Helping plant a Sycamore Gap sapling

As I reach the halfway point in my year as Chairman of Council, I've had the privilege of attending over 40 events as your "First Citizen." Some of these have been formal and some not - and I've been pleased to be joined by my wife Martha, fellow councillor and "Chairman's Consort", who attends whenever she is able to.

Looking back at how my theme of "Have Faith in Our Future" has been reflected in many of these events isn't hard. So many worrying things are happening in the wider world. Yet every chance to celebrate what is being done here and now to counter doom and gloom gives us faith in the power of community action.

There have been many chances to see amazing achievements done by our own council staff in collaboration with others - often unpaid volunteers. I've also been shown that the Council could do more of this, resources permitting. Voluntary organisations often just need a tiny amount of our taxes to give us a huge amount back.

Our three towns have mayors of their own to help with their community celebrations. So I try to get out in our countryside and help parishes celebrate. That's where so much is being done to tackle the challenge of climate change.

My own ward is the largest in the District and almost all "protected landscape". It has many landowners and farmers facing the need to radically alter their business models to adapt to the future.

One of those is the Town and Manor of Hungerford. They own a largely hidden stretch of the Kennet river, almost a mile long as it flows out of Wiltshire, plus its floodplain meadows. This year it gained planning consent to be restored as semi-natural wetland, with high biodiversity, and a recreational and educational resource. Undys Meadow, as it was known, is now Kennet Valley Wetland Reserve. The charity needs to raise over a million pounds to complete it. The former MP for Newbury, now Lord Richard Benyon, launched the appeal in October - as it happens, on my birthday! You can help us bring the Kennet Valley Wetland Reserve to life! Donate to the restoration fund or volunteer your time -visit Kennet Valley Wetland Reserve Appeal to learn more and get involved.

At the other end of the district in Streatley, I cut the ribbon on a new accessible footpath across another wetland area. As the Council's representative on the Local Access Forum, which advises councils on everything to do with recreational access to our countryside, I'd been following the long saga over 15 years. Because of difficult ground conditions and rare wildlife, it took that long to get from "creation" (on the OS map and paper only) to being walkable.

It was railway money that took this project over the line: Mend The Gap is money from GWR to compensate communities in the North Wessex Downs and Chilterns National Landscapes for the visual impact of ugly overhead power lines for electrification.

There's nothing better for health than a walk among Nature - followed by cake! The Swan at Streatley hotel - owners of the land - had been made to designate this path (but not to actually make it!), so they were happy to pay for everyone at the event to enjoy the cake.

That was a lovely sunny day. My latest engagement wasn't so lucky! However it had national news coverage, thanks to a successful bid by Greener Greenham Group (GGG) for one of the 49 offspring of the Sycamore Gap tree - a Tree of Hope - felled by vandals in 2023. It had been nurtured by the National Trust. 

GGG is one of a growing (excuse the pun!) number of community groups in the West Berkshire Green Exchange. This is a network of volunteer led groups, supported by this Council through our Parish & Town Climate Forum, that involves hundreds of people in outdoor work, cutting their household expenditure as well as their greenhouse gas emissions. Are you interested in making a difference in your community? Why not join one of the many volunteer-led groups in the West Berkshire Green Exchange. Find a group near you or start your own - you can find details through the Parish & Town Climate Forum pages linked above.

Moving indoors and eastwards another highlight was parading through Reading for the High Sheriff of Berkshire's annual Judicial Service. All of us "Chain Gang" (five lady mayors of boroughs plus me) were escorted into the Minster by the "Mini Police" - some of the tiniest volunteers I've seen, drawn from local primary schools. There we heard Bishop Mary bless the local legal profession and magistrates. Much of our justice system depends on volunteers. Like councillors, magistrates are not paid.

Linking to another event outside our district that Martha and I were invited to, we were both deeply moved at the World Day of Remembrance for Road Death Victims, in Thame. The town might soon be part of the same Unitary Authority of Ridgeway Council but is already part of the same Police and Ambulance Authorities as us.

"Victims" of road deaths - whether caused by accident or by criminal negligence - are not only those who lose their lives. It is their loved ones and and those whose job it is to respond and care for them who also have to live with the consequences. Their suffering is never ending. I have asked the Lead Chaplain of Thames Valley Police to come to our area and tell us more about her work with families and emergency services.

A more intimate event on the same theme was Newbury Samaritans AGM. Guest speaker was a man whose student son had committed suicide. He'd investigated why the university had not picked up the signs - regular non-attendance at lectures and poor exam results - and discovered that rules around privacy were being interpreted inappropriately. By working with other parents of student suicide victims, he'd turned tragedy for one family into hope of salvation for others across several universities.

Photo of Councillor Tony Vickers planting the Sycamore Gap sapling is kindly provided by Oliver May of Newbury Photography Club.