Hello and welcome to my new blogspot. My name is Adrian Edwards and it is my honour to be the 411th Mayor of Newbury. Here I am pictured in my full Mayoral robes with my Mayoress Edwina Cooper. It is my second time as Mayor of this town and it will be my pleasure to record and explain the numerous roles of a modern day Mayor. I hope you will enjoy reading this online diary as much as I am sure that I am going to enjoy carrying out my civic duties. If there is anything you wish to query or indeed if you would like me to attend a function that you are organising, have no hesitation in contacting my Civic Manager Joyce Lewis on 01635 41583. Thank you once again for sparing your time.

Monday, 31 March 2008

ANNUAL CIVIC AWARDS CEREMONY


Each year, the Town Council honours those people who have given their time money or effort, or indeed all three, as volunteers in helping to run charities or other worthy causes. We invite the general public to nominate people who have done such work and these nominations are considered by a panel of judges who decide who is the current year’s winner. The mayor is one of the judges but like the others, he has no access to the nominations until the judging meeting when the Civic Manager brings them all to the table and leaves them for the panel to consider them. There are no hard and fast criteria laid down so the judges use their own discretion on deciding the outcome.
This year, there were three judges, Joss Baker from Kick FM, Katy Hawthorn from West Berkshire Volunteer Centre and myself. We convened the meeting at 11 a.m. on Friday 14 March in the Mayor’s parlour. We had 11 nominations to review and we had individual copies of the nominations to read and determine. It was not an easy task as they all had their own individual value. However we did in the end chose unanimously a winner, and we judged three as highly commended.
It was my pleasure and privilege to present all nominees with a certificate at the Civic Awards ceremony at the Council Chamber on the evening of 31 March 2008. The eleven were:
Robert Whiting, Bill Battle, Sir Philip Wroughton, Elizabeth Waters, Paul Mitchell, Lucas Hicks, Arthur Frost, Peter Mott, Jim Johnston, Graham Hunter and Fred Carter. Of these 11, Jim Johnston, Graham Hunter and Fred Carter were highly commended and the winner of the 2008 Civic Awards was Peter Mott. He was proposed by the Alzheimers Society for planning fundraising and providing transport; he also drives for the Thatcham Volunteer Car scheme. I presented him with a clock and his name will be inscribed on the base of the Black Horse figure which is held in the Town Hall. I had nothing but praise for them all in their voluntary work and especially Lucas Hicks who is still a teenager who did unpaid work in the Shaw Cemetery.
Newbury Town would be a poorer place without the efforts of such people and I know that there are a great many more people who should be considered for an award.
I would urge all those involved in the voluntary organisations to consider others for next year’s Civic Awards.

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