Aladdin 2016

Dorchester Village Hall, 30 Nov – 3 Dec 2016

Wednesday – Friday 7pm; Saturday 4:30pm

The Pantomime season is almost upon us and hot on the heels of last year’s highly successful ‘Camelot – The Pantomime’, this year Dorchester Amateur Dramatics Society (DADS) is presenting ALADDIN.

Aladdin is one of the best known and popular pantomimes and the DADS production will be in traditional ‘Panto” style designed to appeal to all age groups. With families in mind, ‘Curtain-up’ will be earlier than usual – Midweek performances will start at 7pm and on Saturday the performance will start at 4:30pm, which will be of especial appeal to those with younger children. Along with Aladdin, all the usual familiar characters will be there including Wishee Washee, Widow Twankey and the ‘baddy’ Abanazar.

ALADDIN will be performed from 30th November to 3rd December in Dorchester Village Hall. More information is available on the DADS website dads.org.uk or the DADS Facebook page, and if you’re looking for a good way to kick-off the Christmas season this could just be the production for you.

Councils binning black and coloured sacks in recycling bins

From November, South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils will only empty green wheelie bins if the recycling in them is loose or in clear sacks.

Despite a recent campaign to raise awareness of the issue, some people are still putting in things like food waste and dirty nappies, contaminating whole truckloads of recycling – when these things are put into recycling bins in black or coloured sacks they’re not spotted until it’s too late.

If there’s a sack in a recycling bin and the waste crews can’t see what’s in it, they’ll have to assume it contains contamination and won’t empty it.

Councillor Tony Harbour, cabinet member for waste at South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “Contaminated recycling has become a real issue that we have to tackle. Insisting on loose recycling or clear sacks is a simple change that will make a big difference – and most people won’t be affected. If you do want to use bin-bags in your green bin, you can use clear ones, which are available from most large supermarkets and hardware stores. In most cases, clear sacks work out cheaper than black ones.”

Councillor Charlotte Dickson, cabinet member for waste at Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “Throughout October we’ll leave a note on any bins with the wrong colour sack in it to explain the problem – we’ll empty the bin on that occasion, but from November we’ll then have to start leaving them unemptied to help us protect everybody else’s recycling from getting contaminated.”

Please help spread the word – over the coming weeks keep an eye on @southoxon and @whitehorsedc and help the spread by retweeting our messages about clear sacks and loose recycling – thank you!

Take a look at our video that shows how bad the problem is when people use black or coloured sacks

Tell us what you think of NHS services in Oxfordshire – Abingdon Roadshow 19 October

The NHS in Oxfordshire is calling on young people, parents, patients, carers and people who live and work in Oxfordshire to have their say on how health care is delivered.

We are seeking your views on how local GP, community and hospital services should develop so that services are of high quality, closer to home, more convenient with better access and can overcome a £200m funding gap by 2020/21.

Several events have already taken place in Banbury, Wantage, Oxford, Wallingford, Bicester, Henley-on-Thames and Witney but we still need to hear from more people in the Abingdon area. The event will be a ‘drop in’ style and staff will be available to have an informal chat with you to share ideas on how NHS services in Oxfordshire can deliver high quality care now and in the future.

The Big Conversation Abingdon Roadshow will be held on:

  • Wednesday 19 October 9.30am to 4pm – Abingdon Community FreeSpace Shop, Bury Street, Abingdon OX14 3QY (next to the travel agent and opposite H. Samuel).
  • Staff will be available to answer your questions between 10am and 2pm, outside of those times please feel free to pop in and pick up some information.

The roadshow will focus on:

  • the financial health challenges within Oxfordshire
  • how we can improve the overall health of people in Oxfordshire
  • how we can prevent people from getting ill
  • how we can improve quality
  • make best use of tax payers money
  • How you can get more actively involved including hearing about our plans for public consultation later in the year around models of care across Oxfordshire

If you would like more information about this event, please contact: Julia Stackhouse on 01865 334638

Village newcomers information evening – 18th October

New, and not-so-new residents – please join us for our biennial information evening.

Tuesday 18th October 2016 Village Hall, Queen Street 7pm to 9pm

Village Clubs, Societies and Voluntary Organisations – promote your activities, with table-top display space provided free of charge.

Villagers and visitors – everyone is welcome to attend, to talk to event organisers, collect leaflets and contact information and, most important of all, enjoy an informal village gathering.

There are more than 30 organisations in the village so everyone should find several things of interest.

More information from Geoff Russell, Parish Clerk – tel: text 07745 311434 and email parishclerk@dorchesteronthames.co.uk

Complementary Light Refreshments will be served

See the event details in our calendar