Sunday 28th February

Good morning. As February draws its last breaths, there were some fascinating guests on the show. Paul Jenner presented the show today, as Phil takes a well-earned rest...

Street Pastors

http://www.streetpastors.co.uk/

Backed by the police and the council, a scheme named Street Pastors is officially launched in Oxford this week. Those behind the scheme aim to offer a helping hand to vulnerable people and those who may have had a 'few too many' in the City Centre at night. Reverend Kathryn Bracewell (left) and Rob Winn (centre), who are the organisers of the Oxford scheme, as well as Neil Townsend (right) who heads up the Wantage scheme, came in to the studios to see Paul and discuss late night goings on. Neil's tips from his experiences in Wantage include flip-flops for those in high heels and, wait for it... lollipops.

Kindness

Paul spoke to Dr David Hamilton, author of a new book all about Kindness, about the importance of it and even its possible health benefits. Paul also discovered the '21-day kindness challenge' - to do a minimum of one act of kindness each and every day for 21 days, which prompted him to pledge to bring biscuits in to the office more often.

Our paper reviewer this morning was David Cranston (above), Consultant Urologist in Oxford.

Sunday 21st February

Good morning...


Female Hindu Priests
Chanda Vyas, a woman from a Brahmin family who lives in Leicester, claimed this week to be the UK's first female Hindu priest. Phil talked to Dr Diwakar Acharya (below) from the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies about the notion of female priests in Hinduism and found out about how traditionally there were female priests in the past.


Euthanasia
Phil spoke to Jean Davies, the head of the European Right to Die Movement, about euthanasia and the law in the light of the BBC presenter Ray Gosling incident being arrested and being bailed until April after claiming to have smothered his ex-lover who was suffering from AIDS.

Classical Masterpiece
This morning, as ever, we played a gem of a classical track. If you like the one today then it was from the album Luminosity, by composer James Whitbourn, and it is on the Naxos label.

Oxfordshire Churches Windfall
With the news that three churches in our county have just been awarded thousands of pounds by English Heritage, Phil had a chat with North Moreton's vicar Jason St John Nicolle about what they will be doing at All Saints' Church with the money. All £74,000 of it.



Our paper reviewer this morning was Leo Bowder (above) from the Oxford Unitarians.

Saturday 20th February

Morning

Oxford Dance Festival

http://www.dancinoxford.co.uk/
I had my dancing shoes at the ready as I welcomed Oxford Dance Festival's Miranda Lawrence into the studio this Saturday. Miranda told our listeners all about how two months of dancing in the city will kick off with five dance performances in five locations, on the hour, every hour.

Commotio Choir
www.commotio.org/

Matthew Berry, conductor of local choir Commotio, joined me in the studio to talk about the success of the group's latest CD, which is riding high in the classical charts. Matthew told me how the CD includes a reading by Desmond Tutu as well as a fusion of Indian influenced instruments. You can catch the choir at St Barnabas Church, Jericho, on March 13.

'Baby Branson'
http://www.flyvarsity.com/

Martin Halstead flew into the studio to tell us all about his latest venture. Martin, dubbed Baby Branson, told listeners all about his plans to set-up a flight from Oxford to Edinburgh. Martin told me all about his fascination with flying and about being compared to Richard Branson.

Flights depart from March 1st and plans are already in place for another route to Newcastle.

Barton Playtime

pathfinder@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Howie Watkins from Oxfordshire County Council came in to tell listeners about a variety of play features planned for Barton. The play area will include a range of indoor and outdoor features and will be built with the help of children, young people and parents of Barton.Children and parents from Barton can get a chance to look at the plans at Underhill Circus today from 11am-4pm.

Sunday 14th February

Georgia's Heart Galaxy
http://www.galaxyzoo.org/

I had a chat to Georgia Barrie a Physics student at Oxford University who came across this amazing (and very appropriate to the day) galaxy. It is actually called
587729227151704160, but the campaign is on to make it 'Georgia's Heart' Galaxy and she found it while helping catalogue galaxies on the Galaxy Zoo website which was set up by the University.

Economics vs. The Environment

http://www.earthwatch.org/

I caught up with a fascinating man at Oxford's Earthwatch Institute, Pavan Sukhdev, who heads up the UN's Environment Programme and is in charge of a new study - TEEB - which is all about the relationship between economics and the environment. As well as hearing about his work I asked him how he remained so positive, especially after Copenhagen.

Prisoners

http://www.sowingseeds.org.uk/

The Prison Reform Trust has just called for prisoners to be given the vote. I spoke to Gram Seed, a former prisoner himself, who thought this is not by any means the biggest issue facing prisoners today. He has founded a charity, Sowing Seeds Ministries, and told us a little about what they do.

Our paper reviewer this morning was Ken Barnes, from the American Mission in Oxford.

Sunday 7th February

A very good morning to you...


Phil's Dilemma
So you're walking down the street and something catches your eye. Is it? Yes; it's a £20 note.

What to do? Well it happened to Phil yesterday in Reading. This prompted a lively debate, with lots of callers with ideas including donate the money to charity or take the money to a local police station. Poor Phil, the audience decided that he is not a charity...

The International Staff Songsters

The famous choir of the Salvation Army is visiting Oxfordshire for the first time this week. Elaine Heaven (who is a member of the choir) and Captain Mark Wolstenhome came in to the studio to talk all about it.

Warmth

Dr Brenda Boardman, Emeritus Fellow at the Environmental Change Institute and author of 'Fixing Fuel Poverty' (ISBN: 978-1844077441), joined Phil to discuss what for many is the biggest issue of the day: climate change. How does she view those who claim there is no such thing as man-made climate change? How can fuel poverty be eradicated when there is a global drive to massively reduce fuel consumption?

The Pope
With The Pope confirming this week that he will be visiting the UK later in the year, Phil spoke to Charles Wookey, the Assistant General Secretary of the Catholic Bishop's Conference, about some of the main issues facing the Church today.

Our paper reviewer today was Rev. David Wilbraham (above), the chaplain of the Thames Valley Police.

Saturday 6th February

Morning,

Oxford Fashion Week

http://oxfordfashionweek.com
Organisers Sarah and Stacey popped in to encourage you to try out for the Fashion Week, they are looking for people to be models. The casting sessions are on Saturday 13th from 11am in Oxford Town Hall.

Award Winning Shop
http://ewelmevillagestore.co.uk
The new Ewelme Community Shop have won the title of Oxfordshires best community shop. The competition is run every year by Oxfordshire rural Community Council and Ewelme is particularly chuffed because it only opened last May.

Kenton Theatre
http://www.kentontheatre.co.uk
The Kenton Theatre has long been a popular venue in South Oxfordshire and in the last few days the people of Henley have come a step nearer to owning it. Contracts have been signed which signal the end of 18 months of talks to safefuard the Grade 2 listed building. But the Kenton's trustees now have six months to raise 350 thousand pounds to buy the freehold as we found out from Wendy Boucher the theatre's managing director.

The 2nd Anniversary Ball.
Derek and Susan told us of their plans for tonights Anniversary Ball with special guests and a chance to have a spin round the dance floor yourself.