Melksham Tidy Town Day

Sunday 29th July

12.30 - 3pm, Meet at the Town Hall

Cleaning equipment provided but please bring gloves

Sign up at the Tourist Information Centre or by calling 01225 707424

All are welcome

Tea and cakes served afterwards

Good news for Rail Services in Melksham

Last week was an excellent one for the TransWilts railway and train services - Swindon and Chippenham via Melksham to Trowbridge and Westbury, and on to Dilton Marsh, Warminster and Salisbury.

On Tuesday, the first steam train in 50 years called at Melksham, picking up around 100 people for a day out in Canterbury. On Wednesday, the Department for Transport announced that Wiltshire Council was successful in its £4.25m funding bid; hugely significant news. On Thursday, we learned that fare anomalies that have discouraged users have been corrected (Swindon to Salisbury no longer costs £56)

The current franchise - run by First group - finishes in a year's time (April 2013, but that may slip a month or two). And as part of the process of awarding the next Franchise, the department for Transport consulted widely in the first quarter of this year.   They'll be issuing an invitation to Tender to the 4 pre-quaified bidders shortly.  We are already talking with all 4 bidders - each in their own way - about the shape of services needed with the intent of helping all of them put in the most appropriate proposal for the route covered, customers and potential customers, and businesses effected by that custom.  The Partnership strongly supported Wiltshire Council's bid, and now that funding has been granted we all have a very great deal to do.

There's so much news here that it's hard to filter it out to a few bullet points - but basically we're looking at a daily service of about 8 trains each way (that's about every 2 hours during the day, perhaps hourly at the peak) with excellent connections if not always through trains all the way from Swindon to Salisbury.  We're looking at infrastructure at stations so that they can cope with the extra traffic - foot, cycling, bus, taxi, car, and working on and with bus services to ensure that other primary points to be connected are indeed connected.  And we're looking at information and ticketing systems and structures that will market the services to people, easily provide them with time and price information when they need it, and make it easy for them to travel, giving them such a good experience when they do that they keep coming back.  More at http://www.wellho.net/mouth/3793_Excellent-Rail-News-what-it-really-means.html (my personal blog) ;  if you would like further technical information and detail please get in touch - I have mountains of it!

Finally, a big "Thank you" to everyone who has supported us thus far.   We value that support, we still need it through the implementation phase.  But I just wanted to say we wouldn't have got even this far without it.

Council ‘tops-up’ national insulation scheme funding

The Warm and Well insulation scheme is open to all Wiltshire residents who own their own home or who rent privately.  A survey will be done of the home’s existing insulation and if below the scheme’s maximum level the insulation will be free.  If the existing insulation exceeds the nationally set limits customers are asked to make a contribution.  However, Wiltshire Council now offers a further top-up grant of up to £200 to cover these extra costs (depending on circumstances) which means in most cases insulation will be free.

For more information visit the website www.warmandwell.co.uk or call 0800 500 3076.

Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel - Vacancies for two independent members

Wiltshire and Swindon councils are looking to recruit two community minded people to join the police and crime panel.

The panel is being formed to scrutinise the work of the police and crime commissioner for Wiltshire when he or she is elected in November 2012.

This is a great opportunity for two members of the public to have a real say on how policing is carried out in Wiltshire and Swindon.

We are looking for committed individuals who care passionately about their communities and have skills that could bring great value to the panel.

The council is looking for people of all ages and walks of life to apply as we would like a panel to reflect as many diverse backgrounds and have as many different skills as possible.

For more information and details of how to apply click here.

Local acts performing at the Wiltshire 2012 Festival of Celebration

The Wiltshire 2012 Festival of Celebration will feature music and entertainment from across the county and will include the arrival of the Olympic torch to Salisbury.

It will be held at Hudson’s Field on July 11 from 1pm to 10.

Most of the acts performing at the Wiltshire 2012 Festival of Celebration are local acts that entered the on-line Shine 4 Wiltshire competition.

The Salisbury Plain Military Wives Choir received the most public votes and will therefore get the honour of performing alongside the headline acts on the LOCOG stage. We have also chosen them to open the event on the main Wiltshire Council stage at 1pm.

Other acts that entered the competition were chosen to perform throughout the day. These acts come from across Wiltshire and represent the great variety of talent our county has to offer, details are listed below:

Main Stage

Salisbury Plain Military Wives Choir – The winners of the Shine 4 Wiltshire competition. The members of this group represent the army towns and villages on Salisbury Plain.

Classical Songbirds – A duet from Devizes

Luke Gittins – A solo singer, only 11 years old from Chippenham

Martha Drane – A 15 year old solo singer from Trowbridge

Ben Clements – A solo singer from Calne

Dirty Rouge – A band from Salisbury

E Minor Pop Academy – A group of young singers, aged 8 to 16, from the Salisbury area

Nudy Bronque – A band from Royal Wootton Bassett

Sticky Toffee Jazz – A solo singer from Salisbury  

City Stereo – A band from Salisbury

LOCOG Stage

These Days – Band from Salisbury (chosen by Salisbury City Council)

Salisbury Plain Military Wives Choir – as above

Main Arena

Lyneham Primary School Olympic Dance

Just so Dance – a young people’s dance group from the Westbury area

Urban Dance – a young people’s dance group from the Trowbridge area

SPF – Free Runners from Salisbury

Beer Tent

The Bateleurs – A folk band from Derry Hill, Chippenham

Jamie Eldridge – A solo singer from Salisbury

Luke Gittins – as above

Martha Drane – as above

Ben Clements – as above

For more information about the event please see the Wiltshire Council website or contact Lucy Simms in communications on 01225 718334.

Community Games

The YMCA & Community Sports Partnership Network (CSPN) have been granted £2 million by the Cabinet Offices Big Society Fund to deliver Community Games in England in 2012 & 2013. The Community Games has been running in the Midlands since June 2010 and takes inspiration from its unique Olympic heritage. The ethos of the Community Games is to engage with local communities and encourage them to host events to provide opportunities for local people to celebrate sport & culture in a fun & safe environment. Community Games are delivered in local parks, schools, sport clubs or even as street parties.  These can be existing fetes, events and festivals or new events. Whether it's an event for a few hours, a whole day or a series of days Community Games can have a real impact on  the local community.

We are passionate about this programme and believe it's a real opportunity for local residents of Wiltshire & Swindon to experience sport on their doorstep and develop strong community links during the Community Games and beyond.

We can offer support for your games in a variety of ways; up to £400 funding, a community games toolkit, training (running an event, marketing and engaging volunteers) and some marketing materials including posters, leaflets, stickers, bunting and t shirts!

For more information and to register your Games please visit www.communitygames.org.uk Once your games have been registered, please visit our website  www.wiltssport.org to download a grant application form and guidance notes.