community yearbook 2018

MARCH

Newbury Weekly News

Thursday, 25 January, 2018

Shock stance on shoplifting POLICE announced that they would no longer be sending an officer out to all instances of shoplifting in Hungerford. past month alone. Sgt Holly Nicholls, stand- ing in for the local team’s Inspector Warren McKe- own, dropped the bomb- shell at a Hungerford She added:“Our main priorities are violence against the person, burglaries, theft from motor vehicles and so on.” Town councillor

Town Council meeting. She revealed that, in a “new delivery model”, complaints will be dealt with under a triage system and said:“ For example, we wouldn ’t necessarily deal with shopliftings of less than £100 now” – in other words, nearly all of them.

Officers will now only be sent out if more than £100 worth of items are stolen. The shock announce- ment was made as Hungerford’s former police station goes up for sale, and as the neigh- bourhood team reported five instances of shoplift- ing in the town in the

Carolann Farrell asked: “So, less than £100 and you won’t be coming out to it?” Sgt Nicholls replied: “Yes. We won ’t be making arrests all the time and taking it through the courts – it’s not practi- cal.”

Duncan Goodhew with pupils in the new Mar y Hare School swimming pool Olympic ace opens new pool

Lobster tales MOTORISTS passing through the centre of Hungerford did a double-take as a pair of giant pincers waved at them. The upcycle sculptor JK Brown was again a featured artist at Oil gallery, in the town. His lobster was called Without End and was symbolic of the notion in folklore that the lobster lives forever. “It’s a great take of a female lobster with eggs,” said curator Justin Cook. “The piece is made from stainless steel bowls and curry dishes. The side body is made from fish knives and micro chain to represent the eggs. The tail is made from cutlery and a lemon squeezer. “JK Brown once again has delivered a thing of beauty with a great ironic twist.”

A flipping good day for everyone

The school’s Sink or Swim appeal raised a total of £423,000 through a range of fundraising events to fund the new state-of-the-art pool. The new facility also features a ‘Pool Pod’ to help individuals with reduced mobility to get in and out of the water with ease.

PUPILS at the Mary Hare School for deaf children made a splash as they celebrated the opening of their new swimming pool. Following a fundraising campaign, the school welcomed Olympic swim- ming champion Duncan Goodhew MBE to mark the occasion. After opening the pool, Mr Goodhew stayed on to give the pupils some swimming tips. A FORMER mayor of Thatcham jumped ship and left the Liberal Democrats to join UKIP. Gary Johnson said that he applied to join UKIP before last year’s referen- dum result because he felt like a ‘lone sheep’ with the Lib Dems. He said:“I wanted us to retain our own laws and put a control on immi- gration. The problem was I was like a lone sheep out of the flock of Lib Dems. “The majority of them wanted to stay in Europe and wanted to promote that and I couldn’t do that.” Mr Johnson, who represented Thatcham West as a town councillor for the Lib Dems from 2011 until 2015, said the backlash from his former party had become“unbearable”. After he was welcomed at UKIP’s Newbury branch AGM, Mr Johnson

School fundraiser Anne Munby said: “We are very grateful to all those who donated to make this possible.” Former mayor switches to UKIP

THE town ’s best tossers descend edon Market Place for the annual Newbury Pancake Race. Crowds gathered to watch 20 teams from local businesses, chari- ties and organisations battle it out for the coveted winner’s medal. The Pancake Day cele- bration has become a tradition in Newbury and aims to raise funds for the chosen charity of organisers Soroptomist International Newbury and District. This year, the funds were donated to The Rosemary Appeal, which is raising money for a cancer and renal unit at West Berks Community Hospital. From Harry Potter and tooth fairies to French

A‘fairy’ flips a pancake during the Newbur y Pancake Race

chefs, the race was a spectacle for those who braved the cold. This year’s race sponsors were Accounting and Taxation Centre, Briars Dental Centre and Irwin Mitchell Solicitors. The relay races were spon- sored by Henwick Prop- erties, Gecko Communi- cations and Newb ury

Weekly News . Tosser of the Year was Adam Woodley from the Harry Potter-themed team representing accountancy firm Ross Brooke, while the Best Dressed Award went to the team from Briars Dental Centre with their dentistry-themed costumes.

said he had always been anti-Europe and “didn’t expect to be controlled by Brussels” after entering the union. Chairman of the West Berkshire Liberal Democrats, Dr Tony Vickers, said: “He clearly wasn ’t happy with our position on Europe. I respect his decision.”

NEWBURY RECLAIM We have a policy of re-homing and re-using as much as is possible from each collection. We clear office equipment, computers, furniture. Commercial vacant possession can also include carpet and window dressing collection. We can prepare or clean a property for renovation or re-use after clearing out at a POA basis. This extends to outside buildings, units, sites, gardens, garages etc. We are discreet confidential with all our clients at all times. 07799 577 456 / 01635 37183 7 St Mary’s Rd, Newbury, Berks RG14 1ES paul339@btinternet.com www.newburyreclaim.com