Visitors who light up at Oxfordshire's major hospitals could be thrown off the grounds if they refuse repeated requests to put out their cigarettes. The move comes after a smoking ban inside Oxford's John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals and The Horton
A girl was made to film a woman performing sex acts for an Internet chatroom user, a court has heard. Former Stagecoach employee Christine Nicolson, 53, is alleged to have made the girl point a webcam at her while she carried out the graphic acts in
Two homes on Oxford's Wood Farm estate have been targeted by distraction burglars. Last Thursday, a man called at a house in Wood Farm Road at 11am saying he was from the water board. He told the 70-year-old resident to turn his kitchen taps on and
A lack of staff meant prison officers were unable to provide the usual level of care for a recovering drug addict who committed suicide, an inquest heard. Stephen Woods, 23, from Abingdon, was found hanged in his cell in the segregation unit at Bullingdon
A 22-year-old man has admitted assault in the Broadways pub, in Didcot. Craig McKiernan, of Park Road, Didcot, and friend William Sinclair, 25, of Glebe Road, Didcot, assaulted Maurice Bucham in the pub on July 30 last year. McKiernan pleaded guilty
Oxford's troubled Morris Motors Athletics and Social Club has been saved from extinction. It won a last minute reprieve from liquidation at London's High Court today after developer Eddie Costello paid off debts totalling £80,000, including an outstanding
Pub lovers fear it could take up to 18 months to fully refurbish The Perch in Binsey following a serious fire. Last month, a blaze ripped through the thatched roof of the popular pub, severely damaging the roof and the interior. More than 100 firefighters
Children will go free on Oxfordshire's buses as part of this year's Streets for People Day. The event, aimed at encouraging more families to leave their cars at home, will be held on Saturday, September 22. Three bus companies - Oxford Bus Company
Primary schoolchildren in the city are being taught Salsa courtesy of Oxford's answer to Latin dancing sensation Rikki Martin. Dance tutor George Martini's lessons in dance have proved so popular that several schools have already signed up for classes
In an age of computer games and fast food, youngsters should be encouraged to take every opportunity to be fit, healthy and active. The Salsa dancing classes on offer to all primary schools in Oxfordshire sound like a different and fun way to achieve
Clearly the message has not got through. A month ago, there was extensive coverage in newspapers and on radio and TV of the police crackdown on law-breaking cyclists in Oxford. On that occasion, 93 were caught for jumping red lights and numerous other
It didn't begin too promisingly the day we walked between Kaub and Lorch. The weather forecast was for rain to set in later, and after only a few minutes, my wife realised that the batteries in her camera had run out. Kaub isn't big enough to have a
A team of teenage entrepreneurs are celebrating again after winning a regional business competition. Fitzharrys Enterprises from Fitzharrys School, Abingdon, took the top honour at the South East regional final of Young Enterprise. The company which
Family, friends and former colleagues and pupils gathered to pay their respects to retired teacher Rita Trowbridge. Mrs Trowbridge taught for more than 25 years, including spells at East Hagbourne Primary School, near Didcot, and Cholsey Primary School
James Edward 'Ted' Henman, left, had three loves in his life according to his son Brian - his wife, farming and talking about farming. The former Islip Parish Council chairman was born at Prospect House, Mill Street, Islip, on October 15, 1912. He joined
Fresh back from seven wet days in Devon and no sign of better weather my thoughts turn to the perils of global warming as I reach to turn on the fire. (It’s one of the few things I turn on these days). It’s difficult to believe in the global warming threat
Oxford Mail photographer Yuri Anderegg is feline fine after a series of photos starring a cat called Leo won a top award. Mr Anderegg, 35, from Abingdon, took the series and sequences gold medal in the 2007 International Trierenberg Super Circuit Awards
Drivers in the Thames Valley paid out £5.4m in speeding tickets, new figures have shown. The amount works out at about £3 for every man woman and child living in the region. About 95 per cent of the 135,230 fines issued were collected in 2005/06,
A musician able to play the steel drums is needed to perform at Rose Hill Primary School's Summer Fete. The Oxford school has a set of drums and is looking for someone to play at the event, from 2pm to 4pm on Saturday, July 7. There is also the possibility
A farmer is frustrated with young people using his fields as a race track for their mini-motorbikes. Lawrence Blackburn, who runs Park Farm, off Ferry Lane, Marston, Oxford, said young people were breaking down fences to get on to his land. Mr Blackburn
Householders can rest more easily thanks to a crackdown on antisocial motorbike riders near an Oxford estate. Police are hailing an operation off Grenoble Road, at the edge of Greater Leys, as a success - having seized one motorbike, made an arrest
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The Campaign to Protect Rural England has awarded its top honour to Catherine Robinson, the power behind the long-running campaign to stop development on Oxford's Trap Grounds. Ms Robinson and her pressure group, the Friends of the Trap Grounds, have
A new tool in the fight against teenage antisocial behaviour has been making a racket. Police in Abingdon have been secretly using a 'Mosquito' device outside shops in Reynolds Way for the past six months. The device, which sends out an irritating
Dozens of people who contracted asbestos-related illnesses in Oxfordshire's factories and companies are waiting to hear whether they can claim compensation for their health problems. An appeal hearing at the House of Lords this week will decide whether
A bar manager will be swapping beer for baguettes by crossing the Channel for a charity cycle ride. Athol Whitmore, 26, who manages The Slug and Lettuce in George Street, Oxford, is taking part in the London to Paris Cycle Challenge from July 8 to 12
Firefighters who spent hours battling a blaze at a Bicester primary school returned to celebrate its path to recovery. Parents, teachers, staff and children at Longfields Primary School threw a garden party on Tuesday to mark its success in overcoming
Businesses in Oxford are being urged to stump up more cash in a bid to see their trading improved. Oliver O'Dell, the new chief executive of Oxford city centre management company OX1, has launched a campaign to turn the city into an official Business
Rain did not stop Didcot pre-school children toddling half a mile in their macs and wellies to raise money for a children's charity. More than 25 toddlers, including Leo Powell, aged 20 months, pictured front, put on their waterproofs to walk round
The decision to build a new 600-place secondary school in Grove could be overturned. Although county councillors last week gave the plans the thumbs-up and negotiations were due to begin imminently, the decision has now been called in by the children's
Residents of an Oxford estate are demanding action be taken over regular flooding in their area. Residents of Northway have pointed to the new Children's Hospital - and a lack of foresight by Thames Water - as the cause of the flooding. The water
An elderly lady needed hospital treatment after she was involved in a collision with a bus yesterday. The 74-year-old woman was injured by the Carfax junction of High Street at St Aldates in Oxford City Centre at about 2pm. A spokesman for Thames
The A420 was closed westbound between Cumnor and Besselsleigh following a collision last night. Two cars crashed where the dual carriageway becomes single lanes, about two miles from Cumnor. The incident happened at about 4pm. One woman was released
A NEW railway station for Grove could be back on track - but train companies will first have to be persuaded to provide services. Oxfordshire County Council has put in an outline planning application to the Vale of White Horse District Council for a
TWO homes on Oxford's Wood Farm estate have been targeted by distraction burglars, police revealed today. Last Thursday, at 11am, a man called at a house in Wood Farm Road saying he was from the water board. He told the 70-year-old resident to turn
So, in two days time smoking in pubs is going to be history. If you believe that you'll believe anything - even the absurd notion that Gordon Brown's accession to the premiership signals a New Start rather than More of the Same. Smoking is emphatically
A new railway station for Grove could be back on track - but train companies will first have to be persuaded to provide services. Oxfordshire County Council has made an outline planning application to the Vale of White Horse District Council for a station
Two homes on Oxford's Wood Farm estate have been targeted by distraction burglars, police revealed today. Last Thursday, at 11am, a man called at a house in Wood Farm Road saying he was from the water board. He told the 70-year-old resident to turn
Auctioneers traditionally say "Going, going, gone" but Tony Blair has turned it into "Going, going, going, going, going . . ." (ad nauseam). Even now, it's hard to be sure that he has actually gone. Is he plotting a coup against Gordon Brown - or planning
Let me state straightaway that I was mightily impressed. Oxford's new Las Iguanas bar and restaurant - which I was ready to dismiss as something merely for the kids, with their appetite for fast food and fast living - turns out to be something really
Oxfordshire's award-winning mustard maker Bruce Young, from Shaken Oak Farm in Hailey, has done it again. Bruce is the alchemist who continually comes up with exciting new mustard blends, each one of which has proved a winner. Now he's celebrating Oxfordshire
The countdown has begun for what will undoubtedly be hailed as one of the country's most important food festivals of the year - and it's happening here in Oxfordshire as part of the Oxfordshire 2007 celebrations. The Children's Food Festival, which
Golden Door is one of three films on general release this week that centre on women risking all to break from a painful past. Opening with two bare-footed figures scrambling across rocky terrain towards an inaccessible Sicilian shrine, Emanuele Crialese's
The annual epidemic of sequelitis continues to sweep multiplexes. No sooner have we recovered from nasty bouts of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, then along comes Shrek the Third, the latest computer-animated
The idea of bringing together a collection of songs by neglected female composers looks good on paper, especially when the ladies in question have drawn inspiration from such literary greats as Yeats, Pushkin and Goethe. Unfortunately, though, it's an
A lurid sex life. A wild and wacky personality. Essential ingredients, perhaps, if you are going to make a successful stage play out of someone's life. But in its new production Married to the Job, Mikron Theatre Company sets out to prove otherwise.
The Swedish pianist Daniel Propper returns to Oxford, fresh from his acclaimed debut at the Wigmore Hall earlier in the year, to perform works by Grieg, Ravel and Schubert. This talented pianist, who now has a well-established international reputation
I saw the excellent new play The Last Confession last week at Milton Keynes. It moved this week to the West End, for what deserves to be a long and successful run. Hence the title above, which appears to be introducing a show with the unusual ability
J.S.Bach's influence on succeeding composers is well documented. In their concret at St Mary's Church, Thame Chamber Choir chose to explore that influence in the 19th and 20th centuries in Germany, England and Scandinavia. They began with a challenging
One of Handel's most dramatic and beautiful cantatas, Apollo e Dafne, will be sung in a semi-staged performance at the new North Wall Arts Centre, in South Parade, Summertown, next week. This production launches the North Wall's 2007 Summer Festival which
I visited Banbury recently to see Dale Johnson, who is responsible for temporary exhibitions in the town's museum. He was in the process of mounting the selected pieces from the graduate Art and Design course at the Oxford and Cherwell Valley College.
In a week in which the value and deficiencies of amateur dramatics were thoroughly aired in the letters column of The Times, it was instructive to have the thoughts of a master on the subject. Alan Ayckbourn supplies these in his 1984 comedy A Chorus
How much longer will it be permissible to laugh at fat people? Are we still allowed to now? Surprisingly, I think we are - though I wonder how Verdi's Falstaff might play these days in some parts of the US? In truth, of course, we are not laughing so
Mishearing the title as Edward and Alice' I imagined a suburban two-hander about a bickering but basically happy married couple. And when the principals address each other as Edo and Al in their suburban drawing-room, the mistake might be forgiven. No
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Builders, developers and local authorities have no choice when it comes to being responsible for the environment. That is the message Dr Richard Williams, of the Environment Centre in Southampton, will be giving delegates at a free workshop designed
With finding new customers a priority for 55 per cent of Oxfordshire companies, Business Link is running a free workshop to help bosses improve their sales and marketing techniques. Run by leading business consultant Dale Howarth, the Turning Customers
Clubs are urging Setanta to reveal how they will distribute the £2.8m they have promised to Blue Square Premier outfits. Billy McEwan, boss of Oxford United's promotion rivals York City, has called on the Irish broadcaster to state how the deal breaks
Tim Henman last night admitted his epic five-set victory over Carlos Moya was up there with the best of them. And he said it fully justified his decision to laugh away suggestions he should retire. Oxfordshire's British No 2 carried on from where
Simon Purnell and Andy Baulch have quit as coaches of Banbury and Bicester despite successful seasons. Purnell, who led Banbury to promotion from Midlands 3 East South, has stepped down due to family and work commitments. He will be replaced by fly
A CONTROVERSIAL art exhibition in Oxford is to include paintings showing Princess Diana's death crash and the faces of five murdered prostitutes. Next month, Modern Art Oxford in Pembroke Street will present the first major UK exhibition of work by
Oxford Downs or Horspath face a trip to Chew Magna, near Bristol, if they win Sunday's npower Village Cup Oxfordshire final. Chew defeated Stapleton by two wickets after bowling their opponents out for 135. The Oxon final has been switched to Downs
Banbury are urging supporters to turn out in force for Sunday's Cockspur Cup area final at White Post Road. They want to make home advantage count for the 45-overs-a-side clash with Kidderminster Victoria where victory would see them just three wins
THE death of a drug addict at Bullingdon Prison could have been avoided had staff carried out proper checks and assessments, an inquest has heard. Oxfordshire Coroner's Court heard yesterday how a series of breaches in Government regulations took place
TWO men escaped with "several hundred pounds" from a bookmakers in Rose Hill after threatening staff with a samurai sword. The men entered the Ladbrokes betting shop at 9pm on Monday and threatened staff and customers with the Japanese sword. One
Oxfordshire's Minor Counties Championship Western Division match against Wales at Swansea was abandoned as a draw after a second successive day's play was washed out without any action. Although it had stopped raining, the ground was saturated following
THE judge at the centre of a storm for passing an "unduly lenient" sentence in the case of an Oxford man who raped a ten-year-old girl has refused to comment further. Judge Julian Hall, appearing before MPs in the Houses of Parliament yesterday, directed
A WOMAN fears she has been sentenced to blindness after NHS managers in Oxfordshire refused to give her a treatment to improve her sight. Hana Whitton is already blind in her left eye because of an illness called myopic choroidal neovascular complex
Jon Townsend clanged off 16 dolls including two sixes for Cricketers, as they beat Garsington Sports 2-1 in the Premier Section, writes ANDY BEAL. It was a real masterclass from Cricketers who posted 101 dolls as they opened the first two legs with
Recently-appointed director of speedway Peter Oakes has wasted no time in bolstering the Oxford Lions squad. During the club's period in limbo, Ben Hopwood departed to Plymouth, while both Michael Coles and Grant MacDonald found Premier League clubs
What a disappointment for owner Allen Trump and the fans that the re-opening of Oxford Speedway coincided with a very wet Sunday. Hopes were high as the drizzle that fell was just what the track required - but what came later on certainly wasn't!
If there is one thing that antagonises patients about the NHS, it is the postcode lottery. The latest victim of this unfair system is Hana Whitton. She has already lost the sight in her left eye and now doctors have discovered that she is in danger
Oxford City marched clear at the top of Division 3 West as they romped to their third successive victory at Plymouth. After an arduous journey to the south west, City showed no signs of fatigue as they notched up 12 wins. Hunter Riach got the ball
Kidlington chairman Nick Duval says Lashings' visit to Stratfield Brake will be the biggest cricket event in Oxfordshire since the turn of the century. The celebrity club, who are captained by former West Indies skipper Richie Richardson, will face
Oxford Cavaliers' play-off ambitions suffered a setback as they crashed to a 62-20 defeat at Wolverhampton Wizards in the Midlands Division. Cavaliers, who lost 30-10 last time out against Burntwood Barbarians had high hopes going into the game, but
DOZENS of people who contracted asbestos-related illnesses in Oxfordshire's factories and companies are waiting to hear whether they can claim compensation for their health problems. An appeal hearing at the House of Lords this week will rule on whether
The judge at the centre of a row for passing an "unduly lenient" sentence in the case of an Oxford man who raped a 10-year-old girl has refused to apologise. Judge Julian Hall, appearing before MPs in the Houses of Parliament in London yesterday, simply
A woman fears she has been sentenced to blindness after NHS managers in Oxfordshire refused to give her a treatment to improve her sight. Hana Whitton is already blind in her left eye, because of an illness called myopic choroidal neovascular complex
