Review of the Year 2021: looking back at Witney’s most memorable events

Government guidance issued by the Cabinet Office following the announcement of the third national lockdown states people can however leave their homes for exercise with their household (or support bubble) or one other person. This should be limited to once per day and people should not travel outside their local area.

The guidance dictates if leaving home, then to stay local, meaning staying in ‘the village, town or part of the city where you live’.

However, a post on the Spotted Witney Facebook page asked people who ‘travel to the Roman Villa or North Leigh Common’ to walk their dogs to do it from their home in Witney instead.

Commenting on the post, Tom Fletcher-Manuel said: “I assume the people of East End and North Leigh will use the North Leigh Post Office for their essential shopping needs rather than travelling out of their local area to Witney.”

Susie Cusick, vice chair of North Leigh Parish Council, said: “I suppose if you’re on your own and not meeting anyone then I don’t see it as a major problem.

“I wouldn’t do it myself as I personally only walk around the village.

“I think with the March lockdown, it was easier as the weather was nicer so people could use their gardens.”

A cyclist believed she spotted the fabled ‘Beast of Burford’ while riding along a footpath in Witney.

Sara Cox said she saw a ‘black panther’ at approximately 6.30am, on her way to Ducklington Lake on a patch of green space alongside Gordon Way.

She added: “My front light hit a pair of eyes – they shone red.”

She said she initially thought it was a dog and stopped, then realised ‘by the shape and the way it moved’ that it was a big cat.

February

Hopes of a rail link between Witney and Oxford got back on track, with a proposal set to be submitted.

The Witney Oxford Transport Group said it will be sending its plans for a Carterton-Witney-Eynsham-Oxford link to the Government at the beginning of March.

The proposal to the Department for Transport’s Restoring Your Railway Fund said it is seeking funding for a feasibility study.

Chair Charlie Maynard said that under the group’s proposals, the train between Carterton and Oxford would take 22 minutes, compared to the current journey of more than an hour by bus.

Witney MP Robert Courts was critical after diluted sewage overflowed on to the route to Tackley CE Primary School.

Mr Courts and Oxfordshire County Council leader Ian Hudspeth and Tackley Parish Council chair June Collier went to see how flooding had affected the village.

Mr Courts said: “The situation in Tackley is totally unacceptable, with residents having to endure persistent issues of sewage flooding across the village.

“Thames Water must step up and make long overdue improvements to the local network to ensure it is better able to cope during times of heavy rain.”

Mr Hudspeth added: “It is simply not good enough for raw sewage to be discharged onto the pavements and footpaths that children walk to school on.

“Thames Water need to rectify the situation to ensure that children are not walking through the mess.”

Mrs Collier said elderly residents had been unable to use their toilets and water facilities.

A spokesperson for Thames Water said that the overall issue of flooding requires a multi-agency response, with the county council responsible for land drainage and highways.

The spokesperson added: “We empathise with anyone affected and are doing what we can to support customers, including working with the other agencies who are also responsible for flooding in the area, including the local council.

March

A missing puppy from Chipping Norton was found after he was taken from a car outside Barclays bank on Chipping Norton High Street in broad daylight.

Owner Dio Davies’ husband thought he had locked the car but when he returned 10 minutes later the four-and-a-half month Dachshund had been taken.

Four days later the puppy was reunited with the Davies after he was found under a car at Kidlington Sainsbury’s.

A woman got in touch with the family through social media – where the missing dog posters were shared 272,000 times.

Mrs Davies said: “So many people have sent messages saying they were worried about him – people we’ve never met. We’ve had so many messages we can’t reply to them all.”

Schools are reporting closures due to positive cases of Covid-19 after pupils returned to the classroom.

Throughout 2021, students, with the exception of the children of key workers and vulnerable pupils, learned remotely, with their return to school the first step in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown.

But for some pupils in the county, the return was short-lived with positive cases causing disruption.

Partial closures were reported at St John the Evangelist CE Primary School (Carterton) and Queen Emma’s Primary School (Witney).

April

Work on the Shores Green junction started to move forward.

The former mayor of Witney, Duncan Enright, has led a 10-year campaign to see the A40 junction in east Witney, over Oxford Hill, become a four-way junction.

Oxfordshire County Council said a scheme had been analysed, with a preferred option identified on how it will be built and a formal public engagement process scheduled for May/June 2021.

The construction is targeted to start in autumn 2022.

More than a thousand people signed an online petition saying the junction would reduce air pollution and traffic in Witney.

Cllr Enright said that the proposed costs of the junction had gone from about £4.5 million to over £13 million in the last decade, saying building the junction had ‘got stuck in traffic repeatedly’.

May

From complete devotion to their favourite eateries and having drunk in every pub, to a constant longing for a KFC, there were a few unmistakable signs that set Witney locals apart from others in the county. They included constantly complaining about the A40 and going to Oxford for “a big night out”.

Local election results. West Oxfordshire District Council is controlled by the Conservatives. The current political balance of the council is: Conservative 28; Liberal Democrats 10; Labour/Labour and Co-operative 8; Independent 2 and Green Party 1.

June

Fitness instructor Maxine Pridsam is awarded more than £5,000 after taking her employer Witney Lakes Resort to a tribunal over equal pay.

Mrs Pridsam started working at Witney Lakes Resort – part of The Club Company – in September 2009.

However, it wasn’t until 2018 that she found out male instructors were being paid £25 per class – and women instructors £20.

She represented herself during the employment tribunal, which decided her contract was to be modified.

“I’ve not had a solicitors at all, I’ve done this by myself and fought it by myself,” she said.

Residents and businesses were asked whether Witney High Street should continue to be closed to traffic in a public survey.

The road was closed and pavements were widened when Covid struck to allow for better social distancing and to encourage cycling.

The council wanted to try to find out whether people wanted it to re-open completely, remain as it was or to put forward other ideas.

July

Kind-hearted people raised thousands of pounds in less than 24 hours for the memorial of Nicole Sanders, age 13, who died on July 18 after she was pulled from Ducklington Lake.

Nicole was rescued after reports had been made of someone struggling in the water. She was raced to the hospital but passed away a short time later.

Her mother, Amanda Holmes, is calling for the lake to be ‘dredged and filled’ and said the lake was ‘extremely deep and deadly’.

She created a petition for the lake to be shut off to the public.

The Hollybush in Witney was named Best Pub and Bar in Oxfordshire in the National Pub and Bar Awards.

The prestigious awards showcase the best venues in each county with 15 regional winners being named at a grand final in London.

Co-owner of the Corn Street gastropub Luke Champion said: “We are thrilled to win this award giving us recognition as the top pub and bar in Oxfordshire.

“We have always aimed to fill our pub with happy people enjoying delicious food and good drinks and this award shows that we’re doing something right.”

August

Operation Pitting began on August 13 as the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan ahead of the US-led withdrawal of western troops from the country.

More than 15,000 people, including about 2,200 children, were airlifted out of Kabul.

More than 850 people arrived at RAF Brize Norton where they were provided with food, clothing, children’s toys and medical help while their details were processed.

It was the largest and fastest humanitarian evacuation operation in recent history.

The Duchess of Cambridge visited Brize Norton to thank those involved.

The daughter of retired teacher Sheila Shirley paid moving tributes to her after she tragically died following a crash on the A417 at the junction with the B4508.

Mrs Shirley, 72, was born in Devon, and moved to Oxfordshire when she married her husband Dave.

The couple lived in Baulking, with Mrs Shirley working as a SENCO teacher most of her career, at Tower Hill Community Primary School and then Ducklington Primary School.

Kara Terry said: “Even though she was 72, she was young at heart and cheery. She was adventurous and loved to travel, always going on holiday and to live music events.

“She was involved in the Women’s Institute and local church, and had many friends far and wide – she was full of life and glamorous.

“She’d be out walking every day and loved going for dog walks, she had a great affinity with all animals.

“Despite her age, it was only a couple of years ago that she stopped horse riding.”

September

Police dug up an area of wasteland in a search for priceless treasure stolen in a raid on a castle.

Officers taped off a property in Alvescot Road near Carterton believing it may contain historical items burgled from Arundel Castle in Sussex.

The collection, valued at more than £1m, was stolen in a raid on the night of Friday 21 May.

The search followed the issuing of eight search warrants at addresses in Oxfordshire as well as Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.

Items included rosary beads used by Mary Queen of Scots, gold and silver-gilt coronation cups (for George II, George III, George IV, William IV, George V, George VI and Elizabeth II); two gold batons and other miscellaneous items including 10 silver-gilt Apostle spoons, a silver-gilt casket with hunting and fishing scenes, and a silver-gilt mug.

The property was formerly known as The Ark and had previously been occupied by a roofing contractor.

Shortages at Oxfordshire petrol stations remained “serious” due to fuel not being delivered where it is needed.

Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association, claimed a “large majority” of forecourts did not know when they would receive their next delivery.

He said: “There are many reports of wet sites quickly going dry because the continuity of tankers remains out of kilter with orders.

“The situation in London and the South East remains serious.”

Long queues were seen at Asda Carterton and Eynsham Esso on the A40.

Panic buying surged after BP announced on September 23 it would have to close a handful of its petrol stations.

October

A public survey into whether Witney High Street should remain shut showed that the restrictions were supported by the majority.

A public survey had a total of 1,346 responses.

60 per cent (808 people) felt safer with the restrictions and 26 per cent (351 people) did not.

54 per cent (729 people) thought they had a positive impact on the town and 32 per cent (437 people) did not.

64 per cent (846 people) said the extra pedestrian space should be retained while 36 per cent (484 people) would like the restrictions removed and the high street returned to its pre-Covid state.

85 per cent (1,133 people) said the council should continue to support outdoor dining in appropriate places.

Traders are angry at the measures described by council leader Michele Mead as “Marmite”. Henry Mo of Sandwich de Witney starts a petition against them and market trader Darren Smith says his trade has been halved by the restrictions.

Work to demolish an ‘eyesore’ that was formerly the Countrywide store on Ducklington Lane in Witney was nearly complete.

Newport-based Storage Giant obtained planning permission to convert the disused former shop to a self-storage centre in 2019.

It is proposed to employ 37 full-time and one part-time member of staff.

An eviction was sought after travellers moved on to land at the closed store in January.

Simon Williams, managing director of Storage Giant, said: “Materials are a real issue at the moment so there may be some delay until we can place the relevant orders, but certainly we don’t want to delay and will move as fast as we can to complete the scheme.”

November

A young football coach was tragically killed in a car crash near Witney.

Jaden Mole, 19, was behind the wheel of a VW Polo on the A4095 Woodstock Road when his car left the road and struck a tree in October.

Jaden was a football coach and player at Clanfield 85 FC.

Oxfordshire Coroner’s Court heard the cause of his death remained under investigation.

Senior coroner Darren Salter described the teenager’s death as a ‘sad case’.

Oxford United were among those to pay tribute and an online fundraising page raised more than £13,000 in a week.

December

One case of the new Covid strain Omicron was confirmed in West Oxfordshire.

The walk-in vaccine centre in Witney closed after seeing huge queues.

The clinic, which was a joint project between the Oxford NHS Trust, the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group and West Oxfordshire District Council, was open for a little under a fortnight and administered 4,887 vaccinations in that time.

A householder who claimed police were not doing enough to investigate the theft of her son’s mountain bike, spent three days picketing the home of a man she insists she saw on CCTV stealing the bicycle.

While police are investigating the incident, no one has been arrested or charged and the protest has no legal basis.

Fiona Bateman said: “I was annoyed, we all were. But our neighbours had CCTV footage of the man that stole it and we took some stills from it and put them on social media. Everyone was saying who it was.

“So on Friday morning I decided to write my sign and stand outside his house.

“I just wanted to make sure that people were talking about it and knew what was going on in their area.

“This photo was taken of me with the sign after Spotted Witney Facebook team had dropped off a bunch of flowers and hot chocolate for me.

“I could only spend three days out there – 8am-4pm, as I had to go back to my day job.”