Community Yearbook 17012019

SEPTEMBER Ale’s well and good at festival

Newbury Weekly News

Thursday, 17 January, 2019

Backing for Jack’ s statue NEWBURY residents were asked to donate money to enable a bronze statue of one

MORE than 5,000 people did their best to sample the 140- plus beers on of er at the Newbury Real Ale Festival. Held at its usual home at Northcroft Fields, there was a mix of live music throughout the afternoon, including sets from Kopycat Killers, The Brit Pop Boys, Bandits, Guns 2 Roses, Fell Out Boy, State of Undress and A New Hope. In addition to the beer, there were also 100 ciders and a variety of gins available. The event was started by Newbury & Thatcham Hockey Club, which still helps to organise it every year. A WOMAN praised fellow runners and organisers who saved her life after she was stung by hornets at the Pangbourne 10k run. Mary Galer suf ered anaphy- lactic shock after being stung 12 times during the event. The 38-year-old said that she could have died if it wasn’t for the treatment she received from a quick-think- ing marshal and a trainee nurse. Mrs Galer had run about 7km and was at the Sulham Woods stretch of the course when she was attacked. She said: “I think it was a nest angered by runners in front of me. I remember feel- ing all these stings on my legs. When I looked down all I could see were hornets on my legs. “Before I could do too much, within seconds I could feel my lips swelling, my throat and tongue.”

of Newbury’s most iconic figures to be erected in the town. A fundraising appeal was launched to raise £38,000– the amount needed to create and erect the figure depicting Jack of Newbury. Members from the Jack of Newbury Sculpture Fund met at Newbury Building Society, which kick-started the scheme with its own donation of £3,000. The likeness of John Winch- combe II, also known as Jack of Newbury, will stand 2.35m tall outside the building where he lived at 25 Northbrook Street, near the corner of Marsh Lane.

Salonika remembered

TO mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, the National Trust’s SandhamMemorial Chapel commemorated the event with two special performances. The chapel plays an important role in honouring those who fought in the First World War – it is the UK’s only memorial to the Salonika campaign. Known as the ‘forgotten front’, thousands of British and Commonwealth troops lost their lives as part of this allied offen- sive and the experience inspired soldier and war artist Sir Stanley Spencer to create the epic series of murals that reside inside the chapel. Inspired by the artist’s experience as a medical orderly and a soldier, the paintings depict scenes from the Beaufort hospital, Bristol and Salonika. The Salonika Front is barely remembered now, but even at the time, this battleground for many thousands of British and Commonwealth troops was the ‘forgotten front’ at the War Office. In autumn 1915, Anglo-French troops began landing at the Greek port of Salonika (now Thessaloniki) to aid Serbia following Bulgaria’s entry into the war supporting Germany. The British were unwilling participants in the expedition, which was ulti- mately too late and too small to prevent the fall of Serbia. The Allied forces dug in, but not until September 1918 was there any significant shift. Then the British suffered heavy losses as part of the successful Allied offensive which led to the capitulation of Bulgaria at the end of that month. A programme of reflective a capella music was performed by members of Winchester Consort, covering themes of prayer and remembrance in music by Elgar, Palestrina, Parry, Purcell, Tavener, Vaughan-Williams and John Williams . The following day, actor Christopher Kent and pianist Gamal Khamis looked back at the writ- ing and music that emerged from the period, juxtaposing the words of Wilfred Owen, Edward Thomas, Siegfried Sassoon and Vera Brittain with music by Elgar, Ravel, Debussy, Frank Bridge and Ivor Gurney.

One of Newbury ’s most famous sons, he lived from 1489 to 1557. A renowned clothier, he is cred- ited with creating the first factory in England, bringing work to hundreds of people.

Michele Stevenson, Rob Mulvany , Rich Coombes and Cat Melis enjoy a tipple

Mary’s hornet horror

Weekend for heroes

Carnarvon hosted the weekend as a thank you and to remem- ber those who served in conflicts across the world, both in the past and today. Many chose to go dressed for the occasion by wearing tradi- tional vintage clothing. To mark the centenary year, there was an array of costumes, vintage cars, airshows, exhibi- tions and talks.

A SPITFIRE flypast and a display from the Red Arrows were just some of the high- lights of an action-packed weekend at Heroes at High- clere. Thousands of people gathered in the grounds of Highclere Castle for the two-day event, held to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War. The Earl and Countess of

Mrs Galer said she tried to walk away, but had to lie down and later discovered that she had been carried away by fellow runners. Race marshal Andrew Brod- erick kept her calm and reas- sured her.

She said:“There was a passer-by called Carly

[Walker], she made me see it through… she gave up her race to care for me. “If they had not done what they did and laid me down I would not be here.”

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