer last September aged 62. Using £35,000 of her inheritance, Mrs Todorovic, 40, and her
BY DAY he is an IT consultant, by night an award-nominated burger chef. Now Woodstock’s Mark Thomas has had his skills at the grill recognised in a national competition. The 52-year-old was a runner-up in Simply Beef and Lamb magazine’s Battle
DRINKERS will get their first look inside Abingdon’s new JD Wetherspoon pub next month, with its smart new interior featuring some unusual red urinals. The pub chain is to open The Narrows at the former Post Office, in High Street, when the town
A THEATRICAL couple who fell in love on an Oxford stage 56 years ago have returned to the city where their romance blossomed. Delena and Gary Raymond hit it off over a steamy modern adaptation of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata at the Oxford Playhouse
A COUNCIL is hoping a scheme to get people building their own homes will start to make a dent in its waiting list. Cherwell District Council says it is months away from starting work on 250 new affordable homes across Banbury and Bicester.
VILLAGERS in Eynsham hope to gather an army of good neighbour volunteers. Residents launched their Good Neighbourhood Scheme at the village show on Saturday. The group, which organises free help for the elderly and disabled, is calling for
PICK-UPS have become increasingly big business, especially among buyers who have no plans to use them for trade – and some have got a little too posh for their own good. At least that is the message some business people have been sending out loud
BUG hunters are calling on volunteers to help count the insects in Oxford’s Shotover Park. Community group Shotover Wildlife has been given £6,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund for a minibeast survey. Thanks to unique records kept by Victorian
MODEL gamers are getting battle-ready for a marathon 48-hour charity tussle to help a girl with cerebral palsy. Innsmouth Gaming Club will hold a non-stop tabletop war to raise hundreds of pounds for Witney cerebral palsy sufferer Sophia Aitken
A HEADINGTON pub which closed this year has been bought for £600,000. The Quarry Gate was sold to Seville Developments of Rugby, Land Registry records show. The 1937 watering hole was boarded up last month. It was first put on the market in
County recycling centres will no longer be open late on Thursdays this year. The recycling centres, which have been open up to 8pm on Thursdays since April, will now be open until 5pm from next week.
A DISGRUNTLED ex-boyfriend phoned his former partner up to 30 times a day and spat in her face after they broke up, a court heard. Lee Davis admitted harassing and assaulting his ex-girlfriend after their relationship broke down in August this
A BID to make big supermarkets pay extra taxes is going to be put to the vote by Oxford city councillors. The Green Party wants the council to adopt powers that it said would raise an extra £1m a year. The move comes amid a rise in supermarket
TV presenter and Oxford United fan Timmy Mallett is pedalling 70 miles to watch the team, as part of a cycling challenge. The presenter of children’s programme Wide Awake Club will set off for the personal challenge with his 21-year-old son Billy
Motorists have been fined for using mobile phones and driving without seatbelts in Botley Road, Oxford. A police check on Wednesday between 8.15am and 10am saw 21 drivers given £60 tickets. Yesterday, eight tickets were handed out between 9am and
ADMINISTRATORS auctioned off cattle from Field Farm, Appleton, for a third day yesterday as part of a repossession order. According to property agent Savills, there are 600 Charolais cows at the farm which they have valued at between £700,000 and
A NEW play at the Pegasus Theatre takes audiences through the imagination of a seven-year-old boy. Tom Wilson who plays lead character Zachary in The Grumpiest Boy in the World at the theatre in Magdalen Road, Oxford, is no child though, but a
UHLSPORT HELLENIC LEAGUE WANTAGE Town will be without the influential Jimmy Deabill and Steve Davis as they entertain Division 1 West side Fairford Town in the first round of the Bluefin Sports Cup. Luca Riccio (knee) and Richie Claydon (ribs
THE man appointed to carry out an independent review into Oxford’s most controversial planning application in decades has spoken of the task ahead. Vincent Goodstadt has been appointed by Oxford City Council to look into how the Castle Mill student
CITY of Oxford were not the perfect hosts as crowds lined Donnington Bridge and the towpaths on the 1,850-metre course for the Isis Sculls. The hosts won a remarkable 23 divisions on their home water – 12 coming from junior members. The bulk
JOE Roberts, of Brize Norton, just missed out on achieving a double gold medal at the Under 17 Silver Tournament held in Warwick. In the singles, Roberts reached the final, without dropping a set. and then beat Yorkshire’s Elliott Robertson 15-
A man has appeared in Oxford Crown Court charged with rape. Yohannis Urruti-Castro, of Church Street, Watlington, is alleged to have raped a woman in the town on August 3. Castro, 23, was released from custody yesterday on conditional bail.
RESIDENTS have been getting their paintbrushes out again to support the ongoing ‘Faces and Places of Cowley’ project, which will see more than 100 paintings hung up in Templars Square Shopping Centre. Up to 10 people joined in creating familiar
A FIRE broke out the at a telephone exchange in Bicester this morning. Firefighters were called to the exchange in Queen’s Avenue at 9.39am, and have since left. There are no details yet about damage. Police are understood to still be at
An attempted murder suspect has been rebailed by police after a shooting in Blackbird Leys. The 21-year-old Oxford man was arrested after a woman suffered a gunshot wound to her shoulder in Crowberry Road in July. He has been bailed again until
THE jury has retired in the trial of a man accused of trying to steal thousands of pounds worth of steel. Andrew Fitzsimons, of St James Cottages, Grove, near Wantage, denies one count of burglary at Field Barn Farm, near Abingdon, on May 14 last
MORE than 100 postal workers in East Oxford are on strike today. About 130 members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are protesting over the sacking of two colleagues earlier this year. The union says the dismissals ignore the employee
CALOR LEAGUE NORTH Leigh boss Mark Gee is eyeing top spot in Division 1 South & West as his side welcome Cinderford Town to Eynsham Park tomorrow, writes MATTHEW BRUCE. A run of five consecutive league victories has propelled North Leigh
ONE of the county’s main health organisations could be facing an £11m black hole in its finances. New details about the scale of the potential debt crisis at the group that purchases Oxfordshire’s healthcare reveal that the Government may have
DRAYTON'S Connor Ferguson was put through his paces at the Lawn Tennis Association’s (LTA) National Talent ID Day in Roehampton. The ten-year-old was among 16 youngsters from across the country invited to the session for his age group at the National
PHOEBE Basham, from Woodstock, won her first eight and under mini tournament at St Hugh’s, Faringdon, after coming out top in a three-way tie by virtue of winning two extra points. Harry Storey defeated Tobi Hickman 11-9 in the boys’ event.
A man accused of pulling the handbrake on his girlfriend’s car and causing a crash appeared in Oxford Crown Court yesterday. Terry Stoute, 34, has been charged with causing danger to other road users on the A40 between Cutteslowe roundabout and
A friend of a girl who says she was sexually abused told police her friend’s personality changed when she was growing up. Bradley Antill, of Fulmar Place, Grove, near Wantage, is on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with one count of rape, five
FA CUP – SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND OXFORD City manager Mike Ford says the pressure is off his side tomorrow as they entertain Skrill South opponents Maidenhead United, writes MATTHEW BRUCE. City are still without a win in their Skrill North campaign
FARMERS George and Charles Bennett have had a bumper crop of squashes this year. They will be among more than 20,000 people squashing into Thame tomorrow for the town’s annual food festival. From 9am onwards, hundreds of local producers and
ONE of Thames Valley’s top policemen has defended his force’s use of stop and search powers after new figures showed that fewer black and mixed race people were being pulled up by officers. Chief Superintendent Tim De Meyer said the force had made
CHINNOR head coach Matt Goode admits he has been delighted – but slightly surprised – at his side’s flying start to the season. The National 2 South team go into tomorrow’s clash at home to Redruth having won three out of three. And after a
Saturday FOOTBALL SKY BET LEAGUE TWO Hartlepool Utd v Oxford Utd. FA CUP 2nd qual round: Didcot Tn v Burnham, Oxford City v Maidenhead Utd. CALOR LEAGUE Div 1 South & West: North Leigh v Cinderford Tn. UHLSPORT HELLENIC
WITH regard to MP Andrew Smith’s comments on the possibility of a public inquiry in the wake of the Bullfinch case (Oxford Mail, September 17). As a former child protection social worker I would like one thing to be made very clear. However good
I WAS appalled at a letter written to the Oxford Mail recently about Muslim women wearing ‘traditional dress’' (September 25). Women in this country suffered privations, ridicule, even death, so that all females had a vote and all that entailed
AT last somebody has seen sense regarding Wolvercote paper mill site and the need to block plans for new housing (Oxford Mail, September 13). Perhaps the Environment Agency recalls what happened at Botley a year or so back when new dwellings were
THE final week at Samata School in Nepal has been more a matter of speeding up than slowing down. First, the distribution of 403 pencils, plus erasers, rulers and sharpeners given by friends back home, to the delighted infants. They each accepted
OXFORD City manager Mike Ford feels his side have been hard done by after it emerged that Harrogate Town fielded three ineligible players at Marsh Lane on the opening day of the season, writes MATTHEW BRUCE. Harrogate were deducted the three points
FA CUP – SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND JOEL Meade and Pablo Haysham are available for Didcot Town as they host Calor League Premier Division Burnham tomorrow, despite both players seeing red in last weekend’s 4-0 defeat to Bishops Cleeve, writes MATTHEW
THE volunteers at the League of Friends Churchill Hospital work to contribute that little extra that can make all the difference to patients comfort during their stay in hospital and to provide a smiling face for visitors and staff at the same time
CAN anyone tell me why our cash-strapped council had the crazy idea to repaint the white lines by Downs Road traffic lights in Witney when potholes are in need of a proper repair? Yes, the lines and ‘keep clear’ zones now look very smart. But
AS you and some of your regular readers may have noticed, I am all in favour of free speech, even if it does occasionally (Letters, September 11) cause me a spot of bother at the most unlikely of times. The Oxford Mail is correct in stating that
SO in 2015, all plastic bags at supermarkets will have a tax on them – everyone a winner as the 5p will go to charities. So the Government will need to give less to charities. Constantly reused bags will cause an increase in infections. More
For a city which seems to be addicted to cycling, the fact that one in five children in Oxford are obese might at first seem implausible. But that only serves to mask — and ultimately divert attention from — the serious problems of social deprivation
For all the lack of detail, from a very early stage it was apparent that Doric Properties intended to completely rebuild Botley’s West Way shopping centre — it was and remains a question of how much of the area at the bottom of Cumnor Hill would go
DEANE Smalley is ready to shoulder the burden up front as a threadbare Oxford United head to Hartlepool United tomorrow. With Dave Kitson suspended, James Constable injured and Tyrone Marsh needing a late fitness test just to make the bench, Smalley
A GETAWAY driver who took part in three Oxfordshire burglaries has avoided a prison sentence. Thomas Small drove a BMW car to three houses on April 17 this year and waited outside while at least one other man tried to break in. He admitted
EVER since Oxford United formed a development squad for the first time this summer there has been a clamour from supporters to see more of the young players appear for the first-team. Those in favour may get their wish at Hartlepool United tomorrow
RYAN Clarke believes he is getting back to top form following double shoulder surgery earlier this year. The 31-year-old missed the second half of last season to have the two operations, which corrected a long-standing issue. After a quiet
IN planning terms, it is a small step in the process. But symbolically, the submission of an outline application for the new Westgate Centre is a giant stride forward for Oxford. The plan submitted by developers to Oxford City Council marks the
THE £400m redevelopment of Oxford’s Westgate Centre has moved a step closer to reality after plans were lodged with officials. After more than a decade of waiting, a multi-million-pound facelift is now going through the planning process. And
SEAN Rigg is looking to open his goalscoring account for the season tomorrow and continue his unusual scoring record at Oxford United. All his five league goals for the club have come away from the Kassam Stadium. His only strike in front of
DESPITE missing several key players Oxford United will be tough opponents tomorrow, according to Hartlepool United boss Colin Cooper. The U’s will make the 480-mile round trip to County Durham without five senior players. Dave Kitson and Andy
AN ABANDONED dog has found a new life fighting crime in London. German shepherd Dizzee was left at the Blue Cross Burford shelter in October last year after a relationship break-up, but staff could not find him a suitable home. No-one would
Alfred Dunhill Links Championship FRILFORD Heath’s Eddie Pepperell was two shots off the lead after a strong round one display at Kingsbarns. The Abingdon golfer hit seven birdies in a six-under par 66 to end the day tied for 11th place, with
A DETECTIVE has said protecting the identities of two undercover officers who posed as scrap thieves is “imperative” to the case against scrapyard staff accused of turning a blind eye to suspicious metal. The prosecution at Oxford Crown Court alleges
AN ARTS charity has been given a major cash boost thanks to an exhibition of costumes from TV drama Downton Abbey. West Ox Arts has raised £3,000 from its £5-a-head exhibit of 10 costumes from the hit show in the last month. Coach loads of
THREE men have been arrested on suspicion of poaching offences and possessing a catapult. The men were arrested last Thursday on suspicion of poaching and possession of an offensive weapon after they were stopped by officers on the Ridgeway in
FUNDRAISERS will get together this morning to enjoy a cup of coffee and raise cash for cancer nurses. Charity Macmillan Cancer Support’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning event sees communities across the county and the country raise money over a
A TEENAGER was punched to the ground and his iPhone and iPod were stolen in the early hours of Saturday. The 16-year-old boy was walking through Marcham recreation ground when he was approached by two men. One man punched him and took an iPhone
OXFORDSHIRE’S top doctors have hit out at plans to build smoking shelters at city hospitals. The five shelters would “appease” smokers and damage NHS bids to get people to kick the habit, they said. Bosses want a shelter at the John Radcliffe
THE Oxford Canal might be 222 years old and have played a major role in the economic and social development of the city – but it is mostly ignored by the people who visit the city every year. That, however, could be about to change. The canal,
THE canals were once the channels that helped drive this country through the Industrial Revolution. Before the era of the railways, their introduction brought about radical improvements in trade between different parts of the country. It might
