Community Yearbook 17012019

APRIL

W:286.501mm H:0.353mm ISSUEDATE_ID 2_9 Newbury Weekly News

Thursday, 17 January, 2019

Amberjack’s magnificent seven NEWBURY-based recruitment firm

Sad day as Swan closes

on their organic farming and 20 years at The Swan Inn. There were once five thriving pubs in the village alone. But times change and Mr Harris said: “Trade over the last two or three years has become progres- sively worse, with virtually no support from the village, with a few notable exceptions, and Mary and I finally decided to close. “This is a sad day for us as we have invested a lot of time and effort and some £2m in building, refurbishing and equipping to a high standard. “We have received national and regional awards for our organic food and real ales and supported two local breweries, Butts at Great Shefford and Indigenous at Chad- dleworth.”

IT WAS the end of an era as Bernard and Mary Harris have called ‘time at the bar’ for the last time at The Swan Inn, Inkpen. During a 22-year tenure at the 17th- century village pub, Mr and Mrs Harris scooped award after award. They became accredited members of the Campaign for Real Food, one of celebrity chef Rick Stein’s Food Heroes of Britain and winners of the Independent newspaper’s Restaurant Awards of 2007. The organic beef served in the pub was from their own herds and the pub was a fixture in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide from 1998 to 2007, in 2011 and 2012 and from 2015-2018. In 2016, the Prince of Wales sent them a letter congratulating them

Amberjack was short- listed for a staggering seven national industry awards. The company, which is based in Kings Road West, was nominated for the accolades at this year’s Recruiter Awards. The awards gala is the UK’s largest event for the recruitment industry, recognising outstanding achievements by agen- cies and in-house recruiters. Amberjack was in the running to secure its third Outstanding Outsourced Recruitment Organisation

Dettori ’s flyer in Flat opener RACING legend Frankie Dettori showed his class on the opening weekend of Newbury’s Flat racing season. A crowd of more than 8,200 enjoyed three G3 races and a thrilling £50,000 handicap. Dettori steered James Garfield to victory in the seven-runner G3 Al Basti Equiworld Support- ing Greatwood Greenham Stake. Newmarket trainer George Scott set his sights on the 2000 Guineas on May 5 at Newmarket, with Dettori again on board. Scott said: “I am delighted with that perfor- mance. “Frankie is keen to go to Guineas and he is the Ladies’ title triumph NEWBURY & Thatcham Ladies first-team captain Gemma Goss belie ves her team can compete near the top of the Premier 1 Division next year. After a successful season, the first team secured the league title and promotion after registering 17 wins from 22 games this year. A 4-0 home win against Wallingford brought the league season to a close – and preparations began immediately for life in the top flight. “This is a trial so he will come on for the race – he was fit enough and now will freshen him up with a couple of weeks to the Guineas.” man who knows the most about that. “He will be my first Classic runner.

ence, which recognises the company’ s work with Mars, and Best Graduate Recruitment Strategy, in recognition of its work with Network Rail in improving diversity.

Award, having been crowned winners of the accolade twice before, in 2013 and 2016. Amberjack ’s other short- listed categories included Best Candidate Experi -

Independence day

THE Corn Exchange marked its 25th anniver- sary by taking owner- ship of its landmark building to become a “truly independent char- ity”. West Berkshire Council handed over the Market Place building to the Corn Exchange Trust to help ensure arts and culture in the district are protected and nurtured for future generations. Against a backdrop of continuing reductions in public spending, the coun- cil informed the Corn Exchange Trust in July 2016 that it was no longer in a position to financially support the arts centre when the current funding contract ends March 2019. The trust has since been working with the council

Mayor’s parlour games NEWBURY mayor David Fenn attended the official opening of a new Ping Pong Parlour in an Ping Pong Parlours are pop-up spaces filled with table tennis tables.

pleased that the council has agreed to support us in this way. “It enables us to be a truly independent charity and it is my responsibility as the custodian of this wonderful building to ensure the arts and cultural activities we make happen here are protected for future genera- tions.”

and its core funders, Arts Council England and Greenham Trust, to ensure the future of the Corn Exchange. Director Grant Brisland said: “Passing the owner- ship of the building to the trust was one of our suggestions to set us off on the right path and we are

The aim is to provide a fun, acces- sible venue for people to play the game. At the official opening, there were exhibition games with top local players and prizes for children.

empty unit at Newbury’s Kennet Shopping centre.

The unit was transformed into a place where people could play the game for free.

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