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News Archive - Week Beginning 25th April 2010

The editors say: A straw poll shows little election activity by 'New' Labour or the Lib Dems; some doorstep work by the Tories. Despite party apathy, we urge everyone to vote on the 6th - the battle for democracy was hard-fought and should be valued. If you want to consider tactical issues, then the data on the BBC site is helpful.

Arts

A production of Shakespeare’s ‘Merry Wives of Windsor’ that had been scheduled for July in Caversham Court has been cancelled at short notice by the production’s organisers, Progress Theatre, owing to too few men turning up to the show’s auditions. (Reading Chronicle 29/04/10 p25, Get Reading 30/04/10 p7)

Environment

A senior citizen from Whitley, Ann McCurry, is to take legal action against the managing agents of St Martin’s Precinct in Caversham, Cushman & Wakefield, after she fell and injure herself on uneven paving in the shopping precinct on April 8th. The subject of the poor paving in the precinct led to MP for Reading East Rob Wilson contacting Cushman & Wakefield last August, and follows on from other incidents and complaints there. A spokesperson for the managing agent said that the problem of the uneven paving resulted from paving slabs being pushed up by the roots of large trees in the precinct: “fairly sporadic and difficult to prevent”. (Get Reading 30/04/10 p6)

Pubs

Caversham’s Red Cow pub in Star Road was to re-open with new landlord Mark Henson on Sunday, May 2nd – the reopening being marked by a family day to celebrate and raise money for ‘Help for Heroes’. (Get Reading 30/04/10 p10).

RG4 History

An interesting feature in ‘Caversham Bridge’ describes the history behind the Wordplay bookshop site in Prospect Street. The building is one of the oldest shops in Caversham (‘in fact we are not sure when it started’), and has a covered-up well in its cellar. Prior to being a bookshop, the site was both a sweetshop and subsequently a bakery with its own oven. (Caversham Bridge May 2010)

Roads

The Conservative opposition on the RBC are alleging that the Council’s Labour administration intends to steeply increase the price of residents’ parking permits across Reading, should it win the local elections on May 6th. At present the first permit is free and a second permit costs £55. However, the Tories say that the price of a second permit would rise to £100, and in addition, any address that has any off-street parking (whether at the property or elsewhere) eill not be entitled to a free first permit. Although the RBC’s Conservative transport spokesman (and Peppard Councillor) Richard Willis described this as “shocking news”, Labour deputy leader of the Council Tony Page said that the proposals had already been made public, and are to be the subject of a public consultation in July. (Reading Chronicle 29/04/10 p1, Get Reading 30/04/10 p34)

Schools

Emmer Green Primary School has opened a new outdoor nature reserve, which has a ‘huge’ pond, butterfly boxes and a meadow. The site was funded by a £10,000 National Lottery grant and will be used for outdoor lessons to teach the children aged four to 11 about nature. (Reading Chronicle 28/04/10 p4)

The shortage of primary school places in Caversham is described in a short news feature that says that Caversham Primary, The Hill, Emmer Green Primary and Caversham Primary School are all oversubscribed for September 2010 entry. RBC spokesman Chris Branagan said: ”our advice to Caversham parents (who have not been allocated a primary school place of their choice) is that we will be writing to them after April 30th, when most parents holding offers from both Reading and Oxfordshire will have decided which to accept… ...our experience suggests that at that time we can offer more families places in line with their preferences”. The RBC decided in April that from September 2011 parents living on the borders of Reading and South Oxfordshire would only be allowed to apply to just one authority for a primary school place. (Reading Chronicle 29/04/10 p8)

Traffic

A letter from Caversham campaigner and activist Bob O’Neill criticises RBC officials for failing to introduce worthwhile road safety measures on Caversham’s Woodcote Road (the A4074), whereas the RBC “seems to prefer with police in creating handy speed trap areas where they can generate revenue from fines”. He cites the example of Reading’s Vastern Road, “where the signage is poor and ambiguous”. (Get Reading 30/04/10 p12)