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Headington Headlines #95

TonyOX3

As social media channels were obsessed with snow in and around Oxford, here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 14 – 20 January.

The priest and congregation of Russian Orthodox church St Nicholas The Wonderworker in Ferry Road, Marston held their annual blessing of the waters at Parsons’ Pleasure on the Cherwell on Saturday. Facebook picture.

More information came out about Oxford County Council’s proposals for the London Road Improvments Stage 3 which I wrote about after a public meeting last month. Note that it says the new scheme “delivers much greater benefits to buses and other traffic; it also minimises the impact on cyclists and pedestrians”. Cyclists and pedestrians bottom of the priority pile again then.

A woman was killed when her car skidded and overturned on the Northern bypass between Marston and Headington on Friday night (the night after the snowfall). Anyone with any further information is asked to contact the police.

Two separate accidents on Sunday evening closed the Eastern by-pass at Horspath Driftway between Headington and Littlemore.

Headington Quarry resident Dr Julia Gasper, who stood for the City Council elections last May as UKIP candidate for Quarry & Risinghurst has quit her position as Chair of the Oxford branch of UKIP. She was investigated by her party after posting “extremist and offensive” homophobic opinions on the UKIP online Members’ Forum. The Mirror newspaper broke the original story last Saturday and reports of her loss of office started appearing on Thursday. The story made The Marr Show on BBC1 on Sunday when Nigel Farage confirmed Dr Gasper “has resigned”. It seems she remains a member of the party, which Farage said “believes in free speech”.
The Marr Show on BBC iPlayer is on this link. Farage is introduced at 20’45”, the issue of remarks on the Members’ Forum starts at 25’00” and Gasper is discussed at 25’57”.

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

  • Eastern bypass resurfacing postponed
  • Empty shops in Headington
  • Osler Road junction
  • Church Bells in Ferry Rd, Marston
I try to cover news from the OX3 postcode in Headington and out as far as Barton, Sandhills and Risinghurst (see map). To feed into next week’s summary you can comment on this article, or tweet either with the hashtag #ox3 or @mentioning @TonyOX3.

Headington Headlines #89

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 3 – 9 December.

Headington woke up to its first snow of the winter on Wednesday morning. Twitter predictably went mad for a while.

@Stagecoach_Ox‘s new buses finally started service on the no. 10 route alongside some of the old ones. From the outside at least they are much quieter than the old ones.

The bells at St Nicholas the Wonderworker in Marston, a gift from Voronezh in Russia, have finally been hung. Planning permission to ring the bells was granted in February this year after objections from some local residents.

Quarry School and Maggie’s Oxford @maggiesoxford both held Christmas Fairs on Saturday.

The section of Pullen’s Lane nearest Headington Hill got a badly-needed resurfacing on Monday.

My favorite Headington-related tweet this week:

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

  • Pullen’s Lane due to be closed today
  • Coffee with Cops today
  • Proposed Changes To Holy Trinity Church
I try to cover news from the OX3 postcode in Headington and out as far as Barton, Sandhills and Risinghurst (see map). To feed into next week’s summary you can comment on this article, or tweet either with the hashtag #ox3 or @mentioning @TonyOX3.

Headington Headlines #88

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 26 November – 2 December —

As the Cherwell rose to exceptionally high levels parts of Marston were under water but as far as I have been able to discover no homes were flooded.

The record of Tuesday’s meeting to discuss plans at Holy Trinity Church (Quarry) is available online.

A take-away delivery man was assaulted in an attempted robbery late on Sunday evening (25/11) in Broad Oak, Headington.

Nancy Higgins, an 82 year old dementia patient, was reported missing on Tuesday after an appointment at The Churchill Hospital but was found safe and well later that night.

Pullens Lane, which is a private road, is to be resurfaced this coming week. If the Cotuit Hall redevelopment goes ahead it will probably have to be done again.

The mis-spelling of ‘Quercus’ (Oak) on the plaque in Bury Knowle Park didn’t escape the sharp eyes of @HeadingtonNews. The punctuation is all rather muddled too.

The row over the alleged dumping of @Ruskin_College archives made the local TV news with coverage of a protest demonstration on Friday.

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

  • Proposed Changes To Holy Trinity Church
  • Long-stay charging to begin at Park and Ride
  • Bury Knowle Depot Development – Comment by Dec 10th – new topic
  • bus serving the JR
  • Flooding in Marston
  • Thornhill park and ride bus service and route 8
  • MISSING – Grey Long Hair Cat (Millie) – Headington, Oxford
  • Bus Service to Northway Estate
I try to cover news from the OX3 postcode in Headington and out as far as Barton, Sandhills and Risinghurst (see map). To feed into next week’s summary you can comment on this article, or tweet either with the hashtag #ox3 or @mentioning @TonyOX3.