A Catholic primary school has been praised by Ofsted inspectors. Standards at St Thomas More RC Primary School, in Kidlington, were well above average, according to a report by the team from the Office For Standards in Education. Pupils scored highly
Three top Oxford research professors and 80 of their staff have been poached by London's Imperial College - taking 7m in research grants with them, writes Ian Townsend. All three Prof Roy Anderson, Brian Spratt and Geoffrey Smith - are involved in research
Classic Press Cherwell League - Division 3A Witney Mills clinched the title and promotion with the 15 points gained from their draw with Cumnor 2nd. Electing to bat, Mills were struggling at 79-4 after Andy Cannons (30) had given them a steady start.
Classic Press Cherwell League - Division 2 Chalgrove shared an exciting high-scoring draw with already-relegated Bletchley 2nd. Put into bat, Chalgrove recovered from 14-3 to 254-4 due to an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 163 between Derek Thomas
Rover Oxford Ladies kicked off their season with a friendly 7-0 victory against Guildford. Constant pressure led to four goals from Vicky Mankelow, two from new girl, 15-year-old Marie Hayden, and one from Suzanne Williams. It was a promising start for
South West 2 East report After back-to-back league titles, Witney knew life would be tough this season and this really came home when they lost 30-12 at home to Abbey on Saturday. Abbey's attacks had been thwarted by sound Witney defence but they managed
Classic Press Cherwell League Division 1 BANBURY Twenty were crowned champions for the second time with a 76-run victory over Buckingham, writes Keith Campbell. Buckingham also had cause to celebrate as they picked up enough bonus points to avoid the
Classic Press Cherwell League Division 6C round-up GREAT and Little Tew 2nd clinched the title in style with a four-wicket win over Oxford Downs 2nd, writes Stefan Pilcher. Downs were indebted to a fine unbeaten 79 from under 15 player James Florey as
Super 12 style rugby came to Banbury on Saturday, with an avalanche of points which ended with the Bulls emerging 53-49 winners in a 14-try extravaganza in a Midlands Division 1 clash with Barkers Butts. Banbury took an early lead when good recycling
A woman who returned home on a late-night bus had to fend off a vicious attack. The 29-year-old was pushed to the ground by a man as she was walking from a bus stop on Witney's Burwell Farm estate. She was scratched on the face, but the man ran off when
Abingdon United have an FA Cup replay when they take on Sussex County League side Chichester City at Northcourt Road. The two sides, who drew 2-2 on Saturday, will be battling it out for the right to entertain Tooting & Mitcham United in the next
Classic Press Cherwell League - Division 3A Horspath chose to bat against Wallingford and were restricted to 134-8 from their 46 overs, with only Graham Plested (52) making any impression with the bat, as Trevor Spindler took 4-49 and Neil Smith 4-46.
Classic Press Cherwell League - Division 3A Kidlington had to win to stand a chance of overtaking Witney Mills at the top, and therefore inserted Abingdon Vale, who went on to make 199-6, with Alec Inns (84) and Paul Edwards (47 no) leading the way. Kidlington
Thame United are beset by injuries to key defenders as they go into their FA Cup replay against Carterton Town at Windmill Stadium tonight. The Ryman Division 1 high-fliers have doubts about knee injury victims Andy Williams and Dave Tregurtha and recent
Classic Press Cherwell League - Division 1 Challow & Childrey finished third following an exciting four-run win over Sandford St Martin. Put in to bat, ten-man Challow scored 203-7, declaring after 49 overs with Steve Burry (38) and Julian Penney
Two shops in Banbury Road, Summertown, have been sold for 580,000 to a property investor by an unnamed Oxford college, writes Maggie Hartford. The shops, sold by Smith-Woolley and Allsop & Co, are let to the Bradford & Bingley and a dress shop
Radiohead have revealed that they almost split up - in a row about track listings on their new album. And the group believe OK Computer, acclaimed all over the world, is "over-rated and several minutes too long". The five-strong members of the band could
People planning an environmental project to improve their community could get cash help. The Local Environmental Action Fund (Leaf), managed by Oxford City Council's planning committee, gives financial assistance to local groups or individuals working
Three top Oxford research professors and 80 of their staff have been poached by London's Imperial College - taking 7m in research grants with them, writes Ian Townsend. All three Prof Roy Anderson, Brian Spratt and Geoffrey Smith - are involved in research
Judge Paul Clark warned of the "evil" of heroin as he jailed a 55-year-old man who threw a package of the drug from a window during a police raid. Nicholas Lambrianou, of Marlborough Road, Banbury, admitted possessing 280mg of the drug on June 28 when
Pesticides could be to blame for a glut of deformed birds handed in at an Oxfordshire sanctuary. Now the owner is building up a dossier on similar findings and trying to come up with an answer. Penny Little of Great Haseley runs the Little Foxes sanctuary
Burglar Kevin Hogan, who admitted stealing rucksacks from American students visiting an Oxford college, was jailed for 18 months. Hogan, 32, of Wood Farm, Headington, Oxford, broke into the Matthews Building hall of residence, at St Peter's College, in
Former Banbury mother-of-two Karen Heywood was strangled and her body dumped at a beauty spot after a robbery went wrong, a court has heard. Lennie Cabble, 25, is accused of murdering the 35-year-old in Houghton, near Bognor, on January 1, after a failed
Oxford's bus station is crumbling just 11 years after being built, write Mark Templeton and Andrew Ffrench. Emergency repairs are to force its closure, with traffic chaos predicted for the city centre. An estimated 90,000 is to be spent on the Gloucester
Classic Press Cherwell League - Division 6A and 6B round-up Challow and Childrey 2nd were crowned champions with a winning draw against Bletchingdon 2nd - but only after a nervous batting display. Challow knew that a score of greater than 160 would give
Oxford City supersub Danny Wise rewrote the FA Cup record books in spectacular fashion. The 20-year-old striker from Abingdon made history on Saturday by becoming the first player in the famous competition's 128 years to score five goals after coming
Southern Counties North report Newly promoted Grove opened their programme with a notable 15-10 win over Oxford Harlequins in a disjointed game . Quins opened the scoring when quick ball on the right was whipped left through the hands of fly half Chris
A new Internet bookselling business targeting the academic and professional market has been launched in Witney. Swotbooks.com aims to sell direct to the customer, cutting out bookshops, and dealing in both traditional and electronic books. It has also
Family rows are the biggest cause of homelessness in south Oxfordshire. Strain particularly begins to show when couples are sharing with parents and relatives. During the last year 177 people went to South Oxfordshire District Council as homeless - 69
Classic Press Cherwell League - Division 2 Downs' victory meant Bourton Vale's six-wicket win at Banbury 2nd proved in vain. The home side were restricted to 115-9 with Richard Howell taking 4-33. Howell then top-scored with 49 for Vale, and with Gareth
Classic Press Cherwell League - Division 2 Dinton comfortably overtook already-relegated Bicester & North Oxford 2nd's 143-9, reaching 144-4 as John Purcell carried his bat for 63. Jeff Ellis had earlier taken 6-23 in Bicester's innings with only
Classic Press Cherwell League - Division 3A Moreton-in-Marsh secured their place in Division 4 next season with a win at Swindon GWR. Swindon scored 171-9 dec as Tony Shama made 51 and Jerry Meale scored 40, while Shurmer took 3-30. Dave Knight struck
Classic Press Cherwell League - Division 2 Kingston Bagpuize were relegated after champions Kimble sent them crashing to a 59-run defeat. Stuart Catternach (61) and Seb Shrub (35) led Kimble to 182-9 as Steve Launder took 3-79. Steve Cocking then took
Southern Counties North report Chipping Norton went down 35-10 at home to Swindon after gifting the visitors a ten-point start. Slick handling from Chippy gave them their only try from Neil Wynn converted by Jim Ritchie who bagged a penalty on the stroke
Classic Press Cherwell League - Division 3A Oxford Nondescripts 2nd suffered the same fate as their 1st XI, being relegated following a defeat by Rover Cowley 2nd. Electing to bat, a weakened Nondies reached 153-7, with Peter Franks scoring 33 and James
Oxford City, fresh from their stunning 10-1 Cup win at Shoreham, will be looking to continue their free-scoring form when they visit Whyteleafe in Ryman Division 1. Midfielder Simon Abercrombie, who was replaced by five-goal hero Danny Wise after suffering
Classic Press Cherwell League - Division 1 The relegation battle at Rover Cowley went right to the wire as Oxford Nondescripts lost by seven runs. Electing to bat, Rover were dismissed for 144 as Charlie Owen signed off a successful season's bowling with
Classic Press Cherwell League - Division 1 With Twenty winning, second-placed Shipton-under-Wychwood's comfortable nine-wicket win at Leighton Buzzard proved in vain. Putting the home side in to bat, Shipton restricted Buzzard to 158-7, Tim O'Leary making
Classic Press Cherwell League - Division 2 Oxford Downs clinched the second promotion spot by virtue of having gained more bonus points than Bourton Vale after they both finished on 394 points. Downs secured the runners-up spot with a five-wicket win
South West 2 East report Chinnor made an inauspicious start, going down 22-13 at home to Tadley, after losing their way in the second half. Despite losing James Davies with a hip injury, Chinnor took a 10-3 lead thanks to tries from Alan Cawston and debutant
Southern Counties North report Forced to field seven second-teamers and with flanker James Davies operating at scrum half, Bicester succumbed 34-16 at Beaconsfield. The home side's policy of running the ball at every opportunity paid dividends during
Business Link Heart of England client manager Henry Franklin, of Bicester, has gained a distinction in the advanced diploma in financial management from Durham University, writes David Duffy. He is one of only two advisers in the country to gain a distinction
Scientists at the Jet project, based at Culham, can now access its computer system from their home countries, thanks to an Abingdon company, writes Maggie Hartford. The structure of the nuclear fusion project changed earlier this year as work starts on
Some of the world's rarest archive material is proving a lucrative business venture for an Oxford firm, writes Sarah Parker. Timeframed, which is based in Summertown and Detroit, produces authentic limited editions of archive material for the international
Rock band Radiohead are set to overtake the Beatles for the title of best band ever after two of their records made it into the top five of the 1,000 greatest albums. The Oxford rockers, who first came to prominence with their hit single Creep, have become
From Karen Wyatt, Perth, Western Australia Hi, My name is Karen, AKA "Lofty" and maybe a few other names! I attended Temple Cowley between '80 and '83 and then Peers '83 to '88. I am now living in Perth, Western Australia and would like to hear from anyone
Residents are being asked how they think 53,580 allocated for improving their community should be spent, writes Emma Henry. The money has been given to Oxford City Council for use on community facilities in Blackbird Leys, Oxford, as part of a planning
Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra has been awarded 2,750 as part of the Sainsbury's Youth Orchestra Series 2000. The money will help fund a concert in Oxford on Saturday. A further 3,000 in concert sponsorship and a broadcast on Classic FM rides on the
A Catholic primary school has been praised by Ofsted inspectors, writes Madeleine Pennell. Standards at St Thomas More RC Primary School, in Kidlington, were well above average, according to a report by the team from the Office For Standards in Education
A court heard that club treasurer Peter Silverwood stole more than 14,000 for holidays, clothes and records by forging cheques, writes Rebecca Smith. Silverwood, 25, of Marston Ferry Court, Oxford, stole the money from Abingdon Gymnastics Club in Radley
Watch Ketsbaia . . . that will be the message to Oxford United's players as they try to finish off Wolves in the second leg of their Worthington Cup first round tie at the Manor Ground tonight. Former Newcastle ace Temuri Ketsbaia was outstanding in the
The first major revival of Julian Mitchell's award-winning play Another Country can be seen at the Oxford Playhouse until September 16, before going on to a West End run. This play created a sensation when it first opened in the West End 20 years ago
