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AEA Technology 109.5 BMW 2622 Electrocomponents 240.5 Isoft Group 73.75 Oxford Bio 24.75 Oxford Instruments 206.75 Reed Elsevier 520.5 RM 162 RPS 200 Torex Retail 69 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

AEA Technology 109.5 BMW 2622 Electrocomponents 240.5 Isoft Group 73.75 Oxford Bio 24.75 Oxford Instruments 206.75 Reed Elsevier 520.5 RM 162 RPS 200 Torex Retail 69 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

VAL BOURNE offers some tips to get the best out of your long-lasting and colourful peonies Peonies have it all, vigour, strength, longevity and beauty and they flower in late May and early June, when most perennials are only just forming their buds

CHRIS KOENIG enters the world of one of Oxford's oldest shops, Ducker's, for some curious tales about shoes Could such a dreadful thing as change ever set in at Oxford's oldest shoe shop, the venerable Ducker & Son in Turl Street, which this year celebrates

Wildlife farm host to first Natterjack toad in region for century, writes REG LITTLE One of Britain's rarest toad species has been reintroduced to Oxfordshire. On sandy heathland near Marcham, the sound of the Natterjacks can be heard for the first

Giles Woodforde talks to one of the biggest supporters of the arts, Sir Peter Moores Banks and firms of lawyers and accountants tend to be the sort of people who can afford to support the arts with major sums of money, but, Try as they may, there is

Charity helps to transform junk into playground sculptures Litter picking is a punishment usually dished out in school detention, but at Windale Community Primary School, Oxford, pupils are being encouraged to fill their playground with rubbish.

After giving us Evolving City, the chief executive of Oxford Inspires, Robert Hutchison, is planning to sign off with the county's very own Millennium Say what you like about Robert Hutchison but he's not a man to miss the chance of a good party. As

A former nightspot in Banbury is to become a lap-dancing club. Cherwell District Council has given Brackley man Ashley Brown planning permission to convert the old Churchill's premises, above shops in Broad Street, into 'a gentleman's club' which will

AEA Technology 109.5 BMW 2638 Electrocomponents 239.25 Isoft Group 70.5 Oxford Bio 25 Oxford Instruments 206.75 Reed Elsevier 525.5 RM 162.5 RPS 200 Torex Retail 69.5 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

AEA Technology 109.5 BMW 2638 Electrocomponents 239.25 Isoft Group 70.5 Oxford Bio 25 Oxford Instruments 206.75 Reed Elsevier 525.5 RM 162.5 RPS 200 Torex Retail 69.5 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

Union members working at supermarket giant Asda's distribution depot in Didcot have voted for strike action. A ballot of GMB union members working at sites across the country showed more than 74 per cent in favour of a strike. Their leaders will meet

UNION members working at supermarket giant Asda's distribution depot in Didcot have voted for strike action. A ballot of GMB union members working at sites across the country showed more than 74 per cent in favour of a strike. Their leaders will meet

Something distinctly fishy was afoot. And what was afoot was, namely, fish. And more fish. Plus some seafood. For the more astute among us, this probably would not have been too much of a surprise, as I was eating an eight-course meal called Saveurs

James McClure had more lives than a wagonload of cats. But make no mistake, Jim, who died on June 17 after a catalogue of illnesses and complications that would have seen off a lesser man, or might have done credit to one of his novels, lived each of

What new surprises, pray tell, has Oxfordshire County Council leader Keith Mitchell got up his sleeve for Oxford then? We only ask, because at Tuesday's council meeting he was quizzed about what his ruling Conservative administration could do to appeal

If you are a shareholder, Thames Water has no doubt done well. But to the vast majority of consumers, its performance has been dismal. Figures show that in 2005-6, the company lost 894m litres of water through leaks every day 34m litres a day more

The animal lab issue is one that tends towards more heat than light, and there are difficult balances to be made between life-saving drugs and animal rights, civil rights and keeping the peace. Gillian Whitty (Oxford Mail, June 16) is right that not

Sara Williams believes that the additional day's leave given to Oxford City Council staff following some Bank Holidays are an "outdated perk which must add thousands to the wage bill". Far from adding to the wage bill, it would cost the council more

Traders in Abingdon are piling on more pressure in their fight against plans for an extension of the Tesco store on the edge of town. The Chamber of Commerce has written to all 51 councillors on the Vale of White Horse District Council and 21 on the

The images featured in our Over Oxford supplement in June are now available to view and buy online. There are more than 30 extraordinary images of the city as you have never seen it before, including shots of the Kassam Stadium, Farmoor Reservoir and

The countdown to this year's Witney Carnival is on - and more people are needed for the traditional tug-of-war contest. The competition, which will take place in the main arena at The Leys on Saturday, July 8, is open to teams of eight. Sponsored

Oxfordshire's EBA Middleton Cup hopes were dented when they went down 114-111 to Berkshire in their Group 3A clash at Banbury Central. With a win over Isle Of Wight in their opening game under their belts, Oxon looked to be on course for another victory

Headington were one of four sides to notch up their first win of the season in the Oxford & District League, sponsored by Yarnton Nurseries Garden Centre. With Middleton Cup players Howard Watts and Nick Welsh skipping two of the rinks, Headington finally

Oxford Cheetahs 39, Reading Bulldogs 54: Ales Dryml marked his return to Cheetahs with two superb wins over two of last season's leading lights Greg Hancock and Travis McGowan, but Oxford were never a match for the Bulldogs at Oxford Stadium last night

Oxfordshire's Tim Henman has not been seeded at Wimbledon for the first time in a decade. There are no British players at all among the 64 seeds named yesterday ahead of the third grand slam of the year, which gets underway on Monday. Henman's run

David Slade produced a devastating opening spell to set Oxford on the way to a crushing seven-wicket win over High Wycombe in the group semi-final at Roman Way. The former Oxfordshire seamer took 3-24 from his nine overs, removing openers Mark Morgan

Chris Tarrant will bring a Lord's Taverners team to play an Abingdon School old boys XI next month. The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? presenter's side will take on the Abingdon Alligators in a charity fundraiser at the school on Friday, July 7 (2pm

Eddie Pepperell, the England junior international from Frilford Heath, made it to the final day of the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Amateur Championship at Ellesborough. Pepperell, 15, fired two rounds of 73 to become one of 17 qualifiers for the final 36 holes

Oxfordshire had to settle for fourth place, despite producing some excellent displays during Ladies County Week on Frilford Heath's Blue Course. The host county won one of their four matches to finish one place higher than last year, but so many of

It began with a visit to Asthall Manor, near Burford, a week or so ago when its owner Rosie Pearson introduced me to some wonderful examples of garden sculpture being shown in her on form 06 exhibition. Our tour of the gardens of this lovely Cotswold

Abingdon light-middleweight Kate Stinson carried the hopes of the region in the finals of the ABA Women's Championships in London. But she came up against seasoned Liverpool rival Natasha Jonas and lost on points, defying an opponent with a string off

There were parking tickets all over my neighbourhood last week. A mass outbreak of illegal parking? In a way. The malefactors were all residents who had forgotten to renew their parking permits (or were perhaps away on holiday and couldn't). It happens

Ray Sturgess (Morris Motors) won the Oxford League's 70th anniversary tournament with a victory over Fairmile's Phil Collins in the final. Sturgess lost the first game 5,190-4,250, but won the second 8,510-990 to triumph 12,760-6,180 on aggregate.

What the hell is happening at the St Aldates Post Office? A friend of mine was queuing there for 40 minutes on Tuesday morning from 10.20am to 11am in order to post a recorded delivery letter. Part of the problem was that only four of the serving

When I first reviewed the Five Horseshoes at Maidensgrove, I found the regulars drinking 'Russell's Water', the local nickname for Brakspear's special bitter, which was borrowed the name, not the beer from the next village (the weaker bitter was 'Maiden's

Boaters thrown out of an Oxford boatyard are hoping a housing development planned for the site will be a hub for their community. Canal dwellers who were evicted from the Castle Mill boatyard, in Jericho, have come up with an idea to preserve the working

Yes, the cherries are ripening. We have finally reached that glorious point of the year when this luscious fruit can be harvested close to home, thanks to one of the surviving cherry orchards in Milton Hill, near Harwell, where you can actually pick

Turning life into a bowl of cherries can prove an expensive business if you are buying them out of season. Those early cherries from Spain that come into our shops at the end of March are now so highly prized that the popular Knightsbridge store, Harrods

Based on the novel by Alice Hoffman, Aquamarine is a charming coming of age tale about the enduring power of friendship, which melds the fish-out-of-water comedy of Splash! with the sassy sensibilities of Mean Girls. Screenwriters John Quaintance and

Youngsters in Rose Hill plan to beat vandals at their own game by spraypainting a shelter on the estate. After yobs covered a youth shelter on the recreation ground with graffiti, Rose Hill Youth Club decided to clean it off and respray the shelter

Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves reunite for the first time since their hellish 1994 bus ride, Speed, in The Lake House, a time-travelling romance that succeeds in spite of its loopy, illogical premise and drizzles of emotional syrup. The film is a remake

It certainly makes a change from a throat lozenge. "Chocolate please," whispered a member of the Oxford Bach Choir to his companion in the audience just before the Choir began its performance of Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil. As the singer involved was

Kew Gardens, the galaxy and a touch of Saint Trinians were ingredients in a special show at Banbury Museum last Saturday. The bridge over the canal was visited by a fairy godmother. She turned it into a catwalk for the graduate fashion show of the Oxford

'I wantta be a loy-dee in a flower shop, and speak all genteel." Thus Eliza Doolittle announces her ambition to Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady. And Higgins is just the man to help her, with his house full of phonographs, and machines that indicate

The car-park picnicking at Longborough always seems more in the style of a point-to-point than an evening of grand opera. But that's Gloucestershire for you. "Happy birthday, dear father," sang a busload of revellers next to us, whose number and age range

A doctor whose father was an Oxford University scientist spoke out against animal rights protesters who heckled him for attending a university ceremony. Dr Jonathan Heatley, a GP, whose father Norman Heatley played a key role in the development of penicillin

Today's Weekend cover 'boy' Sir Peter Moores ought, I think, to feel well pleased with the latest production to have benefited from the largesse of the charitable foundation that bears his name. Garsington's Mayskaya Noch' (May Night) provides a charming

Certain arts of work need space to breath and just be in order to be appreciated. Such is the case with the six major shaped canvases now hanging at the Said Gallery of the Said Business School, where they are set against a white background and get the

Schoolchildren cheated out of World Cup tickets thought it was all over a couple of days ago - but now they will see a game after all. Eleven Oxfordshire schoolchildren who travelled all the way to Germany, but left without seeing a match because of

It was a perfect evening for the inaugural performance at the Said Business School's open-air amphitheatre; the breeze was blissful, and the sun had kindly warmed the stone seating. The play was perfectly matched to the tree-bedecked venue, since As You

Magdalen College Choir has certainly been busy turning out CDs lately. Following a new disc of compositions by Magdalen director of music Bill Ives (Harmonia Mundi HMU 907420 featured in The Oxford Times on June 2), the choir has now released a CD of

What a night, what a show! The streets were full of happy revellers celebrating England's victory over Trinidad and Tobago, but I'm talking about The Rat Pack Live From Las Vegas. Any ideas I had that the football might have impacted on the size of the

It was a major coup for the Everyman to stage not only two world premieres by Rafael Bonachela, but also the first appearance ever by his newly formed company. The former Rambert dancer and associate choreographer has always been a man to watch. For

The posters warn about scenes of nudity which are hardly surprising where the story of Adam and Eve is concerned. Even so, the in-yer-face nature of the naturism comes as a surprise. One's usual reaction to a naked couple on a beach, say is tactfully

Police believe an organised criminal gang is behind hi-tech cannabis factories found in Oxford. The news comes after nearly 400 cannabis plants, with a potential street value of tens of thousands of pounds, were discovered in police raids on two Oxford

Thames Water has been told its "unacceptable" leaky pipes are partly to blame for the recent hosepipe ban. Over the year, Thames Water has lost the equivalent of 43 Olympic-sized swimming pools every day through leaky pipes in the Thames Valley region

It was a shocking spectacle and one Oxford shoppers never thought they would see again - broken paving slabs in Cornmarket Street. German artist Ursula Ziegler brought back painful memories yesterday when she decided to push nine paving slabs the length