ITV Thames Valley Launch

I have just returned from the Madejski stadium in Reading where I was a guest at their lunch to officially launch the new ITV Thames Valley news programme. At the end of last year the two smallest ITV regions merged to create the new region. Its good news for Newbury because for the first time we are in the centre of a region, rather than being on the edge, and we Newburians like to be at the centre of things!

We were in the Royal Suite with a fantastic view of the stadium through huge glass windows, and we had a super three course meal. There were some famous faces - Michael Grade, Boris Johnson, Martin Salter, John Madejski and Raymond Blanc. Pictured with me are the news presenters Mary Green and Wesley Smith who were charming. I sat next to Michael Jermey the national editor of ITV regional news, and Stuart sat between the ITV Thames Valley producer, and Sangeeta Bhabra, one of the reporters.

Reception for the Community Furniture Project

On Wednesday evening I held a reception at the Town Hall for the staff, volunteers and my fellow trustees of the Community Furniture Project. About 50 people from the project came - including a good sized contingent from the Basingstoke branch. It was lovely to see everyone in one place at the same time - I hardly recognised some of the chaps in suits and a tie!

Additionally, a number of councillors came, Patrick Slater of Mencap and Angela Turton. There was a good, friendly atmosphere and Joyce had done us proud with the catering.

I made a short speech to thank the CFP staff and volunteers for all their hard work, and their help in the concert last October, then presented them with a nice big (in more than one sense of the word) cheque for £5,425, being their part of the proceeds of the concert and the Donnington Grove charity golf day last year. The picture shows CEO Kelvin Hughes accepting the cheque.

Remembering the Holocaust

Yesterday at the Town Hall I attended a memorial event for the victims of the Holocaust and other genocides, organised by West Berkshire Council.

Representatives from the Jewish and Muslim religions, gypsies and the disabled spoke, the latter being the lesser known victims of the Holocaust. The main speaker was Malcolm Harper, who has lived and worked in dozens of countries, including Cambodia after the genocides there. Also present were pupils from St Bartholomew and Trinity Schools, several of whom read out thought provoking poetry by Karen Gershon, Ben Okri, the Rev Francois Murenzi and Martin Niemoller. The theme for the meeting was 'same but different'; our common humanity uniting rather than dividing us.

Soroptomists

As a female Mayor of Newbury, I am automatically an honourary member of the local branch of the Soroptomists, and for the first time last Thursday I was able to go along to one of their bi-monthly meetings.

Since the Desmoulin Gallery closed in October, they have been without a home for their meetings, so I went along to the home of one of the members, and our host gave an illustrated talk about her career as a forensic scientist. With the popularity of many TV shows involving the skills of forensic scientists, and the famous trials such as that of OJ Simpson, this proved an interesting topic to hear about at first hand. I was impressed at the turn out of members - there were about 20 of us there - just as well it was a large living room!

Cine Club film premiere

After a very quiet few weeks for me as Mayor, I was back in action last night at the second Cine Club film premiere at the Corn Exchange. This is an event the whole family had been looking forward to.

Five secondary schools from West Berkshire; Speenhamland Primary School and the Newbury Day Centre all entered their latest four minute movies, and this time there was a winner chosen by the audience. The picture shows my son Theo with his colleagues from the Trinity Cine Club, whose film was a music video to 'Monkey Wrench' by the Foo Fighters (hence the gorrilla!). The Corn Exchange was packed with members of the seven cine clubs, their mentors and family and friends, and there was a charged atmosphere! Christina Pepper of the Corn Exchange presented the evening, and there were three professional judges who awarded clapperboards for the best script (Speenhamland), best acting (Newbury Day Centre), Best music ( Kennet School) and best editing (Theale Green). All groups had visibly improved on technique since last time - Mary Hare's was notable because it showcased the school band 'the Deafness'.

I have to confess my favourite was Theale Green (sorry Theo!) who did a spoof martial arts movie called Bully This (Stuart tells me it was largely based on Kill Bill, but I've never seen it), complete with bad dubbing and over the top sound effects - very funny. I'm pleased to say it won the audience vote and will be going into the National Cine Club competition - Good Luck Theale Green!

Ringing in the New Year

Last night I went along to the bell tower at St Nic's to watch the bellringers ring in the New Year. It is a long standing tradition for the Mayor of Newbury to do this. All four of us went along. The bell ringers room in the tower has quite a cosy feel to it. There are 10 bells, and the room is located close to the mechanism for the church tower clock.

A few minute before midnight, the Rev David Stone said a couple of prayers for the coming year, and there was a moment of silence, during which we could hear the loud ticking of the clock, reverberating through the walls like a heartbeat - an appropriate sensation for contemplation of time passing.

The ringers took their positions and after the countdown to midnight, one rang out 12 times and the other nine joined in. We wished each other happy New Year and then climbed the stone spiral staircase to the tower roof with the sound of bells loud in our ears. Stepping out into a wild windy night we peered over the crenelations to see fireworks going off in all directions, lighting up the sky.