Goalkeeper Jake Cole is urging his Oxford United teammates to "grind out" a result against Eastbourne Borough on Saturday to get their season properly up and running. And manager Darren Patterson, aware of how hard Game No 4 - next Thursday's visit
A teenager wept today as she told a jury that an Oxford taxi driver sexually assaulted her in his cab. The woman, who cannot be named, told the jury at Oxford Crown Court she was attacked by a Royal Cars driver who picked her up in Headington, Oxford
I now know that there are six Joy Inns in Beijing. I have been to two of them. I set off after breakfast and after the 17th "Clayton live in Beijing", I asked the taxi to take me to The Joy Inn where I was to meet some friends. He did – wrong Joy Inn!
I now know that there are six Joy Inns in Beijing. I have been to two of them. I set off after breakfast and after the 17th "Clayton live in Beijing", I asked the taxi to take me to The Joy Inn where I was to meet some friends. He did – wrong Joy Inn!
A former Oxford children's escort with a history of alcohol abuse died of self-neglect, Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner ruled yesterday. Claire Mitchell, 34, from Pegasus Court, Blackbird Leys, had worked as a travelling companion and was employed
Oxford City hurdler Kirsty Warland continued her golden summer with another sparkling victory at the AAA Under 15/17 Championships at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium. Warland has already struck gold for Oxfordshire in the English Schools' Championships
Paul Fernandez (Abingdon Amblers) won the Salisbury 5-4-3-2-1 Trail Marathon, completing the multi-terrain course in 3hrs 0mins 59secs. The route gets its name because it crosses five rivers, climbs four hills, winds through three large county estates
Hypodermic needles used by drug addicts have been discarded in an Oxford nature park. Syringes and other drug paraphernalia has been regularly dumped at Spindleberry Nature Park, in Blackbird Leys, after junkies began using the spot as a place to shoot
Steve Kimber (Windsor, Slough & Eton) secured the Mota-vation title with a race to spare following a thrilling victory at Chipping Norton. Kimber, whose second-claim club is Headington Roadrunners, recorded 21mins 40secs to pip Oxford City's Steve Male
Oxford City's Chris Padmore came away with bronze, silver and gold at the European Masters Athletic Championships in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Competing in the M55 age category, Padmore (pictured) took third place in the 200m final, clocking 25.5secs and
Chipping Norton will open their new 'Tony Cripps Pitch' on August 30 by playing the Royal Fusiliers (12.30) and hosting a family fun day. The re-laid pitch, named after club founder Cripps, who was killed last year, will be used in a match for the first
Oxford West and Abingdon MP Dr Evan Harris warned today that a precedent could be set for affordable housing levels if a new block of flats in Jericho gets the go-ahead. Last year, the city council rejected developer Spring Residential's plans to build
The magic number in the Olympic Games is 191, which is the number of gold medals that are up for grabs. My magic number in the final seven Grand Prix of the season is 175 - which is the number of 125cc World Championship points available. I can't
Expectant mothers in Oxfordshire will soon be offered free anti-natal screening for Down's Syndrome, the Oxford Mail can reveal. From October, the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust has pledged to provide nuchal fold screening to all pregnant women
Under pressure pubs are finding ways to bringing in the punters - with one pub chain trialling a 40p cut in the price of some pints. Publicans across the country have seen trade dwindle due to a combination of the economic downturn, the smoking ban,
Eddie Pepperell is one of six new caps in the England squad that will defend the Home Internationals title at Muirfield, Scotland from September 3-5. The 17-year-old Drayton Park member from Abingdon gets his first full England call as part of an extremely
It was the year of Smileys and air trainers, Doc Martens and weird haircuts - and the school-leavers of 1987 haven't forgotten them. Not that many of the former pupils of Wood Green secondary school in Witney will be wearing Doc Martens when they turn
Oxford has long been known for producing some of the best bands to grace the UK charts. But a new survey has revealed the city is second only to Manchester when it comes to turning out rock stars. It is proof that the city that spawned Radiohead and
Matt Johnson claimed Chipping Norton's club championship after carding a one-under-par 70 in his final round. Johnson, who has won Chippy's junior title for the past four years, pipped Shaun Kench by one shot, despite a first-round 77 in Saturday's
In my haste, on my return from Somerset there were a number of things I forgot to mention, so here goes. Camping at New Wine would not have been as pleasant an experience if Steve and Sharon and other regulars at Christ Church in Abingdon had not rallied
A carrot in the form of a youth shelter has been dangled in front of teenagers in Cropredy in an attempt to curb petty crime. Police have regularly been called to the village near Banbury after complaints about teenagers making noise and hanging around
David Summers claimed the Burford club championship after defeating Mark Oliver in a play off. Both players finished on 146 thanks to two rounds of 73, but scratch golfer Summers held his nerve to land the Pelican Cup. Simon Hopkins finished third
An Afghan man on hunger strike at Campsfield collapsed today and needed medical treatment, according to fellow inmates. Up to 70 detainees at the detention centre in Langford Lane, Kidlington, were continuing their hunger strike, which began on Saturday
A mother and daughter hit by a car as they used a zebra crossing have branded it a "death trap waiting to happen". Sue Doran, of Queensway, Didcot, wants the crossing in Wantage Road moved, after she and eight-year-old daughter Lucy were badly injured
Frilford Heath's Ashley Walton leads the BB&O Order of Merit by 9.5 points with two events to go. Walton finished third in the BB&O's over 25 championship at Gerrards Cross after shooting rounds of 70 and 72 to pick up another eight points. His clubmate
OXFORD CITY Captain's Day - Harold Vincent Trophy: 1 A Fowler 40pts (cb), 2 K Henwood 40 (cb), 3 D Miller 40. Seniors' prize: L Wills 41pts. Juniors' prize: H Beer 41pts. Ladies' prize: A Miller. OXFORD LADIES Stableford - Silver Div: 1 M Edwards
The great character actress Stephanie Cole is on brilliant form at the Playhouse this week in a gripping production of Peter Nichols's 1979 West End hit Born in the Gardens. So, too, are the three fine players who share the stage with her in this unusual
Developers have denied that the credit crunch is to blame for a delay starting work on converting Abingdon's Old Gaol into a homes, restaurants and shops complex. Abingdon-based Cranbourne Homes expected work to start on the £25m plan for the former
I agree with Nick Duval's comments on the lack of off-road parking spaces due to poor planning by the planning department (Oxford Mail, July 28). The same applies in The Moors, Kidlington, outside Homewell House and Thornbury House. Home helps, visitors
David Diment casts pity on Michael George (while taking his customary swipe at the police) for having suffered seven years in prison and a failed appeal for the murder of Jill Dando (Oxford Mail, August 9). George is no doubt relishing his new-found
It does not surprise me to learn (Oxford Mail, August 11) that the criteria under which Weston-on-the-Green was selected as a potential eco-town have not been released. Eco-town proposals were invited by the Government, but the sites were selected and
A man hanged himself after suffering from a rare obsessive disorder which made him worry about his appearance. Kenny Swatton, from Wilcote Road, in Barton, Oxford, had been diagnosed with Body Dysmorphic Disorder. The illness meant the 30-year-old
Cancer sufferers are right to call it a disgrace that they are denied life-prolonging drugs by Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. It is said that the drugs are not cost-effective as the treatments
A message for the owner of the light coloured car which parked next to mine outside the maze at Millets Farm, Frilford Heath, on Sunday. They can't have failed to notice that they dented my driver's door. Finding the damage was a great way to end
Stephen Ward, Curtains for trade unions (Oxford Mail, July 29), has every right to express his views, but can he please open his curtains and let the light shine through as history and facts need to be a little more accurate? For example, while it is
AN Afghan man on hunger strike at Campsfield was seen by medical staff after collapsing this morning, according to fellow detainees. Up to 70 detainees at the detention centre in Langford Lane, Kidlington, have been refusing food since Saturday and
In reply to Bill Yates, Labour still best (Oxford Mail , July 31), Labour is best for two wars and killing off our young soldiers, siding with America to go to war, getting unemployment down by employing cheap labour from around the world and lowering
Paul Lumley's letter, Wrong decision to narrow road (Oxford Mail, August 11), is ill-informed. Oxfordshire Highways has been careful to inform local people about positive benefits of its current work in Summertown, Oxford, once work is complete. We
Friends and family have paid tribute to Dennis Jones, who was the secretary of the Abingdon Crib League. Mr Jones, who was 62 when he died, has been described by his friend and league president Geoff Myers as a kind man who could always be relied on
Well, here I am at 28 weeks pregnant-people keep patting me and saying inappropriate things like “mmm...this isn’t getting any smaller is it!” What do people think is actually going to happen? Until I give birth my bump isn’t likely to get any smaller-but
The last week or so I have been feeling very lonely. All my friends have been going out in town and having fun and doing all the things I used to do whilst I have been sat at home! This is the first time It has really bothered me. it wouldn’t be so
Nicol Peacock, one of the leading figures in measuring fusion energy, has died aged 77. Mr Peacock was internationally renowned in his field, having previously worked for the British Government and worked at the Culham Laboratories, near Abingdon, for
Bump is becoming increasingly active and growing at a rate of knots, I am as big now as I was at 9 months with baby one. I was advised that I would be a bit bigger second, but I’m worried I’m carrying a 10lb baby around, luckily at the moment it is all
What other musician by the age of 13 has performed, to concert standard, several hundred works ranging across five centuries?" asks New College Choir's director of music, Edward Higginbottom. Appropriately, he asks the question in his sleeve note to a
It's too politically incorrect for many people to risk championing the joys of the motor car these days. If Jeremy Clarkson is too busy, it may be necessary to call upon the services of a hyperactive cross-dressing toad on the run from the law. The
Three very talented artists explore the representations and realities of Tibet as a place, a society and an idea, in Tibetan Pathways, an exhibition of paintings on show at the Said Business School Gallery. Vered Aviv admits that she has never been
Playwright Neil Simon was still in the first of his five marriages when he penned this bitter-sweet triptych, set in a New York hotel, so perhaps not all the world-weariness of this 1968 work about the pitfalls of relationships can be attributed to his
Though a tributary of the Thames flows at the bottom of my garden, I would never dream of swimming in it, or indeed in any other stretch of river. Besides the horrible squelchiness of the mud and the possibility of a nip from a signal crayfish, there
The Times's restaurant critic Giles Coren was unwilling to join the queueing multitude on a recent visit to Jamie's in Oxford. "I . . . was, simply b******d," he wrote, "if I was going to queue down George Street in the height of the summer, jostled and
Television programme-makers seem to have rigid mindsets when it comes to thinking of formats. Producers usually regard celebrities as necessary to almost any programme - or alternatively ordinary people who can be fooled into thinking they may become
Abingdon has a down-at-heel look about it at present. Shops stand empty and so, alas, do some well-loved pubs. How sad it is to see boards across the windows of the Grapes in High Street, for instance; worse, still, to turn the corner into East St Helen's
Banbury Central A go into Thursday night's clash at Carterton knowing a draw will give them a fifth successive title triumph in the Oxford & District League, sponsored by Yarnton Nurseries Garden Centre. Headington A put themselves in pole position
You can use all manner of flours to make sunflower seed bread. Wessex Flour Mill, Wantage, actually sells a sunflower bread flour. They also mill a delicious six seed bread flour, which includes sunflowers, which is delightfully crunchy and has a great
Littl'un has developed an amusing new habit. When she talks to me she says: "Mummy" (Or, if she's playing up: "Debbie". But when she talks to her Dad she uses a completely different voice a few octaves higher. She also lengthens her words. As in: "Dadddddeeeeeee
Oxfordshire ran out 143-99 winners over City & County of Bristol in their latest friendly at South Oxford. Senior deputy president Ian Whelpton's rink starred, winning the first 17 ends for a 40-5 success. Seventeen-year-old Joe Woodward (South Oxford
KENNET LEAGUE Hagbourne A 83 (10pts), Prospect Park 74 (4) (Hagbourne skips first): J Heapy 28, D Harris 12; M James 22, K Tallett 19; D Hall 19, R Gardiner 21; P Ryman 14, A Brown 22. Hagbourne B 84 (14), Inland Bohemian 56 (10) (Hagbourne skips first
Nelson A were crowned Group A champions in the Oxford & District Summer League after a 4-2 victory at Masons, writes PETE EWINS. Mick Murphy gave the hosts a winning start with a 7,590-2,310 success against Mark Trafford. Keith Sheard then played
Sunflowers - children and farmers grow them, the birds feast off their seeds, and Vincent van Gogh painted them. Sunflowers - (Helianthus annuus) - are not just the most vibrant of flowers, they are also considered the symbol of happiness. When van Gogh
7.45: Carrowkeal Ogie, Aesthetic Amber, Pennys Missing 2, Widow Maker, MOVEALONG TITLE, Greygrove Badboy 3. 8.00: Haveanother, Enchanted Evening 3, Call It Mossy 2, Pennys Flying, Keetona Ace, SWIFT ICENI. 8.15: Crownville Cosmo, Newlawn River 3, Crossness
The Institute of Contemporary Arts in London has teamed with Revolver Entertainment to premiere a trio of highbrow documentaries that will transfer to DVD at the end of August. Given that the school holidays have increasingly become a dumping ground for
Just when you thought George Lucas had milked his intergalactic cash cow dry with endless re-issues of the Star Wars saga on DVD, he executive produces a computer-animated adventure that slips neatly into the narrative divide between Attack of the Clones
If only, instead of letting rip with an Uzi amid a flurry of four-letter curses, gangsters these days would squirt each other with splurge guns', uttering epithets no stronger than "You dumb salami!" In this Stage Experience production, the guns lacked
Richard Prince is an artist who shot to fame in the 1980s. He is renowned for his appropriation of adverts, trashy novels and bad jokes - elements of American consumer culture that allow him to filter the American dream. Some might also like to cast him
The spirit of Sandy Denny pervades the music of Fairport Convention. The folk singer who had been the catalyst in the creation of what became known as folk-rock suffered an untimely death at the age of 31. This year marked the 30th anniversary of the
To review this show, I took a trip to an unusual gallery, the Thames at Folly Bridge. I am used to viewing art with some reverence inside beautiful purpose-built exhibition rooms. Two local artists, Philip Marston and Emily Alexander, have organised Pontoon
This show celebrates the cultural importance of the portrait in historical and contemporary uses of the photograph. In this exhibition, the studio and city streets are motifs that set a yardstick against the evolving relationship of artist and subject
'Hallo Les," says Maud to the small television screen. "How are you? Do you like my hair? You've got to keep it up, that's the only trouble with this aphrodisiac style." Maud has long been in the habit of aiming her malapropisms at those who appear on
An Afghan man on hunger strike at Campsfield House immigration detention centre was seen by medical staff after collapsing this morning, according to fellow detainees. Up to 70 detainees at the centre, in Langford Lane, Kidlington, have been refusing
The number of people claiming unemployment benefit in Oxfordshire has risen beyond 4,000 for the first time in more than a year, giving more evidence of the impact of the economic downturn. Latest figures for July released by the Office of National
AEA Technology 46 BMW 2380 Electrocomponents 176.5 Nationwide Accident Repair 130 Oxford Biomedica 8.5 Oxford Catalyst 168.5 Oxford Instruments 223.5 Reed Elsevier 607.75 RM 177.25 RPS Group 297.25 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon
Well, here I am at 28 weeks pregnant-people keep patting me and saying inappropriate things like “mmm...this isn’t getting any smaller is it!” What do people think is actually going to happen? Until I give birth my bump isn’t likely to get any smaller-but
Well, here I am at 28 weeks pregnant-people keep patting me and saying inappropriate things like “mmm...this isn’t getting any smaller is it!” What do people think is actually going to happen? Until I give birth my bump isn’t likely to get any smaller-but
I’ve been to the mid wife this week and had the dreaded Anti D injection, admittedly it was not as bad as I had remembered. I also listened to Bumps heart beat although she clearly fancied a game of hide and seek as the midwife couldn’t find her heart
I’ve been to the mid wife this week and had the dreaded Anti D injection, admittedly it was not as bad as I had remembered. I also listened to Bumps heart beat although she clearly fancied a game of hide and seek as the midwife couldn’t find her heart
DETAINEES at Campsfield are continuing their hunger strike this morning. Up to 70 detainees at the detention centre in Langford Lane, Kidlington, have been refusing food since Saturday. The protest was sparked after detainees heard reports an Iraqi
If you've had problems meeting your mortgage payments and fear that your home will be repossessed, or if you have experienced repossession, please call Maggie Hartford on 01865 425461 or email maggie.hartford@nqo.com.
Massive new house-building should take place in Oxford to help the city become an economic power-house of the 21st century, an academic report says today. The Policy Exchange thinktank - which has close links to David Cameron's Conservative Party -
Detainees at Campsfield were continuing their hunger strike this morning. Up to 70 detainees at the detention centre in Langford Lane, Kidlington, have been refusing food since Saturday. The protest was sparked after detainees heard reports an Iraqi
One million new homes should be built in Oxford to help the city become an economic power-house of the 21st century, a thinktank report says today. The Policy Exchange thinktank - which has close links to David Cameron's Conservative Party - calls for
CAR sellers who turn some of Oxford's major roads into unofficial forecourts are continuing to frustrate residents and businesses by exploiting legal loopholes. Lines of up to 10 cars for sale can be seen almost every day along Cowley Road near Cowley
The sale of cars in Oxford streets is getting out of control. Instead of advertising through the normal channels, owners are finding they can do so without spending a penny. They simply park the vehicle by the side of the road, put a telephone number
DETAINEES on hunger strike at Campsfield House said they would rather die of starvation than be deported. The protest at the Kidlington immigration detention centre escalated yesterday with up to 70 detainees refusing food. Failed asylum seeker Fazzel
A PROMINENT Georgian church leader launched an appeal in Oxford for humanitarian aid for the victims of the conflict with Russia. Archbishop Malkhaz Songulashvili, head of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia, visited St Michael at the North Gate
Car sellers who turn some of Oxford's major roads into unofficial forecourts are continuing to frustrate residents and businesses by exploiting legal loopholes. Lines of up to 10 cars for sale can be seen almost every day along Cowley Road near Cowley
Darren Patterson's hopes of turning the Kassam Stadium into a home fortress this season for his new-look Oxford United side were dashed at the first attempt. The U's crashed 1-0 to Weymouth, and have now failed to score in their first two league games
