STUDENTS from seven Oxfordshire schools have raised £6,000 to send directly to the victims of genocide in Darfur.

The money will be sent specifically to women and children rape victims in Darfur, via the Oxford University Aegis Society.

Pupils from Chipping Norton School, Marlborough School, Woodstock, Henry Box and Wood Green Schools in Witney, Bartholomew School, Eynsham, Carterton Community College and Burford School united to raise more media awareness about the atrocities of the Darfurian genocide.

They organised a week of fundraising efforts, including a no-uniform day, collection buckets and some generous parental donations, to coincide with the handing over of a 6,000-signature petition to Conservative Party leader David Cameron.

Rachael Warwick, deputy headteacher at Bartholomew School, said: "This was the first time that students from all seven west Oxfordshire schools have joined together to work for a common aim.

THE Cogges Manor Farm Museum at Witney is cutting its season ticket prices in a bid to get more visitors through the gates.

It is the first definite move by the museum, which has been making losses of £250,000 a year, to find ways of becoming viable for the future.

Today it was confirmed by the owners, Oxfordshire County Council, that season prices for 2008 were being cut considerably.

The following have been agreed by the council, with last year's season ticket prices in brackets: adult £18 (£27.50), child £7.50 (£15), family £45 (£80), students and pensioners £15 (£18).

Single visit tickets, however, have been rounded up by much smaller percentages: adult £6 (£5.70), child £2.50 (£2.45), family £15 (£14.50), concessions £5 (£4.85).

THE effect of the smoking ban in Witney's pubs is now beginning to bite with loss of trade.

But there are other factors, including cheap alcohol on sale in supermarkets and steep rises in the cost of energy.

Two pubs in the town - The Plough, in High Street, and Court Inn, at Bridge Street - are also still closed after suffering in last July's floods. One pub, the Butchers Arms, in Corn Street, is on the market, while at another pub, the Red Lion, also in Corn Street, landlords, Paul and Lesley Wakefield, have had enough, and are retiring to Turkey.

Mr Wakefield told the Gazette: "I predict you will be seeing more pubs closing in 2008 and 2009 than ever before. The margins have fallen dramatically over the past 30 years, there's less to pay all the bills with."

The Bank of England's rate-setting committee has cut interest rates to 5.25% from 5.5% amid signs that the UK economy is slowing down.

Analysts had widely predicted the move, which followed recent cuts in the US, where the Federal Reserve has slashed its borrowing costs to 3% from 4.25%.

However, the Bank of England signalled it was unlikely to be as aggressive because of fears over rising prices.

The Bank said it needed to ensure that growth and inflation were balanced.

'Economic headwinds'

I have been crunched, chewed and spat out as far as credit goes Michelle Willoughby, Durham

Thursday's rate decision came shortly after E.On became the fifth major power company to raise gas and electricity prices this year as many food and staples costs have been increasing both in the UK and globally.

In its statement, the Bank said: "Inflation at 2.1% in December was close to the 2% target, but higher energy and food prices are expected to raise inflation, possibly quite sharply, in the coming months."

Becoming overweight as a child is more likely to be the result of your genes than your lifestyle, claims a study.

University College London researchers examined more than 5,000 pairs of identical and non-identical twins.

Their American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study found that differences in body mass index and waist size were 77% governed by genes.

An anti-obesity group said regardless of genes, a balanced diet and exercise were vital to good health.

Children who are overweight are likely to be overweight or obese in adulthood, raising the risk of certain cancers, heart disease, stroke and diabetes later in life.

However, despite the emergence of some possible genes that contribute to obesity, there is still debate as to the extent to which we are pre-programmed to be overweight by our genetic makeup.

WHEN the USA sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold, they say, or something very like it.

But could a hiccup in funding the new £40m Marriotts Close, in Witney, be an early symptom of an economic slowdown very close to home indeed?

Giant American bank Morgan Stanley, now facing £2.9bn losses courtesy of the US credit crunch, has pulled out of an opportunity to support its UK joint venture partner, Kandahar, in funding the Witney development.

Funding for the Witney scheme, and another in Lichfield - the £95m Friarsgate scheme - were the first to lose out on the American money following the announcement of Morgan Stanley's losses.

In the past, Morgan Stanley has entered joint ventures with Kandahar to fund developments, notably at Drakes Circus, in Plymouth.

Now Kandahar, the investment branch of David Ross's Carphone Warehouse empire, has decided to pick up the whole bill itself - so the development of the 116,000 sq ft scheme, including 15 shops, a five-screen cinema, two restaurants, a 650-space multi-storey car park, and 138 flats - is still on track to open in September 2009.

Luke Pickering, managing director of Simons Developments, the company developing the site with Kandahar funding, said: "We didn't wobble when Morgan Stanley declined to invest.

"Obviously, things are getting harder, but I took the view that if one of the wealthiest men in property, David Ross, was prepared to invest in Witney, that was a vote of confidence in the town."

He added: "I've worked through three recessions, and so far, I would describe this as a slowdown, not a recession.

"If you have good tenants in place, as we have in Witney, and a top location, the money is still out there.

THE official ceremony took place today to mark the long-awaited work on Witney's town centre Marriotts Close development.

Already site hoardings have been put up round the site and preparation work begun. The traditional turf-cutting was watched by representatives from the scheme's partners, West Oxfordshire District Council, Simons Developments, and Kandahar, the London-based investment fund.

During the next 18 months, the site will be busy, with contractors' vehicles arriving and leaving on a specified route avoiding the town centre.

Workmen will also be using an eco-frienly Enviro-Cabin as site accommodation to halve carbon dioxide emissions.

Source: Witney Gazette

SCHOOLS in West Oxfordshire are joining a School Watch network run by Thames Valley Police.

School Watch is based on similar principles to Neighbourhood Watch where members receive relevant information and witness appeals direct from the police.

The scheme has three main aims:

To give early warning of any suspicious activity around a school, whether this is a threat to the premises or the students and staff themselves

To protect the students on their way to and from school

To establish a two-way communication process. Staff, parents and students are encouraged to report any suspicious activities or crimes.

PC Simon Collins, West Oxfordshire's Schools Officer, said: "I hope that School Watch will prove to be as successful as Neighbourhood Watch is. In one night last month we had four of our schools broken into. "Schools are important focal points in local communities and we hope that by working together we can ensure that staff, students and premises are safe and crime-free."

Family finances are being hit as bills and taxes rise faster than incomes, a centre-right think tank warns.

The Centre for Policy Studies says the average household pays £7,800 a year more tax than when Labour took power.

It adds that rising mortgage interest and household bills have left families struggling with "excessive" debt.

The government says the tax burden on a single-earner family with two children is lower than in 1997, with tax credits meaning 40% of families pay no net tax.

The report, entitled Why Do We Feel So Broke?, says that, until recently, average families had been able to absorb tax increases partly through rising salaries and greater levels of personal debt.

'Less disposable income'

But since 2005 increases in disposable income after tax and housing costs have stalled or gone into reverse.

ONE of the giants in the UK's real estate business has bought a large area scheduled for Witney's next major expansion.

Invista, the country's largest fund management group listed on the Stock Exchange, said it had exchanged contracts for 50 acres of mainly agricultural land to the west of the town.

And in another big money move affecting the future of Witney, it has also emerged that the town's new multi-million-pound Marriotts Close shopping centre will be in the hands of a property investment firm, owned by the founder of the Carphone Warehouse.

Invista, based in London, but with offices in France and the Channel Isles, has secured the land earmarked in West Oxfordshire's Local Plan for new housing development, along with some business and recreation facilities, and a new link to the A40 at Curbridge.

The development, following the completion of the town's latest expansion with the Madley Park housing estate in north east Witney, was expected to be brought forward over the next three to five years, said Invista spokesman, Dido Laurimore.

The west Witney land has been acquired for an unspecified sum in a joint venture with Land Planning Group, an Isle of Man-based developer and specialist in assembly of large sites.

PEOPLE in west Oxfordshire who were charged £2.50 per sandbag during the last week will be reimbursed.

The promise was given today by a senior officer at the district council because of some confusion over when sandbags will be issued for free in advance of potential flooding.

The council has also today stood down their emergency flood planning operation which has been in force since Wednesday, January 16.

River levels on the Thames, Windrush and Evenlode are almost back to normal seasonal levels and no heavy rainfall is expected.

Bill Oddy, head of community services, admitted that some residents had been told there was a £2.50 charge for sandbags when the rivers were only on flood watch, the first stage of alert issued by the Environment Agency.

RESIDENTS who qualify for the new free national concessionary travel scheme need to apply for a smartcard bus pass by February 1.

The scheme, allowing free travel on local buses anywhere in England, comes into force on April 1, and is open to anyone over 60.

Application forms can be picked up from the Town Centre Shop, in Welch Way, Witney, and the Guildhall, at Chipping Norton. Alternatively, they can be downloaded from westoxon.gov.uk/concessionaryfares

Source: Witney Gazette

The US Federal Reserve has cut interest rates to 3.5%, a shock three-quarters of a percentage point reduction.

Aimed at staving off a US recession, the move failed to calm investors, with shares continuing to fall sharply as Wall Street opened for Tuesday trading.

The Fed, the US central bank, said latest figures indicated a deepening of the country's housing market slump and increased unemployment levels.

One analyst said the Fed was "obviously panicked" by the threat of recession.

"Unfortunately they have no power to reverse what in my opinion is the worst post-war recession," said Michael Metz, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer in New York.

'This is huge'

The Fed's interest move came as a complete surprise, as it was taken outside its timetabled rate-setting Open Market Committee meetings.

EMERGENCY flood planning, with daily assessments, will continue in Witney and West Oxfordshire until the end of this week.

Although the district has escaped a repeat of last summer's devastating floods, and river levels are dropping, the alert is still on because of the sporadic pattern of rainfall.

The Thames, Windrush, and Evenlode could yet be affected by storm water in the Cotswolds.

During the past week, only one village suffered a virtual repeat of July's downpour, with homes hit by rising river water on the Thames.

Residents in Kelmscott were some of the few in the county to have water coming into their houses during the past week - and there was a new public health alert after raw sewage seeped up from septic tanks.

At one stage, the Bablockhythe caravan park was also under threat, with residents advised to move out. But a combination of better planning and less than the expected rainfall saw no one having to evacuate.

Many of the world's main stock indexes, including the UK FTSE 100, have posted their biggest falls since the terrorist attacks of 11 September, 2001.

The FTSE 100 index tumbled 5.5% to 5,578.2, wiping £84bn ($42bn) off the value of its listed shares.

Indexes in Paris and Frankfurt slumped by about 7%, while markets in Asia, India and South America also dropped.

Investors questioned whether a plan to boost the US economy would do enough to avert a full-blown recession.

"It's another horrible day," said Francis Lun of Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong.

"Today it's because of disappointment that the US stimulus is too little, too late and investors feel it won't help the economy recover."

US markets are closed for a public holiday on Monday and will re-open on Tuesday.

Facebook is to be quizzed about its data protection policies by the Information Commissioner's Office.

The investigation follows a complaint by a user of the social network who was unable to fully delete their profile even after terminating their account.

Currently, personal information remains on Facebook's servers even after a user deactivates an account.

Facebook has said it believes its policy is in "full compliance with UK data protection law".

"We take the concerns of theICO [Information Commissioner's Office] and our user's privacy very seriously and are committed to working with the ICO to maintain a trusted environment for all Facebook users and ensure compliance with UK law," said a statement from the site.

SANDBAGS are being prepared for distribution in West Oxfordshire as river levels continue to rise.

An extra 40 tonnes of sand has been brought in to the district council's depot at Witney and batches sent for localised use to Bampton, Woodstock, and Chipping Norton. So far, 2,000 free sandbags have been issued.

Each morning at 9am, the council's emergency flooding team of officers was meeting to update the situation and what action needed to be taken, said cabinet leader Barry Norton. Plans are in place for emergency rest centres.

"The prospect is that, though we have so far had reports of water getting into several homes in Ascott-under-Wychwood and Burford, it is going to get worse on Friday and Saturday," he added.

People affected by the July floods in west Oxfordshire are to benefit from a government grant of more than £60,000 towards the clean-up.

The district council will receive £64,621 to cover the cost it incurred tackling the aftermath of the disaster.

The news follows a recent Environment Agency flood warning for the River Thames through Oxford, which was badly hit by last summer's floods.

The announcement was made by the floods recovery minister John Healey MP.

The Environment Agency has issued a flood warning for the River Thames through Oxford, which was badly hit by last summer's floods.

Pumps and emergency flood defences are being moved into the city.

The agency has warned that Botley Road could be flooded at about 2200 GMT and Osney Island later in the week.

Flood warnings, the second highest state of alert which means flooding is expected, is also in place for the River Thame and the River Ray.

If the Thame floods it could affect Dorchester, Moreton, Waterstock and Wheatley, as well as Chippinghurst and Drayton St Leonard.

The flood warning on the River Ray covers Islip, Ludgershall and Blackthorn, as well as Murcott, Wendlebury and Odington.

OXFORDSHIRE County Council has reminded people of steps they should take if their home is at risk of flooding.

If water levels rise to a level where flooding is likely, people should: - Sandbag their properties.

- Plug sinks and baths and put a sandbag in toilet bowls to prevent overflow.

- Prepare to be evacuate and pack essentials including nappies, pet food, a mobile phone and charger and blankets and sleeping bags.

John Kelly, Oxfordshire County Council's emergency planning officer, said: "At the moment there is no threat of flooding to property in Oxfordshire.

"However, we saw in July 2007 how situations can change quickly. We would like people to be as prepared as possible and studying our standard advice will help.

"Let us hope that water levels do not rise to the extent that people will need to deploy our advice. As things stand there is no cause for alarm."

Source: Witney Gazette