Archive

  • Secret agent Makosi

    Day 55: The Housemates still have to do the dog task even though they failed it yesterday. Orlaith tells Makosi she hopes it is her that goes on Friday. Makosi advises her not to get her hopes up just in case it's not. Day 56Makosi thinks she has lost

  • Sorry seems the hardest word

    REGRET. There's a weasel word if ever I heard one. It's been used many times this week in connection with the killing of the 27-year-old Brazilian electrician, Jean Charles de Menezes, shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder by our police

  • Jobs safe at Hyundai as firm gets new name

    WYCOMBE-based Hyundai Motor UK Limited (HMUK) plan to double the number of cars sold in Great Britain by 2008 to around 80,000. Under direct factory ownership, the new company has ambitious plans to be one of the top five manufacturers in the world.

  • Firm’s forensic accountants help crime crackdown

    A GROUP of business advisors from Chalfont St Peter specialising in cloak and dagger forensic accounting will play a major part in a massive crackdown on business crime and fraud. Harwood Hutton, based in the High Street, Chalfont St Peter, has beaten

  • RSPCA demands tougher laws

    THE South Bucks branch of the RSPCA is calling for tougher laws to combat animal cruelty as new figures reveal convictions have more than doubled over the past year. There were 2,494 complaints of animal cruelty in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire last

  • Students scoop dance gongs

    STUDENTS of the Stage Plus Performing Arts School in Princes Risborough are celebrating after scooping awards at the Mid Bucks Art Festival. The annual event, held at Princes Risborough Upper School in Merton Road over the weekends of July 9 and July

  • Awards and medals given out to mark end of term

    END of term awards were handed out to pupils at Princes Risborough Primary School before the summer break. The prizes were mainly given to children from Year Six who are leaving the school in Wellington Avenue. Kristie Johnson, a school governor, said

  • Marvel at Enid Blyton’s gardens

    IT may not include the Magic Faraway Tree, but the gardens at Enid Blyton's old house in Well End, Bourne End, are still something to marvel at. Owned by garden designer Jacky Hawthorne and her husband David, Old Thatch in Coldmoorholme Lane is where

  • Home builder appeals over flats refusal

    MICHAEL Shanly has said it is "100 per cent" committed to building a block of flats in Flackwell Heath despite two applications for their controversial plan being rejected. The developers previously had their application for 17 flats on the corner of

  • Cross-county police chase ends with crash at school

    A CROSS-COUNTY police chase ended in Beaconsfield when the driver lost control of his car and crashed in the early hours of the morning. People living in Fernhurst Close were woken up when they heard police officers gathering in the area. One resident

  • Furniture store staff fume after prank calls

    A FURNITURE maker from High Wycombe is fuming after late night prank calls made across the district were falsely linked to his company. The calls, which took the form of a bogus recorded message, were picked up by residents late on Monday night asking

  • Woman is assaulted

    POLICE are hunting a man in connection with a serious sexual assault on a 21-year-old woman. The assault took place during the afternoon of Thursday, July 21, as the woman was walking along Lane End High Street. She was approached from behind and

  • Watching the bombings from the other side of the world

    I left England for Australia a day after the first terrorist attack on London and am here for a further two weeks. I have therefore been watching events unfurl in the UK through the eyes of a population on the other side of the world. It is indicative

  • Blind bend madness

    THE Hughenden Road is indeed a dangerous nightmare. It is fairly narrow and quite winding, yet drivers overtake on blind bends at 60 mph or more. Quite mad. It should have a 40 mph limit throughout and a couple of speed cameras. Then we might see rather

  • They didn’t return

    COULD your readers help me in my search for information regarding soldiers of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry who were killed in action in June 1944. These men were part of the 6th Air Landing Brigade and they arrived in Normandy by

  • Thanks to them

    MAY I attempt to dispel some lingering misunderstandings about the production of the 150 Years of The Marlow Regatta booklet by the Marlow Museum Centre Project just recently. Michael Barlow, SAS Ltd and Wycombe District Council made generous donations

  • Mann on target

    I TOO share Charles Mann's concern at the demise of the chief executive position at Wycombe District Council, with more control passing to councillors. This was bound to happen when some were bigheaded enough to take the title "cabinet member". I

  • Big pay package

    AS a council taxpayer I was shocked to learn from your newspaper that five Wycombe district councillors held a secret session to agree an exceptional leaving pay package for the chief executive, Richard Cummins, and have hidden the figures of this handsome

  • Absurd bussing

    IT was very disturbing to read in the Free Press that Sir William Borlase's School in Marlow is, this year, so oversubscribed. Some of its classes will have to be held in the school library, some pupils will miss the equivalent of eight days schooling

  • Need green audit

    I JUST do not get it. We are going to be asked to stump a fortune for green waste processing. Is this truly the green alternative? Has anybody actually carried out a green audit on this project? Green waste should wherever possible be composted on

  • Wooburn Park Pavilion on the cheap?

    The recent letter from the chairman of Wooburn Park Cricket and Tennis Association seems to be spreading confusion in order to reopen the question of the Wooburn Park Pavilion. The parish council hs not submitted any plans for their proposed refurbishment

  • Skate debate

    The Marlow Society is fully supportive that a skatepark should be built for our young people. The facility should enable the in-line skaters and the BMX bikers to get equal enjoyment and benefit to their sports. We attended a meeting held by Wycombe

  • My best friend

    REGARDING the article on June 24 about the sad death of Abigail Wiggins, I wish to express my feelings as she was my closest and best friend. She was such a happy person, lifting people's spirits whoever she came in contact with. Being her best

  • Rubbish mistake

    Your article (Bottle banks welcomed by annoyed residents, July 1, 2005) contained an inaccuracy about the alleged refusal of Verdant Group plc to remove empty water bottles following the local water discolouration problem. While I understand residents

  • Is it a fiar cop?

    Is it a fair cop? I AM surprised at the number of letters in the BFP from people who plead innocence after being caught speeding by this camera on Marlow Hill, High Wycombe? Regular readers of the letters pages have been warned of this camera for

  • Winning hearts and minds

    The Metropolitan Police has revealed that the "shoot to kill" policy is based on advice from Israeli security advisors. Considering the fact that theIsraelis have failed spectacularly to reduce terrorist activities, should we really be acting on their

  • I’m your Mann

    I'VE finally decided that a change in career will do me good, and I'm going to accept the vacant position of Chief Executive of Wycombe District Council. Admittedly, I haven't yet been offered the post of replacing the outgoing Richard Cummins. But it

  • Seven marathons in a week

    SUPERFIT Neil Thubron completed seven marathons in a week each by a different method. The Chiltern Harrier's magnificent seven consisted of both road and cross-country running; cycling and mountain biking; machine rowing, canoeing and multi-sport. And

  • Netball star shortlisted for top volunteer award

    A HIGH Wycombe netball player has been shortlisted for a national award in honour of her outstanding volunteer work. Helen Bass, who turns out for the Apollo club, is one of three nominations vying for the title of Young Volunteer of the Year. The Goalden

  • Bat bites Hood to stop his Championship bid

    JEZ Hood's bid to win the European Gliding Championship ended in disappointment after he was bitten by a bat in his hotel room. The Booker-based pilot and current World Junior champion, had to fly with a cocktail of vaccines inside him after being nipped

  • Argentinian watched

    WANDERERS boss John Gorman wants to keep tabs on Basingstoke's Argentinian midfielder Sergio Torres. Gorman revealed that Blues were watching the former Boca Juniors youngster last season and his performance for 'Stoke against Wycombe on Tuesday showed

  • Betsy: G-force made me sign for the Blues

    TWO-GOAL midweek hero Kevin Betsy says it was G-force that persuaded him to sign for Wycombe Wanderers. The former Premiership midfielder says John Gorman was so persuasive in their transfer talks that he couldn't wait to drop down a division and join

  • Fury after rail chiefs ban ticket swap-over

    MARLOW commuters affected by the tunnel collapse at Gerrards Cross are furious at a decision by Chiltern Railways which they claim has wrecked their journey plans into London. Since the tunnel collapse on June 30, thousands of commuters have been forced

  • Reclaim Islam from extremists, says leader

    THE leader of the Muslim Parliament has called for followers to confront extremism if they are to live in peace in Britain. Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, who lives in Chesham, told more than 3,000 people at a Muslim conference in Birmingham that they must end

  • Tunnel collapse puts town under pressure

    THE collapse of the Tesco-built tunnel at Gerrards Cross train station is putting "great pressure" on Amersham, say community leaders. Thousands of commuters from across the county, who have been unable to use that station to get into the capital, have

  • Top jobs axed at council in £2.4m savings drive

    TOP jobs at Wycombe District Council are to be cut, as the council aims to save £2.4million a year. Two of the four directors' jobs will go, and at the level beneath them, nine or ten of the 19 heads of service face the chop too. The jobs that remain

  • Bateman looks to bring in another keeper

    CHESHAM boss Steve Bateman has had talks with keeper Alan Foster about him coming to Meadow. Bateman spoke with the former Thame player before Chesham's 1-1 with the Windmill Roaders on Saturday. He then played during Chesham's 2-0 win at Welwyn Garden

  • A week in Court three

    A Ragga night in High Wycombe is worlds away from the surroundings of Reading Crown Court number three. But the shooting of Natasha Derby has linked the two venues which are similar in size if not in tone. What had started as a noisy and trouble-free

  • Trial background: Partygoers fled as gunshot sounded

    PARTYGOERS fled in terror from a Ragga night after 23-year-old Natasha Derby was gunned down on the dancefloor. Panic ensewed at the Multi Racial Centre in St Mary Street after revellers realised a gun had been fired and a young woman lay dying on the

  • Natasha killed by a ‘home-made’ bullet

    NATASHA Derby was killed by a "home-made" bullet, a firearms expert revealed at her murder trial last week. Michael Vaughan, a gun specialist, said he believed the bullet was "home made" as it was an "improvised" metallic object for a modified cartridge