LOCAL NEWS – Thame Food Festival

Focus on a musical legend

Robin Gibb CBE was a singer, songwriter and record producer, who gained worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, with older brother Barry and fraternal twin brother Maurice. Robin Gibb also had his own successful solo career.

Robin Gibb was a much loved member of our community and lived in his family home, The Prebendal in Thame from 1984 until his death on 20th May 2012. He is buried in St. Mary’s Churchyard opposite. In partnership with his widow Dwina Gibb, Thame Museum is proud to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death with an exhibition of photographs, (many from Dwina’s own personal archive and not seen before in public), and memorabilia belonging to this icon of 20th Century music. A specially commissioned, limited edition Commemorative Brochure will be available to purchase from the museum shop, along with other specially curated merchandise, including CDs of his last work, The Titanic. Requiem, written with his son R-J. “We are thrilled to be working with Dwina Gibb who has so generously supported this exhibition”. (Adrian Dite, Chairman Thame Museum) The Tribute Exhibition will open to the Public on Saturday 21st May and will run throughout the summer. Entrance is free. Thame Museum is an accredited charity, housed in the former magistrate’s court. It is run entirely by volunteers. The museum tells the story of Thame, from pre-AngloSaxon time through to the present day, including Thame’s pivotal role in the Civil War. For further information please visit the website: www.thamemuseum.org

Quite a story

The Story Museum in Oxford has been selected as one of the five finalists for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2022, the world’s largest museum prize.

Caroline Jones, Museum Director and CEO says: “I’m so proud of all our team members who have helped to make The Story Museum more than just a fairy tale, meaning generations of visitors from Oxford and beyond will be able to experience the enduring power of stories to teach and delight. Like all the best yarns, our own story has had many twists and turns, including having to postpone our grand reopening no less than three times due to Covid19. This nomination is testament to the perseverance and determination of our staff to bring our most unusual museum to life.” The winning museum will be announced at a ceremony at the Design Museum on 14 July and will receive £100,000. The other four shortlisted museums will each receive £15,000 in recognition of their achievements.

The Story Museum

42 Pembroke Street,Oxford OX1 1BP Call: 01865 790050 Email:hello@storymuseum.org.uk www.storymuseum.org.uk

Tickets: 01865 807600 boxoffice@storymuseum.org.uk

Helping hands

Local charity seeks volunteers for busy summer holidays Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity are seeking temporary volunteers to help in their shops across Buckinghamshire over the busy

summer holiday period. “With summer fast approaching, we are on the lookout for short-term ‘Summer Temp’ volunteers to help us run our shops during the busy summer period. Volunteering is a fantastic way to get out and meet new people as well as learn new skills. By giving your time in a Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity shop, you are doing something very special for someone else,” says Lily Caswell, Head of Retail at the Charity. The Charity has shops based in Aylesbury on the High Street, Broadfields and Walton Court, Chinnor, Haddenham, Thame, Wendover, Buckingham and Winslow as well as an online retail team based at their Furniture Showroom in Aylesbury. To find out more, visit the Charity’s website at www.fnhospice.org.uk/ summertemps or drop into your local shop to speak to the Shop Manager.

LOCAL NEWS

Thame Food Festival 2022

24 & 25 September 2022

A festival celebrating everything that is wonderful about food and drink!

See a myriad of demonstrations on our Big Cookery Stage from some of the country’s leading chefs and bakers. We also have Artisan Food, Street Food, the Humble Country Shopping Marquee, Live Music, Children’s Fun Cooking Classes, Children’s Circus Skills, FestivAles’ Pop up Pub, and Fun Dog Show.

Brand new for this year

The Festival Village – an interactive area of cooking and master classes.

www.thamefoodfestival.co.uk/tickets/

Bedding down for the Summer

Waddesdon’s gardens are an exceptional example of Victorian horticulture, and over the summer months, the formal bedding displays at the Parterre and the Aviary will be looking their best.

For summer 2022, the ornamental beds will be based on rare early colour autochromes from c.1910, unearthed as part of a new property-wide exhibition celebrating the life, gardens and legacy of Waddesdon’s Alice de Rothschild (1847–1922). The schemes will include intricate carpet bedding designs and 3D bedding sculpture pioneered by ‘Miss Alice’ herself—neither of which have been seen at Waddesdon since the pandemic. This year, Waddesdon’s carpet beds will celebrate Alice de Rothschild and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with two complex living mosaic designs made up of thousands of tiny plants. In a fitting nod to Alice’s vision for the gardens, a colourful mixture of Victorian bedding plants will then be the primary focus of the geometric beds on the Parterre. Scrolling ribbons of Geraniums, Bidens and Verbenas will take centre stage in an array of pinks, purples and yellows and will be framed by a more permanent display of ornamental roses in delicate peach tones. Visitors will also spot Waddesdon’s 3D pheasant bedding sculpture near the Aviary for the first time since 2019. Inspired by Alice’s autochromes, the formal beds in the Aviary Gardens will then feature a colourful mix of flowers such as Begonias, Nemesia and Calibrachoa, as well as tropical Victorian foliage plants that brilliantly complement the bright, bold and exotic birds looked after by Waddesdon’s aviculturists. Waddesdon’s grounds are open Wed–Sun, 10am to 5pm. For more information and to book tickets, visit: www.waddesdon.org.uk

Q.

My employer is insisting we all return to the office full time now following a period of home working during the pandemic. Working from home and avoiding a lengthy commute has given me a much better work life balance. Can I insist on being able to continue working from home either full time, or certain days of the week?

A.

If you have been working for your employer for at least 26 weeks you have a statutory right to make a request for flexible working. This can include a request to work from home either full time or at certain times. Such requests are not just limited to changes in your working hours. Whether or not the request will be granted will depend on the business you work for and whether it can be accommodated. Any refusal can only be based on one or more of eight permissible grounds including, for example, if it would cause a detrimental impact in relation to either quality, performance or the business’ ability to meet customer demand. When making a statutory request you need to put it in writing, ensuring it is dated and explain the following to your employer: l That you are making a statutory flexible working request; l Identify the changes you are seeking and the date you would like them to start;

l Explain what effect, if any, you think those changes will have on your employer and how they may be addressed to allow your request to be accommodated. l Identify if you have made a previous statutory request in the last 12 months and, if so, when.

We also recommend that you include as much information as you are able as to the reasons behind the request, as well as any benefits for the business you envisage, if granted. Once made your employer will have 12 weeks to consider your request, including any appeal process. Only one formal request can be made in any 12-month period. For those unable to make a formal request, you could still ask for flexible working outside the statutory process. Your employer will have greater scope to refuse without giving a reason. They should not, however, unlawfully discriminate against you because of a protected characteristic (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnerships, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity).

About Lightfoots Solicitors employment law services:

Lightfoots support both employees and employers to navigate the minefield that can be employment law. For employees they can offer support at the start of a new employment relationship advising of the terms of your new employment contract, during the relationship if you have particular concerns regarding your treatment, and at the end of employment if you are receiving a severance package or believe you have been dismissed unfairly. For employers they likewise offer a wide range of services from employment contracts and procedures, providing support when issues arise, as well as guiding you on the correct steps to take should you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of having to terminate someone’s employment, whether this be due to performance, misconduct concerns or redundancy. Lightfoots also have fixed fee toolkits available to help protect employers from claims. With employment law it is particularly important that legal advice is taken at an early stage. Taking advice after a decision has been taken, or a process has been followed may be too late, at which point it becomes more of a question of damage limitation. They can also assist with connected matters such as GDPR advice, or even entirely separate matters, such as a breach of contract or negligence claim against a supplier. Find out more about Lightfoots Employment Law services on their website: www.lightfoots.co.uk/

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