NEWBURY SOCIETY WINE AND CHEESE EVENING

Edwina Cooper, the Mayoress, and I were invited to attend the Newbury Society’s wine and cheese evening at St Nicolas Church Hall on Saturday 19 January. We arrived and were met by Garry Poulson, the recently elected Chairman. He is a former Mayor of Newbury, the Director of West Berkshire Volunteer Bureau and Chairman of the Newbury Twin Town Association, although he is retiring soon from the latter. We also met Richard Benyon, MP for Newbury and his wife Zoe. There were a number of familiar figures there including Elke Holden-Bell who is the Society’s publicity officer, her husband Jeremy who has a special interest in historical buildings and also keeps a fatherly eye on new developments in and around the town and makes comments on those which he feels are out of character in the area. He is supported by Anthony Pick who looks at developments to the south of the town. This is the strength and purpose of the Newbury Society, in that it is dedicated to improving the environment and preserving the historic buildings which make up the town’s heritage.
Garry Poulson gave a speech in which he paid tribute to the great service two of its members had given to the Society. The first was Gwynneth Bullock, who had been the Chairman for 11 years and Elke Holden-Bell who had been the publicity officer for 24 years. Andrew Rowles, the Chairman of West Berkshire Council presented Gwynneth with the Society’s certificate of merit and I presented Elke with a similar certificate.
It was a very pleasant evening and I wish the Society every success for the future. The Town owes the Society a great debt of gratitude for their work in preserving the Town’s heritage wherever possible.