Glastonbury Tor and Wantage

As it is a Bank Holiday, here is a view of St. Michael's Tower on top of Glastonbury Tor, which I visited on a short break last week. At about 500 feet high, the tor has a 360 degree view over the Somerset Levels and supposedly the landscape of the Isle of Avalon. There is even a local  connection! As we all know, King Arthur was born in Wantage in about 849, but the legend about him burning the cakes is thought to have originated 30 years later in Athelney. This is on the Somerset Levels just a few miles from Glastonbury Tor.

Grove Library Reprieve

Just heard the news that Grove Library, along with all the other county libraries which had been threatened with the axe, is now to get a reprieve.  Read the full press release here.  I think all the local groups of residents who have clubbed together to help save our libraries have done a great job and their voices have been listened to.  Now it looks like we may need to find some volunteers in Grove, but I am sure that will be relatively easy given the support out there for our local library.
Take part in the consultation here.

Scots Guards given Freedom of Wantage!

Today, was the ceremony to give the Scots Guards the freedom of Wantage, which, according to the scroll, means that the Town Council  has conferred them "the rights, honour and distinction of marching through the streets of Wantage on ceremonial occasions with drums beating, band playing, bayonets fixed, swords drawn and Colours flying". We met the Duke of Kent beforehand and then went down to the Market Place to watch the full parade. Here we were treated to the spectacle of the regiment parade and the Duke, as Colonel of the regiment, formally received the freedom. The Victoria Cross of Robert Loyd-Lindsay (Lord Wantage) was also on show (pictured above).

Afterwards, everyone went up to Manor Road Memorial Park Park where there were lots of stalls and entertainment. The highlight was a display by members of the Black Knights Royal Artillery Parachute Team. Congratulations, to Jim Sibbald who as Mayor of Wantage organised the whole day and then ensured that it went off with military precision.

Update: More photos of the day can be found at http://bit.ly/ifpvNU

Two Ceremonies in One Day

This afternoon I attended a Ceremony at Drayton Park Golf Club for Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Awards.  This was a very uplifting event as 19 officers and employees received long service awards.  Two officers received the Chief Constable's Commendations and three officers received certificates of service.   As a member of the police authority, it was my pleasure to give the closing address.

It was then off to Oxford Town Hall reception after the ceremony to elect the new Lord Mayor of Oxford.  This year the office goes to Green Councillor Elise Benjamin.  The highlight of the evening for me was to sit next to Colin Dexter where we spent some time reminscing old times and new.  He is such excellent company to be with - very witty and amusing!

All Change at County Hall

Today was the annual County Council meeting where we elected a new Chairman and Vice-Chairman and agreed allocation of cabinet and committee places.  Unfortunately, the Conservative ruling group continued to break with tradition by electing both the Chairman and Vice Chairman from their group.  In opposition, we believe this politicizes the posts and therefore put forward alternatives.  We proposed a Lib Dem Chairman and a Labour Vice Chairman, but both were voted down.  We also saw the Conservatives appoint two new members onto their Cabinet, with the retirement of Cllr. Ian Hudspeth and Cllr. Michael Waine.

We put forward three motions today, though only one was accepted with an amendment - this was to welcome the reinstatement of the speed cameras across the county and calling upon the police to enforce the 20mph zones in Oxford city.  I had a motion calling for the new money (£3.525M)  from government to spend on repairing damaged roads caused by the harsh winter to be used to get on with fixing the multitude of potholes all over the county.  This was voted down, but I was told that the money has to be used for new work to be done.  Well let's hope this new work is completed soon and a better job made of it than the recent works undertaken in Wallingford Street in Wantage which will have to be done all over again due to the poor quality of materials used.  Details of all the work will have to be published on the council's website in September this year.

Grovelands Park Grand Launch and Play Day

Today, was the Grand Launch of the new building for Grovelands Park Pre-School and Parent/Toddler Group, which I have blogged about previously here and here. It was a chance to see the excellent facilities inside the building and to hear how the committee had worked so hard to make this project happen. The photograph taken just after the official opening shows - from left to right - Katherine Houldey (Grovelands Chairman), Frank Parnell (Chairman of Grove Parish Council), Victoria Jackson (Grovelands Manager), local MP Ed Vaizey, Toby Christensen who managed many aspects of the project and myself as local county councillor. We even won a coconut at one of the stalls!

Young Enterprise Awards 2011

Last night, I was at the SAID Business School in Oxford to see the Oxfordshire County Finals of the HSBC Young Enterprise Innovation Awards 2011.  It was an excellent evening where I could see a whole range of projects from different schools all over the county.

The winners, as pictured, are a team from Oxford High School called 'Cosmic' who made pashminas and an environmental board game called 'EMission Impossible', which would be marketed in time for Christmas this year. Their stand can be seen in the lower photo. There were nine teams altogether and the winners of this round will go on to the Regional Finals for the South East, then the National Finals to be followed by the European Final with a week in Oslo. It was great to see so much talent displayed by our young people and I am sure they will go on to do well in their future careers. Watch out Sir Alan Sugar as the latest Apprentice series goes on TV!

Ageing Population 2011

This was the title of a day conference I attended in London today.  A subject very relevant to planning services for the elderly especially with all the challenges we face with people living longer.   The morning's keynote speech was from Steve Webb MP, Minister of State for Pensions and the day was chaired by Dr. Mark Porter, GP in Gloucestershire who is correspondent in the Times and presenter of Radio 4's 'Case Notes'. 

A few facts I learned was that there are 14.6 million pensioners, assisted technology can save £3,000 a year per person, £16.1 Billion is spent on adult social care, 100 people a day go blind and there are currently 750,000 people in the UK with dementia costing about £20M a year.  There was a lot to take in, but very interesting and relevant in today's climate, especially with the Health and Social Care Bill going through Parliament.

Two Call ins - No Change

This afternoon there were two call ins to scrutiny committees at the County Council.  One was about the changes to Home Support at Adult Services Scrutiny and the other was about the redesign of Children's Services (which includes youth services) at Children's Scrutiny.  However, it was no surprise to see that there is no change to the original Cabinet decision to change home support for adult services and to the redesign of the youth service.  Both of these decisions are cost-cutting measures which were part of the Tory budget proposals earlier this year in February.

All the Fun of the Fair!

The Wantage May Fair has been in the Market Place over the weekend. Here are some photos from Saturday evening - just before the rain came down and dampened spirits.

Vale Election Results

I went to see the votes counted yesterday and I expect most people will have seen the results of the Vale of White Horse District elections. If not, the results can be found here and here. I did not stand in this election, but Sue Marchant was re-elected as one of the three district councillors for Grove.

Sad to see some of my Vale colleagues lose their seats... by just a few votes in a number of cases. This was an unusal election held alongside the AV referendum, but the result is that the Vale council now comprises 31 Conservative councillors, 19 Lib Dem councillors and 1 Labour councillor. In the last (2007) local election, the result was 33 Lib Dem and 18 Conservative councillors .... so we now have a reversal of fortunes and a Conservative controlled council for the next four years. I hope they work hard to meet the challenges that Grove and Wantage will undoubtedly face.

Election Day Swoop!

Nothing to do with politics, but I heard a bit of a commotion with the birds in my garden this morning. Looking out of the window, I saw that a bird of prey had swooped down and grabbed a pigeon for lunch. At first I thought this was a peregrine falcon, but I think it is a sparrowhawk (the bright yellow eyes are supposed to be a feature) - can any bird spotters confirm? A bit gruesome I know, but I suppose it is all part of the run of nature.

Oxford's Park and Rides Go Electric Hybrid

Today, I went to the Oxford Bus Company's official launch of their new electric hybrid buses at Redbridge Park and Ride. After the ceremony we all got on board the bus to take us into Oxford to celebrate on the roof of the Living Room. It was a lovely sunny day so we could stay outside and watch many buses go by. Next time I attend full Council I expect to Park and Ride on one of the new buses.

The £5.1million fleet of buses will all go into service over the next few days and create the country's first low carbon corridors on the city's three Park and Ride routes. The Oxford Bus Company was the firm that pioneered the country's original Park & Ride services in the 1970's and will be the first Park & Ride to be operated by green electric hybrids.

May Day

It's May Day today and, by all accounts, the morning celebrations in Oxford went ahead without mishap. I always have the very best of intentions to get up at the crack of dawn to go and listen to the Magdalen College Choir at 6am - but have yet to manage this! To make up for it, here is a view of Magdalen Great Tower from Christ Church Meadow.

Royal Wedding - Celebrations in Wantage and Grove

The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton (now the Duchess of Cambridge) went well and was the spectacle that we all anticipated. After watching the ceremony on television, I went up to the celebration in the Memorial Park in Wantage (see photo above). This was all arranged by The Comrades Club - so congratulations to them and all involved.

On the way, I noticed a street party in Bosley's Orchard in Grove - which looked like great fun. A number of shops in Wantage Market Place had also made an effort to celebrate the occasion with their shop windows (see below) and the atmosphere was complete with the bells ringing from Wantage Church.

Grovelands Park Building

Compared to the photo in my post of only 13 April, the new building for Grovelands Park Pre-School and Parent/Toddler Group has advanced dramatically and now looks to be finally completed - at least from the outside.

Badminton Cross-Country

Today was Easter Sunday and I went to see the cross-country event at the Badminton Horse Trials. Here is a photo from the Lake Complex, which provides a big challenge to rider and horse alike. Any connections with the local area? Well, one I can think of is that Lucinda Green (nee Prior-Palmer), who has won Badminton  a record 6 times on 6 different horses, went to St. Mary's School in Wantage. I believe Olympic gold medallist Matt Ryan also used to have a yard in East Lockinge.

St. George's Day in Grove

This evening, I had the pleasure of attending the St George's Day celebrations of Grove Scout Group. The Revd. Paul Eddy gave a blessing and talk and I was the guest speaker and also presented some of the awards. I was a commitee member of 2nd Grove Scout Group in 1993 and became Chairman of the group in 1995 - so I was able to reminisce about old times and the fundraising events we held, especially our Pinewood Derby.  I paid tribute to the scout leaders and in fact all those who volunteered in the community who contributed so much to the whole ethos of scouting.

After the speeches, I presented a number of awards and then we were entertained by a wonderful dragon taking on St. George  in a battle (see photo below).  I think that St. George's Day and the scouting movement just goes to show how important it is to keep our traditions in an ever changing world.  'The Big Society' has always been there in scouting and long may it continue.

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Mably Way Speed Limit Implemented!

Well it is here at last - the speed limit at Mably Way has been lowered from 40mph to 30mph as from Monday 18th April!  This was advertised in the Oxford Times last week.  Residents will recall that we presented a petition with 1,938 of your signatures to the Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet member responsible for transport on 2nd October 2009 as reported here - it has taken this long after consultation to actually implement the limit. The 40mph signs have been taken down and there is supposed to be some temporary new signage coming soon to announce the change in speed limit or motorists will not be aware of the difference.  However, this goes to show that the petition from the Health Centre (started in May 2009) and the wishes of local residents has finally prevailed!