Headington Headlines #176

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 11 – 17 August.

The ‘little Waitrose’ at the Shell petrol station opened on Thursday after an early hiccup when they had to close for a while because of a ‘system fault’. Since Londis closed it is the only convenience store in Headington open all night.

The Friends of Old Headington joined twitter as @Old_Headington.

A 39 year old man was attacked by a group of 15 young men in Blackstock Close, Wood Farm on Monday. Police are asking for any information and witnesses.

The H1 bus is a free service running Wednesdays and Fridays between Old Marston and Headington shops. From 3 September it will also go through Northway with stops in Westlands Drive, Halliday Hill and Meaden Hill. More information on the e-democracy forum, including this link to download a timetable.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • City council by-election in Quarry & Risinghurst ward
  • Excessively bright light at Tesco ATM
  • Headington & Marston on Twitter
  • Headingon Shell Petrol station and Little Waitrose now open
  • Free H1 Bus to now serve Northway
I 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 #142

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 16 – 22 December.

@Headingtonnews has compiled a handy list of the Christmas and New Year opening times of the local food shops.

The quickly-mounted camapign to stop BT removing the red phone box in Old Headington has been successful. @RuthWilk, who played a big part herself, paid tribute to the others involved. The story made the Oxford Mail on Wednesday. The start of the story and links to background are in HH 141. Finally, Ruth announced on Friday that BT have agreed to sell the phone box to Headington Action for £1 subject to conditions on its future use which don’t seem to onerous. Ruth’s summary of the campaign and its outcome is here.

Oxford Brookes Community Liaison team @BrookesCLO put up Christmas decorations in Headington, all made out of recycled materials.

Six places in Headington are listed as possibly going on the City Council’s Heritage Assets register: All Saints Church, Lime Walk; Coach House to Dorset House, London Road; 58 Old Road (All Saints Vicarage); Wall of Warnford Hospital fronting Warnford Lane; Hillsboro, 14 Holyoake Road (Formerly the home of C.S. Lewis and his landlady Mrs. Moore); and Cuckoo Lane.

The Stansfeld Education Centre, at the end of Douglas Downes Close off Quarry Road is owned by Birmingham City Council. It is losing money and Birmingham City is consulting on its future. The Centre, also known as The Forest School, is also used by local groups including schools, scouts and guides. The whole site covers 17 acres. More information on these links:


View in a larger map

Friends of Quarry have drawn up a comprehensive set of proposals for tackling the traffic problems in Quarry. Worth reading!

In a confusion of several myths (King Alfred, Father Christmas, Narnia ….?) the Fire Services were called to an incident in Kiln Lane, Risinghurst when a batch of mince pies caught fire in the Community Centre oven.

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

  • Nationality-based shopping at Headington Coop?
  • Consultation on the future of Stansfield Education Centre
  • Is our red phone box worth fighting for?
  • Kebab shop in Headington – article in the Oxford Mail today
  • Eastern Bypass – broken water main today
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 #141

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 9 – 15 December.

The owner of the Fairview Inn in Glebelands is retiring after being given three weeks notice to quit following the sale of the pub to an unknown buyer. Although the current owners say the new owners will continue to run it as a pub the future is uncertain until the new owners reveal themselves. There was a farewell party in the pub on Thursday.

A new bench celebrating C S Lewis’ character Reepicheep from the Narnia stories has been installed in Bury Knowle Park.

LibDem Councillors @DavidRundle, @RuthWilk and @RosalindRogers wrote a letter published in the Oxford Mail asking the City Council to extend Christmas cheap parking to Headington car park to help local businesses.

A letter in the Oxford Mail from Councillor Mick Haines says that Tesco will start building on the site of the Friar pub in February.

Slade House, the care home and other services run by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, which closed to new admissions three weeks ago (see HH 139) is under investigation by health regulator Monitor.

The red phone box next to the Baptist Church in Old High Street is under threat of removal by BT. Locals led by Cllr @RuthWilk have mounted a last-minute attempt to save it. It’s the last surviving red phone box in Oxford outside the city centre. See these links for more on this story.

The Shark House in New High Street is back on the rental market again. For only £2300 pcm you can live under a landmark.

The Guardian published a long interview/article with Headington-resident author Brian Aldiss.

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

  • London Road proposed cycle lane consultation
  • Noise in Quarry
  • Kebab shop in Headington – article in the Oxford Mail today
  • Chain stores in Headington
  • Is our red phone box worth fighting for?
  • Nationality-based shopping at Headington Coop?
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.