Woodley Town Mayor, Cllr Janet Sartorel, will be lighting a Beacon in Woodford Park at 21.45 on Thursday 2^nd June, for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations

We are proud to be part of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Beacons and Associated Activities on June 2, 2022 and will be lighting a Beacon at 21.45 in Woodford Park

The Beacon is one of thousands being lit in the UK and the Commonwealth, and forms part of the official programme announced by Buckingham Palace for the Jubilee Weekend.

Beacons will be lit in all 54 Commonwealth capitals and the Principal Beacon lighting will take place in a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Thursday evening. This will take the form of a lighting installation with The Queen’s Green Canopy ’Tree of Trees’ sculpture and projections onto the front of Buckingham Palace. This innovative new way of taking part in the beacon lighting will reflect the Royal Family’s long history championing environmental causes.

Bruno Peek LVO OBE OPR, Pageantmaster of The Queen’s Jubilee Platinum Beacons said: “Building on a long tradition of lighting beacons to mark significant royal celebrations, thousands of beacons will be lit across the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. They will enable local communities to join together to pay tribute to Her Majesty as part of the official programme of events.

“For the first time, town criers, pipers, buglets and choirs from the UK and the Commonwealth will come together to join in the celebrations in their own individual and special way. It is wonderful to see the range of support for beacon lighting, which will highlight both the diversity and unity of the nation and the Commonwealth. The Queen has lit up our lives for 70 years through her dedicated service and commitment. We would like to light up the nation and the Commonwealth in her honour.”

Lighting the Beacon in Woodford Park

The Beacon will be lit at the mound at the end of the lake in Woodford Park in Woodley, by the basketball court. It will be one of over 2,022 lit by charities, communities and faith groups all over the UK. Please arrive by 21.30 if you would like to be part of this historical occasion.

The beacon will be lit by Woodley Town Mayor, Cllr Janet Sartorel, at 21.45 when Bel Canto Choir, a local female singing group, will perform the Song for the Commonwealth, a new song which has been written and composed specially to mark the occasion by Lucy Keily, from Australia and Vincent Atueyi Chinemelu from Nigeria.

The Town Crier will be making a proclamation in the Town Centre at 2pm on Thursday 2^nd June. 

The Council has purchased an approved gas fuelled beacon for the event. 

Woodley Town Mayor, Cllr Janet Sartorel, said: “We are proud to be part of this momentous celebration. It is only appropriate that this unique milestone in history is marked with beacons and music. We are honoured to be part of this special event for Her Majesty, The Queen’s 70^th year as our Monarch and Head of the Commonwealth on her Platinum Jubilee.”

Woodley’s Big Jubilee Lunch Sunday 5th June 12.00 – 16.00

Join the Woodley Town Mayor and special guests to celebrate The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee! 

Bring your family, friends, chairs, table and a picnic to Woodley Town Centre, near Centre Stage on Sunday 5th June 2022. 

The FREE event will include: 

🇬🇧 Mix and mingle entertainer: Professor Crump! 

🇬🇧 Live music – bands singing songs from the 1940s to the present day! 

🇬🇧 FREE Pets Corner: chicks, ducklings, lambs, goats, rabbits, tortoise, sheep, ponies!

🇬🇧 FREE craft activities: make/decorate your own Crown!

🇬🇧 FREE chalk pavement drawing activity! 

🇬🇧 FREE ice cream for children!

Put it in your diary now – we look forward to seeing you there!

Motor Sport and Planting Trees – 5,700 Miles, 1.74 Tonnes of CO2, £100 for the planting of Trees

On Sunday 22^nd May, the locally based Hants & Berks Motor Club, who celebrated their seventy fifth anniversary last year, ran their annual Early Bird Classic Car Tour, an 85-mile scenic tour starting at Woodford Park in Berkshire as guests of Woodley Town Council and taking the event participants via a pre-arranged road route to the Amberley Museum in West Sussex.

The thirty-six cars were flagged away from the start by Woodley Town Mayor, Councillor Janet Sartorel.

This was the first ‘green’ event organised by the motor club since the recent updating of its Environmental and Sustainability Policy. The club is not new to the world of reducing carbons, it organised the UK’s version of the annual Mobil Economy Run back in the 1950 – 1970s, which was all about gaining the maximum mileage from a tank of petrol, hypermiling. Each year, the 1000 mile road routes were designed to test the ability of drivers to minimise their cars petrol consumption over the most challenging roads with plenty of hills to climb in England, Wales and Scotland.

The event involved an estimated total of 5,700 miles including participants travelling to Woodley, the event and the miles returning home. It also included the miles travelled by the event marshals and organisers. The fuel used was equivalent to about 1.7 tonnes of CO2. To balance this the Club has donated the costs of tree planting to one of the leading conservation groups in the UK, Forest Carbon who are planting millions of trees aimed at increasing the UK’s ability to capture carbon and balance the generation of CO2.

This is in line with its motor sports governing body Motorsport UK’s policy, who are actively encouraging member clubs to each do their bit towards slowing down the rate of global warming, enabling the club to continue with its sport and at the same time balance its production of carbons that enter the atmosphere.

Club Secretary and the events organiser, Woodley resident Bill Bonney, said: “We are delighted to be adopting this policy and proud to be one of the first local motor clubs to be involved with the carbon capture initiative and although our contribution is small it demonstrates the willingness to move forward in a positive direction.”

For more information please contact: Hants & Berks Motor Club Ltd: 0118 969 7591 / billabonney@aol.com.

We are delighted to announce the winners of our Jubilee Stones competition!

Thank you to all of the children who entered the competition to paint a Jubilee themed stone for our Platinum Jubilee commemorative memorial.

Woodley Town Mayor, Cllr Janet Sartorel, had the very difficult task of choosing three winners from over 1000 stones.

“Congratulations to all of the children who entered the competition and worked so hard on their designs. There were so many amazing stones to choose from and it was very hard to choose just three winners,” said Janet.

Winners

Under 5 years old

The winner of the Under 5s category is four year old Edward Von Der Recke.

6 – 8 years old

The winner of the 6-8 Years category is eight year old Abhyuday Varma.

9 – 12 years old

The winner of the 9-12 Years category is 12 year old Abbey Jenkins.

Big Jubilee Lunch

The three winners and their families will join Woodley Town Mayor, Cllr Janet Sartorel, and Woodley Town Deputy Mayor, Cllr Kay Gilder, at the Top Table on Sunday 5th June in Woodley Town Centre for our Big Jubilee Lunch, in association with the Woodley Town Centre Partnership.

The FREE event will include: 

🇬🇧 FREE entertainment: Professor Crump! 

🇬🇧 FREE live music: bands singing songs from the 1940s to the present day! 

🇬🇧 FREE Pets Corner: chicks, ducklings, lambs, goats, rabbits, tortoise, sheep, ponies!

🇬🇧 FREE craft activities: make/decorate your own Crown!

🇬🇧 FREE chalk pavement drawing activity! 

🇬🇧 FREE ice cream for children from Maya’s Treats!

Join us!

Please join the FREE event – bring your family, friends, chairs, table and a picnic to Woodley Town Centre, near Centre Stage on Sunday 5th June 2022, 12.00 – 16.00!

“I am honoured to be joined at the Top Table by the winners and their families. Please join us on Sunday for a joyous and fun day of celebration,” said Janet.

Commemorative display

All of the stones from the competition will surround our Queen’s Green Canopy Jubilee Tree in Woodford Park as a permanent commemorative display to mark and celebrate The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

“I am looking forward to seeing all of the stones set in place, creating an outstanding commemorative display for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Thank you to all of the Council staff who have worked so hard to create this,” said Janet.

We are currently busy getting the display ready and will announce soon when we will be unveiling it.

Find out which roads are closed near you

Wokingham Borough Council has published a list of road closures on its Platinum Jubilee hub, where you can see an interactive map of closures across the borough as well as a list showing closures by area.

Although roads will be closed, the Council says access will be maintained at all times for residents and businesses.

Please contact Wokingham Borough Council directly for any issues.

20th May 2022

We have received an increase in the number of retrospective planning applications for properties in the area. 

Please note that, for certain types of developments, residents need to seek planning permission. 

If you are thinking of any building work, in the first instance, please contact Wokingham Borough Council or visit the Planning Portal for further guidance and information.

https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/planning/

18th May 2022

Progress on the new play area at Woodford Park is going well and we should be able to announce an ‘open’ date soon.

In the meantime, here are some photos of the progress so far.

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We are delighted to announce that Cllr Janet Sartorel has been elected to Woodley Town Mayor and Cllr Kay Gilder to Woodley Town Deputy Mayor for the year 2022-23.

This is Cllr Sartorel’s second Mayorship and will be Cllr Gilder’s sixth time as Deputy Mayor. The Mayor’s charity for this year is Keep Mobile.

If you would like to book the Town Mayor or Deputy Mayor, please email Matt Filmore: Matthew.filmore@woodley.gov.uk.

Wokingham Borough Council has launched its first Crowdfunding campaign to try to raise funds to support young Ukrainian refugees arriving in the borough. 

Summary

• The idea of the scheme is to help children and young Ukrainian refugees (aged up to 23) to live as full a life as possible while in the borough
• The money raised will pay for the sort of things children and young people will need to live here as well as possible but that go beyond basic provision –  for example tech for school, college or university, a pair of football boots or dance shoes.
• Monetary donations are the preference in order to build up a fund that can be used to flexibly to meet individual need. The needs will be identified with refugees themselves and our Ukraine case workers.
• If there is a need identified that we think a charity can help with, we will seek that help directly – so we won’t be buying things that are already available via VCS support
• Donations in kind will be accepted but because we are seeking to meet individual need, we are asking for people to contact us if they want to donate goods so we can assess if they meet a specific need

Donations

To donate money please visit: Crowdfunding Page

To donate goods please email: yoursupport@wokingham.gov.uk

Annual Town Meeting 26th May, 19.00-20.00, Oakwood Centre 

Climate Change in Woodley – be part of the solution 

Join us to tackle climate change and collect your FREE plantable wild seed earth card 🌍

The Annual Town Meeting this year will cover:

😃 Welcome from Woodley Town Mayor

🌍 Wokingham Borough Council Climate Change update

🐝 Woodley Allotments Bee Project update

🌍 Woodley Town Council Climate Change update

🤔 Q&A from Woodley Residents to Woodley Town Council 

Have your say on the future of Woodley 

During the Annual Town Meeting, there will also be the opportunity for Woodley residents to put questions to the Council about any issues you have that fall under our responsibility. 

These are some of the areas we look after:

• Centre Stage 

• The Oakwood Centre

• The Garden of Remembrance

• The allotments at Reading Road

• Community activities and events 

• Halls for hire (Coronation and Chapel Halls)

• Providing detached youth work in the town 

• Woodford Park Leisure Centre and The Gym on the Park

• Contributions to the Town Centre Management Partnership

• Local parks (Woodford Park, Malone, Wheble Parks & Bulmershe Open Space)

• Maintaining designated bus shelters, the public toilet, street lighting, noticeboards, and public seating

(All else falls under the responsibility of Wokingham Borough Council) 

Please join us on the evening of Thursday 26th May at 19.00 at the Oakwood Centre or watch the live feed on our YouTube Channel. 

Please click here to view the full agenda for this meeting.