Oxford News
Richard Branson fans rally after emotional message shared
Sir Richard, 75, famously owned the Mill House estate in Kidlington. He lived there for 20 years before selling the property to his children in 2013 and relocating primarily to Necker Island.
The entrepreneur took to social media last November to announce that his partner of 50 years, who he described as his “best friend” and “guiding light”, died aged 80.
Joan and Richard married in 1989 and share two children, Holly and Sam.
Sir Richard shared a post to Instagram on Monday of an old photo of his wife in her youth dancing, as he paid tribute to his wife on the first birthday since she died.
He said in his message: “Today would have been Joan’s 81st birthday. Keep dancing in the stars. We love you.”
The post, which was also shared to his Instagram story along with a white heart emoji, has been flooded with comments of support from well-wishers.
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The Bell Oxford, in Kidlington, said: “Thinking of you and the family today. Happy Heavenly birthday Joan.”
One person wrote: “Beautiful memories! Sending you all hugs as you celebrate Joan!”
Another said: “She will always be with you all.”
While a fourth added: “God love her she will be watching down on you and loving watching everything your doing as we who follow you do.”
The business mogul previously shared that he celebrated both his and his wife’s birthdays with their children on a trip to Venice in Italy, which was originally booked by their eldest child Holly to mark the occasions.
Sir Richard announced the death of his wife on November 25 2025, and said that he was “heartbroken” and would love her forever.
In an article written for the Virgin website celebrating her 70th birthday, the billionaire previously said he fell in love with Ms Templeman “from the first moment I saw her” as she worked in a bric-a-brac shop in London’s Westbourne Grove.
Sir Richard recalled he had to “persistently hang around the shop and buy countless objects”, including an old advertising sign, before the pair started to date.
In the piece, the businessman said his wife was a “very private person” who had “always stood by me mentally, emotionally and spiritually”.
St Amand’s Catholic Primary School in East Hendred has said it will be closing at 12.30pm tomorrow (Friday, July 10) due to “severe weather”.
Temperatures are set to hit 33°C in Oxford and will be hotter across the country with the record for the number of days the UK has seen 34°C or higher in a calendar year having now been broken.
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Currently St Amand’s is the only school to have announced a closure to the county council, although some have already broken up for the summer holidays.
During the last heatwave in June hundreds of schools across the county announced full or partial closures over several days.
This was amid record-breaking 34°C conditions.
The results of the 2026 GP Patient Survey for NHS England were released today (Thursday, July 9) containing data including how easy patients find it to contact their GP as well as reception and administration ratings.
The public also gave their views of the ‘overall experience’ of their local GP surgery, ranking them very good, fairly good, neither good nor poor, fairly poor and very poor.
Almost 3 million surveys were distributed by market research agency Ipsos with around 650,000 responses received in England between January and April.
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On average 46 per cent of people gave their GP the highest grade, while only 4 per cent gave their GP the lowest.
In Oxfordshire the best performing GP surgery was Wychwood in Shipton-under-Wychwood, with 90 per cent of respondents rating it very good and none giving it a fairly or very poor rating.
Berinsfield Health Centre near Wallingford also performed well with an 88 per cent very good rating as did Cropredy Surgery on 86 per cent and Sibford on 85 per cent.
The Bell and Islip both received 80 per cent very good ratings.
Technically the worst performing GP surgery in Oxfordshire was Luther Street Medical Practice in Oxford with 14 per cent of respondents calling it very poor.
However only 4 per cent of its patients asked filled in the survey with 55 per cent of them in fact giving it the highest grade, above the national average.
Another Oxford-based surgery, Temple Cowley, wasn’t far behind with 13 per cent saying it is very poor.
Around a quarter of those asked filled in the NHS survey for Temple Cowley (more than the national average), with 3 per cent rating it fairly poor and 12 per cent saying it’s neither good nor poor.
Also performing badly were Nuffield Health Centre in Witney and Woodlands Medical Centre in Didcot, which both received 10 per cent very poor scores.
At Oak Tree Health Centre in Didcot, 8 per cent of patients thought it was very poor.
The survey also revealed that a rising number of people are turning to online GP services to get in touch with their local surgery.
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Some 31 per cent of people contacted their GP service online when they needed care, up from 22 per cent in 2025 and 17 per cent in 2024.
About 69 per cent said the wait for their last appointment was “about right”.
Almost three-quarters (74 per cent) said their last appointment was face to face, up from 69 per cent in 2024.
And 23 per cent were dealt with over the phone, down from 29 per cent.
Great Western Railway has said that damage on overhead electric wires has caused mass disruption on lines between Reading and Paddington, with Oxford commuters often using that route.
A spokesperson said: “Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Reading all lines are blocked.
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“Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.”
Indeed, the majority of trains between the stations are delayed and several have been cancelled.
In addition, the railway company has said trains between Gatwick Airport and Reading may be cancelled, due to repairs.
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