NAILSWORTH TOWN COUNCIL

This has been an extraordinarily active year for the Town Council. Foremost has been the restoration of the fountain listed monument in partnership with the District Council. We are all so pleased that we have achieved this longstanding aim, and we hope that Princess Anne will formally unveil it later this year. We have also opened a temporary community hall in partnership with Forest Green Residents Association. Forest Green and Norton Wood have a large proportion of our population and need such facilities. In due course it may lead to a more permanent hall.

You will remember last summer's Nailsworth Games, which brought together all the sports and other clubs in town for a celebration of sport. It was followed by our reception for our two Olympic heroes, Dan Robinson and Peter Reed. In conjunction with the Youth Club we have negotiated a permanent contract with the County to provide a dedicated Youth Worker for Nailsworth. We were sad to see the departure of Tracy Young. We shall be interviewing for her replacement this summer. The town's Youth Forum we promoted with the Nailsworth Community Forum is becoming established.

Again, led by the Community Partnership under Bill Affleck, the Nailsworth Design Statement has now been adopted by the District Council as guidance for future planning applications. The Design Statement was the fruit of over two years effort by local people. We have also been working on a number of other issues: improvement of the children's play areas in town; eventual development of the green space at the Market Street corner; Stephen Robinson has been promoting, with some success, a 20mph speed limit in several areas of Forest Green and Norton Wood

Such a lot of progress. I want to sincerely thank our Town Councillors and office team who are so committed and work so well together. It is also a pleasure to welcome Ian Crawley to our number.

Choosing the recipients is never easy, as so many people put so much effort into our town and its community. Although these awards can only be given to a few, I know that you will recognise how much you are all valued.

The first award is for an exceptional contribution to the arts in Nailsworth. Last year we gave this award to Anthony Hodge, to unanimous acclaim. We are greatly saddened that Anthony passed away at the end of April. His artistic achievements live on, but our thoughts and good wishes go to his partner Jessica.

This year the award goes to a group that has enriched us for 26 years with a wealth of entertainment, music, poetry, theatre and exhibitions. The aim of the ‘Friends’ who founded it was to bring ‘something different’ to the town. Little did they realise the success that their enterprise and hard work would produce with the Nailsworth Festival developing into a major annual community event. Over the years musical contributions have ranged from early music – with brilliant concerts by James Bowman and Philip Pickett, who used local choirs to make up the chorus for the performance – to modern piano pieces played by Paul Crossley, and folk concerts which had great names like John Kirkpatrick and The Watersons. There have been classical concerts by some of the top groups and soloists as well as opera and theatre. There were dawn chorus walks and star gazing evenings, not to mention talks by leaders in their fields such as David Bellamy, Michael Foot MP and poet laureate Andrew Motion.

Originally donated by James Chamberlain, in memory of his great grandfather, the Chamberlain Award for Sporting Endeavour is given to an athlete who has excelled in their field of sport. This year it is given to a man who has represented his country at many international events, and last year at the Beijing Olympics. His story began in 1998 when after four years at university he decided 'to lose a bit of weight' and took up running. In 2000 having never run competitively before, he demonstrated his rare talent by running 2:37 in his first ever marathon in London, a quite remarkable debut that launched him into the elite of British running. He then went from strength to strength. In 2004, he was selected for the Olympics and ran well in Athens to take 23rd place in 2:17:53 in torrid conditions.

At the Commonwealth Games in 2006 he claimed a fantastic bronze in the marathon. It was his first senior medal at a major championship. He was the only male representative of our country in the marathon, and finished among the best long distance runners in  he world. We often see him training through the town streets, where he responds to our cheerful and encouraging greetings. He has always been willing to talk to young people and to encourage them to take up sports. Well done Dan Robinson.

I consulted organisations concerned with young people about the Trophy for Youth and decided that this year we should bestow the award on a person who has dedicated the past seven years to working with young Nailsworth people. Tracy Young joined the Youth Club as a trainee and proved immediately popular. Attendance at the club has grown. Tracy achieved her youth work qualification and continued to devote her energies to the town, for those who attend the club and also in outreach work with otherwise hard-to-reach young people. She is greatly respected by Nailsworth youth and in the last twelve months has put much energy into developing a Nailsworth Youth Forum. Earlier this year she made a career move to a different job but continues her involvement as secretary of the Youth Club Management Committee. For all these reasons Tracy Young is the recipient of this year's Award.

In Nailsworth Rosemary Liles opened Just Traiding with Alison Price in 1993. They moved to the Fountain Street shop in 1998 and in 2000 opened Fair Oasis as a clothes & accessories shop, all part of the Fairtrade movement. Sue Nicholson and the Fairtrade group have an additional major role as Coordinator for the Fairtrade Town Group, making sure our credentials as a Fairtrade Town are kept up.