by Arash Hekmat

Caravanners and motorhome owners will have a unique chance to watch the Olympic torch being carried to London if they stay at two Shropshire holiday parks later this month.

The famous symbol of the Games is set to be carried past the entrances of Oxon Hall Touring Park and Oxon Pool Holiday Home Park in Shrewsbury on May 30th.

The route for the torch will see it carried through Bicton, between Oswestry and Broseley, where these parks are located.

From Shrewsbury, torchbearers will then carry the flame on towards London, where it will reside during the 2012 Olympic Games.

Edward Goddard, managing director of Morris Leisure, which owns both of the parks, welcomed the news that the Olympic torch will be passing so closely by.

“It will give visiting caravanners and local people a once in a lifetime chance to welcome the Olympic flame to Shropshire, share in the excitement of the relay and celebrate the fantastic achievements of the torchbearers,” he said.

The Olympic is scheduled to pass through 1,000 cities, towns and villages in the UK over 70 days in the build-up to the Games, starting in Land’s End, Cornwall, on May 19th.

This news has coincided with the lighting of the Olympic torch today (Thursday 10th May) in Olympia, Greece. The torch will travel across Greece for the rest of the week before arriving in Lands End, Cornwall on the 18th of May.

From Cornwall the torch will travel across England, carried by 8,000 members of the public and celebrities until it reaches London on the 27th July.

by Arash Hekmat

Oxford may be famed for its historical architecture and university spires, but a new exhibition of art in the grand old city has come from the most unusual of sources.

Away from the fabled halls and impressive gallery spaces that can be found, it is a humble caravan hosting the latest exhibition, in the car park at Oxford Castle.

Artists Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale are bringing the Caravan Gallery from Portsmouth to Oxford until May 12th.

Called the Oxford Pride of Place Project, the exhibition includes a series of photos that aim to document the ‘nooks and crannies’ of this most idiosyncratic of cities.

The caravan will be stationed outside the castle’s O3 Gallery, where an accompanying exhibition is on display until May 27th.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail, Ms Williams said: “We want people to come along and join in with the exhibitions, it’s going to be a wonderfully anarchic celebration of Oxford.

“As well as our own photos, we have a big map of Oxford which we would like people to come and write their memories, their favourite things, where they had their first snog, anything like that on.”

by Tom Lowenstein

Salop Leisure has been hard at work raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support this year and now the charity has thanked the caravan dealership for its “fantastic” support.

Across the firm’s ten-day West Midlands Caravan and Motorhome Show at its Shrewsbury outlet customers were asked to donate money when picking up a tea or coffee and in total this raised an impressive £655.74.

It comes just a couple of months after the Shropshire-based company raised £331 for its 2012 adopted charity during the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning event in February.

Macmillan Cancer Support’s Rachel Cooper thanked Salop for its efforts and said that the most recent cheque would fund a nurse to work for more than half a week.

“Three new Macmillan nurses were appointed to work in Shropshire last year due to magnificent fundraising in the county,” she revealed.

“We have appointed a GP facilitator to work with GP surgeries in Shropshire and we also want to establish an information centre at one of the two main hospitals in Shrewsbury or Telford.”