Alzheimers Society AGM

Yesterday at 2pm I went along to the Alzheimers Society AGM at the Desmoulin Gallery.

I remember going along last year as Deputy Mayor, so it was interesting to see how the local branch had progressed in that time. The West Berkshire branch does seem to be a bit of a trailblazer when it comes to innovations. Last year their 'singing for the brain' scheme was new and exciting, this year they have received grant funding to spread the word, set up two other schemes in the area and trained more people to deliver the scheme further afield.

Their latest idea is 'gardening for the brain' which is already a big hit with a number of members regularly gardening on a Friday. The branch support and development worker Chreanne Montgomery-Smith is responsible for creating and organising these schemes, and seems to be very popular with the members as a result!

The chair Karin Beasley stood down at the AGM, and as yet has not been replaced, which is a shame - I hope they find someone to fill her slot soon.

Beating the Bounds

There is an ancient tradition of sending the youth of the parish off to walk around the parish boundary once a year. Since becoming Newbury Town Council 9 years ago, we have done it twice, the last time in the Millennium year, so Joyce and I though it would be good to do it again.

Sunday at 10am a good crowd gathered by the canal in the centre of town to set off under guidance of Dave Stubbs, ex policeman, current Town Marshall and local history enthusiast. We walked Westwards along the towpath until we came to the boundary, then followed it round to the South, up hill to Wash Common. En route we crossed the battlefield of the first Battle of Newbury of 1643, and Dave explained how tens of thousands of men happened to spend the day of 20th September that year spearing, shooting, stabbing and blasting each other till 5,000 lay dead. Apparently cannonballs and other detritus are still found at ploughing time in the surrounding fields.

We stopped for lunch at the Woodpecker pub, - a traditional stop off for those beating the bounds in the early part of the 20th century. I chatted to most of those on the walk, and was pleased to discover two couples who have only moved to Newbury in the last two months who came along to find out more.

We made our way as far south as St Gabriels school, and then headed back along Deadmans and Pinchington Lanes to Greenham before descending into Newbury town centre for a cup of tea in the Town Hall. It was a very enjoyable days walk (8 miles) and we hope to do the shorter Northern part of the boundary in the spring.

Newbury Goes Pear-shaped

I was asked to open a unique event at the Town Hall on Saturday morning. Debbie Hearn, the food journalist with the Newbury Weekly News has been researching fruits famous and rare for some years now. She discovered that the country's most popular pear 'Williams' pear was bread by the headteacher of the Aldermaston primary school in the early 1700s.

To celebrate this event she organised a day of pear promotion, and assisted by Newbury Town Council and the Thames Valley Farmers Market an array of tempting pear dishes and rare fruits was on display to the public. shops and cafes around town were also encouraged to put some unusual pear recipes on their menus for the day.

Naomi House Open Day

After the Borders opening I drove down to Naomi House near Winchester with my friend Sally-Ann. Neither of us had been before, so we weren't sure what to expect.

Naomi House is a hospice for terminally ill children, which serves a huge area of central southern England, and is funded entirely by charitable contributions; - the majority raised by members of the public. Primarily they offer respite for the families of very ill children, but they also offer support and bereavement counselling for parents and siblings.

The hospice is nine years old and purpose built in beautiful landscaped grounds. It is superbly equipped, with hydrotherapy pools, hoists in all the bedrooms and an amazing adapted bathroom. And yet the 'medical' side of it is very discreet, as they are very keen to make it as homely and comfortable as possible for the families who stay there. Full time fundraiser June Tabor showed us around and introduced us to many staff and volunteers who are all lovely people. I can believe they bring real joy to children and families who have such a relentlessly tough time otherwise.

It made my day when one of their fundraisers came up and asked me if I was the Mayor of Newbury, as she recognised me from my blog!! Thats a first.

Naomi House has just started its own lottery - £1 a week payable by direct debit, with a much better chance of winning than the National Lottery - see lottery@naomihouse.org.uk
Pictured are June Tabor on the left and Sally-Ann on the right outside the front door.

Opening Borders Bookstore

Friday 22 September was the day I opened the new Borders at the retail park. A brand new store - when I arrived the staff were making the final touches to it - polishing banisters etc. It was decorated with colourful balloons and looked perfect.

At 10am I went to the front doors, where 130 children from Greenham Court School and St Gabriels were waiting to come in. The store manager addressed them all briefly, and I then welcomed them before cutting the ribbon and making a quick sidestep before being mown down by children charging in with balloons flying! I then leisurely looked around at the vast array of books and the Paperchase franchise of gift wrap, cards etc. I chatted to the directors of retail and property about the business - this is store number 38 in just 9 years, and they are aiming to have 100 in the UK. It is an American chain, which might explain why they have an instore Starbucks! The following day Adam Ant dropped by to do a book signing.

Age Concern Open Day

Age Concern Newbury and West Berkshire held an open day at St Nicolas' Church hall, to coincide with the very popular Thursday coffee morning.

I went along to 'open' the open day, and meet the staff and volunteers of Age Concern. I was most impressed with the huge array of services they offer: financial help (benefits and pension advice, insurance etc), befriending, hospital aftercare, gas and electricity price comparisons, free IT courses, and my favourite - the handyman scheme. This is a free service for the elderly who need small jobs doing around the house - new tap washers fitted, or a lightbulb changed that they cant reach for example. For more information see their website: www.ageconcernberkshire.org.uk

Newbury Vision Conference

Back at the Corn Exchange the next morning for something completely different!

The third annual Newbury Vision Conference - an opportunity to update stakeholders and business people about the progress of the 2025 plan for Newbury. The developers have now been chosen for the large Market Street development, and they came along to describe their outline plans for this large section of south central Newbury. There will be a new entrance from the railway station to the town, flanked by residential blocks, with restaurants etc on the ground floor. It will be interesting to see the artists impressions when they are developed.

Graham Hunt, CEO of the Town Council presented the progress to date on Victoria Park - something I have been involved in for many years. Frustratingly the plan for the park's enhancement has been delayed for a year, awaiting the results of the anticipated consultation on the wharf redesign. We will get there eventually!

Cine Club Premiere

The evening of Tuesday 19th September was the West Berkshire Cine Club film premiere. The invitation said to dress for the occasion, as there would be a red carpet! Indeed there was - and many local school children wore bow ties or evening dresses.

We gathered in the Corn Exchange auditorium to see the results of 12 weeks work by participating primary and secondary schools, and the Newbury Day Centre. Each had taken on the challenge of story-boarding, directing, filming and editing a four minute feature film, to include an homage to a movie. Those that fulfilled all criteria were awarded a 'cine club certificate', which appeared on the screen after their film. The movies varied enormously, but were all entertaining in their own ways! The two primary schools involved; Speenhamland and Whitelands in Thatcham were very different - Speenhamland's had a very experimental indie feel, and Whitelands was a comic take on Frankenstein.

After each film, some of the participants were interviewed by the organiser Christina Pepper of the Corn Exchange, and revealed some of their special effect secrets, or the problems they experienced in filming. There is no doubt the participants all loved to see themselves on the big screen, and can't wait to make more movies this autumn.

Still no internet access....

Apologies for the sudden glut of entries, but we are still without internet access at home, over two weeks on. There is only so much you can take of hour long phone calls to India!

Reception for Twin Town Guests from Bagnols-sur-Ceze

On Saturday 16 I greeted the twin town guests staying in Newbury for the weekend. They picked a good weekend to come, it is the big race meet today, and they are all off to the Royal County of Berkshire Show tomorrow. We were to have hosted one of the guests, but as it is my son Louis’ birthday tomorrow I thought I’d have enough to do with his sleepover!

Newbury in Bloom Awards

Last awards of the week! The evening event on the Friday at the Town Hall meant a lot to me, as I organised the competition in its early years, and spent many hours sorting out sponsorship, judging, publicity and certificates. Thankfully this is now done by Council staff, particularly Sue Page, who has thrown herself into it, and followed the judges around this year taking pictures of entries.

Participants were particularly pleased to see the powerpoint displays of every entrant, with multiple images, and to receive laminated certificates including a photo of their entry.

Having been one of the judges this year also made the event more personal – it was lovely to see the entrants again when presenting their awards. It was the end of an era for the competition as we said goodbye to John Winterbourne, who has judged the competition since it began in 1998. Some of the participants regard him as a friend now, but since his move this year to Somerset he decided it was time to retire.

Mencap Gateway Awards

It has certainly been a week for awards – It will be while before my retinas recover from all the cameral flashes I’ve seen this week!

On Wednesday evening, again at the Town Hall, I was honoured to be asked to present bronze and silver Gateway Awards to Mencap members. These awards are along the lines of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards. There are five elements to each one, and they take at least three years to achieve. Four members of West Berkshire Mencap were awarded the top Gold Award in May this year, at the National prizegiving in Birmingham.

Each participant has to collect evidence in a folder; some of which I looked through. They have evidence of hobby/craftwork, voluntary work, personal health/hygiene hiking and camping etc. Most impressive. I was also very impressed by the couple who give so much of their time to guiding the Mencap members through all the stages of the awards- Paul and Ellie-who run the club at the Mencap Centre in Enborne Road on Monday evenings.

Business Training Solutions Awards

On Tuesday 12 September I was asked by Margo McIver of Business Training Solutions to present the NVQs to their successful students. Margo and her colleague Margaret Young have been in business nearly three years now, training teaching assistants and office administrators and guiding them through NVQs at levels 2, 3 and 4.

The Town Hall was packed with their students (all women!). I believe they had a 100% turnout of candidates. I told them that I really admire their commitment and dedication – to return to education and exams many years after their formal education has ended. I’m sure they are all a credit to their employers.

Boys Brigade Award Presentations

Also on Monday 11 September I was asked to attend the 30th anniversary celebrations of Newbury’s Boys Brigade at the Baptist Church in Cheap Street. After a short service, I helped hand out some special awards for ‘best boy’ in the Anchor Boys, the Junior Section and the Company Section.

At the refreshments afterwards I browsed through the photos and press cuttings on display, and was amused to read the ones from the 1970’s when the Boys Brigade kidnapped the Mayor of Newbury Doug Lawrence and held him to ransom. I hope they aren’t getting any ideas!

Greenham W I

On Monday 11 September I went along to the Greenham WI meeting at St Johns Church Hall to talk to the members about the Town Council and the Mayoral regalia. One of the members had worked at the Town Hall for many years and knew a number of Mayors, including Elsie Kimber our first female Mayor in 1932. She also remembered the old layout of the Town Hall, including a part that has since been sold off, and used to be accessed through what is now a sealed up door.

3rd Newbury Family Camp

Stuart and the boys were at family camp with the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts of 3rd Newbury and their families, from Friday to Sunday. I drove out with them to Thirtover on Friday and helped put up the tent, then went back on Sunday morning to wish Theo a happy 13th birthday. Finally I returned again to put the tent down, and more importantly, to hand out the prizes to the winning family teams (those that scored the most at the various activities during the weekend), then we all posed for a group photo with the Mayor. For once the weather had been fantastic all weekend (its because I wasn’t there).

Newbury Contemporary Youth Dance Company

Also on Saturday in the evening Mum and I went to the Corn Exchange to see this years concert by the NCYDC. We saw 21 different dances by children and young people aged 13 to 19. The standard was extremely high; some of the dances by the older ones could have been professional to my eyes. The performers come from Newbury and further afield, including Reading and Basingstoke.

I have to make a special mention of the guest stars, the Parasite Dance Company from Basingstoke; their style was quite different – hip hop with a twist. Dressed as mad professors in white coats, dark glasses and wild hair their dance was witty, energetic and perfectly timed to the music.

Wash Common Garden and Craft Show

For the past twenty years or so, the folk of Wash Common have held a traditional show at the community centre, with competition categories for everything from onions and courgettes to hand made greeting cards and chutney.
This year was no exception, and I went with Carol and my mum on Saturday afternoon to Glendale Avenue.

Tables were laid out with all manner of produce and crafts; tomatoes and Victoria sponges being the most plentiful this year. The chair of the committee that puts on the shows (pictured) took me round the exhibits, and introduced me to Alan Hutford, a local woodturner who was demonstrating his craft and selling some beautiful bowls made from a variety of wood. We had tea and a delicious slice of Victoria sponge before the prize winners were announced and I handed over the trophies.

Just a Minute

On the evening of 8 September I went with my friend Rachel to the Frank Hutchins Memorial Hall in Thatcham to see the local version of Just a Minute. The event was organised by Thatcham Town Council for the Mayors charities.

It was a very good evening; - well organised, a tasty buffet in the interval, and very well attended (it looked like a sell out to me!). Special guests were the son and widow of the original Radio 4 panel game, and the four panellists; Jeff Brook, Mike Cole, Paul Dick and Margaret Goldie were all great sports. The chairman Andrew Cooper was also first rate – he has a very good voice for radio! The microphones and buzzers were put to good use, and the technical stuff all worked very well (apart from a slight hitch with the stopwatch, but a spare had been provided!).

Installation of Revd Paul Cowan as team vicar at St Georges

Also on 7 September I attended the service at St Georges Wash Common to install and welcome the new vicar, Paul Cowan. The church was packed, and the atmosphere was warm and friendly. The Bishop of Reading performed the service, and we were all invited into the church hall for refreshments afterwards.

I was most impressed that a coach full of parishioners came from Paul Cowan’s previous parish in Wokingham, even though he has spent the last year working in South Africa. He obviously commands a very loyal following.

Presenting awards at the Community Furniture Project

On 7 September I went to the Furniture Project in Greenham to present Open College Network awards in office administration and furniture restoration to a number of volunteers.

Formal training for volunteers is a relatively new opportunity at the CFP – but a natural progression, as many volunteers were learning these skills anyway. The recipients have all put many hours into their volunteering, helping themselves and the project.

The Chief Executive of the CFP, Kelvin Hughes, gave me and Carol a guided tour of the project before the presentations, and I met many of the volunteers and staff (some I already know, as I am a trustee), but I rarely get a chance to visit Greenham during the working day, so it was good to see them all.

Official opening of Camp Hopsons

On Tuesday 5 September I attended the official ‘opening’ of Camp Hopsons – Newbury’s oldest and only independent family run department store. After an extensive refurbishment that lasted several years and took many more to plan, store director Jonathan Hopson, members of the board and shareholders gathered with representatives from all of the businesses involved in the refurbishment, whilst Newbury MP Richard Benyon and I cut the ribbon.

We then walked a short distance to the Corn Exchange for the speeches and buffet lunch. Jonathan asked me to say a few words about Camps from the perspective of the local residents – it was easy to say how proud we all are to have an independent department store in our town, especially one that has now invested in its future and is such an asset to the high street. I did mention that my father had done business with Camps in the 1950’s, and that I had queued up for the sales over the years, most memorably to buy a pushchair 13 years ago when I was expecting Theo. There can’t be many local people without some connection to or memory of Camp Hopsons, even if it is just a piece of furniture they remember buying there! I’ve just remembered my mother worked there for a while 20 years ago.

I returned a few days later to buy my winter boots in the 20% off sale!

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible...

Regular readers may have noticed I haven't posted for a while. 'What is that lazy Mayor doing?' you may ask.

Well, I have been away (Italy, very pleasant), but when I came home the phone wasn't working. This took four days to fix, and now we still dont have broadband. I don't know how many days/weeks it will take to be back up and running, (it took three weeks last time). I am still doing my write ups and photos, and will update this blog as soon as I can. In the meantime this has come to you courtesy of the Town Hall!