Archive

  • The mating game

    Birds do it, bees do it... and an exhibition at Tring reveals just how bizarre courtship sometimes gets. SO how do you like to be wooed? With gifts of wine and roses? It seems we're not alone in falling for the guy with the most impressive line in

  • Furniture fit for a manor

    When antiques expert John Bly first saw Benjamin Clayton's furniture he knew the craftsman was producing something special. Now Raymond Blanc has given him a major commission for work at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons. JOHN Bly is used to being asked to

  • A treasured toolbox

    AFTER driving through the beautiful countryside of the Cotswolds on a visit to a farmhouse, I pulled in to the entrance and flanking the drive was a series of staddle stones. As I pulled up next to the property a young, well-dressed gentleman appeared

  • Courting favours

    Phyllis Court has to be the premier location to watch the Henley Regatta but Debra Aspinall discovers it is so much more than that. THE words on the little blue brochure about Phyllis Court say: "More than just a club, it's a way of life." Membership

  • Glass that glows

    A piece of coloured glass becomes a thing of beauty in the hands of Ruth Ward. Sandra Carter enjoys viewing her work. YOU may want to disguise an unsightly view from your window. You may want to make a creative statement in your lounge. You may want

  • Our troops in Iraq ‘living on the edge’ as war hots up

    TERRITORIAL Army soldiers from High Wycombe serving on the front line in Basra say they are "living on the edge" as Iraq slides towards all-out civil war. Scenes from the southern Iraqi city last week showed British soldiers coming under attack from

  • How Richard found time to look back on his childhood

    Richard E Grant has finally seen a long held dream fulfilled by bringing the tale of his early life to the big screen. It's a very personal examination of family life and here he tells Lindi Bilgorri of his fascination with the public show people perform

  • Wright delivers broadside at rugby bosses

    WASPS owner Chris Wright has blasted the RFU over their attempts to take over players' contracts. The RFU want to control England's star players but Wright reckons that would be a disaster for the club game. He said: "The RFU should thank the clubs

  • Abbott’s glad to be back with England

    STUART Abbott is thrilled to be back in the international scene. The Wasps centre was a member of the England World Cup winning squad but he was forced out of the interntaional reckoning last season due to injury. A good month for Wasps however has

  • Is this the cheekiest goal ever?

    WYCOMBE Wanderers' Nathan Tyson scored the cheekiest goal ever seen at Adams Park as he increased his market value in front of an army of scouts. The £750,000-rated striker underlined his supreme confidence with an impudent goal which stunned the trio

  • Blues defend the bill from the Old bill

    WANDERERS have defended the number of police they deployed at the Carling Cup tie against Aston Villa and say it is part of their plan to turn Adams Park into the safest ground in the country. Fans at the Villa game were confronted by police horses,

  • Cheeky Tyson says I’m not worth £750,000

    NATHAN Tyson saw Wycombe Wanderers slap a £750,000 price tag on his head and said I'm not worth that. Blues turned down a £500,000 bid from Championship strugglers Sheffield Wednesday last weekend a figure which would have risen to £600,000 if Wednesday

  • Let’s have three smiles for National Courtesy Day

    This Friday is National Courtesy Day. This is an initiative of the excellent Campaign for Courtesy founded in 1986 by Ian Gregory, a Congregational minister in Stoke on Trent who saw that the writing on the wall was turning into graffiti. It is a campaign

  • Report appalled

    I WAS appalled to read the front page of the Free Press last week to realise that two of your reporters did nothing but try to discredit two police community support officers doing a thankless and boring job guarding the helicopter which had landed in

  • Gross overreaction

    I WAS surprised at the negativity of your leading article and comment in last week's paper concerning the police community support officers (PCSOs) who were looking after the scene of the helicopter crash. Your story follows a number of discussions with

  • Record jumble

    THE Gerrards Cross Annual Jumble Sale is over and we thank everyone who was involved in this year's record-breaking sale. More than £11,000 will eventually come into our coffers to help maintain the Memorial Centre, that wonderful facility in our village

  • Crucial moments

    UNFORTUNATELY, by the time readers see this the deadline for the Parliamentary Inquiry into Special Educational Needs will be very near October 3. Equally unfortunate is the lack of publicity about this. It is an ideal opportunity for anyone with

  • A shabby town

    I'M sure that I am not alone in noticing the increasingly run down, shabby look and feel to the present day Marlow. The lack of any real investment, such as that recently enjoyed by Henley for example, is clearly taking its toll and can be evidenced

  • Weighty problem

    CLLR Maurice Oram is correct (Pavement works spark complaint, Marlow Free Press, September 23) in blaming much of the damage to pavements on the heavy vehicles that deliver to Sainsbury's and The Chequers. However, what surprises me is his solution:

  • Sick are penalised

    WHAT is positive parking? Shouldn't it be alternative parking before traffic wardens start booking 20-30 cars parked on the grass verges opposite Amersham Hospital. Why not widen the road by taking away the grass verges and put parking meters along it

  • Carry on trading

    WE attended the development control committee meeting in Marlow on September 12, when the Waitrose application for a new store was considered. Although the application was refused, we were far from happy with the proceedings. Nearly every councillor

  • Secret deals?

    AN exchange of letters with Mrs Lesley Clarke, leader of Wycombe District Council, on the subject of the extraordinary and secret leaving present awarded to the chief executive, Mr Cummins, raises many important questions of great public interest which

  • Our NHS under pressure

    AMID the excitement of your latest campaign to "Hand Back Our Hospital," I would like to reassure all Scannappeal supporters that not everything in our hospital has disappeared! The equipment in the Cancer Unit and associated wall of bricks carrying

  • Plight of pensioners

    THE disgraceful treatment of two elderly people in unrelated cases in Britain this week sums up this country's awful attitude towards the old. First, we read about the 73-year-old council tax protester who was jailed for failing to pay the charge in

  • Buses are back after road work

    A BUS route that drops off passengers outside the Accident and Emergency Department of Stoke Mandeville is now up and running after being out of action for several months. Red Route 9 runs to and from the centre of Aylesbury and the A&E department of

  • ‘Hospital move is just madness’

    A WOMAN whose son suffers from a brain tumour says the move of Wycombe's children's services to Aylesbury will add pressure to an already stressful life. Children's wards and inpatient maternity services are due to move to Stoke Mandeville next year

  • MP: ‘Patients being let down’

    THE MP for Chesham and Amersham is backing our Hand Back our Hospital campaign. Cheryl Gillan MP expressed concern for patients in her constituency needing emergency care. She said: "If A&E services at Wycombe are effectively downgraded, then my constituents

  • Henley denies rumours over town bloom defeat

    HENLEY has denied national media reports that it sacked its flower contractors because it lost to Marlow in the Thames and Chiltern in Bloom competition. The allegations were made in a daily newspaper last month after Henley lost to Marlow by nine points

  • Hermit monk says council is siding against him

    A VICTIM of antisocial behaviour who took photos of youths to try to catch them in the act has accused the council of siding against him. Brother Michael Day, a hermit monk, says he just wants to live in peace at his Marlow home but is constantly being

  • Museum celebrates visitor record

    CHESHAM Museum The Stables, has had more than 1,400 visitors since it opened its doors in August 2004. At the annual general meeting of the Friends of Chesham Museum last month volunteer staff were congratulated on a job well done by the town mayor

  • Teenage driver killed after

    A TEENAGE girl, who had only been driving her new car for five days, was killed when she lost control on a slippery country road near Amersham, an inquest heard. Nineteeen-year-old Sarah Smith, of Primrose Hill, Widmer End, died when her silver Citroen

  • ‘Pub licence will ruin our lives’

    PEOPLE living within metres of The Elephant and Castle pub in Chesham fear longer opening hours will ruin their lives. The pub, in Waterside, is in the middle of a built-up residential area, consisting mainly of flats. Landlords Vicki Catton and George

  • Winter festival promises tunes galore

    THE Amersham Festival of Music 2005 series of winter concerts begins again this month. The long running festival will be presenting four concernts at St Mary's Church in Old Amersham. Beethoven, Haydn and Tchaikovsky will all be featured on Friday,

  • £60 fines given to visitors and patients at Amersham Hospital

    A CANCER patient was slapped with a £60 parking fine for leaving her car on a verge outside Amersham Hospital after new parking laws were put in place in the district. The Free Press has had several letters from furious motorists who are falling foul

  • School pupils’ gun terror

    SCHOOLCHILDREN ran in horror from a blood-soaked man after he pointed a gun in their direction as they walked past a bus stop. Eyewitnesses say the man who had attempted to take his own life by slitting his wrists pointed the air rifle at a group

  • Second tunnel collapse false alarm

    FEARS that the Tesco tunnel in Gerrards Cross had collapsed for a second time brought trains on the line to a standstill on Wednesday afternoon. Commuters travelling from Marylebone Station towards Birmingham at 12.30pm were stopped at West Ruislip station

  • Council tax bills set to soar again

    HOUSEHOLDERS are facing fresh council tax misery with bills set to soar by at least 7.5 to eight per cent across Buckinghamshire. And the inflation-busting increase, which will come on top of massive rises in previous years, could be even larger if the

  • Van Gisbergen ready to spark England revival

    MARK van Gisbergen has gone from arriving in England as an electrician with rugby-playing aspirations to being picked for the England squad in three years. The Kiwi-born full back was named in Andy Robinson's 30-man England squad for the Autumn internationals