Wantage Festive Preparations

Here is a photo of King Alfred inspecting this year's newly installed Christmas tree in Wantage Market Square. This year's Dickensian Evening will be on Friday 4th December at 6 - 9 pm. Details can be found here.

Oxford Cancer Centre - Open Day

On Saturday, I went along to the Open Day at the new Oxford Cancer Centre at the Churchill Hospital. It was a very interesting day and we were able to visit the complex of operating theatres where the highlight was the laparascopic - or keyhole - surgery suite and the daVinci robotic surgery system (left photo). We were even allowed to test our own skills at keyhole surgery... although I hasten to add on non-animate objects!

Also on the tour, was the radiotherapy department where we saw a CT scanner as well as the linear accelerators used for treatment. There are six of these electron accelerators, which generate high energy X-rays, in their own separate rooms(right photo). They can swivel through 180 degrees to direct beams from different angles. Of course, all of this high-tech equipment and advances in treatment has to come at a price - worth remembering when politicians talk about NHS funding. The Oxford Biomedical Research Centre was also open... although we ran out of time.

It was certainly good for local people to be able to make this "behind-the-scenes" visit of these major new facilities for our region. The staff and volunteers had clearly gone to a lot of trouble to welcome everyone and make the day informative and demystify the difficult area of cancer treatment. More information can be found here and here.

Large Hadron Collider and Oxfordshire

Congratulations to all at CERN with the circulation of two beams of protons after the successful restart of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Having lived in Geneva for some time (my husband is a particle physicist), it's quite astounding that many years later I am sitting in Oxfordshire and writing this blog post using the World Wide Web - another technological advance from CERN.

Another Oxfordshire connection? We should not forget that the county hosts two research centres working on experiments at the LHC: Oxford University (ATLAS and LHCb teams) and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (ATLAS, CMS and LHCb teams).

One of the great accelerator pioneers of all time, Sir John Adams, also worked at both Harwell and Culham in between his stints as Director General of CERN. Today, we have the legacy of the John Adams Institute in Oxford.

If you want to follow further progress at the LHC, go to http://twitter.com/cern or http://public.web.cern.ch/public/

Big Drink Debate

This took place last night at the Oxford Museum of Natural History and was chaired by TV presenter Nicky Campbell. There were representatives from Thames Valley Police, CAMRA, NHS, National Union of Students and the retail industry.

It was a disappointing turnout really as the lecture theatre was only half full. I think the venue was not a particularly easy one for people to come to for such an important event.
To find out more about this and to feed in your views click here.

Road Repairs!

It is that time of year again when the need for pothole and road repairs around Grove and Wantage become all too apparent.

I am pleased to report that the pedestrian crossing near to Millbrook Square has been repainted after resident complaints - although I note from the photo that the felled Grove Christmas tree has still not appeared! Some road repairs have also been performed along the Denchworth Road, which I reported and are very welcome. Although it is certainly an improvement on the previous crumbling surface, it's a pity that there is not a more permanent repair to this section of road - some of the white marked out areas for repair were ignored.

Anyone who spots other roads or pavements in need of repair in the Wantage/Grove area please let me know. We need to keep on top of this over the winter.

The Work of a Local Councillor

This was the title of a talk I gave yesterday afternoon at the Wantage and Grove branch of the U3A. It was a very lively session, with lots of questions from the floor and the general feeling that no one fully realised the full extent of a councillor's work these days.

I explained all the tiers of local government from parish, district, county to regional level, and tried to show how legislation passed either by Westminster or the European Parliament often filters its way down for us to implement at local level. This particularly applies to waste collection and planning decisions.

The audience was also interested to learn about how we communicate with our electorate. In my case, I try to keep in touch with everyone whether it is my blog, my reports, newsletters, emails, letters, telephone calls and the like. Communications and media technologies are changing and we have to change with the times. It was good to have an opportunity to interact with everyone and especially to hear their views about important issues like caring for the elderly and concessionary fares. Planning decisions were another hot topic!

Visit the website if you wish to find out more about future talks and events, I am sure the organisers will be happy to welcome new members.

Grove's Disappearing Bus Shelter

Hot on the heels of Grove's disappearing Christmas tree, several people have asked what has happened to the new bus shelter recently erected near to the entrance of Bosley's Orchard.

The shelter suffered damage after it was apparently hit by a bus - and it had to be removed. It is planned to replace it, but this will take a few weeks. Just to prove that it really did exist, here is a picture taken just after the incident and before it was removed!

Vivaldi in Wantage

Last night, I went to an excellent and enjoyable concert by Wantage Choral Society in Wantage Parish Church. The evening included Corelli and Pergolesi (Magnificat), but a particular highlight was the Gloria by Vivaldi. He is know to have written a number of settings for the Gloria and I learnt from the programme notes that this one (RV589, the best known) only received its first modern perfomance in 1939 and it was not until 1957 that the first really authentic performance took place. The West Forest Sinfonia provided the music for the evening with Ian Miles as Accompanist, conducted by Richard Smith. Phillippa Lay was the Soprano for the evening with Cathy Bell as Alto.

You can find more about Wantage Choral Society here. It is worth noting that their next concert in the church is on 5th December - Christmas Music with Wantage CE Primary School. It will be well worth attending on the basis of last night's performance.

Grove Milestones - Fairtrade Village and Millbrook School

Today, on a wet and windy morning, I held my monthly surgery in Grove Library to hear the concerns and issues of local residents. My next surgery will be held on 12 December from 10.30am.

At the same time as my surgery, Grove was being presented with Fairtrade Village status in Old Mill Hall. I hurried over to join in the celebrations. Congratulations to all involved from the Parish Council and the various Fairtrade supporters in Grove (Bay Tree, Cornerstone Coffee Shop, Mayfield Coffee Lounge, Co-op, Wine Rack and Tesco). More information can be found here.

As I battled the wind in the car park, I was also reminded again by the sign (see above) that this year is Millbrook School's 40th Anniversary. The school has a special place with my family. Both my children were educated there, my husband was a governor in the days when there was a separate infant school, I myself have been a governor and my daughter served as a governor until very recently. More information and memories can be found here.

Lights back on in Oxford Lane

Returning from Oxford this evening, I was taken aback to discover that at long last it looks like the street lights are back in use in Oxford Lane. This area has been in darkness for many weeks despite reporting from myself and local residents.

My question to the County Council last week brought the subject into the limelight (?) and hopefully now someone has taken it on board. Or perhaps someone is reading my blog?

Nick Clegg in Oxford

Tonight, I attended a public meeting held by Nick Clegg MP in Oxford at the Wesley Memorial Hall. There was a full house with a lively audience and a whole set of questions ranging from climate change to the European Union. An very interesting evening.

No sign of any Carnage UK on the way back from Oxford, though it was still early in the evening when I left.

Remembrance Sunday

I joined parish councillors this morning at St. John the Baptist church in Grove to pay my respects along with local residents. The church was full and the service commenced with the traditional parade of colours by the beavers, cubs, scouts, rainbows, brownies and girl guides from the community. Professor Gary Sheffield, a military historian, gave us an insight into some of the local soldiers buried in the churchyard which was really interesting to hear.

Remembering

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

For the Fallen, Lawrence Binyon

The Big Care Debate

I attended a seminar at County Hall yesterday on the government's Green Paper on proposed radical changes to social care. The proposals outlined in 'The Big Care Debate', will probably be a big topic in the run up to the General Election next year. Read all about it here.

As a member of the LGA (Local Government Association) Community Well-being Board, we were briefed about this last month and were aware that our local authorities would be requested to send in a response. Oxfordshire County Council has drafted this at a meeting with the Cabinet Member this week.

This will be an opportunity to have your say on this important issue but there is not much time left before the consultation period ends on 13th November. Click on the website and send in your response as soon as you can. The final roadshow on the debate will take place in Bonn Square, Oxford on 13th November between 10am and 6pm, so you can go along to find out more.

Ashmolean Museum Prepares to Reopen this Saturday

Last night, I attended a reception to view the Ashmolean Museum after its £61 million redevelopment. The museum opens to the public again from this Saturday (7th November).

The original facade has been kept (as shown in my first photo), but the interior has been transformed with 39 modern galleries. The second photo gives an idea of the airy interior - it shows Japanese taiko drumming by the cascading staircase.

The University is to be congratulated on this remarkable transformation of what is Britain's first public museum - it was founded in 1683. Admission is free.

For further details go to http://www.ashmolean.org/

Still in the Dark!

At the County Council meeting yesterday, I also tried to see if I could progress the issue about the lack of repairs to our street lights in Grove because of cable faults, which are the responsibility of Southern Electric. I was told that these faults take between 10 and 60 days and there are no financial penalites attached to the service level agreement with the electricity company - which basically means, if they are not repaired, there is nothing we can do!

With dark nights and winter approaching, this is not good news for our residents - especially those along Oxford Lane, Mayfield Avenue and Godfrey Close where they have been left in the dark for weeks. When I asked whether the Cabinet member would consider pursuing a financial penalty to help solve the problem, I was told that residents should phone the street lighting fault number (0800 317802) which has been done dozens of times by many of us, just to hit the same problem - it is a cable fault! So keep battling on with this one.

Hoping for Real Change at County Hall

Yesterday, at a meeting of the full County Council, the Lib Dem group had an opportunity to put forward our own topic for a themed debate. We chose 'Breaking the Cycle of Deprivation Taking Account of the Recession', because this is a huge area which needs to be tackled now, according to our Director of Public Health for Oxfordshire. He gave us all a stark warning at our last council meeting that we would ignore his report 'at our peril'. With unemployment rising, and our below average educational attainment alongside the health inequalities we face, this proved to be a topic which engaged all of our councillors. We thought the debate was a success and we now look forward to seeing some real action by our Cabinet members and the Oxfordshire Partnership Board. You can read my speech here

What was not so positive to see was the reaction of the Conservatives to our motion on climate change, where we were proposing some real action to cut our carbon emissions by 10% by the end of 2010 (10:10). Many other councils have signed up to this, and with the current high profile of the Copenhagen summit and protestors climbing up the towers of Didcot Power Station, we thought it was an excellent opportunity to engage our County Council. We were disappointed to hear that in David Cameron's own back yard, despite the rhetoric about Tories going green, there doesn't appear to be much evidence of it on the ground.

Bus Shelters

A long-awaited bus shelter has now been installed outside Tescos at Millbrook Square (above left). This means that at long last passengers wishing to travel from Grove into Abingdon or Oxford can wait for the bus with some protection from wind and rain. I am also pleased that the bus shelter on the Green has now a new roof thanks to a grant from the Grove Joint Environmental Trust (above right). There will also be a new bus stop at the entrance to Wolage Drive and you will see others around the village. Real time information should be coming next.

With winter approaching these are all welcome improvements for public transport locally.

Autumn Colours

Coldly, sadly descends the autumn evening. The field strewn with its dank yellow drifts....

Its that time of year, when the nights shorten and winter approaches. However, there are some wonderful autumn colours around as shown from the pictures above taken in Wantage and Grove.

A good place for autumn colours is usually the Harcourt Arboretum near to Nuneham Courtenay. See here for details.

Halloween Past

Halloween seemed to pass very peacefully in my part of Grove - just three visits from some young trick or treaters.

It looks like The Swan in Wantage certainly entered into the (lingering) spirit of the night...