shark

Headington Headlines #43

TonyOX3

Here is my round-up of local news for two weeks over the Christmas/New Year break, 19 December 2011 – 1 January 2012 —

A new £2.1m community arena opened at the Oxford City ground, Court Place Farm, Marston. It includes a full-size artificial grass pitch, pavilion and six floodlit netball courts.

Frustration over the 8 and 9 bus services surfaced in the press. The bus companies’ response (at least as reported) seemed to be mostly denial of any real problem. Meanwhile it was announced that another spate of road closures around Old Road/Lime Walk/Highfield will take place in the New Year.

LibDem Councillors David Rundle, @RuthWilk and Altaf Khan held another Headington Ward Focus meeting in the Baptist Church, Old High Street on Tuesday 20 December. Main items discussed were the Barton West development, Ruskin Fields, Headington car park and the Housing Sites and Policy book, all of which had been agreed by the City Council the day before.

A home in High Cross Way, Barton, was one of three places hit by thieves on Christmas Day.

Boxing Day saw a large crowd at @TheMasonsArmsHQ for the traditional Morris dancing. The pub sold more than 600 pints of ale in 5 hours!

The Headington Shark was named one of the Daily Telegraph’s “best British follies“. It’s the ninth one on the page.

Rev James Cocke, Vicar of All Saints’ Church, became the longest-serving vicar in the Church of England on the retirement of the previous record-holder.

There was a house fire in Bulan Road on Wednesday 28th December. Fortunately no-one was seriously hurt.

A robbery took place at the BetFred betting shop in Cinnaminta Road on Saturday 31 December. A female employee was forced to hand over several hundred pounds.

Active topics on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum over Christmas and New Year:

  • Bus stop, London Road Headington
  • West Barton plan likely to go ahead?
  • Decisions made on Headington Car-park and Ruskin Fields
  • North East Area Forum – 11 January 2012
  • Disused Cricket Ground Barton Road
  • Boxing Day 2011 events in Headington
  • Northway Pharmacy
  • Cherwell drive Dentist
  • Destination display inside 400 Park and Ride
  • Londis corner shop in receivership

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 #33

TonyOX3

Here is my round-up of local news for the week 3 – 9 October —

The road works to improve pedestrian and cycle provision around Old Road and The Slade are causing bad congestion. The whole junction will be closed next week and traffic diverted around Wood Farm, York Road and Margaret Road. Discussion on the e-dem forum predicts complete chaos and/or gridlock.

The Oxford Kebab House on London Road closed last week. They are moving to a larger shop at 1 Manzil Way (on the Cowley Road) [photo c/o @Ox_Matt].

@RuthWilk wants to know if you like the idea of a craft fair in Headington. Contact her with your thoughts.

Thornhill Park & Ride is filling up very early. There’s speculation it may be a result of parking charges being re-introduced at the other P&Rs (except Water Eaton).

There were two thefts and a robbery in Headington – on Old Road, London Road and Osler Road. @TVP_Oxford have appealed for witnesses or information.

The Headington shark featured on Radio 4 on Saturday morning.

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

  • BT Infinity
  • Cllr Beverley Hazell
  • Oxford Kebab house
  • So, is the Number 10 going ’round the houses?

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 #25

TonyOX3

Some of my earlier posts have gone out of sequence. Sorry for any confusion while I try to fix things.

Meanwhile, here is my round-up of local news for the week 8 – 14 August —

In one sense it’s been a quiet week for Headington news. In another sense, Headington had more twitter mentions in two days than in a normal year. Something to do with rioting, it seems. Anyway, while false rumours of trouble in Oxford swirled and raged around the internet the real-life city stayed fairly quiet.

Police were called to reports of an arson attack on Monday night at McDonald’s in London Road, Headington shortly after midnight. Three people have been arrested. Police were also called to a car fire in Barton Road, Barton after a black VW Polo was set alight.

Prompted by the actual and threatened public disorder Thames Valley Police (@ThamesVP) split out a series of local twitter accounts. Oxford City police started tweeting as @TVP_Oxford and joined a number of other local tweeters in trying to calm nerves and sort out truth from rumour.

Other newcomers to twitter were The Masons Arms in Headington Quarry @TheMasonsArmsHQ and the Manor Surgery @ManorSurgery

The Headington shark’s owner @Bill_Heine celebrated its 25th anniversary on 9 August with a street party. Local dignitaries mingled with locals to honour the occasion. The story of the shark. Pictures from the party. And my own picture:

@sharksandlasers and a website “The Dorsal Fin” provided more unexpected coverage of the event.

The official opening of Bury Knowle Park play area will be in a month’s time, according to the Oxford Mail.

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

  • potential rioting and advised closing
  • Old Road campus application called in
  • Dogs and Smoking in the childrens play area.
  • Subway under Green road roundabout

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.