On Monday, 11th November, BBC Children in Need’s Pudsey Bear made a surprise visit to a group of children supported by Me2 Club.

To read more about Me2 Club and its visit with Pudsey, please click HERE.

Me2 Club with BBC Children in Need’s Pudsey

Michelle Jordan from BBC Berkshire interviewing children supported by Me2 Club

Thank you to everyone who attended the Remembrance Memorial today (11/11/19)

Woodley Town Mayor Cllr Kay Gilder 

Wokingham Mayor Cllr Bill Soames

MP Reading East – Matt Rodda 

Cllr Kay Gilder thanking the crowd

At the Full Council Meeting on Tuesday 1 October, the following motion was adopted:

“This Council notes that:

1. The impacts of climate breakdown are already causing serious damage around the world.
2. Limiting Global Warming to 1.5°C (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, October 2018) may still be possible with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society and the private sector.

This Council therefore:

1. Commits to a declaration of a ‘Climate Emergency’ with the aim of becoming a carbon neutral organization by 2030.
2. Welcomes the declaration by Wokingham Borough Council of a ‘Climate Emergency’ and will actively participate in the creation of the Borough-wide climate change strategy to ensure Woodley Town Council is fully engaged in its creation for the benefit of its residents.
3. Will explore, with all parts of the community, the development of a local action plan in support of, and to compliment, the Borough Council’s climate change strategy plan for those parts relevant to Woodley Town.”

Gregor Murray, Wokingham Borough Council Executive Member for Climate Emergency spoke of the Borough Council’s plans to address climate change and work in partnership with town and parish councils. Woodley Town Council will work with Wokingham Borough Council as part of a cross-party working group, beginning with the formation of an action plan over the next six months.

Meanwhile, Woodley Town Council will also continue its commitment to climate change through its current campaigns and initiatives.

The competition to design a poster to advertise the annual Woodley town centre extravaganza received a number of fantastic entries and we would like to say a huge thank you to those children who participated. It was, as always, very difficult to choose the three winners but, after much deliberation, these are the three chosen winners for 2019.

  Lauren Watkins, Age 10, Beechwood Primary

Sian Watkins, Age 10, Beechwood Primary

Yvie Hardy, Age 10, St Nicholas CE Primary

The judges also highly commended the following posters:

Violet Hardy, Age 7, St Nicolas School Hurst

Roxanne Allen, Age 9, St Dominic Savio Catholic Primary School

Owen Winship, Age 9, Rivermead Primary School

The competition winners will have the privilege and honour of turning on the Christmas lights in Woodley town centre on 23rd November 2019.

It is with great sadness that we announce that Cllr David Stares passed away peacefully last week losing his battle against cancer. David had been active in the community for some time and was a councillor at Woodley Town Council for almost five years. He has served as Chairman on the Leisure Services Committee and was the town’s Deputy Mayor in 2018/19. Leisure was David’s passion and he ran over 30 marathons. This developed into a particular interest and involvement in the ongoing improvements to Woodford Park Leisure Centre and associated facilities. He was an active Bowls member and when not involved in sports was a keen allotment holder, being on the Allotment Tenant’s Committee.

Council Leader, Keith Baker said: “David was a good friend and colleague and bore his illness with a degree of calmness during the several years of fighting it. Even at the end his dignity in dealing with the inevitable was second to none. The inner strength he showed, despite the pain, was what he was all about. Woodley has lost a good friend.”

Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Woodley Town Council would like to thank everyone for attending its Community Fun Day and picnic to celebrate the centenary of Woodley’s Memorial Ground

We have a selection of photos from the day but would love to see yours too to add to our gallery!

Please send them to: [email protected]

Fresh produce ready to be donated to local food banks

Woodley Town Council works with local charity Launchpad to provide fresh produce for locals affected by homelessness

Woodley Town Council, in association with the Reading Road Tenant’s Association, has allocated three community plots at its Reading Road Allotment site for local charity Launchpad to engagecorporate volunteers to grow crops to supply fresh garden produce to disadvantaged and vulnerable families via foodbanks, soup kitchens and community fridges.

Launchpad, a Reading-based homelessness prevention charity, workswith teams of regular corporate volunteers to create and nurture these working allotments to cultivate, make good and grow fresh produce seasonally and once picked, washed and packed, to make it available to the local community in need.

The plots

The designated plots were originally overgrown and a lot of work has gone into cultivating them from both Launchpad volunteers and Reading Road tenant volunteers.

Carolyn Davies, a Committee Member of the Reading Road Tenant’s Association, is delighted that the plots have been so well cultivated and able to produce fresh produce in a relatively short space of time.

“I would just like to say how proud I am of what we have achieved in a relatively short time on the Launchpad plots. It doesn’t seem that long ago when we started on the mammoth task of clearing an overgrown area, and we warned Launchpad not to expect anything this year because the ground was so poor!”

In addition to the Launchpad volunteers, many tenants have volunteered to provide expertise to assist on the volunteering days, filling in the gaps between sessions, watering in the evenings, providing tools, seeds, plants and seedlings and more.

Donations

Many local companies have also donated several items to get the project up and running. These include: Hammerson, which donated money for the poly tunnel, Balfour Beatty which provided a container for storage and University College of Estate Management which donated money that will be used to fit out the container and Shinfield Parish Council which provided a water tank.

Donations have also been received following a plea on Woodley focused group pages on Facebook, including tables and chairs, donations of money to buy seeds and compost and two wheelbarrows and watering cans.

The project has been so successful that it was able to deliver fresh produce to Reading FoodBank Readifood and 2kg of broad beans to Sadaka, another local food charity based in Reading, which provides free meals every Saturday.

During the first delivery to Readifood, threepeople were able to take bags of courgettes, onions, kale, borlotto and French beans, resulting in plot to customer in less than two hours.

The Reading Road Tenants Association is looking for more volunteers to help run the project, including some expertise knowledge to supervise tending and cultivating the crops. Please contact  [email protected] for more information.

Food donations at Readifood

A recent project by the Woodley & District U3A (University of the Third Age) exploring the history of Woodley town centre and its shops is now available to view at the Oakwood Centre

The project, in conjunction with the Wokingham U3A, the Reading U3A and partnered with Woodley Town Council, Woodley Library, the Museum of Berkshire Aviation, Reading Borough Libraries and the Berkshire Record Office, explores the history of Woodley’s shops, dating the first shop to circa 1854.

According to the 1847 Kelly’s Directory of Berkshire, Woodley was described as “a scattered village and consists principally of farm houses”. By 1854, there were three shopkeepers in the village, while the first actual shop on Crockhamwell Road was Bertie and Beatrice Ambrose’s Fish & Chip shop in 1939.

Interestingly, the first shopping centre in Woodley was on Headley Road and the first stage of the Crockhamwell Road shopping precinct was not developed until 1965.

Further interesting facts and photos are displayed along the corridor towards the Woodley Town Council offices in the Oakwood Centre.

Woodford Park in Woodley has been recognised by the Green Flag Award Scheme as one of the very best in the world. The Park joins other green spaces awarded recognition in Berkshire and remains the only one to be awarded Green Flag status in the Wokingham Borough area.

Woodford Park is among a record-breaking 1,970 UK parks and green spaces and 131 in thirteen other countries around the world, that has received a prestigious Green Flag Award – the mark of a quality park or green space.

This international award, now into its third decade, is a sign to the public that the space boasts the highest possible environmental standards, is beautifully maintained and has excellent visitor facilities.

“We are absolutely delighted to receive a Green Flag Award for the second year running.  We know how much quality green spaces matter to residents and visitors, and this award celebrates the dedication that goes into maintaining Woodford Park to such a high standard by staff and volunteers,” commented Woodley Town Council Leader Keith Baker.

International Green Flag Award scheme manager Paul Todd said: “It’s fantastic that we have more Green Flag Awards in the UK than ever before, joined this year by 131 International winners.

“Each flag honours the thousands of staff and volunteers who work tirelessly to maintain the high standards demanded by the Green Flag Award. We congratulate each and every winner on their fantastic achievement.”

Woodley Town Council hosted, alongside Spriggan Productions, an afternoon of entertainment and live music at Centre Stage in Woodley town centre on Saturday

Local residents were treated to an afternoon of live music from three local bands, dancing acts and circus entertainment. Held in the town centre at Centre Stage, the event started with entertainment from five dance acts, ranging from American Tribal Style bellydancing to dancing with fire. Jadoo’s Jingles, Trish Marriot as Aradia, Sandy Maya’s Belly Fairies, the Salome Sisters, Rachel Bennett’s school of bellydance and Julie Bellyfire all entertained Woodley residents throughout the four hour event, with costume changes, props and innovative and unique dance sessions, some of which were purposely non-choreographed.

Some of the lovely dancers

The first band to hit the stage were the Hedge Inspectors. A husband and wife duo who performed their own original songs, many of which with entertaining lyrics about family life. For a taste of one of their songs, CLICK HERE.

The Hedge Inspectors

The crowd was then entertained by further dance performances before the Nefarius Picaroons came on stage with original and cover songs.

Nefarius Picaroons

While sound checks were in progress for the final band – Spriggan Mist – the crowd was once again entertained by the dancers, while the younger crown continued to be entertained by Mark’s Magic Mayhem.

Belly dancing entertainment

Mark’s Magic Mayhem

Woodley Town Council Leader Cllr Keith Baker and Woodley Town Mayor Cllr Kay Gilder both attended the event, alongside other Woodley Town Councillors. Cllr Baker was very impressed with the quality of the bands and that the Council was able to host a free event for the people of Woodley and commented on how many positive comments he was receiving from residents at the event. Cllr Gilder also mentioned the positive response from local residents.

Woodley Town Council Leader Cllr Keith Baker Woodley Town Mayor Cllr Kay Gilder

Spriggan Mist, a local progressive rock folk band then performed their original songs, filling Woodley town centre with a blast of spriggery entertainment!

Spriggan Mist

Woodley Town Council would like to thank all those involved in making it such a fun and successful event and to all those who attended. A date for Woodley’s 2nd Street Concert will be announced soon.

Woodley Town Deputy Mayor, Cllr Dave Mills, visited local charity Me2 Club at Centre Stage, where the club was selling cakes to raise money for the charity

Photo: Me2 Club

Don’t forget that Centre Stage can be hired for FREE this year for non-profit making events