History on Your Doorstep

Last night Louis and I went to the West Berkshire Museum to visit the opening of the History on Your Doorstep exhibition. The exhibition is in a newly refurbished room upstairs, and explanatory panels explain how villages can set up their own historical societies, and individuals can research the history of their street or area.

I found some lovely aerial photographs of my house and surrounding area before housing estates were built, and a wonderful invitation from a Newbury Mayor Elect for lunch at the Mansion House in the 1790s. Louis and I then wandered around the rest of the museum, stopping to take in the video of the Civil War Battle of Naseby, and some of the old maps. There is always something of interest to see, and its good to see the old favourites too!

The Sampson Family Celebration Concert

On Saturday night Stuart and I were guests of the Sampson family for their concert at the Methodist Church in Northbrook Street.

Geoffrey Sampson, his children Robert, Sally, Janet, Phillip and Helen and numerous grandchildren put on a concert in memory of their wife, mother and grandmother Mary Sampson, and to raise funds for the Berkshire Cancer Centre. All the family are musical - many perform in brass bands, and the guest stars of the concert were the excellent Test Valley Brass Youth Band, with members as young as eight. The other brass band were the aptly named Rusty Brass, made up of family members and friends of Helen Sampson, who came together just for the concert. One member of Rusty Brass was my cousin's husband who confessed in the interval that he hadn't had his trombone out of the case for 10 years (hence the name!). Despite this, they played well, and it is a testament to Mary and her family that they willingly made the effort.

Family members and other friends played piano and guitar solos, and read poems, but the most moving part was the 'Sound of Music' medley sung exclusively by the family. It was so touching to see the teenage grandchildren looking embarrassed, but singing their best for their grandmother.

Pictured are the trombonists from the TVB Youth Band dressed as nuns for their 'Sister Act' number 'I will Follow Him'.

Bowling the first wood of the season

This afternoon I continued a time honoured tradition of Mayors of Newbury by bowling the first wood of the season on the bowling green in Victoria Park. I dont know how long this tradition has lasted, but the Bowls club is only two years younger than the position of the Mayor of Newbury, being 409 years old this year.

It is a lovely sunny day, and the park was full of families and young people picnicing and relaxing. The club members were welcoming, as ever, and clearly keen to have their first match of the year.

Healthy Fun Day at Greenham Community Centre

This morning I was a guest at the fun day organised by past Mayor and health visitor Martha Vickers. I had a look around the stalls inside the community centre - interesting information on healthy eating, composting, cycling, walking, neighbourhood wardens etc. There were copious bowls of delicious fresh fruit available (yum) and a fascinating display showing the amount of salt, sugar and fat in familiar foods like snack bars and crisps. The stack of actual sugar cubes in a Mars Bar was shocking!

Outside I had a go at the drumming workshop, and watched a great cookery demonstration by a young professional chef - quick tomato soup and bruschetta - I had a taste of the soup too!

The day went on till 4pm - I hope plenty of the locals took the time to come along and enjoy the activities on offer - it was a well organised event that deserved a wide audience.

Mayor of Thatcham's Final Reception

Due to prior engagements I have been unable to attend the final receptions for the Chair of West Berkshire Council, and the Mayor of Hungerford, so I was pleased to be able to go to Alexander's do - especially as it was at the wonderful Szechuan Restaurant in Thatcham.

It was a lovely evening - the staff at the restaurant were very friendly, there was a chinese dragon dance, and the food of course was delicious. Stuart and I sat on a table with Alex's predecessor Phil Dray and his wife, and the headteacher of the Kennet School Paul Dick and his wife, who were all very good company.

Alex made a lovely speech at the end of the evening - mentioning my prowess at paper plane making(!), but more importantly the large number of things Thatcham has achieved in the last 12 months - it certainly has been an exciting year for the town, and for Alex.

Civic Award Winners - Mr and Mrs Summers

Last Thursday morning I met Les and Ann Summers - the winners of this year's Civic Award. They were unable to make it to the prize giving a few weeks ago, because they were visiting some of Les's 12 brothers and sisters in Cornwall!

Fellow judge David Danielli of Vodafone also came to meet them (on the right in the photo). they were such a lovely couple - Ann has such a fantastic attitude to their situation, and Les has a great sense of humour, which must help them both cope with his Alzheimers. Hopefully the publicity surrounding them winning the Civic Award will help raise the profile of this illness further.

Tea with Vernon and Karin Vidamour

Yesterday afternoon I had tea in the Mayor's Parlour with Karin and Vernon Vidamour. They are the couple who won the auction for tea with the Mayor at the recent Spring Charity Fundraisers Ball. Neither are local, Vernon is from Blackpool and Karen is Swedish - but they both have a keen interest in history and wanted to find out about the tradition of the Mayor of Newbury. We looked at the lists of previous Mayors in the Council Chamber going back 410 years, and I explained about the change from Borough to Town Council status, and the current responsibilities of Newbury Town Council.

They even ate a slice of my home made cake (Stuart wouldn't risk it!)-then Karin told me she is a chef! My attendant Carol did a sterling job of keeping the refreshments coming, and two and a half hours seemed to disappear in no time!

Thoroughly Modern Millie

On Friday night I took my mum along to see Newbury Operatic Society's new version of the popular musical at the Corn Exchange. Once again it was very professionally produced and directed. The leads were all very competant, especially Millie (Tonya Walton) who had a huge part to learn and was pitch and word perfect!

I particulary enjoyed the dancing scenes, as there was a bit of tap - and my old tap teacher -Jacquie Trumper had her first major part, as Mussy Van Hossmere which she performed excellently.

The show was performed six times over five days - all sell-outs. This is a massive commitment to all involved so it is great to see the NOS so well supported by the local community.

AGM of the Patient Panel

Last Thursday night I was a guest at the first Patient Panel AGM. The patient panel is largely made up of representatives from patient participation groups from the GP surgeries of West Berkshire, but also representatives of voluntary sector organisations with an interest in primary healthcare.

The Patient Panel is an invaluable resource for the local Berkshire West NHS Primary Care Trust, because they are an ideal way to consult their consumers, and there have been a constant stream of consultations since it was set up in 2001. For the patients, the panel has helped resolved some inequalities in healthcare provision in the district over the years. A current issue is the long waiting times for blood testing at the Community Hospital, and the need for improved services within GP surgeries.

Judy MCulloch the Patient Public Involvement Manager takes much of the credit for having set up a useful and successful Patient Panel - the newly expanded NHS region includes Reading and Wokingham, who currently have no such facility, and are keen to develop one.

Devizes To Westminster Canoe Race

This morning I was up bright and early to start the second leg of the junior four day Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race. dozens of youngsters started the race in Devizes yesterday - paddling 35 miles to Northcroft and camping overnight before setting off from 7am today. Today's leg of the race is 36 miles to Marlow - I started the 'K2s' - ie two man kayaks from 8am to 9am - the elite canoists leaving every two minutes.

It is an impressive endurance test - not only to they have to paddle for 125 miles over four days, but they also have to lift their canoes out of the water over 50 locks in the first half of the race. Fortunately for me it is a lovely day, and not too cold. Some of the veterans were also starting out this morning, at a more leisurely pace, and in Devizes the real professionals started from 7am to do the whole 125 miles non-stop. They will be paddling through the night to catch the tide at Teddington.

Michael Samuels - Mole Mapper

I visited Mike Samuels stall in the Kennet Centre on Thursday. He has recently set up his own business photgraphing moles - this sounds odd, but he is a medical photographer, and this is all to do with cancer awareness - in particular melanomas. Individuals can arrange to have their backs or entire bodies photographed at regular intervals to look for changes in their moles, and help detect any potential skin cancer.

This service has been available in London for some time, but is not common in the rest of the UK. Mike was head of Medical Photography and Illustration at the Royal Free & UCL Medical School, until recently taking early retirement - and has 40 years experience. We are some years behind Australians in our awareness of skin cancer, and Mike is trying to raise the awareness here, as there are 8,000 cases annually in the UK. For more info: www.medicalphotographer.co.uk

Ian Waite at the Dance-In Shop

On my way to my next engagement I noticed something going on in the Market Place - a huge stretch pink limo and a red carpet - it was the official opening of the new dance shop, and they had invited Strictly Come Dancing star Ian Waite. He was charming and agreed to pose for a photo, and even signed one for my mum!

PR for beating the bounds by bike

On Thursday morning I popped into the Town Hall to pose for a publicity shot for upcoming 'Beating the bounds by bike' which is on Sunday 29th April from 2pm at the Starting Gate Pub (appropriately named!) By chance the new Junior Mayor, Lawrence Parker was visiting the Town Hall too, so he joined me for the picture.

By an amazing coincidence both Lawrence and I were at Banjo Cycles in Bartholomew Street the day before buying new bicycles - in my case it was for my sons.

Annual Town Meeting and Civic Award

Monday night was the once a year council meeting that isn't really a council meeting - its for the council tax payers to ask questions and find out what the council does. In Newbury we have tied this into our Civic Award presentation for a number of years. In the past I have sat in the audience and been very moved hearing the citations of the nominees.

This year I stood at the front and congratulated them all as I handed out the certificates. - Fellow judges John Hampson and David Danielli also came to see the people we had all read about a few weeks ago, when attempting to sort out an overall winner! We had two runners up - I'm pictured here with Paul Harris of Mencap, and the other was Graham Smith who has been the driving force behind Newbury's new walking map. The overall winners were Ann and Les Summers - both stalwarts of the Alzheimers Association. Unfortunately they couldn't be at the award ceremony because they were away in Cornwall, but their nominator Chreanne Montgomery-Smith collected it on their behalf.

The annual town meeting then proceeded after refreshments - thanks to Graham's detailed powerpoint presentation, and the great displays around the chamber, this went very well - we had a pretty good turn out of people - though I did know almost all of them!

April Fool

Last Tuesday I recorded an interview for Kick FM for their April Fool, with newsman Phil Spray (pictured). Of course I couldn't mention it till now. It has been going out on their news bulletins all morning that a unique key to a safe at the Town Hall was accidentally buried under the new Italian paving in the Market Place, it will have to be dug up to find it!

I don't know if anyone will be taken in by this, but I admire organisations for taking the trouble to keep these daft traditions going. I'm only glad Stuart woke up before me this morning and discovered the cling film over the toilet before I did!

Casino Royale

After flying home on Friday afternoon, we had time for tea before going out again, - this time only to Thatcham! The Mayor of Thatcham held a charity screening of Casino Royale at the Frank Hutchins Memorial Hall - home to the new Thatcham Cine Club.

As past members of the long defunct Newbury Film Society, Stuart and I were very impressed with the quality of the picture and sound from their new, state of the art, digital equipment. Once the film began I really felt like I was at the cinema. Before the film there was a buffet and Martini cocktails, and afterwards a raffle of bond-like gadgets and other prizes, and auctioning of some Bond memorabilia.

Photo of Alex, Daniel and me by Norman Jones of the new Thatcham Photographic Club. www.norriesite.com

Mayor Making in Braunfels

Stuart and I spent several days last week in Newbury's German twin town Braunfels. We flew out on Wednesday 28 and flew back on Friday 30 March. We stayed in a comfortable hotel in the centre of the old town, a few yards from the Italian cafe that serves delicious homemade ice cream!

We were treated to a lovely meal out on the Wednesday evening by members of Braunfel's twin town committee, and on Thursday we caught the bus to nearby Wetzlar and I bought some typical German Easter decorations in the new mall, then we looked around the photogenic old town.

In the evening we attended the event we had gone there for - the Mayor Making at the House of Guests. The sitting Mayor, Deiter Schmidt was retiring after 12 years in office, and following elections last October, the new Mayor (pictured shaking my hand) Wolfgang Keller has now officially taken office. Unlike the UK, the Mayors of all German towns and villages are directly elected, paid and full time, and serve for 6 years minimum. I wished Herr Keller well in his new role - he won the election convincingly, and seems to have a good following. Also unlike the UK, the Mayor Making consisted of three and a half hours of speeches, none of which I understood!

Jacqueline Cass's Queen's Guide Award

I forgot to mention that I was a guest of Jacqueline Cass at the presentation of her Queen's Guide Award on Sunday 25th March, at the Kennet Leisure Centre in Thatcham.

I first met Jacqueline at another Mayoral engagement, the Spring Charity Fundraisers AGM - they kindly donated the money for the first two sports wheelchairs for the Thames Valley Vikings wheelchair basketball team. Jacqueline set this team up from scratch as her community activity for the Queen's Guide Award. Not only did she fundraise for the necessary wheelchairs, but she also had to train as a coach. I had a go in one of the wheelchairs on Sunday - they are incredibly manouvreable! I played 'stuck in the mud' with a group of children - only a few were disabled - and they definitely had the advantage over the likes of me. I know a number of the children who play in the Vikings team, as they are or were in the Speenhamland School Keevil unit. My mum was also invited as she has known Jacqueline for several years, as an assistant to the Rainbows unit in Thatcham where they both help the leader, Anne Eldred.

Jacqueline is an exceptional young woman, and we are extremely fortunate to have people like her in our midst - she has already made a very positive difference to so many lives.