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• Archive Index 2009

News Archive - Week Beginning 9th August 2009

The editors say: Talk is easier than action. Reading is the third worst place in the entire country for burglaries. So what do the police do? Launch a wonderful new initiative to ask the public to tell them their 'top crime worries'. Hello? Is anybody there? Can you join the dots up? You couldn't make it up.

Environment

There is extensive coverage on the reopening of Caversham Court Gardens on the afternoon of Friday, August 7th, following the Gardens’ £1.6m overhaul. Mayor Fred Pugh officially declared the gardens open, with a plaque on a pillar naming those who have played a significant part in their redevelopment – including the late Molly Casey. Hundreds of visitors came to witness the occasion, which took place on a sunny afternoon. The gardens, which were described as ‘a work in progress’ by Vickie Abel of the Friends of Caversham Court, will now be open every day from 8am to dusk. (Reading Post 12/08/09 pp12, 28-29, Reading Chronicle 13/08/09 p22, Henley Standard 14/08/09 p11)

Police

The Caversham police team are said to be hoping to hear from residents to the north and west of the RG4 area in order to resurrect the area’s ‘Neighbourhood Action Group’ (NAG). In connection with this, the police have placed copies of a survey at several local sites (including at some local schools and at Caversham Library and at the Woodcote Way Post Office) asking for the public to note their ‘top crime worries’. The deadline date is September 30th, and the survey findings will be used to target specific crime concerns, under the auspices of the reformed NAG. (Reading Chronicle 13/08/09 p24)

Schools

A feature comments on the retirement party for long-serving Highdown School teacher Alan McMahon. Mr McMahon, who retired on July 23rd, had been at the school for 15 years, and was head of Sixth Form for the past 10 years. (Get Reading 14/08/09 p18)

Shops

The ‘Chronicle’ exclusively reveals that the budget supermarket Iceland will reopen at its former Caversham site in St Martin’s Precinct on Thursday, October 15th – replacing the Marks & Spencer Simply Food store that closed in January and which had operated there for two and a half years. Iceland is now said to be recruiting staff for the new branch via the JobTrain website, although there is no firm indication on how many staff will be hired. (Reading Chronicle 13/08/09 p24)

Cushman & Wakefield, the Managing Agents of St Martin’s Precinct, have responded to Conservative MP for Reading East MP Rob Wilson’s call for action on uneven paving slabs in the shopping precinct, the MP having described the state of the paving as ‘unacceptable’. Lindsay Armer, on behalf of the Managing Agents said that health and safety concerns were “one of our main priorities”, and had repaired or replaced the paving “a number of times over the last two years”. Tree roots had proven a problem at the site, and the firm is currently in the process of getting a tree report done to see what permanent action can be taken to resolve the issue. (Reading Chronicle 13/09/09 p24)