and Drums of 19 Regt RA acted as an honour guard to the Mayor and Chair’s of Tidworth Town Council as they escorted the Torch Bearers up the drive way to Tedworth House. The only Torch Bearer missing from the Re-

ception was Kate Howey, LOCOG had kept her identity se-cret from the Council and despite us sending an invite via LO-COG it seems she did not receive it (our apolo-gies go out to

Kate).

The day would not have been as great as it was without the sup-port from the people of Tid-worth and those who came from outside of Town. The council have received emails from the Torch

Olympic Torch Relay 2012

TIDWORTH TIMES July 2012

Issue 1

Bearers thanking Tidworth for making the day such a memora-ble one, it would seem that not many places hosted the bearers!

A big thank you also to: Wiltshire County Council, whose staff acted as road side Marshals, the Local Police who dealt with everything in their normal first class way and finally to the Met Police who es-corted the Torch Bearers in a pro-fessional but very friendly man-ner.

The day started with live music being played from the stage on the sports pitch, close to the Esso Garage and a fun fair, complete with free rides paid for by Tid-worth Town Council. At 5:00pm the music stopped and people left the field to join those already lining the route, 5 minutes later it was upon us and the crowd went crazy.

The final leg through Tidworth was lined by Tidworth based Sol-diers, along with military bands.

The mayor was told by one of the Torch Bearers later that night that everyone on the bus carrying the torch bearers stood up and ap-plauded the Soldiers.

After the torch had passed, the entertainment continued until late evening on the field. The Mayor and members of the Council, along with a number of invited guests and residents of the house, hosted the Torch Bear-ers at a Reception in Tedworth House, home to H4H. The Pipes

Tidworth Times Page 2

I came to Tidworth in January 1994 when I was posted to 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery based in Assaye Barracks. In 1996 I was co-opted onto the then Par-ish Council; my first achieve-ments within the Council was to light up Tidworth with Christmas lights for the first time (the previ-ous year's attempt failed due to the rain). My other major achievement was to bring to-gether the Military, Kennet Coun-

cil (as it was then) and the Parish Council to tackle the problem of abandoned cars in the area, my thanks must go to the then Garri-son Adjt Brian Wheatly, for his assistance on this task. At the next Parish elections I was elected onto the Parish Council, becom-ing the first ever Tidworth serv-ing member of the Armed Forces in Tidworth to be elected. In June 2005 I was awarded the MBE by Her Majesty the Queen, for my services to the Military and Civilian Community by bringing them closer together via my work as a Town Councillor. In 2007 I became the vice-chairman of the now Town Council, chal-lenging the Chairman for his po-sition each May for two years, missing out by his casting vote to become Chairman both times.

Your People - Christopher Franklin, MBE In 2009 I stepped down from the Town Council to direct my time to other projects, rejoining in 2010 when I was co-opted back onto the Town Council and in July of that year I was voted into the role of Chairman (due to the resigna-tion of the previous Chairman). As Chairman I guided the Town Council through a number of re-structuring moves and a whole new approach to the role of the Council. In May 2011 I was re-elected as Chairman and conse-quently into the role of Mayor of Tidworth, a first for Tidworth and another first for me. I would like to thank all the Town Councillors who have worked so hard throughout the past year and I am looking forward to a vi-brant and busy year ahead in this the year of the Queen’s Jubilee.

Your Council I think it only right that I, as mayor, let you know a bit about your Town Council, how this newsletter came about, what we aim to achieve with it and why the Town Council thought the time was right to launch its own newsletter rather than give financial support to Drumbeat.

Tidworth Town Council meets on the first Tuesday of every month at the Community Centre on Wylye Rd. The agenda for each of these meetings is dis-played on the Notice boards around the Town as w e l l a s o n o u r w e b s i t e www.tidworthtowncouncil.gov.uk . There are 19 Councillors on the Town Council and we employ one Town Clerk. No Councillor gets paid for being a Town councillor neither does the Mayor receive any form of payment.

The Town Council is a corporate body with a legal existence and its decisions are the responsibility of the whole body. The Town Council has been granted powers by Parliament including the im-portant authority to raise money through taxation (the precept) and a range of powers to spend pub-lic money. Its members are either elected every four years, returned unopposed or co-opted to fill a vacant seat.

The councillors play a vital part in representing the interests of the community they serve and improve the quality of life and local environment. Further-

more they influence other decision makers and can, in many cases deliver services to meet local needs such as planning, street lighting, cemeter-ies, playing fields, community centres, litter, war memorials, seats, bus shelters, and rights of way.

The Council’s chair and vice chair are elected by the councillors each May, since May 2011 the council have elected to have a Mayor and Deputy Mayor, the role of each of these remains the same as that of Chair & Vice Chair.

The Mayor acts as leader to the council and, by nature of the role, is the first citizen of the Town. This means that only HM The Queen, members of the Royal Family and the Lord Lieutenant take precedence over the Mayor at events in the Town. The Mayor is responsible, in a non-political way, for furthering the interests of the Town whenever and wherever an appropriate occasion arises.

The Town Council re-structured itself in May 2011, streamlining its committees, bolstering its standing orders and empowering its members, resulting in a more productive Town Council.

The Town Council is now made up of four commit-tees: (1) Leadership, (2) Community Services, (3) Community Engagement and (4) Projects. Chris

Pictures from ‘Pride of Perham’ Jubilee party (sponsored by Tidworth

Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

I reluctantly dragged myself to the Jubilee Tea Party at the Leisure Centre expecting the event to be a wash out and I am pleased I made the effort.

And I wasn’t the only one that didn’t let the weather put them off. Luckily there were the facilities to move the event inside and in all honesty was a posi-tive move as it gave a lovely party atmosphere.

Entertainment in the form of 2 bouncy castles and a huge slide were provided for the children and a

Issue 1 Page 3

band played throughout.

Although we had been asked to supply our own pic-nics there was a more than adequate supply of sand-wiches, cakes, juice and tea provided.

Congratulations to Rosemary Meeke and the team who put this event together, it had a real community feel and was very enjoyable!!

occasions.

Thanks go to KJE Technical for design and fitting of the equipment, Vinci Construction for the scaffold tower and Talktalk for sponsoring the costs.

Back in September 1991 initial meetings were held to explore the provision of a beacon for the parish. In 1992 it was erected at the top of Station Road by 22 Eng Regt. After a further move it was finally lo-cated in 2005 to its present position to mark the oc-casion of Tidworth becoming a Town. Despite the construction of a sturdy brazier basket it has NEVER been lit.

The Community Engagement committee decided that to light the beacon would be a worthy project to mark the Olympic Torch relay on 11 July 2012. Eas-ier said than done. Companies were approached and emails and telephone calls ensued. Apparently the only suggestion we could come up with was to light oily rags! Not the dramatic effect we wanted to create. Finally we were given the contact of a com-pany specialising in live flame effects. After the ini-tial approach the company was enthusiastic about our project and designed a specialised unit for us.

The flame was lit by Councillor Maria Hamblin, out-going Chair of Community Engagement, at 1:15pm on 11 July. The event was watched by interested residents and a crowd of enthusiastic children. We hope you all agree that the effect was as good as we hoped for and that we can now utilise this original attraction to mark future special celebrations and

Tidworth Beacon is Lit

We aim to pro-duce a publication for all resi-dents of Tidworth, both civilian and military, and then get it to as many people as we can. Having supported Drumbeat for some years the council feel that it was not reaching all members of the community and think that we can achieve a wider coverage by keeping direct control of distribu-tion. The hope is that over time this will develop into a newsletter with contributions from Tidworth residents so any letters or articles about local events will be most welcome. Please feel free to con-tact the editor via our website, the Community Centre or email carly.lovell@tidworthtowncouncil.gov.uk with “Tidworth Times Editor” in the subject line.

Welcome to the very first edition of the Tidworth Times . This newsletter is a result of the Community En-gagement Committee identify-ing that the Town needed an in-formative newsletter that reflects the ever changing Town in which we all live and work. It was felt that after the best part of fifteen years supporting Drum-beat, at considerable cost to the Council for printing and delivery charges, that we should use the allocated funding to produce this newsletter. We continue to wish Drumbeat well and will look for input from them within this newsletter.

Full Council Meetings:

7 July 2012

4 September 2012

2 October 2012

Check out the website www.tidworthtowncouncil.gov.uk for all events over the summer months.

The Community Centre is in regular use by various groups in the community. If you wish to book the Centre please contact the Town Clerk, Carly. When booking please allow time for setting up/clearing away.

Message from the Editor

Regular bookings at Tidworth Community Centre

Monday 1.45pm - 2.45pm Pilates 4pm - 5pm Ballet (3 to 5years) 7pm - 8pm Legs, Bums and Tums Tuesday 12pm - 1pm Legs, Bums and Tums Evenings - Town Council Meetings (members of the public are welcome to attend) Wednesday 4pm - 5pm Ballet (6 to 9years) 6.30pm - 7.30pm Ab's Blast Thursday 9.30am - 11am Slimming World

1pm - 2pm Tae Bo 5pm - 9pm Slimming World Friday 6pm - 8pm Family Fellowship Sunday 10am - 1pm Family Fellowship

Community Centre Wylye Road Tidworth SP9 9QH

Phone: 01980 847390 Email:

carly.lovell@tidworthtowncouncil.gov.uk

Web: www.tidworthtowncouncil.gov.uk Aster Communities Opening

Hours

Mondays 10.30am - 2.30pm for

housing enquires

Wednesdays 10.30am - 2.30pm

for rent enquiries

Wiltshire Citizens Advice Tidworth Outreach Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:00am - 1:00pm Drop in afternoon appointments available

Tidworth Times

Dates for your diary