BIG Society funding from the Government has arrived to keep a bus route running between Watlington and Oxford.

In December,five villages in South Oxfordshire linked up to support a month-long trial of weekend Buses on route 101, after a similar service was withdrawn last year.

Watlington, Cuxham, Chalgrove, Stadhampton and Garsington parish councils joined forces with Abingdon company Go Ride Buses to reinstate weekend journeys.

Now a £12,000 grant will allow services on Saturday night and on Sunday serving the communities along the B480 to run on a long-term basis.

Chalgrove county councillor David Turner said: “The future success of the new services is now in the hands of the people of the five villages on the route.

“There will now be an increase in publicity to encourage Oxford residents to use the service to access country pubs and go walking on the Ridgeway.”

Mr Turner said earlier that the new services would connect a catchment area of 10,000 people to shops and restaurants in Oxford and Cowley, and help them to take advantage of Sunday shopping.

Thames Travel withdrew the Oxford-Watlington 101 Saturday evening service last June, after bus subsidies across the county were reviewed.

But Go Ride talked to villagers and came up with the plan to revive the service.

Mr Turner then agreed a £300 county council grant to fund a trial of weekend services last December.

The county council last week approved a bid for £12,000 of Big Society funding for Go Ride to operate the services on a long-term.

The five parish councils have pledged an additional £2,000 to promote the service and keep it running.

Go Ride director Danny Douglas said: “We hope people are going to choose our bus over using their car to get to work and to go out in Oxford.”

The not-for-profit company also operates the Watlington Link, which runs between Watlington and the Oxford Tube bus stop at junction six of the M40 at Lewknor, which it has been running since last August.

The current 101 service features four return journeys between Watlington and Oxford on Saturday nights starting at 6pm, calling at Cuxham, Chalgrove, Stadhampton, Garsington, Cowley and Oxford.

On Sundays there are four return journeys from Lewknor to Oxford, from 9.15am to 5.15pm.

The trial service timetable will continue until a new timetable is introduced before the Easter.

Last September, a daytime bus link between Watlington and the Cowley shopping centres in Oxford was reinstated.

Thames Travel had withdrawn the connection when it made timetable changes after losing a £130,000 annual subsidy for the 106 route, due to county council budget cuts.

For details of the 101 timetable, see www.goridebus.co.uk or call 0844 870 8479