Archive

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Cornish name for Cameron daughter

David and Samantha Cameron have named their new baby daughter Florence Rose Endellion, Downing Street said. Endellion refers to the Cornish village of St Endellion, close to where they are holidaying and which Mr Cameron has visited over the

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River placed on Flood Watch

Heavy rain today led the Environment Agency to put the River Ray on Flood Watch. The alert, the lowest level of warning issued by the agency, is for the catchment of the River Ray and its tributaries from near Shipton Lee to Islip, including

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Lorry fire causes A34 tailbacks

TRAFFIC suffered long delays on the southbound A34 today when a lorry caught fire near the Kidlington junction. Police and firefighters were sent to the scene at about 2.15pm amid reports that the blaze had spread to the lorry’s fuel tank. Although

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Lorry fire causes A34 delays

Long delays built up on the A34 near Oxford this afternoon after a lorry caught fire. The fire happened on the southbound between the B4027 Islip turn and the Peartree Interchange. Congestion was reported back to junction nine of the

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Local share prices

AEA Technology 18.5 BMW 3354 Electrocomponents 206.1 Nationwide Accident Repair 87.5 Oxford Biomedica 9.5 Oxford Catalyst 77.5 Oxford Instruments 346.5 REED 513.75 RM 132.25 RPS Group 172.5 Courtesy Redmayne Bentley

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Benefit cheat claimed £16,000

A 52-year-old man admitted claiming more than £16,000 in benefits while working for an air conditioning company. Peter Wynne, of Hearthway, Banbury, was given a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for a year, and a 12-week curfew, between 8pm and 8am,

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Burglars steal jewellery and iPod

Burglars stole jewellery and an iPod music player from a house in Appleton. They forced their way into the house off Oaksmere between 11am and 7pm on Monday. Anyone with information should call Pc Maria Morrissey on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers on

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Oxford United's man of the match against West Ham

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Jewellery stolen in Appleton break-in

Burglars used a tool to force their way into a house off Oaksmere, Appleton, and stole jewellery and an iPod. The break-in happened between 11am and 7pm on Monday. PC Maria Morrisey said: “I would like to hear from anyone who was in the area at

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Books choice

The Lacuna Barbara Kingsolver (Faber, £7.99) This is a long book for holiday reading, and takes a while to get into, but well worth the effort. The unreliable narrator is Harrison Shepherd, and we first read his diary as a young teenager in Mexico.

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Local author

Claire Masset is an expert in the history of art and architecture. She lives in Stonesfield, and her latest book, Department Stores, gives a mention to Oxford’s famous independent, Boswells. She looks at the social and economic changes that have sparked

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Portrait of a Victorian lady

Thank God that we live now and not in the 19th century; even if half the globe was coloured pink in those days. I always say that to myself after visits to the dentist; and I said it to myself again after reading Effie: A Victorian Scandal (Book Guild

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Beyond Magdalen Bridge

Retired Oxford University physicist Graeme Salmon was born in Australia but has lived in East Oxford for more than 40 years. His book Beyond Magdalen Bridge: The Growth of East Oxford is being sold at £7 in aid of the Friends of Warneford Meadow (see

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Chicken Coops for the Soul

Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky was walled up in a fortified house in Mexico City in 1940 in what would prove an unsuccessful attempt to escape Stalin’s assassins. Banished, vilified, in mortal danger and in poor health, Trotsky discovered a

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Gene therapy firm seeks partners

GENE THERAPY company Oxford BioMedica is seeking partners to develop two of its potential treatments after half-year losses rose to £3.6m. It has cash of £16.3m, enough to last until the first quarter of 2012. By then it hopes to have completed clinical

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Preserving United's archives

RECORDS of Oxford United’s roller- coaster past are being wrapped in polythene to preserve them for posterity. Club sponsor Polythene UK, of Witney, has donated thousands of polythene bags to store old programmes, newspapers, and minute books

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Is your great business idea ROBUST?

Much has been written about getting start-up businesses off the ground and this week we look at some of the things you can do to help ensure a successful start-up. It’s important to remember that people start businesses for a variety of different

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Loathed block gets the chop

Though John Betjeman failed in his ambition to have Magdalen College’s Waynflete Building blown up, another of his most loathed pieces of modern architecture has bitten the dust. This is the Norwich Union building in Peterborough, whose ugliness I knew

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Hornet's nest opens a can of worms

I remain obstinately uninterested in the contents of the third and final volume of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, despite having greatly enjoyed the first two. What I am intrigued to note, though, is that the book has different titles in the United

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The Feathered Nest Inn, Nether Westcote

I first visited Nether Westcote and what was then (1990) the manifestly misnamed ‘New’ Inn in early autumn, because I remember gathering a basket of sloes — I need hardly say why — in a lane behind the pub. At the time, the garden of this bog-standard

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New Sainsbury's was Cap'n Bob's bookshop

‘Betjeman attacks ‘monster’ at the Plain.” No, this newspaper headline has no direct link with the picture on the right, amusing as it might be to imagine the poet giving a pasting to the publisher Robert Maxwell — for who could mistake the looming

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Courgette and mushroom bread

If you still have more courgettes in the kitchen than you know what to do with, try adding them to a loaf of bread. The result is a moist, flavoursome loaf, which is really delicious, particularly when eaten shortly after it has come out of the oven.

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Lucy Garnett: Thresholds, Bartholomew Room, Eynsham

Thresholds is a great title for an art exhibition put together by a talented young woman who after painting for more than seven years stands at the threshold of a exciting new career as an artist. Lucy Garnett, from Eynsham, is studying part

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Squirrel's a taste for autumn by the Cherwell

As the seasons change, so do the dishes on Carson Hill’s menu. Carson is the head chef at the Cherwell Boathouse, off Bardwell Road, Oxford, which as regular customers are aware, follows the seasons faithfully. This idyllic riverside restaurant

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The Girl Who Played With Fire and Scott Pilgrim vs The World

The late Stieg Larsson’s best-selling Millennium trilogy, which began with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, continues with a gritty descent into the sickening world of sex trafficking. Set a year after the events of the first film, The Girl

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The Master and Margarita: Oxford University Dramatic Society, Edinburgh Fringe

Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita is a dense and complex novel, layered with parallel interconnected plotlines and saturated with theosophical intrigue; so as Rowena Purrett acknowledged in her review earlier this month, to pare it down

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Town redevelopment gets underway

CHERWELL District Council chief executive Mary Harpley, left, and town and district councillor Debbie Pickford cut the first sod to mark the start of Bicester’s £70m town centre redevelopment. The project, which will see a Sainsbury’s supermarket, seven-screen

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Orders flood in for Countryman

ORDERS for the new Mini Countryman are flooding in from across Oxfordshire – more than three weeks before the car hits the showrooms. Mini dealer North Oxford Garage, at Long Hanborough, has taken 19 orders for the new model – the first to be manufactured

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The Night Heron: Rabid Monkey Productions, Edinburgh Fringe

Wattmore is a nutcase who sees Satan in the eyes of Cub Scouts. Bolla is a nervy and intense ex-convict. Griffin is resourceful, proactive and loyal but none too bright. The Night Heron, by Jez Butterworth (writer of the recent West End smash Jerusalem

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Sparkleshark: Bouncy Castle Productions, Edinburgh Fringe

Is the pen really mightier than the sword, or is that just a comfortable fiction dreamed up by the people wielding the pens? In Philip Ridley’s Sparkleshark, a group of teenagers face up to their parents and popularity issues, and even tame the

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Njabulo Madlala: Holywell Music Room

Sometimes you just know instinctively that you’re going to enjoy a concert even before it starts. Such was the case with the recital given at the Holywell Music Room by the young South African baritone Njabulo Madlala. It was his first since winning the

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The Big Book: Bodleian Library

The Big Book is an impressive tome, standing as it does 2.2 metres high, somberly clad in an old-fashioned binding, on which the only lettering is the word ‘Imagine’, in gold on the spine. Its size is deliberately symbolic of the huge role books

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Cash stolen in Farmoor burglary

Police are appealing for witnesses after a house was broken into in Farmoor. Thieves got into the property in Oaklands by throwing a large rock through a downstairs window and carried out a search, stealing cash and credit cards. The break-in happened

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Driver chased White Horse Hill car thief

A driver chased a thief who tried to break into a car in the White Horse Hill car park in Uffington. The 51-year-old owner of a silver Volkswagen Golf returned to his car to find a man trying to break into it. The owner shouted at the man and chased

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Decky Does a Bronco: Florence Park, Oxford

Decky Does a Bronco became a hit a decade ago, surprising audiences by using a playground location and acrobatic performances. This revival, in the lovely Florence Park, arrives in Oxford after enjoying a favourable reaction at the Edinburgh Festival

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The Country Girl: Milton Keynes Theatre and the Apollo Theatre, London

Producer Bill Kenwright’s top-class revival of Clifford Odets’s The Country Girl, starring Martin Shaw and Jenny Seagrove, is at Milton Keynes this week on its way to a West End run. It moves into the Apollo Theatre in October in succession to

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Bright Young Things: Oxford Town Hall

The Gallery in the Town Hall is showcasing the work of 20 of Oxfordshire’s up-and-coming artists. Work covers a variety of disciplines, including graphics, illustration, photography, print and textiles. While some of the work on show has been produced

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Romeo and Juliet: Creation Theatre Company, The Said Business School

A week remains of Creation Theatre’s ‘run on the roof’ (a fine amphitheatre atop the Business School), and Romeo and Juliet remains as vibrant as it was when first reviewed in July. I saw it in the concrete brightness of a matinee, but can

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The Jersey Boys: Prince Edward Theatre, London

Oh, what a night! — or rather afternoon, since this is when I saw The Jersey Boys at a Sunday matinee at which was celebrated this marvellous musical’s 1,000th performance. A big hit already then? Yes, and deservedly so. This is not a show in the Mamma

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Town scoffs its way into survey’s top 10

ABINGDON residents are feeling as nice as pie after making it into the country’s top 10 for pie-eating. People in the town scoff their way through 180,000 a year, putting them 10th in the country according to a survey by Tesco. Leicester topped the

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The Secret of Sherlock Holmes: The Duchess Theatre, London

"It’s a different side to Sherlock Holmes — one I hadn’t expected,” I heard a member of the audience say during the interval — and that was before the ‘secret’ that is the twist in this generally pleasing two-hander. The play originated in 1988 as a

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CRICKET: Eason lauds Horspath's rise

Skipper Robbie Eason hailed Horspath’s fairy-tale rise from obscurity to MP Sports Cherwell League champions as a “fantastic achievement.” Controversially placed in Division 5 following the demerger with Oxford in 2004, the village club have stormed

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Model railway enthusiasts set for annual show

The Banbury & District Model Railway Club hosts its annual show on Sunday, September 26, at Banbury School, Ruskin Road. The group is building a OO layout 16ft x 14ft freelance mainline railway and a 30ft end-to-ender for the day. For information call

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Coming together for Pakistan

THE Banbury community raised almost £13,000 in one night to help people left destitute after the Pakistan floods. A charity dinner was supported by up to 400 people from across the community reflecting the town’s diverse population. Most of the cash

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Boys' Brigade seeks volunteer help

Volunteers are needed to help run already established Boys’ Brigade, BB, groups in Bloxham, Chipping Norton, Deddington and Kings Sutton. The organisation, founded in 1883 and provides activities for youngsters aged five to 18, is also hoping

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Early start worth it for Luke and Gemma

A couple have raised £238 from a car boot sale to help kit out a family room at an Oxford hospital in memory of their son Finnley, who died earlier this year. Luke and Gemma Froude, and work colleagues, got up at 5.30am for the Bodicote car boot on August

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FOOTBALL: Didcot grab last-gasp winner

Zamaretto Southern League Elliott Osborne-Ricketts’s last-gasp strike earned Didcot Town a 1-0 victory over Bedford Town and their first win of the Premier Division season. Osborne-Ricketts hooked home from Andy Gunn’s header with virtually

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CRICKET: We held it together - Hemming

Paul Hemming, the normally composed Shipton-under-Wychwood captain, admitted to feeling “quite emotional” after they reached the npower Village Cup final. Shipton, and Hemming in particular, never seemed to panic, unlike their opponents Rowledge, as

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GCSE RESULTS: Nationwide, girls out-do boys again

Girls are continuing to leave boys behind at GCSE, yesterday’s national results reveal, with more pupils sitting exams early. Results for England, Wales and Northern Ireland show that it has been another record-breaking year. Nearly

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GCSE RESULTS: Latin pupils give a classic performance

The first students in Oxfordshire to graduate from Oxford University’s Latin Teaching Scheme received their results yesterday. Twenty pupils from eight secondary schools spent two hours every Saturday morning for the past two years being taught the classical

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GCSE RESULTS: Champ Ben wins a knockout score

AN ATHLETIC pupil has shown he is punching above his weight, after scoring a string of As – while training for a place on the Olympic boxing team. Bicester Community College pupil Ben Kaluza proved he has both brains and brawn by getting two A*, eight

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GCSE RESULTS: Marvellous Marcus

Marcus Li secured his place among England’s brainiest pupils after getting 15 A* and A grades. The 16-year-old discovered the exceptional results when he arrived at Bartholomew School, in Eynsham, shortly after 9am yesterday. Headteacher Andrew Hamilton

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GCSE RESULTS: Twins triumph while hard work pays off for Mansi

Twins Emma and Katie Phipkin, 16, left, top, were celebrating last night after both scored straight A and A*s. Despite both the Headington School pupils securing outstanding results, Emma earned the bragging rights over her sibling by getting straight

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GCSE RESULTS: Twins star as Magdalen College School sets record

TWINS Jai-hin and Krishan Patel are celebrating scoring a clean sweep of A*s in their GCSEs, gaining 10 of the top grades each. The 16-year-olds, from Old Marston, in Oxford, both attend Magdalen College School. Krishan said it was an “amazing” achievement

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GCSE RESULTS: Academy raises standards

THE principal of Oxford Academy has praised pupils for achieving improved GCSE results while building work at the school continues. The academy in Sandy Lane West, Littlemore, opened in September 2008, replacing Peers School. But pupils will

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Pursuit of profits is killing pub trade

AS IS apparent from my address, I am a publican, working in a fast-dying trade. Since I entered the pub trade in 1970, drinking habits have altered dramatically. For 30 years I ran a city centre pub in Oxford. Students, faculty, business

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Sad decision on Oxford School

I watched in sadness at the county council meeting when the Conservative administration passed the resolution to abandon Oxford Community School and set up an academy and place it in the hands of a management group based in Dubai in the United Arab

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Crutch confusion in the NHS

I WAS some what confused by Amanda Williams’s report about lost crutches (Oxford Mail, august 12). A very good friend of mine who is Scottish has decided to return to Scotland. As he was packing, he found a pair of walking sticks and

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Why no memorials to Cardinal Newman?

I WAS surprised to read (Oxford Mail, July 22) that there were no memorials dedicated to the memory of Cardinal Newman in Oxford. I may be wrong but I believe that Newman Road and Cardinal Close in Littlemore were named in his memory. Also,

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GCSE RESULTS: Delight as school triples its success

LARKMEAD School, in Abingdon has seen a near tripling in its GCSE results over the past five years. Headteacher Chris Harris was delighted to see the school’s best ever results but said the continued improvement over recent years was also important

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GCSE RESULTS: Head's delight at Wheatley Park's turnaround

THE headteacher of a school placed under special measures has spoken of her delight at its GCSE results. Kate Curtis said the improvements at Wheatley Park show the school is moving forward – and she says there is more to come. The school was put under

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GCSE RESULTS: Tumour doesn't stop brave Alex

A BOY with an inoperable brain tumour has amazed teachers by landing five A*s and two As in his GCSEs despite taking his exams just a fortnight after undergoing chem-otherapy. Alex Polywka, 16, was diagnosed with brain cancer by doctors

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Speed camera system was crazy

I WOULD like to invite Chris Robins (Oxford Mail Viewpoints, August 10) to give me one good reason why Oxfordshire’s council taxpayers should have to spend £600,000 on operating speed cameras to enable the Treasury to collect the fines arising from

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Sassy & Single: Another girl, another planet

I’m wondering if you could help me with something. Judging by some conversations I’ve had with the fellas I work with recently, I must be a little thick when it comes to understanding the rules of the world. You see, I wasn’t aware all females are supposed

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Delight as baby Cam makes her arrival

DAVID Cameron spoke of his delight last night after wife Samantha gave birth to a baby girl a month early during the family’s holiday in Cornwall. The couple’s fourth child weighed 6lb 1oz and mother and baby are both doing well. The Prime Minister’

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A real beanfeast

A Bangladeshi woman has brought the tastes of her home country to Oxford by growing tropical vegetables in her back garden. Mohammed Mannan says it’s great to enjoy the beans, pumpkins and coriander that his wife Begum has managed to grow in their East

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AA and Rospa criticise county speed camera switch-off

BRITAIN’s leading road safety organisations have warned switching off speed cameras will create a “void” in law enforcement on the road. Twenty-five days ago Oxfordshire became the first county in the country to switch off all its speed cameras after

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Mum despairs for cancer sufferers after drug ruling

A MUM-of-three yesterday spoke of her despair that fellow cancer sufferers are being denied a drug she believes has extended her life. Carer Wendy Martin, 54, said she felt frustrated on behalf of other bowel cancer sufferers who will be unable to get

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RAPE TRIAL: Girl did not tell men to go away

A TEENAGER who says she was raped in a portable toilet said she was not consenting but admitted she did not ask her attackers to leave her alone. The girl, who cannot be named, was 14 when she attended a birthday party in Gagingwell, near Chipping Norton

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Dismal spell set to continue

The UK is set to be deluged with yet more heavy rain today as forecasters warned that the spell of miserable weather was set to continue. Most of August has been a washout, with the sight of holidaymakers wrapped up in waterproofs proving far more

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Wilder proud of brave Oxford United

Manager Chris Wilder said he was proud of his Oxford United team as they gave it a real go at West Ham last night – only to be cruelly knocked out of the Carling Cup deep into stoppage time. England international Scott Parker snatched a

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Shopping can now be a fun day out

LIVE performers, a carousel and a bouncy castle will entertain visitors at Witney’s first shopping fun day. Independent traders have joined forces with the Woolgate Centre and Marriotts Walk shopping centres, along with other high street stores, to hold

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Protesters pour doubt on Temple Cowley Pool costs

CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save Temple Cowley Pools are questioning the validity of the facility’s refurbishment costs which have been branded uneconomic. Oxford City Council says repairing the venue would be “throwing good money after bad”.

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Alex amazes his teachers

A BOY battling brain cancer has amazed teachers by landing five A*s and two As in his GCSEs despite taking the exams just a fortnight after undergoing chemotherapy. Alex Polywka, 16, of Norman Avenue, Abingdon, was diagnosed with a pineal

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A-level results were 'anomalous' -- head

WALLINGFORD School’s headmaster, Wyll Willis, moved to reassure students and parents after the school’s “disappointing” A-level results. Last week’s results showed that 46 per cent of students had A* to B grades — down ten per cent on last

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Schools delighted by GCSE improvement

PUPILS and schools in Abingdon were celebrating yesterday as GCSE results showed consistent improvements. Larkmead School’s pupils and teachers were praised by headteacher Chris Harris after producing the school’s best-ever results.

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Principal goes out with final flourish

PUPILS at King Alfred’s Specialist Sports College, Wantage, are again celebrating record GCSE results. For the ninth year in a row, the number of pupils attaining five A*-C grades increased, reaching 92.5% in 2010 from 85.3 per cent last year

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GCSE pupils smash their school records

DIDCOT teenagers produced record sets of GCSE results yesterday. Seventy-four per cent of Didcot Girls’ School’s 234 pupils gained five or more A* to C grades — a rise of six per cent on last year. Two-thirds of pupils at the counterpart