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Standing together with Ukraine
We
would like to express our solidarity with the democratic state of
Ukraine and our deep sympathies for the millions of people whose lives
are being so brutally affected by this terrible conflict, which is sadly
bringing death, injury and separation from loved ones.
Closer
to home, our thoughts are with Ukrainians living in the Royal Borough,
and the Thames Valley more widely, and especially anyone who has family
or friends in Ukraine and has to endure the daily fear and uncertainty
as to their wellbeing.
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As
a symbol of standing together with the Ukrainian people, we are flying
the Ukrainian flag on the Town Hall and Windsor Guildhall, and as a
compassionate borough we will continue to play our part in any
Government scheme helping refugees seeking sanctuary in the UK.
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Calling all parents. Please respond to secondary, middle, or upper school places offers
If your child is moving up to secondary, middle or upper school in September 2022, please respond by Tuesday 15 March 2022 to let us know if you wish to accept or decline the offer of the school place made to your child.
If
you applied online using the Citizen's portal, you will be able to log
into your account to view the outcome and accept or decline your offer
and you will also receive an email confirming the outcome of your
application.
If
you applied using a paper common application form or our Google online
form, you will not be able to access the admissions portal and your
outcome letter will be dispatched via first class post providing
information about the outcome and how to respond.
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New electric vehicle charging points will support our climate change and sustainable travel ambitions
Almost
30 new electric vehicle charging points are being installed in
Maidenhead and Windsor, increasing charging capability and helping
reduce the need for carbon intensive travel.
The
council is working with charging infrastructure firm Connected Kerb on
the pilot project, with the installation taking place across six sites,
which are on-street parking bays: St Leonards Road, Frances Road and
Albert Street in Windsor and College Road, Cromwell Road and Lower
Boyndon Road in Maidenhead.
Work
is expected to be completed on the 29 fast charging points soon. Once
the installation is complete, the bays will continue to operate as
normal and will be available to all users, not just those with electric
vehicles.
Sites were selected based upon the Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles criteria
for funding, such as locations with no or limited access to off-street
parking or charging, and sites which had appropriate electrical supply
and which wouldn’t need significant upgrades.
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Trading Standards seize almost 200 packs of illicit cigarettes with help from sniffer dog Yoyo
Almost 200 packs of illicit cigarettes have been seized by the Royal Borough’s Trading Standards team.
Officers
carried out checks at retailers in Windsor, Ascot and the surrounding
area and employed the help of search dog Yoyo during the operation.
Yoyo
can detect tobacco located in hidden places and at one business 190
packs of cigarettes, all of which had foreign labelling contrary to UK
law, were discovered. The team also seized 14 tubs of shisha tobacco
with no labelling, and 11 packs of cigars, also with foreign labelling,
from the same business.
The
visits were carried as part of Operation Cece, which is a National
Trading Standards and HM Revenue & Customs initiative to tackle the
illegal tobacco trade. A specialist dog handler and Yoyo joined Trading
Standards for the operation last week.
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Trading Standards and Royal Windsor Horse Show sign charter to ensure consumers get a Real Deal
Our Trading
Standards service and the organisers of the Royal Windsor Horse Show
have signed a charter for Real Deal accreditation ensuring consumers get
a fair deal at its shopping stands.
It demonstrates
a commitment to providing a safe and fair shopping experience by
preventing counterfeit or illicit goods being sold and maintaining the
very highest standards with the retail offerings.
The charter was
signed this week at Windsor Guildhall by Councillor David Cannon,
cabinet member for public protection, and Jonathan Goold, commercial
director of show organiser HPower Group.
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Take the children to Maidenhead Library this weekend for Maidenhead’s Big Read
This weekend,
Maidenhead Library will be one of the venues hosting Oceans Alive!
activities as part of Maidenhead’s Big Read, which will include a
10-metre life-sized model Orca on display at the library and authors
telling stories all on the theme of the ocean and marine animals.
There will also be Undersea Bus storytelling on the Once Upon A Bus parked nearby on Maidenhead High Street. This
is all part of marking World Book Day, celebrating and encouraging a
shared love of reading and books, which has already seen lots of special
children’s activities at our libraries and schools, including
story-time readings and dressing up as favourite book characters.
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Campaign highlights work of our Deputyship and Appointeeship team
Did you know we deliver around 400 different public services and activities as a council? Everyone knows about roads and bins, but we do so much more to support our residents, businesses, and communities.
This week, as part of our Spotlight on Services campaign, we’re highlighting the important work of our Deputyship and Appointeeship Team through a special animation on social media.
They
are one of the more unusual functions of the Royal Borough, providing
support to some of our most vulnerable residents by helping them to
manage their finances and benefits. Find out more by watching our video on Facebook and Twitter.
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Reminder - join our Resident Parking Discount Scheme
With a month to go until our new resident parking discount scheme gets underway, there's still time to apply.
It offers one hour’s free
parking in six popular car parks. If you are a resident of the Royal
Borough, you can apply for the virtual permits required, free-of-charge,
ready to start using your discounted sessions from Monday 4 April.
You will first need to set up
an online account with the RingGo cashless parking system. There is
then a simple application process for your virtual permits to get the
discounts in the car parks you wish to use. As the scheme is based on a
virtual permit system, it is necessary to apply for each car parking
zone you wish for the discount to be applied in.
The application only needs to be submitted once and will last for up to two years. You do not need to have a smart phone to apply for permits or use the discounts.
Drop-in sessions
We’re
running a number of drop-in sessions at libraries, offering extra help
to those who need it with setting up their RingGo accounts and applying
for their free, virtual parking permits. The first of these have proved
successful and there are further sessions later this month.
Please
bring the following supporting documents, vehicle ownership details and
proof of residency, along with your mobile phone so library staff can
assist you.
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Hanging baskets to bring spring colour to town centres
Maidenhead and Windsor town centres will see spring return in the coming days with the arrival of floral hanging baskets.
The
baskets, which feature seasonal flowers, ivies and evergreen plants,
have been made possible with thanks to the European Regional Development
(ERDF) ‘Welcome Back’ Fund.
The
Welcome Back Fund has already supported the Don't Let Your Guard Down
campaign, Hello Lamp Post, improvements to the Visit Windsor website and
digital reach, the Lunar New Year celebrations and Christmas events and
promotions in the borough since the award was made in March 2020.
The hanging baskets will be maintained by Window Flowers and be in place until the end of May 2022.
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Take time to test your smoke detectors
Royal
Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) is encouraging everyone to
make fire safety a priority by ensuring they have enough smoke alarms in
the home and that they work. It only takes a few seconds to test an
alarm and helps save lives.
Smoke
alarms give you the few extra seconds you need to escape in a fire.
RBFRS recommends weekly testing to ensure your smoke detectors are still
in working order. To test a smoke detector, simply press the button and
listen for the beep.
While
most homes across the country now have an alarm fitted, most people are
not aware that the average alarm has a lifespan of just ten years and then needs replacing.
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Check out March’s Advantage Card offers
The Advantage Card offers for March are out.
If you haven’t done so already, sign up to receive our special Advantage Card offer emails.
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Get involved in local town forum meetings
If you’d like to have your say on issues affecting Maidenhead and Windsor towns, we want to hear from you.
Agendas
are published a week in advance, so you can see what councillors will
be discussing, and get involved if there’s a topic you’re interested
in.
Your discussion suggestions will be added to a future agenda if appropriate.
The next Windsor Town Forum is on Tuesday 8 March (next week) and the next Maidenhead Town Forum is on Thursday 17 March.
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Royal Borough community spotlight
Here are just some of the upcoming community events in the Royal Borough:
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Help children to read – ABC To Read, a local award-winning charity, are looking for new volunteers to help local children that are struggling with their reading.
If you'd like to find out more about how you can support both primary
and secondary schools or would like to join their community of reading
mentors as a volunteer, please get in touch info@abctoread.org.uk
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World Day of Prayer
– (7pm today, Friday 4 March) – St Edward’s Church, Alma Road, Windsor.
Windsor’s World Day of Prayer warmly invites you to their service which
will focus on providing encouragement to all who are facing
difficulties. For further information please email Jacobyvpatterson@gmail.com or visit the World Day of Prayer website
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Renaissance Voices 20th anniversary concert
- (7pm Saturday 5 March) - All Saints Church, Boyne Hill. Maidenhead
Renaissance Voices choir are marking their 20th anniversary with a
special concert featuring the atmospheric Requiem Mass for Six Voices,
and the exuberant Purcell ode written in 1694 on the birthday of Queen
Mary II, Come Ye Sons of Art. Tickets are £15 and can be bought on the
door. More information is available on the Renaissance Voices website
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Spring concert - (7.30pm
Saturday 5 March) - St Mary’s Church, Maidenhead. The Windsor and
Maidenhead Symphony Orchestra (WMSO) will be performing a selection of
pieces by Walton, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky for their spring 2022
concert. Book your tickets and find out more on the WMSO website
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Inaugural piano recital -
(3pm Sunday 13 March) - St Michael's Church, Bray. Music at Bray
present internationally renowned pianist and former BBC Young Musician
of the Year Lara Melda, who will be playing their new instrument in a
programme of romantic pieces by Chopin and Rachmaninov. Admission is
free with a retiring collection, for further details visit the St Michael's Church website
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Wihan Quartet concert
– (7.30pm Thursday 24 March) – Baylis Theatre, Braywick Leisure.
Maidenhead Music Society presents the international string quartet who
will perform the Dvorak "American" which they have recorded and won
"Recording of the Year" from Music Web international. Tickets are £20,
£15 for members, and under 18s go free with an adult. Visit the Maidenhead Music Society website to learn more
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Rachmaninov’s Vespers - (8pm Saturday 26 March) – Eton College Chapel. The Cantorum Choir will perform Rachmaninov’s Vespers. In addition to the atmospheric
Vespers or 'All Night Vigil', the choir are also delighted to welcome
internationally acclaimed violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen to play excerpts
from Bach's Partita in D Minor. Tickets are available on the Cantorum Choir website
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Can Art Change the World? –
(10am–3pm Wednesday 6 April) – Braywick Theatre, Braywick Leisure
Centre. Join the Arts Society maidenhead for a fascinating Special
Interest Day looking at Goya, Picasso, Grayson Perry, and Ai Wiewei,
(and many others) and how they used moving artworks to communicate ideas
and opinions. Tickets are £40 (includes a buffet lunch). Email studydays.maidenhead@theartssociety.org to book your tickets
If
you have an upcoming not-for-profit community event or activity you’d
like to promote in this newsletter simply send basic information about
your event to communications@rbwm.gov.uk and it could be shared with over 19,000 local residents.
You
just need to include a brief description, when and where it takes
place, and a link to a website/social media page/contact where people
can find out more.
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Have your say
We regularly hold consultations to get your views on proposals within the Royal Borough.
Responding to our consultations and giving your feedback is the best way to ensure your views are heard.
Our current consultations are:
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M4 closures
The M4 is due to be closed in both directions between Junctions 5
(Langley) and 6 (Slough-Windsor) from 8pm today until 6am on Monday 7
March.
The M4 is also due to closed westbound only between Junctions 6
(Slough-Windsor) and 8/9 (Maidenhead) from 4am on Saturday 12 March
until 6am on Monday 14 March.
For details of council works on highways, visit our website. For full local roadwork details, including work by utility firms, please visit the One Network website.
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Keep in touch
Other accounts you may be interested in:
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