Archive
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Coach fire closes M40
The M40 London-bound has been closed between junction 5 and junction 4 due to an ongoing coach fire. The Highways Agency expect the road to remain closed until 8.30pm. The incident, on the Buckinghamshire stretch of the motorway, happened
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DECADE OF WAR IN AFGHANISTAN: Emotional repatriations
Here in Oxfordshire, the terrible repercussions of the war are now felt in the emotional repatriations of soldiers into RAF Brize Norton. The first repatriation at Brize for seven years took place on September 8 when the base took over the
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DECADE OF WAR IN AFGHANISTAN: Families remember
John Gostick knows only too well the terrible cost of the Afghanistan conflict. On Sunday, May 25, 2008, he received the devastating news that his son Dale had been killed while serving in Afghanistan. The first Oxfordshire soldier to die in the conflict
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DECADE OF WAR IN AFGHANISTAN: Schoolgirls’ £1m fundraising effort
GIRLS from an Abingdon school are to take part in the national Ten for Ten campaign to help raise £1m for our service men and women. The campaign was set up by Alix and Marcus Hodge, from Appleton, whose daughter, Clara, attends St Helen and St Katharine
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Raising awareness was goal of contest
MORE than 40 football fans took part in a charity tournament for cancer awareness. The five-a-side football competition was held at Oxford Brookes Centre for Sports in Headington and raised money for Everyman, a prostate and testicular cancer charity
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Top cop may visit criminals at home
CRIMINALS across north Oxfordshire will be getting a knock on the door from the police to make sure they stay on the right side of the law. Cherwell’s new police boss Superintendent Andy Boyd has warned those who commit, or are suspected of committing
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A belated birthday for animal charity
IT is the birthday present that everyone wanted at Burford’s famous animal charity The Blue Cross. Celebrations to mark its 21st anniversary earlier in the year were postponed by the arrival at the centre of the bacterial infection streptococcus zooepidemicus
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Down's Syndrome: breaking down the walls
Claude and Michelle Blackstock did not know their son Theo, now nine, had Down’s Syndrome until five days after his birth. Both he and his wife are now members of Down’s Syndrome Oxford (DSO), a charity that this week hoped to train teachers in the
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Strange who we meet at football matches
At the last 3 matches Timmy's been to he bumped into...well you'll never guess!
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Rail disruption this weekend
Engineering work will affect Chiltern Railways and CrossCountry trains over the weekend. Chiltern services will be replaced by buses between Bicester North, Banbury and Leamington Spa from 10.15pm on Saturday until 2.15pm on Sunday. Passengers using
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RSPCA hunt for swan killers
Two swans were shot in the neck at a reservoir in Claydon. They were found beside Clattercote Reservoir and reported to the police and RSPCA on September 14. The charity only released details of the killings on Wednesday. The RSPCA’s inspector Annabelle
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What do you think about buses?
Bus passengers can have their say about services at a special surgery on Tuesday. The event, organised by passenger group Bus Users UK, will be held on board a bus parked in the city centre. Managers from the Oxford Bus Company, Stagecoach, Thames Travel
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Design a logo for community centre
Leys residents have been given a unique opportunity to leave a lasting impression on their Oxford estates. The recently-renamed Leys Community Centre has launched a competition to design its new logo. It is open to all residents and the finished product
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Academy pupils give science lessons
SIXTH-form science whizzes have been sharing their skills with primary school children for a special project set up by Oxford Spires Academy. The academy has been awarded £6,000 after being shortlisted for the national Rolls-Royce Science Prize, and
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Soap star will switch on lights
JEFF Hordley, who plays Cain Dingle in TV soap Emmerdale, will switch on this year’s Banbury Christmas lights at 5.30pm at the Town Hall on November 27. The event begins at midday and will include a fairground in Market Place and a Christmas market in
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Fusion offers a fresh start
A LANDMARK Oxford pub will reopen this month, in its third incarnation in four years. The White House on Botley Road has been undergoing a facelift for 12 months as it becomes The One restaurant. It will become the third separate venture to inhabit
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Club bowled over as kids cut a deal
PUPILS at an Oxford school have played deal-brokers in a solution to traffic problems with the school run. With help from teachers, police and road safety officers, pupils at St John Fisher School have struck up an agreement with the Oxford & District
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Grant therapy
PEOPLE with multiple sclerosis in Oxfordshire now have easy access to their support centre, thanks to an automated door system paid for by the Gannett Foundation. The foundation is the charitable arm of Gannett, the parent company of Newsquest, which
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Entrepreneurs are set a challenge
JUNIOR entrepreneurs looking to start their own businesses in the future are being invited to a special event. Students from the county’s schools and colleges will meet business leaders to discover the best way to go about becoming the next Alan Sugar
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New route from Oxford to New York - via Dublin
CHRISTMAS shoppers could be able to jet off to New York this year from Oxford. Airport chiefs hope a one-off December flight – via Dublin – will pave the way for more regular services to global destinations. They are in talks with KLM CityJet and
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BADMINTON: Veterans wanted
OXFORDSHIRE Veterans are holding a training session at Barthlomew School, Eynsham on Sunday (1-4pm). Anyone aged 40 or over and interested in playing for Oxfordshire’s veterans teams is welcome to turn up. For more information, contact 01865 865322.
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Passenger ‘not wearing’ belt
THE back seat passenger in a fatal car crash “may not have been wearing his seatbelt”, a jury heard yesterday. Stephen Hocknell, 21, from Carterton, was driving home from work with two friends Callum MacKinnon and Peter Hayes on September 7
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Oxford United fans agin show their worth
IT HAS been a big week for several branches of Oxford United supporters. One group of fans did their bit by starting the Ultimate Support Saturday campaign ahead of tomorrow’s match with Bristol Rovers. The 12th Man scheme then helped fund a deal to
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Heartfelt mini appeal for hospice
STtaff at an Oxford hospice have a new Mini to visit patients living in the community, thanks to radio listeners. The vehicle was handed over to Helen and Douglas House chief executive Tom Hill, pictured, by Heart Breakfast presenter Michelle Jordan,
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BBC local radio ‘still under threat’
THE fight to save local BBC television may have been won three months ago, but now battle lines are being drawn to protect Radio Oxford. Corporation bosses yesterday announced it plans to axe 2,000 jobs nationwide to make savings of £670m by 2016 – a
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Anger over road scheme changes
Highways officials have made last-minute changes to a controversial road scheme in Witney after admitting it could cause “undesirable” congestion. Last night campaigners against the Cogges Link Road accused Oxfordshire County Council of making the change
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Local share prices (AM)
AEA Technology 1.95 BMW 4313 Electrocomponents 191.6 Nationwide Accident Repair 87.5 Oxford Biomedica 4.95 Oxford Catalysts 56 Oxford Instruments 742.25 Reed Elsevier 512.75 RM 72 RPS Group 159.4 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon
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It’s not just cats stuck up trees...
THEY are known for rescuing cats stuck up trees. But firefighters in Oxfordshire have also saved pigeons stuck on roofs, puppies trapped in sofas and even a cat caught in a reclining chair. New figures reveal Oxfordshire firefighters
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Brown starts goalkeeping school
OXFORD United goalkeeper Wayne Brown enjoyed a fine first appearance for the U’s this week – and is now looking to pass on some top tips. Brown has started up a goalkeeping school in Oxford, and is looking to get as many youngsters as possible to join
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Smalley's strike is big boost for everyone
DEANE Smalley’s strike at Aldershot on Tuesday night was exactly what the doctor ordered. And while the striker himself will understandably have wanted the goal more than anyone else, the reaction of his Oxford United teammates, the bench, the press
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CYCLING: Macke shines in team pursuit
WITNEY’S Will Macke was part of a junior team who secured an impressive ninth-place at the British National Track Championships in Manchester. Competing against senior riders, Macke and his AWcycles.co.uk outfit, all aged 17, made the top ten in the
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Duberry ready to score - if the sun's not shining!
MICHAEL Duberry says he’s close to his first Oxford United goal – but hasn’t wanted to rush it, so that his supporters can make a fortune! Dubes hit the bar with a header against Accrington and has come agonisingly close with efforts at Rotherham on
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Law breakers
IF the Countryside Alliance figures are to be believed, then more than half the population of the country support breaking the law which continues to ban hunting. This law is already being broken right across the UK by people in authority who should
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Police in safe hands
David Diment states in his letter (Oxford Mail, October 5): ‘One does not want the average bobby to be a half-witted, semi-illiterate ignoramus.’ Relax Mr Diment. I worked the Rose Hill area for years during my tenure with the ‘Old Bill’ and no-one
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Local authority is in for trouble over its plans for Summertown
LAST Wednesday I attended the public hearing of a planning case in the Town Hall. The tight adherence to the right process has not produced the right outcome. I am worried that expedient decisions affecting communities around our city, like the one
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RUGBY UNION: Bowers hoping to avoid drama
CHINNOR head coach Jason Bowers is hoping for a more comfortable time at Weston-super-Mare when he takes his side there in National 3 South West tomorrow. Last season, Chinnor pipped Weston 25-21 last season with an 80th-minute James Serrano try. And
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Changes for worse
DEGREES in policing, what a totally stupid idea. Are recruits to be vetted and have a medical before or after the degree? A lot of today’s policing problems are due to so many high rankers having degrees. I was too young for National Service. Thirteen
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Lazy in language
Councillor Keith Mitchell is just being xenophobic by suggesting no more county council leaflets are printed in any language other than English. He forgets that people who speak Polish, Urdu, Bengali, French, Swahili, Farsi, and so on, are council tax
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Turbine spells trouble
I TOTALLY sympathise with the Harwell villagers’ protests against a wind farm on their doorsteps and they are certainly not ‘nimbys’. These large concrete structures are not so very green or renewable either. They use huge amounts of concrete, which
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Charity really does begin at home
TWO weeks ago I wrote to your paper criticising David Cameron’s cuts, particularly with regard to the withdrawal of the subsidy for senior citizens on coach travel. At the same time I stated that the Government should adopt the policy of “charity begins
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CABBAGES & KINGS: Canal Day still continues to float my boat
CANAL Day in Banbury with brightly coloured narrow boats polished to perfection has become a must-attend occasion for thousands in north Oxfordshire and beyond. It improves by the year and the sun certainly brought out the punters. I had bought a tasty
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Watching badgers beats watching whales
Some years ago in New Zealand, my daughter and I went whale watching. If you want to see whales in New Zealand, you really need to go down to the Kaikoura coast, in the South Island, but we were a long way from there, so we took the local North
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The great recovery
For the first time since the 1960s, wild otters are living in every county of England. GILES STROTHER tells the tale of the otter’s return and the part played by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust Otters had virtually disappeared from England by
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FOOTBALL: Ford's praise for loyal Heapy
Evo-Stik Southern League OXFORD City boss Mike Ford has spoken of the high regard in which he holds new signing Jamie Heapy, after the 31-year-old made the switch from Didcot Town this week. Heapy, who had spent his entire playing career at the Railwaymen
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FOOTBALL: Kidlington eye bumper crowd for derby
UHLSport Hellenic League KIDLINGTON will hope for a big crowd when they host Ardley United in the Premier Division tomorrow. The derby clash is the third leg of the league’s annual groundhopper day. Kidlington’s match kicks off at 6.30pm, and follows
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FIXTURES October 8
SATURDAY. FOOTBALL. NPOWER LEAGUE TWO. Oxford Utd v Bristol Rov. EVO-STIK SOUTHERN LEAGUE. Premier Div: Banbury Utd v Weymouth, Oxford City v Swindon Supermarine. FA CARLSBERG TROPHY. Prelim round: Didcot Tn v Clevedon, Chalfont St Peter v Abingdon
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FOOTBALL: Abingdon boss Bourne slams McReady
FA Carlsberg Trophy ABINGDON United boss Richie Bourne has hit out at defender Ben McReady, who says he wants to leave the Northcourt Road club. Bourne spoke of his anger after the club slashed his playing budget in half due to financial worries. While
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Wheeling in: Skoda Yeti
We all know that it is the little things in life that make a big difference. From an unexpectedly helpful bit of customer service in a shop, to a rare piece of courtesy on the road, it is those small touches that help to make your day. So when you
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COMMENT: Sort it quickly
A PARK-AND-RIDE is not much good if it lives up to only half its title. Motorists arriving at Thornhill this week have reported scenes of chaos. It is a good example of how a two tier system of local government can create confusion. Now it seems the
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Unipart investment ‘secures future’
THE private equity firm which bought a controlling interest in a key division of Cowley-based transport and parts distribution firm Unipart, has borrowed £37.5m to invest in the business. H2 Equity Partners raised the cash against the existing assets
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Universities face inquiry into digs
AN INVESTIGATION into student numbers could thwart both Oxford universities’ hopes of moving into multi-million pound new campuses. The city council probe will look at claims thousands more Students than previously admitted live in privately
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New fees causing car parking chaos
DRIVERS using Thornhill park-and-ride said the return of parking fees at three of Oxford’s sites has caused chaos at the already overcrowded car park. The city council re-introduced charges at its Pear Tree, Redbridge and Seacourt park-and-rides
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COMMENT: Concerns must be addressed
OXFORD is known the world over for its student culture. But what is less recognised is the other side of the town versus gown divide. Students bring an immeasurable benefit to the city and that should never be forgotten. However, there is also a serious
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United fans can't wait for electric atmosphere at Kassam
Chris Wilder says his team are already relishing the fantastic atmosphere that will be created at the Kassam Stadium this weekend. Oxford United’s clash with Bristol Rovers has been dubbed ‘Ultimate Support Saturday’ by U’s fans, and is set
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Domestic violence charity needs help
A domestic violence charity has been put in a desperate situation where it may have to cut services just when they are needed most. Eve Well Women’s Project has hit a funding crisis at a time when it has been “overwhelmed” by calls for help. Set up
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Flats for the future
THIS is the modern block of 12 flats that could replace two family homes in West Oxford in a wave of new housing set to sweep the area. Developers have applied to build the contemporary-style apartment building in West Way, Botley. The plan has been
