Archive
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Daughter in final of TV competition to show father where grandfather fought in First World War
A DAUGHTER who is in the final of a competition to allow her father to see where her grandfather fought in the First World War said it would be “amazing” to win. Janet Humphrey, from Didcot, is hoping to get the opportunity to take her father Stan
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Feature: Dive in and see the amazing world under the waves at Oxford club
HAVE you ever wanted to experience fish up close or explore the depths of the ocean like Jacques Cousteau? Then Oxford’s diving club is for you. For a city very much landlocked and nearly 100 miles from any seawater, you wouldn’t think that diving
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Youngsters get up close and personal at creepy creatures show
ANIMAL lovers took a walk on the wild side over the weekend to get up close and personal with some creepy creatures. Children were invited along to the Amey Theatre in Abingdon to learn about reptiles and, for those brave enough, to hold and stroke
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Health visitor’s app hopes to fight female genital mutilation
A HEALTH visitor is developing an app to tackle female genital mutilation (FGM) in Oxford. Joanne McEwan believes technology could prove valuable in helping protect girls and women at risk by bringing the subject into the open. The iPad app
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Bus users voice concerns about cuts to routes at community meeting
WORRIED residents packed into a community hall to voice their concerns about losing a number of vital bus routes. More than 150 people attended Ceewood Hall in Witney on Sunday as Stagecoach bus driver and district councillor Andrew Coles chaired
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Residents are ‘losing faith’ in Oxford diocese over sale of community building
EAST Oxford residents have slammed a Church of England decision to sell their much-loved community building to housing developers. The Diocese of Oxford confirmed an offer was accepted from Cantay Estates Ltd to transform Hertford Street’s Irving
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All passengers confirmed safe but A44 still closed after minibus fire near Yarnton
The A44 is still closed in both directions and emergency services on site after a minibus caught fire earlier this evening. The vehicle caught fire some time before 6.30pm in Yarnton Lane. The A44 Woodstock Road has since closed with traffic queueing
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Can former Henley MP Boris Johnson win over his old constituents with EU exit?
THE CHARM of Boris Johnson has not convinced all his former constituents to follow him in supporting the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union. Residents down Thame High Street waded in on the debate after their former MP and current
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Reminder: Oxford Central Library to close this weekend until October 2017
Library users are being reminded that the Westgate-based Oxford Central Library will close as of Saturday, January 27 for redevelopment work. A smaller, temporary library will instead be available in Oxford's Castle Quarter from the end of March
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Firm behind controversial pipeline plan pull out of meeting
CONTRACTORS behind the controversial inter-hospital heating pipeline in Headington have pulled out of tonight's meeting at the last minute.Residents had hoped to quiz Vital Energi over the £14.8m scheme, which is currently on hold due to confusion over
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Flood alleviation scheme could spell the end of ‘our fanastic lifestyle’ warn boaters
BOATOWNERS fear one touted version of Oxford’s £120m flood alleviation scheme would destroy their “fantastic, magical and beautiful” lifestyle. People living at Weirs Orchard Moorings are concerned that Option A, which involves widening Weirs Mill
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More volunteers needed for canal and river clean-up
VOLUNTEERS are hoping more people will join them for the next canal and river clean-up in Oxford. A small group rolled up their sleeves at the weekend to clean up around Isis Lock. Volunteer Bill Manville, from Oxford, said: “I have been involved
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Author quizzes rough sleepers across Oxford for new book
AN OXFORD academic spent “countless hours” among the city’s rough sleepers teasing out their often heartbreaking life stories. Now Riki Therivel hopes her chronicles of the “overwhelming and shocking” experiences of 12 of them can help change the
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Residents urged to join litter pickers for Queen's birthday
LOCALS are armed with their litter pickers in West Oxfordshire ahead of the upcoming Clean for the Queen events in honour of Her Majesty’s birthday. Households across the district are being urged to get involved in community clear-ups being held
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Charity gets £500,000 cash boost to set up six rural youth clubs
A HALF a million pound cash injection will allow a youth charity to set up six new clubs in rural areas in the county. Oxfordshire Youth has received £493,381 to expand its project providing services for young people and their families from disadvantaged
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Bus users rejoicing as ‘lifeline’ route returns after two years
RESIDENTS rejoiced as they boarded the number 4C bus for the first time in two years last week. The Dean Court route was scrapped by Oxford Bus Company in January 2014, despite fears people would become isolated. Since the service was cut,
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Kangaroo and ‘drunken duck’ are a regular treat at Beer and Sausage Festival
KANGAROO meat sounds like something you would eat in the Australian rainforest rather than a pub in Wheatley.But it seemed staff at the Cricketer's Arms could not stop the rare delicacy flying off the shelves at their annual festival last weekend.It was
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Stuart Macbeth: Rock ‘n’ roll days are over for the half-term fathers
RICHARD, you’re a wild man. Has it really been 16 years since I last saw you? It would have been at one of those end of the century parties. I can see you now, staggering in through the hot July night, clutching a £1.99 bottle of plonk. High velocity
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Stroke of good luck for rowers as £400,000 boat centre opens
A £400,000 new facility at the Oxford University Boat House at Wallingford Marina is now open for rowers. Professor Louise Richardson, the new Vice-Chancellor, opened the final phase of the centre, the Fishlock Boat Shed, on Saturday. The new
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Woven wonderland unwraps at a museum art day
A WOVEN wonderland unwrapped at a museum where children got wacky with wool.Boys and girls spent one morning of their half term break getting arty at Abingdon County Hall Museum, which was hosting its 'weavaway' event.Ela Eltas, six, enjoyed wrapping
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Mailbag: Sunday League sharpshooters of the 60s
I ENCLOSE another picture of the BMC Service Casuals’ football team in the late 1960s.We started in the 1950s playing friendly matches, but eventually joined the Sunday League and enjoyed considerable success.MICHAEL SIGGERYLytton RoadCowleyOxford
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Do you recognise any of these Home Guard servicemen?
THESE were some of the many men who served with the Home Guard during the Second World War.The picture, which we think was taken at Cowley Barracks, comes from Barbara Gray, of Osberton Road, North Oxford, who found it in the belongings of her late husband
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Youngsters walked through the night in memorial hike
WE’RE not sure these youngsters were truly looking forward to the next few hours.Ahead of them lay a 25-mile course of roads and footpaths, with plenty of obstacles such as brambles, nettles, stiles and hedgerows, not to mention mud, to overcome.They
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Boys’ grammar school filled gap in city education system
THE opening of the City of Oxford High School for Boys filled a gap in the city’s “ladder of learning”.It had long been evident that despite having one of the world’s leading universities, it had “no recognised grammar school for the sons of its citizens
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Crowds line the streets to pay tributes to ‘Old Bill’, a remarkable city stalwart
THE people of Oxford turned out in force to pay tribute to a one of their most popular and hard-working councillors.Crowds lined the streets all the way from St Clement’s Church to Rose Hill cemetery when Alderman William Gray – known affectionately as
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Blackbird Leys Credit Union may have to cut services after funding refusal
STAFF at the long-running Blackbird Leys Credit Union have vowed to find new ways to keep the service going after being refused funding by Oxford City Council. Based at Blackbird Leys Community Centre, the credit union has offered a financial lifeline
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Traffic queueing for one mile on A40 London Road at Wheatley and bus services suspended after crash
The A40 London Road at Wheatley is partially blocked westbound towards Oxford after a car crashed into a barrier. Very slow traffic is queuing for a mile from Waterperry Road to the B4027 after the incident, which took place close to the Oxford
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Petition calls for life-extending cancer drug to be added to NHS list
THE daughter of a woman who died from pancreatic cancer has urged people to sign a petition to make sure other families have longer with loved ones. Kelley Spacey has spent the past six months urging anyone to sign a petition to get Abraxane, a
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Controversial cockerel statue dubbed "the new Cecil Rhodes"
Students at Cambridge University have dubbed a statue of a cockerel the “new Cecil Rhodes”. The students are calling for a bronze cockerel statue looted in a British colonial expedition in Benin in 1897 to be returned in a public ceremony.
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Arts Council chief wants people of Oxford to unleash their imaginations through the arts
HOPING to unleash the city’s creativity and imagination is the chief executive of Arts Council England, Darren Henley. While touring some of Oxford’s cultural hotspots including The Story Museum and Modern Art Oxford, Mr Henley said he wanted to
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City of Oxford College lecturers to go on strike
Teachers at City of Oxford College are set to go on strike on Wednesday in a protest over pay. Members of the University and College Union (UCU) will walk out after 74 per cent of the organisation's members voted to support strike action. The
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Mary Beard joins list of famous names to receive Bodleian Libraries medal
Historian Mary Beard is the latest to be awarded the Bodley Medal, the highest honour of Oxford University's Bodleian Libraries. The Cambridge University chair of classics is the author of a number of highly-regarded works on the classical period
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OXFORD MAIL LOYALTY CARD: Are you the winner of our £850 cash prize?
A windfall of £850 from the Oxford Mail Loyalty Card cash prize is still up for grabs as no member has yet come forward to claim it. The winning card number is 4364 9190 0288 9682 and is held by an Oxford Mail reader in the Iffley area that has
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One lane of A34 blocked due to broken-down lorry
One lane of the A34 is blocked and traffic is queuing due to a broken-down lorry. The issue began about 20 minutes ago between the A415 Marcham Road and A4130 Milton Interchange. Lane one (of two) is blocked, before the roadworks. More
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Children's play room at book shop gets Alice-themed makeover
BOOKWORMS in Bicester have been getting curiouser and curiouser as the 20-year-old playroom in Cole’s Bookstore gets a makeover. Teenager Ryan Styles was put to task to design a new children’s room in the Crown Walk shop and lived up to his name
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Anti-harassment campaign handed £250 to train Oxford nightclub staff
A campaign to cut down on harassment in Oxford's nightlife is due to get £250 for training in clubs and bars around the city. Good Night Out (GNO) Oxford is part of the national Good Night Out Campaign, which seeks to reduce harassment in licensed
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Law student, 22, unfazed after being infected with typhoid for £3,000
A LAW student at Oxford Brookes University has allowed herself to be infected with typhoid for nearly £3,000 in a clinical trial. Sian Rogers, 22, is one of about 80 people in the city currently taking part in Salmonella Typhi vaccine tests for
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Volunteering forum provides latest information
South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils, with Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action (OCVA) are jointly hosting the 2016 South and Vale Voluntary and Community Sector Forum to give groups the chance to keep up-to-date with local
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Oxford United's ticket sales for Wembley pass 27,000
THE latest sales figures for Oxford United's Johnstone's Paint Trophy final at Wembley continue to show strong growth. More than 27,000 had been purchased by this morning, with more than five weeks still remaining before they face Barnsley on Sunday
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Injury pile-up leaves Oxford United with 13 fit players ahead of trip to Exeter City
OXFORD United are facing their biggest selection problem of the season after 13 fit players reported for training this morning. Ryan Taylor, Jake Wright and Jordan Evans were already in the treatment room and several other issues have arisen in
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Oxford United fans' chat
12:58pm That's probably as good a place as any to sign off for today. Many thanks for your #oufc thoughts,
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Memorial needs a rethink despite good intentions
IT IS to Colin Carritt’s credit that he seeks to honour the memory of his uncle, who died tragically in the Spanish Civil War. However well-intentioned he may have been though, the Republican struggle can hardly be described as a “fight against
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Why would workmen not clean as they work?
IN THE lay-by going west on the A40 at Forest Hill, workmen (I think Oxford City Council) erected fencing along the whole stretch of the lay-by. However months before this a growing number of people had dumped all sorts of rubbish. So my question
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Council must do more to inform and engage us
WHY are there no Oxfordshire County Council information posters in Marston to inform residents of the public exhibitions showing the proposals to alter our roadways and pavements and green verges (with trees) under the “Access to Headington Scheme”
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With science, correlations are not always causes
I WAS interested to read Rex Hora`s letter on carbon dioxide and the greenhouse effect. It seems that the warming role of carbon dioxide may have been overstated and that in fact water vapour is far more important. Any statistician will accept
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Local plans are key to a more social old age
YOU reported the initiatives being taken to tackle loneliness being experienced in older age together with advice to people on what they could do to help themselves. Help the Aged carried out research in 2006 which, unsurprisingly, found that four-fifths
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Scales of Justice: 19 cases heard at Oxford Magistrates Court
Sukhvir Bassi, 25, of Riley Drive, Banbury, was convicted in his absence of speeding at 86mph in a 70mph zone on the M40 Southbound on June 1 last year. Fined £220 and ordered to pay a £22 victim surcharge and £85 costs. Driving licence endorsed with
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Climate change denial is a dangerous fantasy
MR HORA’S letter (Oxford Mail, February 18) suggests we should be maintaining a coal industry whose time has gone and that we should ignore consensual scientific evidence on human-induced climate change as well. He refers to the Didcot A power
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Chris Maguire tells Oxford United teammates: We have to show we've got the bottle
CHRIS Maguire admitted it is up to Oxford United to show they have the bottle for the promotion race in the wake of a 2-1 home defeat to rivals Accrington Stanley. A dreadful second half display saw the U’s throw away a lead, before conceding a
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TRAFFIC: Delays on A34 southbound
A BUS company has reported delays to one of its services due to heavy traffic on the A34 southbound. Stagecoach Oxfordshire said its S5 service was running about 15 minutes late due to traffic being held up at Junction 9 for the M40, at Wendlebury
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COMMENT: EU referendum will see debate rage on
WHATEVER side of the EU fence you sit on there’s no doubt it’s the biggest say we’ve had on our country’s future in decades. What we’ve seen over recent weeks is all the political drama that comes with such a decision. But it is vital that among
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COMMENT: Heating scheme has been tried and tested in other countries
THE vision outlined today for a new way of heating homes and businesses in the city may seem radical but other European cities have been doing it for years. As the heat map shows, there are so-called “hot-spots” across Oxford, areas to be potentially
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D-Day veteran to give film expert advice on heroic war mission
A 95-YEAR-OLD war veteran who later became a vascular surgeon at the John Radcliffe Hospital has offered to help bring D-Day to life on the big screen. The heroic actions of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on D-Day at Pegasus
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Oxfordshire MPs are backing campaign to remain in the EU
OXFORDSHIRE MPs have backed the campaign for the UK to remain part of the European Union. Culture Minister and Didcot and Wantage MP Ed Vaizey, Oxford West and Abingdon MP Nicola Blackwood and Banbury MP Victoria Prentis have all put forward their
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ATHLETICS: Hannah England delighted at strong showing in Glasgow
HANNAH England was delighted with her performance at the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix after clinching fifth place in the 1,500m, writes STUART WEIR. The Oxford City athlete finished behind four African-born athletes, with Ethiopian-born Dutch runner
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POINT-TO-POINT: Victoria Pendleton all smiles again after clear round
VICTORIA Pendleton enjoyed a confidence-boosting clear round on her return to the saddle at the Waveney Harriers point-to-point meeting at Higham in East Anglia yesterday. The dual Olympic champion cyclist, from Moreton, near Thame, was making
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GOLF: Young stars are heading for Heythrop Park challenge
There's a chance for Oxfordshire golf fans to see some of Europe’s most promising young players in action with the resurrection of a high-profile English tournament. The Bridgestone Challenge event will be held at Heythrop Park, near Chipping Norton
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UPDATED: Westgate cement lorry drivers 'deliberately ignored' instructions over route to take
THE company delivering cement to the site of the new £440m Westgate development has admitted its drivers “deliberately” flouted instructions and broke council restrictions. Oxfordshire County Council said it was “extremely disappointing” Hanson
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Appleton urges U's to get back to basics
MICHAEL Appleton urged his Oxford United players to return to what had made them successful this season after a “powder puff” performance in losing to Accrington Stanley. Having gone in at half-time ahead through Kemar Roofe’s 20th goal of the
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Campaigners use car bumper stickers in bid to bring greyhound racing back to Oxford Stadium
CAMPAIGNERS hoping to bring back greyhound racing to Oxford Stadium are asking people in the city to show their support with car bumper stickers. They are also putting up posters and local businesses have pitched in to help. Rob Digweed of
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Sercombe insists fatigue is no excuse
LIAM Sercombe insisted fatigue was not a factor as he struggled to explain Oxford United’s performance in defeat to Accrington Stanley. The home side led 1-0 at the break, but never looked comfortable playing into the wind during a wretched second
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EU referendum: Where does Oxfordshire stand?
BATTLE lines have been drawn over the referendum on Britain's European Union (EU) membership, after David Cameron warned leaving would be a "leap in the dark". After striking a new deal with other EU leaders in Brussels late on Friday night, the
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FOOTBALL: City come unstuck as late goal extends poor run
OXFORD City’s winless run is now five games in all competitions after they were beaten 2-1 at strugglers Hayes & Yeading United, writes MATTHEW BRUCE. City had to battle with the conditions as much as with their Vanarama National League South
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FOOTBALL: Reid and Janes double up for five-star Didcot
DIDCOT Town made it back-to-back 5-0 wins as they thumped Marlow in Division 1 South & West. Jack Self tapped in after seven minutes of the Evo-Stik Southern League clash, but they had to wait until after half-time to extend their lead.
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DARTS: Peachcroft give high-riding Kidlington SC B a stern test
Kidlinton Green SC B were given a mighty test before beating Peachroft SC 5-4 in Men’s Premier & Section 1 of the Greene King ODDA Winter League. Lying second in the Premier Section, Kidlington took the first leg through Sean Holly. But
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FOOTBALL: Kidlington keep Vase hopes alive
KIDLINGTON face an FA Vase replay after drawing a thrilling tie against Bowers & Pitsea 3-3 after extra time. A Kristian Thomas double put theUhlsport Hellenic League side 2-0 ahead in the quarter-final clash. But Alfie Hilton and Lewis
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Plans to widen the A34 in both directions through Oxfordshire in £800m scheme are still on table
PLANS to widen the A34 in both directions through Oxfordshire could be presented to the government by the end of the year. Despite an apparent lack of activity, Highways England bosses have confirmed the £800m scheme is still on the table and research
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Heat share plan for Oxford University laboratories could cut bills and emissions
OXFORD laboratories could share their heat with hundreds of offices and shops in the city centre, cutting carbon emissions and bills. That is the vision of Oxford University and Oxford City Council, which have jointly funded a £136,000 study into
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WEEKEND RESULTS: February 22-23
SKY BET LEAGUE TWO Oxford Utd 1, Accrington Stanley 2. VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH Hayes & Yeading 2, Oxford City 1. EVO-STIK SOUTHERN LEAGUE Div 1 South & West: Bishops Cleeve 0, Banbury 2; Marlow 0, Didcot Tn 5
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Hinksey Lake's energy could heat nearly 100 homes, a school and outdoor pool
YOU probably would not want to go swimming in Hinksey Lake without a thermal layer. And yet there is enough latent heat stored in there to heat nearly 100 houses, the local primary school and Hinksey Outdoor Heated Pool. That is according to
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City of Oxford College students praised for roundabout design by construction giants Skanska
INGENUITY shown by students at City of Oxford College on a new roundabout design has been praised by the fifth-biggest construction firm in the world. Over the past 12 weeks, students at the college’s Blackbird Leys campus have been challenged
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UPDATE: Five people arrested on suspicion of poaching have been bailed until next month
FIVE people arrested in connection with poaching in South Oxfordshire have been bailed until next month. It comes after police searched fields with dogs and a force helicopter was deployed to help about 4pm yesterday following reports of hare coursing