June 2018

Shipston Welcomes New Mayor

Councillor Ian Cooper was unanimously elected Mayor of Shipston for the forthcoming year at the Annual Meeting of the Town Council in May. His appointment follows 12 months as Deputy Mayor and over 12 years serving on the town council.

Shipston welcomes new MayorIn accepting the post, the new Mayor said: “I feel honoured to take on the role of Mayor of Shipston and I am looking forward to a busy year ahead. I would like to thank Dan Scobie for the considerable effort he put in throughout his time as Mayor – he has been an excellent ambassador for Shipston, both within the town and across the county.”

Ian Cooper will be supported in his mayoral duties by the new Mayoress, Tina Cook (both pictured right).

Within minutes of thanking and bidding farewell to Dan Scobie as Mayor, councillors were voting him in as Deputy Mayor for the second time! “I would like to thank all my fellow councillors for their support during my 12 months as Mayor.” Dan Scobie said. “I’m delighted to accept the nomination for Deputy Mayor and will continue to work with Ian and others to promote our town,” he added.

The Annual Meeting was officially opened by the Town Crier, Marion Lowe. In addition to the Mayor-making activities and the normal business of the council, the annual meeting is when councillors are required to review and approve statutory documents and set the schedule of meetings for the forthcoming year.

Residents are reminded they are welcome to attend meetings of the town council which take place on the second Monday of the month at 7pm at New Clark House. Agendas can be downloaded in advance from www.shipstontowncouncil.org.

Local flooding expert scoops Shipston Community Award

Local flooding expert scoops awardShipston resident, Phil Wragg, was announced the worthy winner of the Shipston Award at the Annual Town Council Meeting in April.

The award, which celebrates outstanding voluntary work for the local community, was made in recognition of Phil’s tireless efforts to mitigate flood risk in and around Shipston. As chairman of Shipston Area Flood Action Group, Phil is now the go to person for flood advice and regularly supports the town council in discussions with developers to help ensure flood risks are minimised.

In accepting the award, Phil Wragg said: “It is an honour and a privilege to receive this award which is very much appreciated. However, I am only one of eight SAFAG volunteers and it is very much a team effort. I’d also like to thank the Town Council for supporting SAFAG’s work”

Major initiative to tackle social isolation

tackling social isolation A new partnership has been set up to launch a major initiative against loneliness and social isolation in Shipston and the neighbouring villages.

Shipston SCAN, Shipston Medical Centre, VASA and the county and district councils have formed the Stour Partnership Against Social Isolation and Loneliness to tackle the problems. Other local organisations including the town council, Lions, Rotary, Age Concern, the Baptist Church, U3A and Ellen Badger League of Friends support the project.

Speaking for the partnership, Trevor Russel, chair of Shipston SCAN, explained: “Social isolation and loneliness are as harmful to people’s health as smoking and obesity. By some estimates, nine million people in the country are lonely or socially isolated. These problems exist in every community - and Shipston is no exception.

“Working together, we intend to identify the scale of the problems here, look at initiatives to tackle them, find the funding and deliver solutions.

“There has to be and there will be a community-wide and community-led action. Shipston has done a terrific job on dementia. We now need to do just as good a job with loneliness and social isolation”.

As a first step, the partnership is sending a questionnaire to every household in Shipston. If anyone would like a copy or more information, please contact Trevor on 01608 662514 or basicallybooks@btinternet.com