Sunday 29th November

More Questions Than Answers: Giving
http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/
We had a couple of guests discussing the pressure to give at this time of year. Geoffrey Richardson from the Blackbird Leys Credit Union (01865 718503) and Dr Toby Ord both have a lot of experience on this subject.

Nativity (U)
We talked to the director of the new movie that follows a primary school production of a Nativity play is on at the VUE and other cinemas over the next few weeks.

World AIDS Day
http://www.tht.org.uk/contactus/southeast/
http://www.oxford.anglican.org/the-door/news/world-aids-day.html
We heard about one project the Oxfordshire church is getting involved with in South Africa.

Saturday 28th November

Morning,

Sorry I've been quiet on the blog this week, it's been a manic one with the final preparations for the recording of this years carol service on Tuesday. I even got to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury!

This mornings show is a great one.

Hayley Westenra
http://www.hayleywestenra.com/
She is appearing at St Mary's in Banbury tonight. She has a fantastic voice so I played her doing a bit of West Side Story.

Pop Up Restuarant
http://covertpopup.blogspot.com/
lara.tyrrell@merton.ox.ac.uk
Lara is running a one night only special restaurant to try and encourage people to think local when shopping. All the food is sourced (where possible) from local providers.

Affordable Housing
If you want to join the debate on how to improve the amount of affordable housing in Oxford, you need to go to the Quaker Meetings house in Oxford for 11am.

United Charities Christmas Bizarre
On today from 10 to 1 at the Town Hall in Wallingford.

Dorchester Carbon Project and The Wave
http://www.cagoxfordshire.org.uk/index.php
http://www.dorchestercarbonproject.org.uk/
http://www.the-wave.org.uk/
We heard about some of the exciting plans the guys in Dorchester-upon-Thames are putting together as part of an influential government initiative. We also heard how lots of people from Oxford are heading in to London next weekend for The Wave!

Artic Explorers
http://www.polarcommitment.com/
Ian and Claire popped in to the studio ahead of an adventure they are setting off on next year. They will be part of a team walking 800 miles across ice to the polar pole to raise money for Help for the Heroes and the Thames Valley Air Ambulance. Good luck guys.

Sunday 16th November

Kalyan Das led the reflection this morning and Hedley Feast the Devotional. Helen Ann Hartley looked through the papers and also talked about the Shi Shi Go Shan festival in Faith Matters.

Songs of Praise
Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006ttc5
Todays programme is from Witney, so we had a chat to the minister of High Street Methodist Church in Witney who hosted the team.

I played the new song from Howard Jones called Soon you'll go. It's off his album Ordinary Heroes.

We looked at Interfaith Week and a special memorial service remembering those involved in Road Traffic Accidents. The latter is happening at St Mary's Church at 3pm.

Plus, we talked to Professor Diarmaid Macculloch about his TV series The History of Christianity currently playing on BBC Four. You can catch up on the series by following this link: Click here...

Saturday 14th November

So I had a lovely Sunday off last week, but its back to the grindstone this morning. Last night the Oxfordshire Sports Awards graced the halls of the Kassam Stadium. To read the complete list of winners, click here...

Banbury's Canalside Development
If you pop in to Castle Quays today, you'll get a chance to have your say on plans to develop the area south from the shopping centre alongside the canal.

Jonny's Flight
Last week we spoke to Jonny Beech just before he set off with Nigel Lamb on the flight of a lifetime! Here are his pics:

Saturday 7th November

Morning,
I've got lots of firework bits for you this morning. Including a look through what displays are happening around Oxfordshire. Click here for a full listing...

Have a Safe Fireworks night.
Guy and Richard from the Oxfordshire Fireworks Partnership popped in to the studio to give us some ideas of how to be safe this evening. The phone number for the partnership is 0845 8505 505 if you want to report any fireworks issues.

Boot Camp
http://www.wolfffitness.co.uk/
So we heard from Daniel Wolff who had details of how you could raise money for Cancer research by doing his Boot Camp today, details from his website.

Jonnie Beech designed this logo for Nigel Lamb the aerobatics display pilot and will be having the flight of his life later today when Nigel takes him for a two hour spin!

Climate Week gallery

Here is a link to a flickr group I've created for the Climate Champions field week.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/philmercer/sets/72157622732517348/

Get Active Walk - Saturday 21st Nov 2009

The next walk is on Saturday November 21st 2009. That’s the day after the BBC Children in Need Appeal so to carry on the fun bring a bear or wear something spotty! The walk starts at The Bear and Ragged Staff, Cumnor. It’s a circular tour around the picturesque villages of Cumnor, Bessels Leigh, Appleton and Eaton so there’s a little road walking. However, most of the walk is on footpaths, some of which are very muddy, so boots or sturdy shoes are advisable. The walk is fairly flat and about 5 miles long. As always the walk will be lead at a pace to suit everybody and well behaved dogs are welcome.

We’ll meet at the pub car park of at 10.45am to start the walk about 11.00am. Please park at the far side of the car park away from the pub. Everyone should sign the disclaimer and if new people wouldn’t mind completing a monitoring form that would be great. Please make sure you sign the disclaimer every time you come on a walk.

We’ve made a group booking for lunch at the pub for those who wish to have lunch afterwards. There’ll be a menu for you to choose from so make sure you order your lunch before we set off on the walk!

So, whether you’ve joined us before or not, and feel that you can manage this walk put the date in your diary and come with us.

The weather of course is unpredictable and unknown at this stage. We’ll walk in all but the worst conditions but if you’re in any doubt about whether the walk is going ahead listen to Phil Mercer’s show on the Saturday morning between 6am and 9am.

Many charities encourage walking as a way of raising money. So before the start of the walk we are asking for a donation of £1 for a chosen charity. So far we have raised over £1,000 for both local and national charities. Before the walk this month we’ll make a collection for the BBC Children in Need Appeal.

To book a place or for more details contact BBC Oxford Action Desk 08459 311 222 or email katie.brown@bbc.co.uk
We look forward to seeing you on the next walk.

Surprise... tis I on Lou's show

So i got woken up with a bump this morning when Lou lost her voice and I got press gananed in to looking after her show.

My Story
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mystory
One of the subjects we covered was the BBC project My Story. If you want details of how to send in your ideas to My Story then you need to have a look at the website... or send your (up to) 1,500 words to:

BBC My Story
PO Box 65 655
London, W12 2BG

Annie Get Your Gun
The guys and girls of Wantage Stage Musical Co are putting on the Irving Berline classic at the Civic Hall from Wednesday to Saturday. Call 01235 770087 for tickets and information.

Sunday 1st November

What a morning! We handed out the first tranch of tickets to this years carol service 'A Celebration of Christmas' we are holding it at Christ Church Cathedral. If you want to get some, they are strictly limited so it's first come first served. Send me an email mercer@bbc.co.uk if you would like some. We are restricting everyone to a maximum of 6 per household.

Street Pastors
We had an update from the new Street Pastor teams working in Wantage and Grove. If you want details email: wantageandgrove@streetpastors.org