2010 White Horse Half Marathon

Today saw the 28th half marathon (about 13 miles) organised by the local White Horse Harriers Athletics Club and held in fine weather. This has taken place every year since 1983 and the course starting and finishing in Grove after wandering through the local countryside and villages such as Denchworth and Charney Bassett.

This photo shows the finish on Pound Green in Grove. A sports massage was even on offer to the competitors. Sponsorship this year was in aid of the The Prostate Cancer Charity.

Grand National 2010

Congratulations to local jockey Tony McCoy who won today's Grand National on Don't Push it. This was his 15th attempt with three 3rd places his previous best over the years.

This photo shows him signing autographs in Lambourn on Good Friday.

Election Matters

I have had a number of telephone calls from local residents in Grove and Wantage concerned about the polling station shown on the official poll cards that they have just received for the General Election on 6 May. Unfortunately, there has been a printing error and incorrect details about the station are shown on some cards (including my own).

New cards are being printed and were being posted out last night - at no cost to the district council may I add. Further details can be found here.

Please note that details about proxy voting and postal voting in the Vale can be found here. The latest date for applications to be received for inclusion on the electoral register - a necessary condition for any form of voting - is 20 April.

Daffodils

There is always something about daffodils that brighten up springtime - especially Easter - and raise the spirit after a long winter. It has been a bit of a struggle for them to make their appearance this year, particularly in places like the Lake District, which is known for its carpets of daffodils especially around Ambleside... as well as the Wordsworth association.

In Grove, the lines of daffodils along the A338 always provide a welcome sight on entering and leaving the village. This photo from today (Easter Monday) shows that they are just starting to come into their own and we should have some colourful blooms for the next few weeks.

Wantage Station in the National News

Good to see the case for reopening Wantage Station (and Kidlington) mentioned in the national news. This has, of course, been a long standing local Lib Dem campaign. More information on the national campaign here.

Lambourn - Mixed Weather, but Brilliant Horses

It was a wet morning in Lambourn today and the weather curtailed some of the afternoon activities of the Open Day, such as the showjumping. However, we were still treated to a brilliant display by the Household Cavalry. As always, the stars of the show were the horses - although A.P. McCoy, Mick Fitzgerald and John Francome were all there to support the event. Some pictures above.

Lambourn Open Day on Good Friday

If you are looking for an outing over Easter, the Open Day at Lambourn is always a good event and I have been to it many times over the years. Money raised goes toward the Lambourn Valley Housing Trust for stable staff and the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance Trust.

On Good Friday morning (8:30am - 1pm), you are able to look around almost 30 racing yards in the Lambourn area and visit places like the veterinary hospital and the hydrotherapy pool. In the afternoon (1pm- 5pm), there is then a programme of events which includes a parade of famous horses, show jumping and entertainment/trade stalls.

See here for full details.

Congratulations to the LHC

At about midday, the Large Hadron Collider today achieved a new world record energy - 7 Tera electon Volts - for colliding protons. This is the start of 18-24 months of operation to start studying the fundamental structure of matter at this new energy.

Congratulations to all of the scientists in Oxfordshire, CERN and around the world who contributed to this huge effort. See here for my last post on the LHC and the Oxfordshire connection.

Oxford Literary Festival - Final Day

Today was the final day of the Oxford Literary Festival and I went along to see Booker Prize winning author Hilary Mantel interviewed by P.D. James in the Sheldonian Theatre. Both are shown in the photo opposite just before the event. Of course, the main topic of the interview and the subsequent question session was the historical novel Wolf Hall about the life of Thomas Cromwell and the Tudor court of Henry VIII. There were fascinating insights into how Hilary captured the life and interactions of the characters and how she filled in the parts missing from historical research. The book is 650 pages long and is an astonishing piece of work. For those awaiting more, she has already started writing the sequel called The Mirror and the Light.

Wantage, of course, is planning its very own Betjeman Festival in September 2011 - a fantastic opportunity to put the town on the map with its literary connections. In the run up to the festival, there are also some pre-festival events starting as early as April of this year. See the festival website here for details.

Street Pastors Training

Yesterday I ran a training session for the Wantage and Grove street pastors. They have to undergo quite an extensive training schedule, which is covered in their manual and includes all their roles and responsibilities. My section was entitled 'Knowing Your Community' so I was able to introduce them to the world of politics and policies, social exclusion and the whole dynamics of community planning.

It was a very lively affair with everyone having their say and I was told it was enjoyed by all. Street Pastors have been tremendously successful in both Grove and Wantage in helping our young people late into the night at weekends when they are a bit worse for wear by the excesses of alcohol! Lollipops and flip flops are the solution I am told, and a call home if needed. Readers of my blog will remember their launch event back in June last year.

The race is on ...

No, not the General Election - yet - but for the Formula 1 championship with the season well and truly underway after the opening GP in Bahrain and this weekend's Australian GP.

Time for a word of support for local team Williams F1 who moved to Grove in 1996 from their old headquarters in Didcot. The conference centre situated at the HQ is a unique venue as it also houses the fascinating collection of Williams racing cars. You can see me in one of them in the sidebar photo from a previous event held there.

The site in Grove was previously home to Janssen Pharmaceuticals, but one thing that has remained the same is the iconic avenue of beautiful trees shown in this photo after a winter trim. More news on the team and details about the facilities can be found here. There is also a Twitter feed here, which is useful for coverage of race weekends.

Sweatbox Update

This afternoon we met to discuss how to move forward with the re-opening of the Sweatbox as a music venue on Fridays. This was a closed meeting with officers of the County Council, youth workers, police, head of the school, street pastors and Cabinet member. The review continues and it is hoped this will be completed by the end of April, by which time we shall meet again to hear the outcome.

Meanwhile we decided to set a date for the new 'relaunch' on 7th May. There will be all the usual security at the entrance including bag searches but no breathalysers. It is hoped that this will be a positive step forward to ensure our young people continue to have somewhere they want to go on Friday nights, in a safe and enjoyable environment.

Fire Service Cover Dispute

Oxfordshire firefighters were out in force with placards and banners at County Hall this lunchtime to lobby councillors about new measures due to be implemented as part of the Fire Authority's Integrated Risk Management Action Plan 2010-11. This decision was taken at today's Cabinet meeting.

I went outside to talk to them to hear their views. Firefighters are concerned that residents of Abingdon and Didcot will have a reduced service under the new plans, and response times will be delayed, especially at weekends. The idea behind the plan is that there will be increased cover in some of Oxfordshire's rural communities, and some of us were shocked to hear that some areas, particularly in West Oxfordshire were not covered under the present system. More retained firefighters rather than full-time officers would be employed under the new scheme.

Despite the protest, and speakers at Cabinet, the vote to go through with the plan was unanimous with all Cabinet members approving the scheme.

Sweatbox Meeting

Tonight I attended the meeting to decide on the future of the Friday night sessions at The Sweatbox in Wantage. It was a very confrontational-style meeting which was a pity because many of the questions asked by the very concerned audience were not fully answered. We still never found out what wasn't 'safe' about the venue and why the music sessions which have been happening over the last 5 years were suddenly stopped without a proper explanation.

The 'Sweaty' relaunch event was supposed to have added security measures to make it safer for our local young people to go along to it. They had won a grant of £5000 of taxpayers' money through the County Council's 'Chill Out Fund' to buy the new sound and lighting equipment to give the atmosphere a 'night club' feel but they are now unable to use it! The event had the backing of the school, the police, the street pastors and the whole community and the sudden closure has caused much upset . Sadly the website says it all.

This Friday will still open hopefully, but without the music, so I hope there will not be lots of disappointed youngsters on our streets. Somehow I can't help feeling there has been a complete breakdown in communication. The 'sensational-style' press story on the use of breathalysers didn't help either - one can't help thinking that without that newspaper headline, the event would have just gone ahead as planned. However, there is now a 'review' and we can only hope that this will not take too long, and the 'Sweaty' will be business as usual on Friday nights.

Open Meeting at The Sweatbox

Further to my previous post, there will be an open meeting held this Wednesday 10th March at The Main Hall, East site in Wantage to discuss the way forward with the Friday night sessions. The meeting will be from 6.30pm - 7.30pm and will be chaired by the County Council's Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families, Cllr. Louise Chapman. I hope that this will be a constructive meeting and we can open our youth centre again to the benefit of the young people and families of Grove, Wantage and surrounding villages.

Sweatbox Closure

There has been a lot of media attention over the recent closure of our local youth centre, The Sweatbox, based in Wantage. There was to be a re-launch last week, which was postponed when the County Council raised concerns about the use of breathalyser tests at the venue.

Many of us have been concerned about the misuse of alcohol and underage drinking which has been reported at the local Neighbourhood Action Group which I attend, and everyone is hoping for a resolution to the problems as soon as possible. The Friday night sessions are hugely popular with our young people, and we need to see it open again. I have heard this afternoon that the 'Sweaty' (renamed) will now open as usual on Friday March 12th (not as a music event) and there will be a meeting to discuss the issues shortly. I will keep you posted.

Balancing Ponds by Letcombe Brook

The balancing ponds in Grove have started to fill up after recent maintenance work by Thames Water who own them.

The first photo shows the ponds behind Old Mill Hall doing their job with water in them. The second photo shows a muddier pond by Letcombe Walk.

Thames Valley Police set their Budget

This morning at the meeting of the Thames Valley Police Authority, we set our budget for the year allowing for just a 2% increase. This is far lower than other police authorities all over the country, and lower than Oxfordshire County Council's rise last week of 2.75%. There was agreement around the table from all elected members that this was a fair amount which would allow for 27 new police officers across the Force area. It also accounts for efficiency savings across the board. This means council tax payers in Band D properties will pay an extra £3.03 per year or 6p per week for policing in the Thames Valley.

The total police element of council tax for a Band D property in the Thames Valley is £154.30 per year or £2.97 per week.

Grove Works

Those travelling along the A338 near to Williams F1 will have noticed the works that are going on either side of the road. This is to install new bus stops instead of the one opposite The Volunteer that was considered too dangerous.

Works have also commenced to re-install the shelter along Main Street that was damaged by a bus last November - see original post here.

Budget Day at County Hall

Today, the County Council set its budget for the next five years. There will be cuts in spending to try to find over £100 million of savings. There is a danger that some services will be severely affected as 500 posts will be axed. There are certainly difficult times ahead, as I predicted last summer.

In my role as Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition, it was my job to propose an alternative budget, which is what we did today. As expected, with a Tory majority, our budget did not get through, but we still needed to give members of the public an idea of what we would have done. We proposed a lower council tax this year with just a 2.5% increase and then retaining that level of increase for the following four years. This would enable our balances to provide for vital Oxfordshire services.

The Tory council tax increase is higher at 2.75% this year and eventually rising to 3.75% in later years. They have a hole in their budget in the medium term because they assume there will be a nil council tax increase in 2011/12 and 2012/13 because a Tory government would be able to somehow find money to increase our grant allocation. Well, considering David Cameron seems to be changing his mind every week about his public spending plans, we did not see this as a viable and sustainable option.

It was a really grumpy council meeting, with disparaging remarks being made. How strange, when I thought all councillors were supposed to be trying to agree the best for the county of Oxfordshire. What a very sad state of affairs!