Here is my round-up of local news for the week 31 October – 6 November —

As world leaders at the G20 summit in Cannes struggled to keep the Eurozone intact, here in Headington we seem to be having a spate of burglaries. There was a series of them over the last two weeks of October and @TVP_Oxford has issued a request for information and set out advice to householders to help prevent their property being targeted.

Churches have also been hit. Burglars broke through a window into the United Reform Church in Collingwood Road, Risinghurst and damaged cupboards inside the church, stealing money and The Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal collection pot, totalling £11. Again, @TVP_Oxford are appealing for information.

Another church, St Nicholas the Wonderworker, the Russian Orthodox Church in Ferry Road, Marston was burgled on two consecutive nights. A brass-plated steel cross from the church’s roof was stolen on Saturday, October 22, and irreplaceable religious relics were taken the following night. Members of the congregation have started sleeping in the church to prevent further intrusions.

On a lighter note, members of St Nicholas’ are getting together for informal social evenings on the first Tuesday of each month in the Victoria Arms, Old Marston, and Headington Baptist Church celebrated the fifth anniversary of its new building on Saturday with coffee, cakes, games & fun.

Four men (from Wembley & High Wycombe) were charged with robbing a taxi driver in Headington early on Sunday morning and a woman had her handbag snatched in Gardiner Street in the early hours of Thursday morning.

In other news (as they say) the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre merged to become the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Oxford Ink (@OxfordInk) opened a new tattoo studio on Roundway (by Headington Roundabout), but Caffé Toscano on the London Road closed.

The Masons Arms (@TheMasonsArmsHQ) launched their shiny new website and @BigBangMax (aka @BigBangPopup) re-emerged as a pop-up sausagery at @Oxford_Brookes‘ Gypsy Lane Restaurant, open from Thursdays to Saturdays.

The campaign to recognise the “Final Turn” into the JR Hospital was reported in the Oxford Mail.

The postponed Barton Bash, a mix of facepainting, bouncy castles, and a host of arts and crafts workshops, will be held in the refurbished Neighbourhood Centre, due to be completed in time for the event on Saturday, November 19.

And finally (as they also say) the Internet and twitter triumphed in identifying the location of ‘the stinky’ in Marston, which was mentioned in one of the police reports. It turns out to be the copse/nature reserve just off Copse Lane opposite the old Cavalier pub. It only remains to know why it earned that name, and whether the developers building flats on the Cavalier site will recognise this local tradition in the name of their development.

My favorite Headington-related tweet this week:

Active topics on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week:

• Disused Cricket Ground Barton Road.
• Road works at Rock Edge
• Bus Defiance Clogs Headington
• Smoking at JR Hospital
• Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust
• Headington & Barton bus service
• Quarry Gate Pub
• Thames Valley Police messages