Archive
-
Date
Burglary blitz nets suspects
A clampdown on burglars by Oxford police has led to 65 arrests in less than two weeks. Dc Paul Mackie with some of the confiscated items Police launched Operation Blitz in a bid to reduce the number of burglaries in the city by targeting known offenders
-
Date
Why we must stop this pay jamboree
I am astounded that Oxfordshire County Council chief executive Richard Shaw and other senior managers are in line for pay rises of up to 15 per cent (Oxford Mail, February 5). The pay of senior managers at the county council has gone up dramatically in
-
Date
Weigh to go
GREEN group Sustainable Wallingford had such a success with their first Swap Shop they decided to repeat the exercise and targeted unwanted Christmas presents. So at the Regal centre in Wallingford people came along with things they did not want and swapped
-
Date
Rugby: Nnamdi set to return for Henley
Henley Hawks hope to have England sevens star Nnamdi Obi available again for their crunch National League 1 relegation clash with Coventry at Dry Leas tomorrow. Obi should return after representing his country at the New Zealand leg of the IRB Sevens.
-
Date
Sailing for charity
A woman from Childrey, near Wantage, has raised thousands of pounds over the past year while facing the challenge of sailing the high seas. Cressida Whyatt began the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in December 2002, with the aim of raising as much
-
Date
Lecturers vote for 7-day strike on pay
Hundreds of university lecturers in Oxford have voted to go on strike after rejecting their latest pay offer in a national ballot. Members of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) voted to reject a pay offer of 6.44 per cent over two years the
-
Date
Football: Primmer back in the fold
Midfielder Barry Primmer returns after injury as AFC Wallingford look to consolidate second place in the Seagrave Haulage League Premier Division at home to Farnham Town tomorrow. But fellow midfielder Paul Hannigan, who has missed the last two games
-
Date
CYCLE SPEEDWAY: Mike gets Lions' call
Horspath Hammers rider Mike Morgans has been picked to race in the British Lions squad in Australia next year. Steve Harris, who will be team manager, and Geoff Gamage, who is the tour director, will also represent Horspath. The tour will also include
-
Date
Hockey: Relieved Hawks get off mark - at last!
English League: Oxford Hawks' long wait for their first win of the season in English League Division 2 is over. The basement boys, who had lost 11 of their previous 12 games, twice came from behind to finally open their account with a 4-2 win over fellow
-
Date
GREYHOUNDS: Kegan's smash & grab
Kegans Choice produced a real smash and grab performance to land the 74th running of the prestigious Trafalgar Cup at a packed Oxford Stad- ium. Many pundits thought that Kegans, trained by Hove maestro Brian Clemenson, had a little more left in the tank
-
Date
FOOTBALL: Bicester girls get a lift
Girls' football in Bicester has been given a financial boost thanks to service station operator Moto. Moto's parent company, Compass Group, have given Cherwell District Council a £2,000 grant to help develop a girls football programme in the town. The
-
Date
Athletics: Lock's key as Witney lift another team title
Tony Lock led home the Witney Roadrunners contingent at the Wokingham Half Marathon on Sunday as the west Oxfordshire club lifted their second successive team title of 2004. Lock finished fifth in a huge field of more than 2,000 in a time of 1hr 13mins
-
Date
Football: City are up for the cup
Oxfordshire Senior Cup holders Oxford City will be looking to reach the last four of this year's competition tomorrow when they travel to Hellenic League Division 1 West side Ardley United (2.30), managed by former City player Paul Spittle. City boss
-
Date
Postcode change driver gets refund
An Eynsham pensioner who found himself being charged higher car insurance premiums after the Post Office changed his postcode has received a refund, thanks to the Oxford Mail . Donald Coleman, 73, sought help after his insurance broker told him premiums
-
Date
Review: Lost in Translation (15)
Famous American movie star Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is in Tokyo to shoot a lucrative commercial for a popular Japanese brand of whisky. Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation Despite constant attention from his host, the obsequious Ms Kawasaki (Akiko
-
Date
Council drops probe into cricket 'racism'
Accusations of racism against Oxfordshire Cricket Association over the way it dealt with an on-the-pitch punch-up have been dropped. The Oxfordshire Racial Equality Council will not be investigating the disciplinary action taken by the association against
-
Date
Public gets say on cleaning up
The public's views about which city council services need investment will be taken into account when the council decides how to spend an extra £800,000. On Monday, February 16, the council will consider the executive board's 2004/5 budget proposals, which
-
Date
Police issue burglar alert
Householders in the Kidlington area are being warned to be on their guard following a night of burglaries. Three incidents, all at homes of elderly and vulnerable people, took place on Tuesday between 8.01pm and 9.43pm. A distraction burglary took place
-
Date
Lecturers vote for 7-day strike on pay
Hundreds of university lecturers in Oxford have voted to go on strike after rejecting their latest pay offer in a national ballot. Members of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) voted to reject a pay offer of 6.44 per cent over two years the
-
Date
Noc gets OK for foundation status bid
Union leaders have warned that Oxfordshire's NHS is a step closer to breaking up after an Oxford hospital yesterday (February 13) received the green light to continue its bid for foundation status. Managers at Oxford's Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre were
-
Date
Peers? This is not the school I know
Both my sons went to Peers School at Littlemore, Oxford, then on to university. I do not recognise the school that Ken Beames insults (Oxford Mail, January 31). Peers received A grades for added value in 2001 and 2002. In 2001, it had the most improved
-
Date
Joyriders have run of Barton estate
I live at Barton, Oxford, and have seen joyriders on mopeds and in cars. I know this goes on all over the place, but I have now lost faith completely in the police. My husband called a police number from the directory and was promptly cut off when he
-
Date
Rail link depends on £65m bid
Passenger trains linking Oxford and Bicester with Milton Keynes and Bedford could be running by 2007 if a £65m bid for Government for funding is successful. The money would pay for design work, the modernisation of track and signalling between Bicester
-
Date
Review: Oracle Night by Paul Auster (Faber, £15.99)
This is another of Paul Auster's complex, compulsive books -- part detective story, part ghost story; a tale within a tale within a manuscript. Sidney Orr (appropriately named) is recovering from a serious illness. One day he wanders into a new small
-
Date
Fit for a president
Why is it that if you take someone else out to dinner, having raved about a place for months, it's never as good as you expect. For some reason this is exacerbated when parents are involved. You spend days racking your brains for somewhere appropriate
-
Date
Ormerod gains high praise for outlook
A special school has been named as one of the best in the country and a model for others to follow. Nicholas Kemp, 16, works on his laptop with teaching assistant Ellen Farbrother The schools inspectorate, Ofsted, named Ormerod School, based in Oxford
-
Date
Public gets say on cleaning up
The public's views about which city council services need investment will be taken into account when the council decides how to spend an extra £800,000. On Monday, February 16, the council will consider the executive board's 2004/5 budget proposals, which
-
Date
Councillors have dim view of lights
A plan for traffic signals on Abingdon Bridge should be given the red light, say town councillors. They have criticised proposals to install lights near the Nag's Head pub and on the pedestrian crossing outside the Broad Face pub as part of the Abingdon
-
Date
Cricket: County and students to don their pyjamas
Oxfordshire's cricketers will get their first taste of Twenty20 pyjama cricket this summer. The county will take on the combined Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University side in a friendly on the evening of Friday, June 4. The quickfire 20-over-a-side
-
Date
Cricket: Evans to stay at helm for Oxford
Rupert Evans has resisted the temptation to hand over the captaincy and will lead Oxford again in the Home Counties Premier League this year. The former Oxfordshire skipper, who will be 50 when the campaign gets under way, hinted at the end of last season
-
Date
February 6: Bird-brain experts
Why must scientists always try to debunk our long-held and cherished beliefs? It was bad enough introducing the 'big bang' theory when for centuries we had been happy to believe God made heaven and earth in six days and took Sunday off. Now they are saying
-
Date
February 7: Hero by a mile
Fifty years ago, he was every schoolboy's hero. The tall, long-legged Oxford student with the floppy hair thrilled the world when he broke the athlete's version of the sound barrier at the Iffley Road ground in Oxford. Roger Bannister's name and those
-
Date
Last link to open
People cycling between Oxford and Witney will soon have an uninterrupted route, thanks to the county council. Work to complete the last section of cycle track between Witney and Oxford starts on February 23, as part of the Witney Integrated Transport
-
Date
Hope for homeless ducks
Towersey's homeless ducks may soon have a new roof over their heads. Their previous home had to be removed after someone in the village complained to South Oxfordshire District Council that it was unsightly. The district council planners said a duck house
-
Date
Adoptees in search of their lost mother
Joanna Trollope's new novel takes up where she left off at the end of her last novel, Girl From the South, which raised the question of how our personality is influenced by family, and where we come from. Brother and Sister takes that issue and explores
-
Date
Racing: Bleu signs off in style
Edredon Bleu, the trail-blazing star from Henrietta Knight's West Lockinge stables, near Wantage, signed off his campaign with an exhibition round at Wincanton yesterday. The 12-year-old made it five out of five for the season with a comfortable length
-
Date
ANGLING: Super roach haul
Linch Hill fishery's Willow Pool near Stanton Harcourt has produced a staggering catch of quality roach for Keith Tailby. The Leicester specimen hunter caught not just one 2lb roach - the magical target for most anglers - but 18 of them, topped by a monster
-
Date
BASKETBALL: Devils missing key men
Oxford Devils have six key players missing for their National Conference clash against Coventry Crusaders at the White Horse Leisure & Tennis Centre, Abingdon tonight (7pm). They include leading scorer Phil Alexander, who is suspended for two games
-
Date
ICE HOCKEY: Cox sidelined for rest of season
Oxford City Stars' Andy Cox has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. Cox suffered the knock in a training session on Monday night. The first game he misses is tomorrow's trip to Basingstoke Buffalo in the English National
-
Date
Rail link depends on £65m bid
Passenger trains linking Oxford and Bicester with Milton Keynes and Bedford could be running by 2007 if a £65m bid for Government for funding is successful. The money would pay for design work, the modernisation of track and signalling between Bicester
-
Date
Review: Something's Gotta Give (PG)
Perennial bachelor Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) has never dated a woman his own age. In fact, if a woman is over 30, he's just not interested. Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson Harry much prefers the company and attention of younger women and is completely
-
Date
Speedway: Wagstaff off abroad in search for talent
Oxford Silver Machine boss Nigel Wagstaff hopes to name his new team within the week. That's the message from the top as Wagstaff, pictured left, jetted off to Poland on Tuesday on a three-day business trip. He said: "I am going to sort out the bike covers
-
Date
Promoting tolerance
College students in Banbury have been encouraged to be more tolerant towards people from ethnic minorities. The New Directions project is running at the Banbury campus of the Oxford and Cherwell College. Students aged 16-19 have been involved in lectures
-
Date
Football: Thame boss West rallies his warriors
Thame United player-manager Mark West has called on his players for a positive response after their 5-0 midweek drubbing by Ryman League Division 1 North form side Berkhamsted when they travel to struggling Great Wakering Rovers tomorrow. West, whose
-
Date
Football: Abingdon boss Slater eyes a happy return
Abingdon United manager Andy Slater is relishing the prospect of returning to his former club as they take on North Leigh in the Premier Division tomorrow. Slater spent the 2002/3 season as coach at Eynsham Park, before leaving to take up the Abingdon
-
Date
Flashing blades
Swordsmen are among the stars of the Redcoats and Romeos event which launches Blenheim Palace's 2004 season on February 14. The event at the Woodstock palace is the first in a series this year to mark the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Blenheim, when
-
Date
Deal time
Here's something that will give hope to all budding musicians -- and anyone who has ever dreamed of getting a band together and taking on the world. Just over three years ago a couple of lads from Eynsham, near Oxford, got some instruments and put together
-
Date
Is it the end of an off-road era?
For generations, the highways and byways of England and Wales have been explored and enjoyed by motorcyclists, but this could be banned if a proposal, put out for consultation by the Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs, goes ahead. If
-
Date
Future mapped out
A conservation charity has put out an appeal to businesses to back a project aimed at boosting visitor numbers to the some of the county's most beautiful nature reserves. The Oxfordshire Nature Conservation Forum (ONCF) needs to raise £2,000 of funding
-
Date
Secrets of successful women revealed
Key findings into what makes a successful woman entrepreneur will be unveiled at an event next week. Faringdon-based Sue Stockdale, who made her name as a polar explorer, has been to meet ten women entrepreneurs across the UK to learn how their personal
-
Date
February 9: The root problem
Embarassment is nothing new to Oxford City Council. The fact that artists' impressions of a re-vamped Bonn Square were released by mistake merely confirms the belief that all too often the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. But this
-
Date
C-Class gets new Merc makeover
Four years after launch, Mercedes-Benz is enhancing the technology, equipment and design of the successful C-Class with a sports-tuned chassis, steering and six-speed manual transmission. Merceds-Benz C-Class From summer 2004, a four-cylinder powerplant
-
Date
Review: Big Fish (PG)
"In telling the story of my father's life, it's impossible to separate fact from the fiction, the man from the myth. The best that I can do is tell it the way he told me . . . it doesn't always make sense, but that's what kind of story this is." Ewen
-
Date
Homes plan for Army barracks
Housing could be built on the site of an army barracks. South Oxfordshire District Council's cabinet approved a blueprint for 300 homes on the Vauxhall Barracks site in Didcot. The military is pulling out and the Ministry of Defence is planning to sell
-
Date
Mum's the word
Former doctor, and MP Evan Harris, joined pupils in Oxford to back a sponsored silence. MP Evan Harris with Oxford High School headteacher Felicity Lusk and a group of pupils The Oxford West and Abingdon MP visited Oxford High School in Belbroughton Road
-
Date
Curry chef shows class
An Oxford curry chef can call himself the world's third best Indian cook. Anil Rozario, 35, of the Aziz Indian restaurant in Cowley Road, Oxford, beat thousands of chefs from around the world to gain third place in the International Indian Chef of the
-
Date
Students 'should pay £10k a year'
Oxford University students must pay up to £10,500 a year if they are to catch up with US rivals, a leading academic has claimed. The "aspiration gap" between Oxford and Ivy League universities such as Harvard and Princeton will continue to widen even
-
Date
Plants firm prepares for inquiry
A Long-running dispute over a garden centre is to come to a head at a planning inquiry. John Goodey of Oxford Road, Garsington, near Oxford, has been involved in a wrangle with South Oxfordshire District Council for almost 10 years over a garden centre
-
Date
FOOTBALL: Vale duo see red
Vale of White Horse Under 15s had two players sent off as they crashed out of the English Schools' FA Trophy 1-0 after extra time in a stormy clash at Hackney & Tower Hamlets. Adam Rudd and Luke Bennett both saw red in extra time as the fifth-round
-
Date
Audi A4 cabriolet powers up
Audi is taking orders for its new V8-powered A4 Cabriolet range flagship. The car, which will go on sale in April, costs £40,275 on the road and is powered by a 4.2-litre V8 engine, delivering 344 horsepower. Cabriolet quattro models will also available
-
Date
Hundred years in the plate making
Last month saw the 100th anniversary of car number plates being made compulsory in the UK. Under the Motor Car Act of 1903, local authorities were responsible for issuing registrations and each was allocated a one or two-letter code. G, S and V were reserved
-
Date
Jobless total dips slightly
The county's jobless total has fallen slightly in line with national trends, but Oxford continues to harbour a higher pocket of unemployment in males. In January, 4,332 people in the county were claiming jobseekers' allowance, compared with 4,349 in December
-
Date
Making money from Brideshead image
Oxford has long been one of Europe's most recognisable movie locations. Thanks to the likes of Iris Murdoch, CS Lewis and -- of course -- Harry Potter, in recent years it has also become one of the busiest. Many of us have become almost blas about stumbling
