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HUNGERFORD
in West Berkshire

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LOCAL NEWS

New piano for The Croft Hall

The Croft Hall’s venerable old grand piano has finally been retired after more than a hundred years of service. Presented to the Hall by Lady Pearce soon after the building’s completion in 1900, the Blüthner has celebrated the end of two World Wars and accompanied countless other festivities, recitals, shows, concerts and renditions of ‘Jerusalem’. The faithful old warhorse has gone to pastures new, where it will be lovingly restored to its original condition (a process which unfortunately cost more than the price of a new piano). With it goes a little piece of Hungerford’s history, but as one era ends another begins. Its frisky young replacement – by Wendl & Lung of Vienna – stands ready to carry on from its predecessor, and will be celebrated with an inaugural concert.


** REGISTRATION   IS  YOUR  FIRST  PRIORITY ** 

As you are already aware a Housing Need Survey of Hungerford was conducted by Arlene Kersley the Rural Housing Enabler for Berkshire at the Community Council for Berkshire, in autumn 2006.  The survey results identified that there is considerable need for affordable housing for people with a local connection in Hungerford.

 Hungerford Town Council feels it is important to secure some affordable housing for local people. Such housing can only be developed on a rural exception site, where the housing is restricted for local people and must remain affordable in perpetuity. Hungerford Town Council is working with Testway Housing Association to identify possible sites for rural exception development.

However, we cannot stress enough,  that if you or your family members are in need of affordable housing you must be registered on the West Berkshire Common Housing Register to be eligible.  Anyone can register, although allocations will be based on local connection and level of need. Housing on such a site will be available to rent or as shared ownership where you will be able to buy up to 80% of the property and the Housing Association will retain the additional 20%. To register contact West Berkshire District Council on 01635 42400 or visit their website www.westberks.gov.uk   For further information contact Arlene Kersley on 0118 961 2000. Issued by Hungerford  Town Council with thanks to Arlene Kersley


West Berks councillors will be holding a ''surgery'' in the Interview room at Hungerford Library on Saturday 26th April and, we believe, thereafter on the last Saturday of the month.


Latest edition of CHAIN (March 08) now online here


What's On - if you would like to help your customers/members/guests know What's On in Hungerford, why not download and print a FREE copy of the events list. You can choose how much to display and you can import into Word or Excel and tailor to your own specific requirements. Also, please encourage everyone to add their local events - it's a FREE serviceand since this website receives over 1million hits/year, it's a great publicity opportunity.

FREE What's On file to download

To add your event, click here


The new Hungerford Library opened on schedule on Friday 4th January 2008. 

Click here for opening times and contact details
pictures here


Carnival 2007 pictures by Micky Thompson

Click on the title or a picture to open a new window with a gallery of pictures from 14 July 2997.

 


Latest edition of the West Berks

Arts & Leisure Information Bulletin

available here (285kb PDF)


Are you 18 - 34?

Rotaract West Berkshire is central to Newbury, Hungerford and Thatcham, and is an ideal opportunity for anyone aged 18-34 living in West Berkshire to meet up, do something different, meet new people and make friends and generally have lots of fun! Rotaract is a non political, non religious and non profit organization.

Visit their website at www.rotaractwestberks.org.uk
We formally meet the first and third Mondays of every month.


CLICK the banner to check dates/places to suit you ...


Ben Blake has been elected as the new Chairman for the Hungerford Chamber of Commerce. He replaces Nick Furr who receives a heartfelt vote of thanks for all his stirling service for the Chamber.


click above for more details


HEAT @ Farmers Market

Planting workshop - April Farmers Market, Sunday 27th April - bring your seeds along and we'll show you how to plant them.

Plant Swap - May Farmers Market, Sunday 25th May
    bring along your surplus plants and swap them for something different.
 
Events are held at the Hungerford Environmental Action Team stall on the Farmers Market each month.

Any questions call 01488 680642


H.E.A.T. website link


Latest version of OPEN DOOR available here (Jan 08)


SPORT ACTIVE & STREET ACTIVE!

....11 years + ; Brazillian Football; Basketball; Angling; Hockey; Drumming

Click here for details


A new free initial consultation LEGAL ADVICE service is now available for Chamber of Commerce members..... click here to apply.


TOWN COUNCIL CALENDAR FOR 2008


 

The role of the NAG ?

Hungerford and Inkpen have joined together as neighbouring areas to form a Neighbourhood Action Group that will address some of the local issues and concerns that communities such as ours have these days – and for which it is sometimes unclear about where or how to bring them to the attention of the right people or official agencies to have action taken.

Organised initially by our local Police, the NAG (as it’s known) now has a volunteer membership drawn from our local Council, the Chamber of Commerce, West Berkshire Council, the Police, local schools, youth workers, housing agencies who together span all kinds of interests and age ranges.

With the main focus of activity being on problems identified as being "quality of life" issues, the role of the Nag is to listen to the voice of everyone in the community, find a consensus of what the current priorities are felt to be – and draw up a series of Action Plans to raise the profile of these issues so that we can bring them to the attention of the right people or the right agencies, to try and find solutions or improvements suitable to our own local resources and needs.

The NAG has already moved on to identifying some problem issues in the area – three public meetings so far have identified issues concerning speeding cars, inconsiderate parking, slow police response times, unruly children, difficulty in contacting the police, anti-social behaviour and underage drinking.

We have heard from young people too – who raised issues about the absence of facilities for young people in the town.

Members of the community have to accept that they themselves must take a lot of the responsibility for issues of safety and behaviour and good order. It’s not just a question of leaving everything to the Police – but the NAG will listen – and then provide a voice to tell the right people about what we all feel are the current priorities.

Town Council & Chamber of Commerce

A list of grants for 2007 approved by the Council can be viewed here.


2010+ Plan (more)

Town Council & Chamber of Commerce

Free initial consultation LEGAL ADVICE service available for Chamber of Commerce members ..... click here to apply.



For local Newbury News
The West's Gift is an endowment designed to assist with the school fees at Christ's Hospital and is open to children from Hungerford.
Click for more information.

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