Bra banks, bus pass cheats, defunct phone boxes, dying fish and more Thame news!

THAME’s annual Service of Remembrance will take place at Thame Memorial Gardens on Sunday, November 10, 2019. The procession, which will include Town Councillors, members of the Royal British Legion, other community groups and a lone piper, will assemble outside the Town Hall at 10.30am ready to proceed to the War Memorial. FULL DETAILS HERE

The following day, Monday, November 11, will be the 75th anniversary of the D Day landings, and at 11am, the Mayor will lead a minute’s silence outside the town. There will be a lone piper too.

Housing Needs survey

LOOK out for an envelope coming through letterboxes throughout the town in the next couple of weeks, containing a Houseing Needs Survey. The survey is being sponsored by the Thame Community Land Trust who are working towards providing lower cost housing for local people unable to purchase property through the regular channels. Vital funding to enable the Trust to carry through the project will only be available if there is a proven need for such properties and it has the support of local people. So, it is vital that everyone with someone living in their house who cannot afford their own home locally, fills in the survey form.

BT Consultation on phone boxes

THAME Town Council has been consulting on the potential decommissioning of the public payphones at Churchill Crescent, Thame, and Moreton Road, Moreton. If anyone has any objections to their decommissioning, they can email info@thametowncouncil.gov.uk by December 5, 2019. The traditional red phone box outside the town hall has previously been adopted by the town council and is now a Listed Building!

Bra Bank at Baban Boutique

BABAN Boutique at 4 Buttermarket Thame, now has a Bra Bank where bras are recycled to raise money for a charity that supports groundbreaking research to improve detection, treatment and increase survival rates of breast cancers. Throughout November, Baban are giving customers 5% off purchases when they recycle a bra in its bank.

New Smart cards to tackle school bus passes fraud

OXFORDSHIRE County Council will soon be rolling out its new ‘Smart Card’ scheme to try to claw back some of the thousands of pounds it loses every year because of freudulent use of scholar passes and other concessionary bus passes. School bus Smart Cards will be introduced first to be followed later by over-60s bus passes and other concessionary passes. OCC has said that the money saved from scholar transport fraud will pay for six new rural buses.

Crazy Golf in the High Street!

THE Mayor of Thame, Cllr Ann Midwinter and Cllr DavidBretherton, Chairman of South Oxfordshire District Council, will jointly be hosting a charity event on May 8, 2020, in the town centre, which will includea crazy golf course in the High Street Car Park. It is also hoped that the RAF Air Cadets will bring an aircraft simulator along, and the Army Cadets, an assault course. An innflatable of some form is also being sourced. The event will run throughout the day and offer something for all the family to enjoy.

VE Day celebrations

The weekend May 8-10 is coincidentally, when the VE Day, 75th anniversary celebrations will be taking place, and at 3pm on May 8, there will be a Toast by the Mayor of Thame, followed by a ‘Ringing Out For Peace’ at 7pm by the bells of St Mary’s Church, Thame. The celebrations will continue over the weekend with a 1940s Street Dance in the High Street Car Park on the Sunday, May 10, featuring a 16 piece Big Band.

Also in commemoration of the anniversary, the town council’s maintenance team will plant the raised beds at the Memorial Gardens with bespoke carpet planting, similar to those planted to commemorate the beginning and end of WW1 last year, which received many compliments.

Dying fish

FOLLOWING an investigation into the death of several fish in the ponds in the Memorial Gardens, the water has been tested twice showing no issue with the water. Only the roach fish species seem to have been affected. It is believed that overpopulation is probably the cause of the fish deaths but the town council’s maintenance team will continue to monitor the situation.