community yearbook 2018

MAY

Newbury Weekly News

Thursday, 25 January, 2018

Town’s trial by TV NEWBURY played a starring role in a Channel 4 drama. One of the jurors was Newbury town councillor Martha Vick-

Elgar’ s epic opening for

ers (Lib Dem, Northcroft), while Lisa Harrington from New Era Players, which is based in Wash Common, also took part. Mrs Vickers revealed she was chosen by scouts from the production company, Dragon Fly, when she was volunteering at the Loose Ends charity .

The Trial: A Murder in the Family featured a ‘real’ jury and judge deliberating over a fake court case, where a man was on trial for strangling his estranged wife. The series was filmed at Newbury Magistrates Court, and other areas of Newbury featured, including Park House School and Victoria Park.

Spring Festival BOURNEMOUTH Symphony Orchestra, Newbury Spring Festival Chorus, and Choros, with mezzo Caitlin Hulcup, tenor Gwyn Hughes Jones and baritone Morgan Pearse, under conductor David Parry, opened the 39th Newbury Spring Festival with one of the cornerstones of British choral music. Over the last year, both outgoing festival chair- man David Livermore and new chairman Julian had separately mentioned to the artistic director , without the other knowing, that they would love the Newbury Spring Festival to put on Elgar’s great choral work The Dream of Gerontius and, furthermore, they would like to sponsor it. And so it was played on the opening night of the festival fortnight. Elgar’s masterpiece was composed in 1900 to Cardinal Newman’s long, beautiful and highly- accessible poem of 1865, a profound and compelling meditation on the ecstasy of Chris- tian faith, which Elgar used as a declaration of his own Catholicism. It tells how the faithful Gerontius, after initial confidence in the after- life, is made to doubt by a chorus of Demons, has his faith restored by Angelicals and finally achieves immortality through the intercession of the Angel of Agony. Musician Charles Medlam wrote: “The Festival Chorus, perched as ever in the far reaches of the apse, was in finest voice throughout, deliv- ering their multiple roles with silvery encour- agement or alarming menace, as required. Their chorus master Janet Lincé is stepping down after 17 years. She leaves with the grati- tude and admiration of all concerned. “It was a beautiful, uplifting, compelling and dramatic account of this sublime work. Even the most agnostic of us would have left the church cleansed and touched by its convic- tion.” The festival presented two weeks of interna- tional world-class music, with 45 events across 18 venues.

Martha Vickers, front row second left, on the jur y for the TV drama

The Trial: A Murder in the Family

Hero carpenter saved man’s life A CARPENTER from Newbury was hailed as a hero after his quick-

Keep on trucking! NEWBURY Showground, Chieveley, was packed with hundreds of top-of-the- range trucks when Truck- fest South came to town. With live action and stunts from top performers in the main arena , there was plenty to keep all the family enter- tained. Lisa Kelly and Todd Dewey, stars of the reality TV series Ice Road Truckers , greeted fans, and they were joined by Jesse McClure, from the TV programme Storage Hunters. Mr Dewey said: “I took this as a huge blessing coming to Truckfest. This is a massive event. It was a huge turnout and the truck slots were double from last year.”

Slow down, scooters NEWBURY Town Council cracked down on people who drive mobility scooters too fast in the town centre. The council had received complaints about the number of scooters whizzing around pedestrians in the busy shop- ping streets, prompting calls for an awareness campaign. The Share the Space campaign, which also targeted cyclists, aimed to highlight the dangers of driving the vehicles too quickly and urged speedy users to select the tortoise setting on their scooter. Proposals to go ahead with the campaign included the print- ing and delivering of 5,000 campaign leaflets

thinking actions saved the life of a man who suffered a cardiac arrest. Nick Lambden was driving along Hambridge Road when he spotted a man lying on the floor. While he waited for paramedics to arrive, Mr Lambden started perform- ing CPR. Mr Lambden said: “I think he had just gone down. I got a pillow from the back of the van and placed it under his head. “I was hoping he would come round, but obviously it was more severe. The control said ‘it’s time to do CPR’. I had been rubbing his chest, I’m not sure what I thought that would do. “I had never done CPR on a human before. It’s all a bit of a blur – I remember think- ing ‘I don’t know what I’m

Paramedics Sophie Sadler , left and Hannah Pugh with Nick Lambden, whose quick thinking saved the life of a man

doing’. ” Paramedics used a defibril- lator on the a 62-year-old man, at the scene and by the time the air ambulance arrived, his heart was circu- lating normally. Paramedic Hannah Pugh- said to Mr Lambden: “When we arrived you were doing such a good job. We checked

you were ok to carry on. It was admirable what you were doing.” Mr Lambden had under- taken a first aid course owing to his connection with AFC Newbury. He said: “I did it, but you never think you will need it or have the confidence to do anything with it.”