General

Headington Headlines #14

TonyOX3

Here is my weekly round-up of news for the week 23 – 29 May.

News broke that seven Oxfordshire libraries planned for closure, including Headington, will now stay open.

A new teaching block was opened at St Nicholas Primary School in Raymund Road, Marston to help cater for growing pupil numbers. The school is set to expand from 410 to 460 pupils in the next few years.

Michele Obama’s motorcade was reported passing through Headington on Wednesday. Of course it might have been an elaborate decoy with the First Lady actually getting out at Thornhill, changing onto a 400 bus, getting off in St Aldates and slipping into Christ Church without anyone noticing.

The monthly Headington farmers’ market happened on Friday.

Headington School had their ‘Muck Up day’ when the sixth form leavers create mayhem around the school. There is a 2-part video of this year’s antics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKFCjXXtuYE and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9RdK6gVAGg (no sound on the 2nd clip when I wrote this).

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

  • Cars for Sale at bottom of Headley Way
  • Rosemarys Restaurant
  • Bricklayers Arms, Marston
  • Library

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.

The Curious Incident

TonyOX3

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” by Mark Haddon

I was given this book in Fratelli’s Restaurant and Pizzeria in Oxford on World Book Night.

It’s not easy to write a book convincingly in the first person, but Mark Haddon has managed to do it well in this novella. His achievement is the greater for creating a very different character. Although it is easy to find the basis of the book if you read other reviews I don’t want to spoil the initial surprise so shall say no more!

All I will say is that he treats his subject with great sympathy and understanding. The story itself is both happy and sad, the sadness coming from the reader’s outside perspective on events. The book doesn’t take long to read and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. In keeping with the World Book Night convention I shall pass my copy on, wishing it well on its journey.

Headington Headlines #10

TonyOX3

Here is my weekly round-up of news for the week 25 April – 1 May.

Work started on a new £2m sports development at the Oxford City football ground in Marston.It consists of a full-size artificial grass pitch, six floodlit netball courts, a pavilion and a new car park.

Plowman’s Tower on Westlands Drive, Northway was evacuated during the night of Saturday/Sunday when a fire broke out in a second-floor flat. A woman was rescued and taken to hospital.

A Headington man was jailed for 5 years for robbing the BetFred bookies in February. He didn’t make a very good job of it, as the story explains.

The emergency services turned out to a fire in a fish & chip shop in Marston on Tuesday. The owner vows to re-open once the damage is repaired.

A 7-foot boa constrictor was found in Magdalen Wood, off Atkyns Road, Wood Farm. Sadly it was in a critical condition and had to be put down by the RSPCA.

Police hunting the Headington ‘For Sale’ board arsonist released a (very poor) image of two people caught on CCTV burning a kebab box behind Waitrose. Whether the two things are related remains unclear.

Rosemary’s (Chinese) Restaurant opened this week. @alisonhogarth went for lunch on Sunday was one of the first to report.

@spoonerstudios had a ‘model shoot’ on Monday with Frances Agoncillo around Oxford City and Headington Hill. I think they were taking photographs, not indulging in some lethal challenge event. In case you’re wondering, here’s a picture.

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

  • Where does Headington’s water come from?
  • Road Works in Headington
  • Emergency closure of Dunstan Road
  • Unemptied bins: complain!
  • Re build of Barton pavillion gets go ahead
  • Abolition of Area Commitees
  • Street Litter
  • Abandoned bicycles

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.