Mayor Making

Mayor Making is a mixture of the old and new. Pageantry combined with a 21st century Town Council meeting , with councillors robed up, the town’s civic insignia on display. The Mayor wears the 1884 chain and pendant, with the Mayoress/Consort and Deputy Mayor wearing their respective pendants. The procedure of handing over to the new Mayor is well established and is followed by the new Mayor's acceptance speech which gives the flavour of his programme for the year, any views he has on events in the town and details on his chosen charities for his term of office.

At Mayor Making on 13 May in my acceptance speech ,which incidentally should be politically neutral (if there is such a thing), my thoughts were on the town’s heritage. My first concerns were about the destruction of many of our historic buildings both in the past and currently. Although our older and finest buildings are now given some protection by being given Listed Building status, others are not. The Town Council’s Conservation of Historic Buildings Working Group is busy in identifying other buildings considered worthy of conservation and submitting them either for national listing or for local listing status. The Town Design Statement published some 2 years ago identifies the need to preserve areas of the town, particularly those gateway roads into the town which have large well designed, high quality houses with extensive gardens, from demolition or unsympathetic development. I endorse the Council’s stance in trying to preserve the Town’s historic and architectural heritage. My own role is to record the architectural and historical aspects of Newbury’s hotels and pubs, some of which are hundreds of years old. This includes photos of both the exterior and internal features and will take some time to complete.

Newbury has been blessed over the centuries by the amount of charitable work and funding by either wealthy individuals or by organisations or groups focused on specific causes, designed to enhance the lives of those in need. This continues to this day and in a recent survey, some 5132 volunteers were working for an extraordinary range of charitable organisations and groups in the Newbury area. We must not forget that the churches in the town also raise a great deal of funds for charities both at home and abroad. I will be delighted to meet and to give my support to as many of these volunteers and groups during my term as possible.

My third aspect of the town’s heritage is its love of the arts, which in truth has only evolved in the last 200 years or so. There was a playhouse in Northcroft Lane before a theatre was built in 1802 in Speenhamland but neither have survived. Other halls and cinemas were built later to hold productions but the town now relies on productions at either the Corn Exchange or the Watermill at Bagnor outside the town boundary. As the town’s only cinema closed many years ago, the Corn Exchange shows films as well as hosting a range of musical productions. The building of a new cinema in Cheap Street is due to start later in the year. I look forward to the Fringe Festival which includes Art on the Park which is preceded by the Newbury Spring Festival which includes nationally recognised orchestras and musicians. There is also a Gala Concert by the Southern Sinfonia on 13 October in the Corn Exchange. There is a range of other music performed in the Corn Exchange and elsewhere. The Town Trail has two works of art and the second one was recently installed on the Robin Hood roundabout.

I announced that I would support three charities. The first is the Mayor’s Benevolent Fund which gives financial support to the townspeople in dire need of support. It also supports the annual Mayors Drive and Tea party for the over 75 year olds. My second is the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmens’ Families Association (SSAFA) which provides a wide range of support to servicemen and women and their families, including motorised buggies and other equipment to those needing such support. My third charity is to champion the reforming of the interior of St. Nicolas Church to enable it to address the needs of the 21st century. Unlike other countries which give financial support to their churches, Britain does not and when there is a need for a significant refurbishment, the churches have to fund it themselves and rely on external fundraising. Considering this is one of our oldest buildings, I believe this is a very worthy cause.