Twyford

Frank Browne, the Conservative leader of Wokingham District Council, has refused to listen to calls for the council to acquire the Twyford JW Green’s site for a much needed new library.

Your local district Councillors. Stephen Conway and Dee Tomlin, have been campaigning for the site to be used for a new library since the beginning of the year, and there has been enormous public support for the proposal.

But Cllr Browne is adamant that the district council will not fund the move. He has said that if Twyford residents waant a new library on the site, they should pay for it themselves through an increased parish council rate.

“This is an outrageous suggestion”, Dee told FOCUS, “Twyford residents already pay for the library service through their council tax; they shouldn’t have to pay for it twice.”

“No other parish has been expected to pay for its own library”, Stephen added, “So why is the Conservative leader singling out Twyford? It reminds me of our campaign to get CCTV in the village centre – we had to raise much of the money locally even though the district council had fully funded cameras in other district centres.”

Twyford Liberal Democrats

People living in West Berkshire will find it more difficult to get home late at night when a train firm scraps some of its evening services.

First Great Western intends to run its last train from Paddington to Theale, Aldermaston, Thatcham and Newbury at 10.15pm, as part of new timetables that start in December.

The last service at the moment is 11.35pm and the decision to axe later services has been slammed by passengers and Reading West MP Martin Salter.
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Rick Cutler, from Thatcham, who pays £3,200 a year for a season ticket, was outraged at the plan to cut services.

He said: “The fares go up every year and what do you get for it? A worse service.

“Many people rely on these trains and to cut them is a joke.”

The cuts were part of timetable alterations made for the firm’s bid to run the Great Western Franchise, which it won in December last year.

The firm was forced to alter many of its original plans – including reinstating the 7.27am from Twyford to Paddington – following 9,000 complaints from passengers when the timetables were announced in February.

But Adrian Ruck, spokesman for First Great Western, said it was not planning to reinstate later services to Newbury, which will also see the last train leaving Reading for Theale going at 11pm instead of the current 12.15am.

He said: “We had 9,000 responses from a public consultation on our new timetables.

“On the back of that we made many alterations to the timetables but sadly we haven’t been able to change this particular alteration.

“However, we will keep it on review.

“It is also quite possible that if we were to get funding from the local authority we could run a late night service in the future.”

Mr Salter, who used to live in Theale, was saddened with the cuts.

He said: “I think it is very disappointing to see further reductions in services.

“However, I must admit I used to get fed up with the late night services on this route that were frequently cancelled and replaced with buses.

“This will inconvenience thousands of people who need the trains for work and to go for a night out in London or Reading.

“It is a disappointing and slightly inexplicable decision.”

First Great Western said the services were cut because they were not well used but an investigation by Meridian Tonight found many trains were full at night.

Get Reading

Our Autumn Show will be held on 9th September 2006, at Loddon Hall, Loddon Hall Road, Twyford.

Closing Date for entries (Members Only) Wednesday 6th September 2006.

Doors open to the Public at 2.30pm and admission is 50p. Refreshments are available.

If you need any further information please contact our Show Secretary, Sharon Trayling, 0118 932 1956, thort_society@tiscali.co.uk, or our President, Les Moody, 0118 934 0473, MLesMOO@aol.com.

New Members welcome.
Please contact our Membership Secretary, Bill Barnes on 0118 934 5488, or come to the Store in Loddon Hall Road any Sunday morning 10.0am to 11.0am.

Twyford and Ruscombe Horticultural Association
Loddon Hall
Loddon Hall Road
Twyford

Police are appealing for witnesses to a ram raid at a Twyford shop.

Between 3.45am and 4.15am yesterday (20/8) an as yet unidentified vehicle was driven into the front of Shop 2 Go in London Road, Twyford.

The offenders, believed to be male, then gained entry to the store and stole cigarettes and alcohol.

They then drove off towards Ruscombe. At this time there is no description of the vehicle other than that it had a loud exhaust.

PC Lance Creese, from Loddon Valley police station, who is leading the Twyford investigation, said: “We believe that the offenders would have created a fair amount of noise during the raid as they damaged the window and wall of the building in gaining entry.

“I am hoping the residents in the area may have information that can help us with our inquiries.”

Anyone with any information about this incident should contact PC Creese at Loddon Valley via 0845 8 505 505.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to speak to the police or leave your name, please contact the Crimestoppers charity via 0800 555 111.

Thames Valley Police ~ Twyford

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A letter from Twyford MP Theresa May

"Thank you very much for your continued support of the campaign for a full train service to Maidenhead and Twyford. I thought I should up-date you on the campaign since the timetable for December has now been published and it is some time since I last emailed to you about the campaign.

I have continued to apply pressure to the Department of Transport and First Great Western (FGW) on this issue. In March I wrote to Derek Twigg, MP, the Under Secretary of State at the Department of Transport, calling for a full reinstatement of all fast and semi-fast services. Four months later he responded - but as his reply was not specific to my questions, nor the concerns of the people of Maidenhead and Twyford, I have written back asking for a full answer.

The good news is that, as a result of our campaign, FGW have decided to make two changes to their original proposed timetable. They will bring in a new train starting at Twyford at 7.04, calling at Maidenhead and will reinstate the 07.26 from Twyford.. Both should take approximately 30 minutes to arrive in London Paddington.

This is clearly not good enough and there is still a lot of work to be done. Out of the 21.2 million passengers travelling into Paddington in 2002-3, 7.2 million come from Berkshire, more than from any other area; and that 72% of passengers using Paddington come from the Inner Thames Valley commuter belt. There is no reason why the FGW December 2006 timetable should prioritise inter-city services into Paddington at the expense of commuter traffic from Maidenhead, Twyford and the wider Thames Valley commuter belt.

I will continue to press the Department of Transport and FGW for a complete reinstatement of all fast and semi-fast trains to Maidenhead and Twyford. It will take a change of policy from the Government but I am determined to continue to press for the better train service that we have enjoyed in the past. I shall continue to keep you inform of the progress. "

Sincerely,

Theresa May

Wokingham District Council leader Frank Browne has sparked fury by telling Twyford if it wants a new library then villagers should foot the bill themselves.

Cllr Browne dismissed a 1,400 Twyford signature-petition, saying the district council would not buy an empty high street pub to replace the ageing temporary Twyford library it provided 20 years ago.

Instead, he said it was up to Twyford parish council to raise the money through increasing its precept to buy the empty JW Green's site in London Road, seen by many as the ideal location. All hopes were dashed at a meeting of the full council on Thursday as Cllr Browne already on record as saying Wokingham district is an affluent area where people who wanted books bought them rather than went to a library said: 'I suggest the community goes to the parish council who have tax raising powers and if they feel so strongly they can raise funds themselves.'

He added residents must ask Twyford parish council to include the purchase of the building in its precept and it could then work in partnership with the district council. But this contradicted an earlier comment by Cllr Dianne King who is in charge of the district's library services. She said: 'I am not sure it is possible for residents to purchase a facility we have to provide as a statutory responsibility.' Cllr Browne also said £800,000 was needed for the project a figure disputed by campaigners.

Cllr Stephen Conway who has been campaigning for a Twyford library on the JW Green's site since January, said: 'The figures are misleading. The cost of the plan is nearer £500,000 than £1m. Pensioners representative Norman Raybone presented a petition of 1,400 names including hundreds collected through the Twyford Advertiser's New Chapter Campaign. Cllr Browne said the council should be building community facilities around schools but he was committed to improving library facilities in the village.

Twyford Village

Police are appealing for witnesses to a road traffic collision that took place yesterday (31/7) on the B3018 Waltham Road, Twyford.

At around 9.05am a Honda CBR 900 Fireblade motorcycle was travelling from Twyford in the direction of Binfield when it was involved in a collision with a silver coloured Honda Accord travelling in the opposite direction. The incident occurred outside The Dolphin School.

The rider of the motorcycle, a 32-year-old man, was airlifted by Berkshire Air Ambulance to Wexham Park Hospital with life threatening injuries. The driver of the Honda Accord, a 67-year-old man, was taken to Royal Berkshire Hospital where he received treatment for bruising and shock. He was discharged three hours later.

The B3018 Waltham Road was closed for three and a half hours so that a thorough investigation could be carried out.

PC Steve Huison, of Three Mile Cross Roads Policing base, said: “I would ask that anyone who may have seen either vehicle in the lead up to the collision or witnessed the collision itself, to get in contact with me.”

Anyone with information about the Twyford incident is asked to contact PC Huison at Three Mile Cross Roads Policing base via 0845 8 505 505, or if you don’t want to talk to police or give your name, call the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.

Thames Valley Police ~ Twyford