The inspirational Youth Project

Now in its 10th year, the Youth Project is a joint project with the Royal Latin School and Buckingham School sponsored by the Town Council as part of the Fringe every year.

Last night was the culmination of two days collaboration between the two schools to produce an evening of art and drama. And it was magical!!

If you were not there: you missed an amazing, inspirational and heart warming treat. A group of about thirty 14 and 15 year olds produced a play made up of a series of vignettes focused on being kind to others. I know that sounds schmultzy but it was deeply moving for me and I am sure everyone else who was in audience. I am so glad that I didn't have to speak afterwards as I would surely have choked!

I wish it had been filmed as it would provide an powerful antidote to any adult who might sometimes have a downer on the 'young people of today etc'. What was on display last night was challenging, profound, generously provocative and extraordinarily talented - both the actors and visual artists.

Well done everyone! Obviously well done to the young people themselves but also to the teachers who guided and facilitated them: Rachel Hunt, Lance Keegan, Clare Checkly, Shahanara Ahmed and Vicky Richardson. And the technical support from Angus Butcher and Tom Dudley was seamless too! Thanks.

Kindness and love right back atcha!!

Sorry no pics of the young people themselves (we were told to post any on social media) but here is Rachel announcing the start with Lance and Clare beside her.

And here is people at the end - Amanda Brubaker (Town Council Entertainments Coordnator), Cllr Lisa O'Donghue, Julie, the Mayoress, Clare, Lance and Shahanara

And here are the three panels of artwork produced over the two days:

And I loved this - small notes were taped to the backs of all the seats. This was my one:

So to whomever wrote that - it is the same for you!

A gentle & musical cream tea

As part of the Fringe, I enjoyed a most enjoyable cream tea at Villiers yesterday where we were serenaded by ‘Prosecco Notes’ (flute and violin duo, consisting of sisters Camilla and Lucy).

The cream tea was subject to a 10% discount on production of the Fringe brochure. And I didn't even have to pay as past Mayor Mike Smith paid for mine! Thank you Mike.

Rotary welcome

On Monday lunchtime Julie and I were treated to a meal at the Golf Club with the Buckingham Rotary Club, hosted by their incoming President, Chris Sutton. Thank you!

There were about a dozen members present including one from Bratislava who brought greetings from there. The other external member was Euan Martyn from Towcester who was also the speaker. Euan spoke about Mary's Meals which is a charity established to make sure that every child receives a nutritious daily meal in a place of education.

£13.90 is all it costs to feed a child for a whole school year.... 

Euan also spoke about the Backpack Project which he says Towcester Rotary is committed to supporting (see below for further information). This could be coming to Buckingham schools, so don't throw away your old backpacks yet!!

So I have huge respect for the Rotary Club International (my Dad was a Rotary president in his town many moons ago). Long may they continue to support communities both here and abroad. (More information about them here)

The back pack project:

The incoming President, Chris Sutton

Great vision!

I was hugely impressed with the work of Bucks Vision when I went to visit them on Monday morning. They are based in Aylesbury but provide services across the county.

Steve Naylor, Chief Executive and Anne Mills, Fundraising Manager welcomed me with great cup of tea and a fascinating conversation about the work of their charity. This is one of the hidden gems of Buckinghamshire.

If you are or you know someone who is experiencing sight loss of any description, Bucks Vision will be able to offer helpful advice on aids and support. They also seek to tackle the social isolation that can come with losing one's sight. As people are living longer, the incidence of sight loss is increasing. And so the vision of Bucks Vision of working towards a day when:

"all blind and partially sighted people are able to participate fully in our community, enjoying the same opportunities, freedom, responsibilities and quality of life as people who are fully sighted"

is one that is even more vital now.

Do get in touch with them if you are seeking assistance for yourself of someone elese, or indeed would like to offer support as a volunteer. (This is a volunteer based service)

BucksVision Office and Aylesbury Resource Centre
143 Meadowcroft
Aylesbury
Buckinghamshire
HP19 9HH

T: 01296 487 556
E: reception@bucksvision.co.uk

Barks in the Park!

I had a very doggy day in Bourton Park on Sunday, acting as compere for the the annual Town Council Dog Show, now in its fourth year. More than 90 dogs were registered and I reckon, at one point, there were over 200 people there. This is a fabulous celebration of our canine friends.

There were big dogs, small dogs, shaggy dogs and bald ones - and everything in between. My job was simply to announce the next competition class and then the winners. The real had workers were the judges: Helen Holland (a local professional dog walker amongst other occupations) and Claire Childs (the Deputy Town Clerk). They had the excruciating task of deciding (for example) the cutest puppy from about 25 very, very cute puppies! No mean feat!

And I should report that 'best in show' was Lucy, an English Mastiff from Thornton with her owner Paul.

Great thanks also to the organisers: Cllrs Lisa O'Donoghue & Terry Bloomfield, Amanda Brubaker, Eloise-Mary Medland, Craig Calder and Ian Saunders. And great thanks to the sponsors: Aden Grange & Canine Kitchen for sacks of dog food for the worthy winners, the Maids Moreton Veterinary centre for the rosettes and Vets4Pets for the winners cup.  And thank you too to Kimberly Cox for the dog training demonstration. It was great to see more side show tents there this year as well. Perhaps even more next year!

Even the Red Arrows put in an appearance for us!

And thanks to all who came along and supported this event - whether you had fur or not!

Here are some pics taken mostly by me but with a couple by Lisa O'Donoghue (thanks)

The Best in Show: Lucy (a rescue dog) with owner Paul from Thornton.

The cute puppy array with the judging team in the foreground

Not sure these two quite got the idea of the lookalike class...!! :-)

Michael Doherty in his Veterinarian scrubs ;-)
(Thanks Lisa for the pic)

The compere trying to stay on top of all the activities!
(Thanks for the pic Lisa)

Quiz night fun

To kick off the annual Buckingham Fringe, the Town Council organised a Family Quiz Night at the Community Centre. We had a great evening with some lovely food provided by the Woolpack, as part of the package as it were!

The questions were set by Cllr Terry Bloomfield, ably assisted on the night Cllr Margaret Gateley. Amanda Brubaker (TC Events Officer) had set some questions for young people present too - and we had a special round for them. I acted as Quizmaster.

It was delightful fun with a broad range of questions. The Quiz being won by the Heath Family. Well done!

Thanks to all who came along and everyone who helped make this happen.

One teacher, one child, one book, and one pen can change the world!

The world needs more teachers, this country needs more teachers and Buckingham needs more teachers! And so I had the greatest of pleasures handing out the certificates for the successful completion of training for a dozen new teachers trained at Bourton Meadow Academy school over the last year. 

They are pictured below together with the Head of Training Helen Byrom and other key tutors. It has been a very hard working year of study and practice for them, I know. It will probably be even tougher next year when then all take on their first year's work as a teacher. And I wish them all the very best in the years to come.

Below the pics is the speech I delivered.

It is my great pleasure and honour to be here this evening for the awarding of certificates to the new graduates of the Bourton Meadow Teacher Training programme. 

Just to begin: thank you all: new teachers, experienced teachers and tutors... thank you all for being so committed to the profession of teaching. As Malala has said “one child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world”. You are all changing worlds, opening vistas and nurturing ambitions. 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you have done and will be doing for the young people of Buckingham and beyond.

It’s my job as Mayor to be relentless in searching for all the ways to help Buckingham become an even better place in which to live, work, study, visit and play. Thanking you and supporting you is a big part of that.

As I see it, you are in the ambition business. I am too and always have been. 

Ambition is a very important word to me. When I review all of what I have sought to do in my life: professionally, personally and politically, I have arrived at the conclusion that ambition lies at the heart of it all. I have always aimed to do all that I can to help create a world in which everyone has dreams and ambitions, and the wherewithal to achieve these. 

Ambition is a precious thing and I think we need more of it in our world. Ambition, hope and dreams are good for our health and well being, and they good for our society too as they drive our economy forwards and make improvements in community spirit.  

And so as Mayor, I am carrying on with my focus on ambition. Ambition is a key theme of my Mayoralty. I have been and will be looking for all the ways in which I can support, nurture, recognise and rejoice in the ambition present in all those whom I am meeting. And I see a lot of it here tonight!

I have initiated the ‘Buckingham Ambition Project’. I The shape the BAP is slowly emerging and so please let me know if you would like to be involved in some way. 

For me teaching is all about cradling and developing that fragile thing called ambition. Perhaps that is the reason why we remember our teachers decades on. 

I can still name and picture my primary school teachers: Mrs Johnson, Mr Laugher and Mr McHaffie. Mr McHaffie used to keep a second shirt on the back of his classroom door as by lunchtime his passion for music, English, poetry and drama usually meant he had worked up quite a sweat and had to change his shirt! I remember that sort of stuff and I bet you all do too… I think that it is because teachers help us shape our nascent ambitions that memories of them stick with us.

But I left out two teachers on that list: Lorna Harvey and Ron Harvey. My parents. They were both teachers and they both taught me for much of my early years. I was kind of home-schooled at school if you like! Indeed my dad was a teacher of teachers for the later part of his career. So I have watched what teachers do in the day times, in the evenings and at the weekends… And it is even tougher now, I know.

So I am here to wish you well in your careers as teachers. Please never forget that the children that you teach will probably never forget you. And I know that you will be doing all that you can to help them be ambitious for themselves and the world.

So may I thank you again sincerely for being wonderful, magical, liberating, inspiring, sponsors of dreams and ambitions: in other words, for being teachers!

The Café Crawl

This all began as an idea for a get together arising from the Buckingham: What Matters to You facebook group. The group had a pub crawl a few months ago and some people said that would not suit everyone. So the idea of a Café Crawl emerged. June Hall and I hosted the first one last Wednesday (12 July) and whilst people did not come out in huge numbers (there were about 8 of us involved), it was a success. We proved the concept!

So, the question now is when to host the next one... (and collect some more money for the Mayor's Charities!)

Buckingham school: sporting achievement all round

Julie and I had a fabulous evening at (a very hot) Buckingham School event on Thursday last: the Sports Presentation Evening 2017. Such wonderful talent on display from so many youngsters excelling in netball, football, rounders, rugby, badminton, basketball, golf, horse riding, and athletics etc!

The awards, talent and achievements are too numerous to list (and sadly are not listed on the School website either) - but there have been many, many successes and wins over the last year - as teams and as individuals.

Well done to all of them!

The special guest was Luke Delahunty who gave an inspirational address and then gave out the dozens of awards and shook dozens of hands! Great thanks to him.

Here's a couple of pics taken by Cllr Robin Stuchbury (thanks for the use)

Gala concert

Every year the Buckingham Summer Festival puts on an amazing series of musical events supported by an exceptional bunch of musicians. The musical talent on show is quite phenomenal.

Julie and I had the greatest of pleasures to be invited to the last Gala concert of the series this year:

The Orchestra of Stowe Opera with

Robert Secret – conductor
Francesca Smith – leader
Christopher Redgate – oboe
Helen Massey – soprano

and they played:

Richard Strauss Oboe Concerto
Gustav Mahler Symphony No.4 in G major

at Buckingham Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul on Saturday 8 July

It was a sumptuous evening of melody and skill. I would recommend emailing the organisers to make sure you are one of the first to hear about the programme for next year.

It was wonderful evening and we are most grateful for the invitation.

Art in the Park (and the history of coffee)

One of delights of being Town Mayor is that you get invited in some wonderful events in the grandest of ways:

Even though this meant leaving before the refreshments after the MK Civic Service, this was not an invitation to decline. When we arrived were treated to some Tanzanian Coffee and a exuberant and highly educational lecture on the history of coffee...

Think for a moment, where do you think coffee originates from? 

You might be surprised to know it comes from Ethiopia originally and it was the Yemenis who set about turning it into the drink we know today.

We enjoyed a fascinating lecture in a (very hot) yurt - "The History Of Coffee In Islam" by Abdul-Rehman Malik.

Milton Keynes Civic Ceremony

After Bicester, Julie and I zoomed over to Wavendon for the MK Civic Service. It was a delightfully sweet and wholesome affair with the church packed with local parishioners, mayors and council leaders from many places and several choirs.

Cllr David Hopkins, Mayor of Milton Keynes, got married to his wife Susan in the church so this made the service particularly lovely. It was also his birthday the day previous so we ended the service with a resounding chorus of 'Happy Birthday to You'. His colleague Cllr Andrew Geary gave a delightful speech honouring his colleague as well as peppering it with some funny stories.

I particularly liked a moment in the service when other faiths were invited to light candles on the altar, representing the Covenant Word Ministries, the MK & District Reform Synagogue, the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Temple, the MK Baha'i Community, the MK Hindu Community and Zainabiya Islamic Centre.

The 'chain gang' lines up outside the church, in order of status. I was near the back as you can see!! (Check Debretts for why!)

Bicester Civic Ceremony

Many towns organise 'civic ceremonies' in association with local churches and (ecumenically) other faiths. The aim is to celebrate the town and provide a spiritual blessing on those who serve the town. I went to my first one of these in Bicester last Sunday.

It was held in St Edburg's church in the middle of the town and was attended by several Oxfordshire dignitaries (civil and military) as well as the 'chain gang' from neighbouring towns and councils. (I am getting to know some of these people now!)

We sang hymns, listened to biblical readings (one by Captain Nutine who turned out to be a local Buckingham man when I spoke with him later on) and many prayed. The Reverend Verena Breed gave an excellent address to the assembled people which impressed me hugely. She spoke with passion about the responsibility on us all to build communities where all felt welcome.

And then we walked to town's market square while the military and uniformed youth groups paraded past. All helped by the sunny weather.

Bicester Town Council is based in the beautiful Garth park in Bicester. We ended proceedings there with a glass of wine and a few snacks. Do visit the park when you get a chance: it has a delightful cafe, a bandstand and some lovely trees.

The Mayor, Brigadier and Captain await the march past. (In the foreground is the Mayor of Brackley)

So lovely to here the xylophones!

The youth groups were out in force too

Just liked this image

A jovial bunch of Bicester town councillors with the Mayor, Councillor Les Sibley, in the middle. Many thanks to him and the organising team for this splendid occasion.

Maids Moreton School fete: make a date now for next year's event

If you didn't attend the Maids Moreton School Fête - you missed an exceptionally well organised and delightful occasion. It was an old fashioned fête with some new twists. One of which was the bake off competition which I, Julie and the President of the local WI, Enid Coomber had to judge. (It's a tough life being a Mayor having to eat cake and all...!)

My favourite side show was the breaking crockery one: I had 4 goes! Such a pleasure!! And I even made some bread over a fire in the woodland craft area. Some good beer was on hand kindly donated, I understand by the Woolpack Pub in the town. I was also impressed by the catering for veggies like me for the BBQ.

I don't know the date of next year's event, but do make sure you go!

Thank you to everyone who helped make this afternoon a great success. Here are some pics, mostly taken by Kate Eastman. Thank you Kate for allowing me to use these pics!

UPDATE 10/7/17: Just received this delightful letter of thanks. I love the fact that the children have been involved in deciding what to do with the money raised!

Seconds after the ribbon was cut (my first red ribbon!) standing with the Headteacher Keira Ainsworth

It's a hard job!

Announcing one of the winners.

Presenting the certificate of achievement 

Mayoress Julie and a delighted a young lad

Altogether a lovely day. Thank you Maids Moreton School and PTA.

My favourite side show!!

Happy Independence Day 4th July

One of the perks of being Mayor is that you get invited to places that you would never otherwise go. Friday was a case in point: we were invited to 4th July celebrations at RAF Croughton (aka USAF Croughton!) We were welcomed by Colonel Eric P Oliver of the 422nd Air Base Group to their fete which included deep fried twinkies and other traditional 'low calorie' treats that Americans have to celebrate their independence from the UK. 

It was a delightful atmosphere: lots of forces families having fun. There were fair rides (Julie and I had a quick go on the carousel), climbing walls and a variety of side shows that were curious and different (see the pics below). 

We bumped into the Mayor of Banbury again and had a good conversation about shared town challenges. We were discussing the growth of the airbase which is set to go from around 800 personnel to 3000 in the coming months. So it is likely that we will be welcoming some more American air force staff and officers to both our towns. 

All the Americans we met on Friday night were most warm and welcoming. I am sure we will continue to make them welcome here too. 

The Colonel (not his usual uniform I understand):

 

Frito boats $3£...?!?

Funnel cakes $3£...?!?

And deep fried twinkies!! (£4$ for two) They were yummy.

Getting out more

On Tuesday, I attended the Public Sector Show in the Excel conference centre in London. It was an opportunity to learn a little about what else is happening in the public services around the country, speak up for the role of first tier local government (Town and Parish Councils) and just let people know that Buckingham is great place to visit, live and do business in!

As with most of these kinds of events you are bombarded with sales people seeking to foist on you their marketing items in exchange for information that will prove to their bosses that paying the £1000's to have a stand there was worthwhile. I came away with a handspinner but that was all!

What did I learn?

• Local government cannot afford to ignore Brexit: this is not just a Whitehall project for central government. There are huge issues around recruitment for example.
• People can talk about passion completely dispassionately
• Commissioning is not procurement in a dress/suit: it is an entirely different approach to organising public services that is focused on outcomes first and foremost
• Negotiation begins with knowing what your contender wants (really wants) and never assume that you know
• Don't think that you can have a conference session in the middle of an exhibition without either brilliant soundproofing or an amazing sound system or preferably both. (People do need to hear what the presenters are saying!)
• Silent disco headsets can be used for things that don't involve house music...