Our Litter Warden - Patricia Barnes

Patricia Barnes – our ‘Litter Warden’:

 Along with concerns around traffic, parking, speed of vehicles, potholes and overgrown hedges, which people regularly speak to me about, is the issue of litter within the parish and particularly around Woolton Hill, where we have the highest concentration of people and ‘visitors’.  Consequently, it was a great opportunity for me recently to accompany the parish ‘Litter Warden’, Patricia Barnes, on one of her routes and find out a little more on what is involved as she deals with the litter which is discarded along our pavements and tossed in verges. 

Patricia is paid by the Parish Council and has an ‘8 square mile patch’ across the whole parish.  However, the majority of litter is collected around Woolton Hill.  Indeed, on a walk we both made, within just over an hour, Patricia had filled a black bag of rubbish.  

 Patricia, works 10 hours a week in all weathers, will walk between 12 and 15 miles a week and covers the whole parish over an 8 week period, although the more ‘litter heavy’ areas are covered frequently.

It was soon apparent when talking with Patricia that she is passionate about keeping litter off our streets and her care about the natural world and life.  An example Patricia gave me was when she came across a live deer fawn surrounded by litter and how shocking this was.  I have included this picture and you can see the poor fawn towards the top of the photo and cans etc surrounding it.

The worst part of the job?  Not as you may think, ‘the wet and cold weather’ but unfortunately, dog mess and broken glass, which have been left by people.  .

How can we all help?  The obvious is never to drop litter (including cigarette butts) and always clear up when walking dogs, but we can all do our bit by safely picking up litter items when we see them and putting them in our own bins.  

Also, when you see Patricia, introduce yourself, say ‘hello’ and let her know our massive appreciation of what she does.

Our Lollipop Lady - Liz Pudney

Every school day between the hours of 8.15am to 8.50am and 3.15am to 3.45pm, children and adults are helped across the road outside Woolton Hill Juniors by Liz Pudney, the Road Crossing Officer or as we more affectionally know her - ‘our lollipop lady’.

 Each person is greeted with both a cheery ‘hello’ and a few friendly words whilst traffic is halted to allow both children and adults to cross safely.  All those who have travelled along Woolton Hill Road when it is time for children to arrive or leave either of St Thomas Infants or Woolton Hill Juniors will know how busy the area becomes and is therefore dangerous, especially for children. 

 I asked Liz what her message to drivers in Woolton Hill would be and she said:

Slow Down,

Show Consideration,

Be Patient

 Too often, unfortunately, Liz sees people going too fast, being impatient or simply lacking consideration for others.  Indeed, it cannot be pleasant for children to sit in school on a wet day having been splashed.

 Liz has been out in all weathers doing the job for 9 years, ever since her children were themselves at the juniors and she has a real commitment to help keep the children safe.   I also know that despite having formal working hours she keeps an eye out for any children who are a little late.  Liz’s work is therefore highly appreciated by the schools.  Here are a few words from the Woolton Hill Junior Headteacher, Mrs Yvonne Standing:

"We are very lucky to have such a dedicated person in charge of our road crossing. Liz does an amazing job keeping our children and their families safe crossing the road every day. She is a real asset to our local community and we are very thankful to have her."

 Below are from some lovely words from the children at St Thomas Infants.

 There is though much more to Liz than just a committed lollypop lady.  Whilst I was chatting to Liz about her crossing duties, one of her friends started to say ‘did you know Liz does …. and ….. and ….’.  Suddenly, I realised that I was talking to quite a remarkable lady.

Liz is a very active runner (including marathons), distance cyclist (including competitive time trials) and also competes in open water swimming where she has quite recently represented GB for her age group at the European Championships in Slovenia.  

 We were talking on quite a cold afternoon and I asked Liz whether she had done any of these activities earlier that day.  I was expecting the answer ‘jogging’ or ‘cycling’.  Instead, Liz told me she was in training to swim the English Channel in late August. ‘So, at which pool do you train for this?’ I asked.  However, I was in for a surprise with the response, ‘Well, I do 7k distance swims at Northcroft but, oh no, today I was swimming in the Thames’.  ‘Goodness’, I said, ‘how cold was the water?’  ‘Just 2 degrees but it is perfect for training as, if I can swim in that temperature, I should be ok in the channel in August’. And no, a wetsuit isn’t allowed. 

 After work Liz puts her swimming knowledge to good use and is an instructor based at Northcroft.  I cannot imagine there is much spare time left but Liz is part of the local Age Concern team, regularly visiting a lady in Woolton Hill and is also a volunteer for RSPCA undertaking home visits to help determine whether a particular cat or dog will settle ok.

 So, when you walk by Liz or drive past the Junior School when she is on duty, do remember to give this inspirational lady a wave and perhaps pass on some encouragement for that channel swim!

Neighbourcare - Madeleine Jenkins

After being involved with Neighbourcare from its inception, thirty years ago, it was announced that Madeleine Jenkins has recently handed over the Neighbourcare ‘baton’ to others and was stepping down from the committee.  As background, Neighbourcare helps people from both East Woodhay and Highclere parishes, to attend medical appointments and is growing each year as demand increases. Last year 477 journeys were undertaken for those in need and the indication is that the number will continue to increase. 

Today there is a website, fully defined roles aligned with policies and procedures.  A computer system keeps a log of the requests and the journeys taken plus there is a computer app where drivers indicate which journeys they can do.  I knew this would be a long way from the beginnings which Madeleine would have seen all those many years ago and therefore I wanted to have a chat with her to find out more.  This is the outcome from that conversation.

It all started when Madeleine was a Health Visitor in Thatcham.  One day she had a phone call from Dorothy Barber, a fellow health visitor in Woolton Hill, and Dorothy had an idea to set up a group in the area to help people in need. Dorothy knew of a Neighbourcare group in Kingsclere and so a lunch was held in The Swan pub in Kingsclere where the two invited a member of that Neighbourcare scheme to explain what they did.

 Being health visitors, they already knew there was a local need and the initial idea was for Neighbourcare to cover a range of support activities, including: visits to doctors, gardening, dog walking, changing light bulbs etc.

 As Dorothy lived in Kintbury, Madeleine was the one who was in the area and she was asked to take the lead.  Having publicised the idea in Spectrum and via people she knew, including Dr West and Rev David Carter, an inaugural meeting was held in St Thomas Church Hall.

 From this first meeting about six people volunteered and a committee was formed of Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Advertiser. Madeleine was asked to be founding Chair of the group.

 Posters were made, leaflets were dropped into homes and the surgery was involved to start awareness.  A telephone number was designated for clients to call.  It was all very informal but, with initial volumes being small, it worked.  

 However, as demand increased it became difficult to have enough volunteers to support all the activities.  Consequently, the focus needed to be trimmed to the two priorities:  driving to medical appointments and a ‘befriending service’ for lonely people. Over time as there became more and more need for driving, Madeleine and the committee made the difficult decision to channel down Neighbourcare to just transport.  

 When Madeleine changed work from being a health visitor to a full time Macmillan nurse, the extra work meant Madeleine needed to step down as Chair of Neighbourcare and Jean Bartholomew then took over.  As a Macmillan nurse, Madeleine was involved with Newbury & District Cancer Care Trust and, for people with cancer, they too had a service to help people go to hospital.   Importantly, they had a constitution and more formal processes.  Therefore, about four years after it started and, borrowing ideas from the Cancer Care Trust, East Woodhay and Highclere Neighbourcare begun to have more structure in the way it operated.

 Over the years Madeleine has taken on several roles within Neighbourcare and, for a period, went back to being temporary Chair.  Then about twenty years ago Madeleine introduced the CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check for all drivers and she has continued to lead this as it morphed into DBS (the government Disclosure and Barring Service) until recently stepping down from Neighbourcare.  

 However, it is a lot more than simply the formal aspects which have defined Madeleine’s importance to our local Neighbourcare. She has always been the ‘go to’ person for advice and with all the changes which have been implemented over the years it has always been Madeleine who has ensured that the committee keep the clients and drivers at the very centre of every change made.

 A large number of the community benefit from the work of our local Neighbourcare team and we have a debt of gratitude to Madeleine and that original phone call from Dorothy Barber for setting the seeds in place thirty years ago.

 If you are interested in volunteering and joining the team, giving as much or as little of your time as suits, then please call the Secretary, Keith Nunn (01635 253888) or look at the website (ewhneighbourcare.org.uk).