Tuesday, 29 December 2009

Earthwatch Special - Tuesday 29th December

Earlier this year I had a chance to go away with the Earthwatch Institute on their Climate Champions week. 12 of us made our way to Hill End near Cumnor to learn about climate change and help out with research in to fragmented woodland.

Have a look at my blog written during the week:
http://bbcoxfordweekends.blogspot.com/search/label/Climate%20Trip

Photos from the week:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/philmercer/sets/72157622732517348/

Links:
Earthwatch
There were quite a few other organisations taking part in the week:
Oxfordshire Nature Conservation Forum
Oxfordshire Community Action Groups
Dorchester Carbon Project
Berks Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust

Monday, 28 December 2009

Geneva Special - Bank Holiday Monday 28th December

It's an extended Weekend Breakfast Show this week, so we are doing things a little different. Today we are looking at the links between Oxford and Geneva as for the first time, the two cities are connected by air.

During a two day stay in Geneva, my producer Vicky and I were able to discover first hand the connections between Oxfordshire and the small but well connected city.

Have a look at our photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/philmercer/sets/72157623038872918/

Here is a map:
Click here

Friday, 25 December 2009

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas everyone.



I've always really looked forward to the Christmas morning show, I'm not sure if its due to all the lovely Christmas messages that people send in or all the extra sympathy it seems to garner just for getting up early and working. It might also be that I normally escape the madness of preparing Christmas lunch. Anyway, it's fun.



This mornings show looks forward to the Celebration of Christmas and features interviews with some of those who took part. Including the Archbishop of Canterbury and the actor Robert Hardy.

Saturday, 19 December 2009

Saturday 19th December

What a day. It's very cold, but thats winter for you. On the show this morning we heard from:

OxPAT
http://www.oxpat.org/
The charity that helps find funding for the many other charities helping the homeless of Oxfordshire are singing carols outside Oxford Railway Station at 1530hrs this afternoon.

The Ducklington Mummers
They are out this evening performing the traditional tale of good versus evil. You should be able to catch them around the following times in the following pubs:
8pm. The Fox, Stanton Harcourt
8.30pm. Strickland Arms, Ducklington
9pm. Bell Inn, Ducklington
9.30pm Plough Inn, Witney
10pm.Three Pigeons,Witney
10.30pm House of Windsor,Witney

Saturday, 12 December 2009

Saturday 12th December

Morning,

We've been covering more of the Climate Conference happening in Copenhagen again. For the latest from the event have a look at this website: http://en.cop15.dk/ We spoke to a couple of people involved.
Dr Dan Bebber is the lead scientist from Earthwatch. http://www.earthwatch.org/europe/
Anne Augustine works with Oxfam: http://www.oxfam.org/

The next walk is going to be on Boxing Day, we are heading to Blenheim Palace, here are the full details: http://bbcoxfordweekends.blogspot.com/2009/12/boxing-day-get-active-walk.html
Sing Christmas
Oxford is going carols mad today with lots of choirs singing all over the city. To find out who and where have a look at this site: http://www.oxfordinspires.org/EE/index.php/site/whatson-spotlight/
We also chatted to Michelle Anthony who created the Oxford City Singers earlier this year. They have their concert on this evening. For information go to: http://www.oxfordcitysingers.com/

Boxing Day Get Active Walk

From Kate, our walk co-ordinator:

Well done to those who turned out on a dreary, damp day in November for the last walk. We all agreed if a walk hadn’t been arranged we probably wouldn’t have ventured out at all! Considering the weather we had a good turn out and raised over £50 for Children in Need. Many thanks to Pudsey for turning out to help with the collection and to see us off! If you haven’t already done so you can use the link below to look at the photos from all the walks and see the friendly people who take part.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/oxford/content/articles/2006/03/27/get_active.shtml

The next walk is on Saturday December 26th 2009. You’ll be able to walk off the excesses of the previous day! The walk will be around Blenheim Palace grounds so we’ll meet at the car park in Woodstock at 10.45am to start the walk about 11.00am. Depending on the weather between now and then we may decide to do a route that includes footpaths which may be 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.

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 decided not to make a booking for lunch at a pub so we can go home and enjoy some leftovers rather than eat in a busy pub!

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 more than £1,050 for both local and national charities. Before the walk this month we’ll make a collection for the Foetal Medicine Unit at the J.R. Hospital.

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.

Please let me know your email address if you are able to receive the newsletter by email.

Sunday, 6 December 2009

Sunday 6th December

Morning,

It's not surprising that we will be talking a fair amount about climate change today, with the Copenhagen Summit starting we'll talk to a couple of christians to get their point of view in More Questions Than Answers.
Rev Dr Gillian Straine curate from Kidlington popped in to tell us what churches in Oxfordshire are doing to make a difference.

Operation Christmas - Salvation Army
07852 576368
Cpt Mark popped in to the studio to remind us about how we can help this year. He's looking for 400 Christmas presents for 0-16 year olds, if you can provide one (unwrapped) pop it in to
St. Michael at the Northgate (Mon-Fri 9am-4pm) or any branch of Superdrug.
He is also looking for volunteers for there Christmas Day celebrations.

Comedy and Christmas
http://www.paulkerensa.com/gigguide.php
The comedy write Paul Kerensa talked to us about the challenges of trying to cheer up Christmas.
Papers. Here's a nice picture of David Cranston, who kindly reviewed the newspapers for us this morning.

Also let me introduce Rich, the newest member of the team and the man running things behind the scenes while the programme is on the air on a Sunday.

Saturday, 5 December 2009

Saturday 5th December

After an exhausting week including recording the carol service at Christ Church Cathedral, it's back to usual.

We spent some time looking at a couple of environment subjects:

Tree O'clock
http://www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/treeoclock/
There are events at Stratfield Brake, Kiddlington. Boundary Brook Nature Park, Oxford and at The Wittenham Clumps.

The Wave
http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/the-wave
We also heard from some of the people heading down to London to take part in The Wave, a huge climate change awareness Rally.

Alice's Adventures Underground
http://www.oxfordtheatreguild.com/pages/productions/AAU/aau.html
Star of the show Olivia Jewson popped in to tell about this latest take on the Lewis Carroll classic.