Saturday, 06 September 2025
Delivering the news from Henley on Thames and South Oxfordshire for over 100 years
Sir, — Readers may be interested to know that Prior’s Court Special School near Newbury has a powered boat named after Dame Stephanie. It has a drop down front to allow wheelchair access and is used on Thursday evenings during the summer months as part of the RYA Sailability initiative. Sailability enables people with impaired abilities including loss of sight, stroke, and wheelchair restricted ...
01/09/25
Sir, — As a Henley resident, I fully support an 18-tonne limit on vehicles passing through the town. I’m appalled at the number of 44-tonne HGV vehicles using Henley as a short cut, instead of using the strategic road network. The recent survey regarding HGV vehicles using Henley’s historic bridge and streets, was obviously flawed. I witness the traffic on a daily basis, and not just for a few ...
01/09/25
Save Pinsent and Redgrave Sir, — I think we can all agree that the closure of The River and Rowing Museum is a great loss for our town and rowing generally. However, from the ashes let us save one item in particular with particular relevance for our town and the Henley Regatta — namely the statue of Redgrave and Pinsent which presently stands forlornly in the car park at the rear of the Museum. ...
01/09/25
Time bomb tax bill Sir, — I sincerely hope that our council in Henley has no shortage of money. We have lived in our new flat since December and we have not yet received a council tax banding, let alone a bill. There are many young folk living here who can ill afford the large tax bill when it arrives despite the council attitude of “you must put the money aside”. — Yours faithfully, Ken Ellison ...
25/08/25
Sir, — I recently visited the Wellcome Collection in Euston Road, London, and saw a fascinating exhibition called “Thirst: In Search of Freshwater”. I was particularly taken with a cartoon in the display, which was captioned “Monster soup commonly called Thames water, being a correct representation of that precious stuff doled out to us!!!” The original engraving by William Heath (1828) shows a ...
25/08/25
I was delighted to find that a red admiral butterfly had found a resting place on the outside of our home during some lovely sunny weather recently. I enjoy seeing other people’s photos as well but am pleased that so far you are limiting the more prolific contributors to one page. Recently, a friend asked us to save two copies of the Henley Standard, both issues contained a summary of Diana ...
18/08/25
Geese add to river problem Sir, — Your front page featured an article about water test results during Henley Royal Regatta (Standard, August 8). As locals will know, we had very little rain leading up to the regatta. I can’t help but think that the E. coli levels are clearly exacerbated by the vast numbers of Canada geese. One only has to look at the pontoons outside Leander Club to see how much ...
18/08/25
Mayor’s attire was insulting Sir, — It was with incredulity that I saw the photograph of the Mayor of Henley, Councillor Tom Buckley, with the Royal Marine cadets on the formal occasion of the appointments of the shared role of mayor’s cadet (Standard, August 1). He dressed as for a day on Brighton beach. His appearance, in a brightly coloured, open-necked shirt with rolled-up cuffs, shorts, no ...
11/08/25
Editor, — I was amazed to see this over-enthusiastic male ornate tailed digger wasp (Cerceris rybyensis) trying to mate with a female, who was returning to her nest burrow with her Lasioglossum bee species prey. This took place right in my own garden on some hemp-agrimony, which is attracting lots of pollinators at the moment. — Yours faithfully, Linda Seward Cookley Green
11/08/25
Give festival staff their tips Editor, — I am writing to raise awareness and express my concern about a troubling practice at the Henley Festival regarding staff gratuities. Bar staff at the festival, many of whom are students or young people working under zero-hours contracts, were not allowed to keep the tips given to them by customers. Instead, all tips are automatically redirected to charity. ...
04/08/25
Editor — It appears the council have decided to take a break from weed whacking this year. Who cares about the Chelsea Flower Show? South Oxfordshire appears to be running its own horticultural contest and Shiplake is leading the charge. Ghastly hundred-house planning applications aside, it’s like a scene from an apocalypse dystopia over here with our weeds! As we gardeners know, there’s a fine ...
04/08/25
Philistinism and ignorance Sir, — Opinions expressed in letters by Susie Duguid (Standard, July 4) and Adrian Vanheems (Standard, June 27), on the subject of ivy growing up countryside trees and advocating its removal, are factually inaccurate and are examples of environmental philistinism and ignorance. Their ideas are nothing but dogma. They are not based on any evidence and are contrary to ...
28/07/25
This photograph has to be seen to be believed. Shirburn Street in Watlington is being dug up for a new gas main. Some of it has been repaired and the contractors replace any wording or white lines only on the part that has been dug up. So we have the ridiculous situation of white lines being filled in but the rest is faded to almost nothing. That was bad enough. However, a “Keep clear” sign has ...
28/07/25
Good location ruined by cars Sir, — This is an SOS to the local authorities for Henley. We live in Station Road and my point of interest is the section of road from the corner of Meadow Road to the junction with Reading Road. The local estate agents may describe the location as “ideal, close to the river and its amenities, close to the park, the museum, the railway station, in easy walking ...
21/07/25
Sir, — As I took a walk around my garden this evening, I stopped to add fresh water to the stone birdbath. I waited. In the space of a few minutes four or five wasps had arrived for a drink. It is important to remember that they, too, become dehydrated in this heatwave. I came to learn that they use water to build, to repair and to cool their nests. Added to which they transport the liquid and ...
21/07/25
Devastated by mooring fees I am writing to express my deep disappointment and devastation over the extreme mooring fees introduced by Henley Town Council at Mill Meadows during Henley Royal Regatta. My family and I have been boating on the Thames for more than 10 years and regatta week has always been one of the highlights of our summer. Until recent years, we, along with many of our boating ...
14/07/25
14/07/25
HGV analysis was flawed Sir, — I refer to your front-page lead article publicising the “leaked” ANPR analysis report prepared by executives at Oxfordshire County Council highways department (Standard, June 20). There is a number of flaws in that report which have been identified by a variety of scrutineers and reported to Councillor Judy Roberts, who is the county council’s cabinet member with ...
07/07/25
Sir, — I have taken this photograph of wildlife who often frequent our garden in Leaver Road in Henley. I would appreciate it if you could publish this in the Standard to show people in Henley the rare wildlife we have. — Yours faithfully, Kim Giles Henley
07/07/25
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