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Street Tag is coming to local schools!


Pupils, their families, and school staff in Windsor and Maidenhead are invited to join Street Tag when it launches on 10 June, which will transform our borough into a virtual playground.


Street Tag is a family-friendly treasure hunt-style game using a smartphone app that encourages players’ to search their surroundings on foot or on two wheels, collecting virtual tags placed across our borough. 


We’ve teamed up with Street Tag to offer this unique game following its success in other parts of the country in encouraging players to be more active and get healthier, and discover more about places to explore in their communities while having fun and making memories with family and friends.


There’s going to be three seasons of Street Tag in our area, each eight weeks long. The first, which runs from Monday 10 June to Tuesday 6 August, is for schools.


If a child attends one of the 17 schools so far signed up to Street Tag, families can play on their way to and from school, and at weekends. Schools will also be able to compete against each other for points in a friendly leaderboard with prizes awarded to the top-performing schools.


To find out more about Street Tag in the Royal Borough, visit the Street Tag section on our website.


Read more here

Got a great idea to improve wellbeing in your community?


Applications are now open for the fifth round of Innovation Funding, for community-led projects to launch, and run, health and wellbeing initiatives across Windsor and Maidenhead.


Forty- seven local organisations have so far benefitted from funding from the scheme, which we manage in partnership with NHS Frimley, and that funding has been used to support wellbeing in our communities, tackle inequalities and improve access to services.


Projects are wide in scope and include groups to encourage and protect biodiversity, football sessions for children, and yoga for Asian women. A full list of all the successful applicants can be found on the Innovation Funding section on the RBWM Together website.

 

Applications for this fifth round opened this week and are due to close at midnight on Tuesday 23 July. It offers one-off funding per successful application of up to £5,000 to get their projects up and running.


Although applications are welcome for any project which can show how it will improve local health and wellbeing, this round is particularly looking for ideas that will support:


  • Unpaid carers
  • Families children and young people
  • People with learning disabilities
  • Addressing isolation and loneliness by improving community connections

 

For details on how to apply, and the application process, please visit the Innovation Fund section on the RBWM Together website.


Read more here

Register to vote in the General Election


We’re reminding voters who are not currently on the electoral register to sign up now if you wish to take part in the General Election on Thursday 4 July.


You only need to register if you have never registered before, or have recently moved or changed your name.


The last date for registering to vote for this election is Tuesday 18 June at 11.59pm – now less than three weeks away. Registering to vote is easiest online on the UK Government website.


The deadline for receiving new postal vote and postal proxy applications is 5pm on Wednesday 19 June. The deadline for receiving new applications to vote by proxy (not postal proxy or emergency proxies) is 5pm on Wednesday 26 June.


You now have the additional option to apply online to vote by post or proxy.

The nomination period for candidates will open on Tuesday 4 June at 10am and close on Friday 7 June at 4pm, with the confirmed candidates announced shortly thereafter.


For more information about eligibility to vote please visit the Electoral Commission website.


Read more here.

Volunteer's week turns 40!

 

Next week sees the start of Volunteers’ Week (Monday 3 June to Sunday 9 June), in which the amazing contributions volunteers make to communities across the UK is celebrated, and this year Volunteers’ Week marks its 40th anniversary.

 

Why volunteer?


Volunteering is not only good for the community, but it can also improve your physical and mental health and your overall wellbeing. Being a volunteer can bring meaning and purpose to your life, while increasing your self-esteem and wellbeing.


It can also relieve stress and alleviate symptoms of depression, and as well as having a positive impact on your community. Volunteering can also improve your relationships, help you make new friends, and feel more connected to the community.


It can also help you learn new skills and gain valuable work experience, as well as giving you a chance to share your existing talents, knowledge and experience to help people in need, valuable causes and the local community. 

    

Volunteering opportunities in the Royal Borough


We’re proud to have a strong voluntary and community sector that reaches right across the Royal Borough - offering structured support and multiple opportunities to get involved in all sorts of events and activities.


And we’re committed to helping local people get involved in their communities to take action for things that matter to them. To achieve this, we work closely with local voluntary sector partners to promote volunteering and we offer a range of opportunities. And here’s just a few of them:  


  • Environment and sustainability: there’s many local opportunities to take action to protect and enhance our local environment, from litter picks to adopting a roadside verge, to becoming a friend of our parks to monitoring local wildlife 
  •  Library volunteers: Library volunteers are vital in helping our libraries extend the activities on offer and it’s a really rewarding way to spend your free time in an interesting and friendly environment   
  •  Royal Borough Ambassadors: the primary role of a Royal Borough Ambassador is to keep event participants and spectators safe, and our ambassadors regularly support annual Royal events, the Royal Windsor Flower Show, the Windsor Duck Race and many more   


How do I get involved?


Our RBWM Together webpage is full of useful information about what’s going on in the Royal Borough, and our volunteering page has all the latest information about current. volunteering opportunities. 


And you might be interested to learn that we’re supporting Volunteers’ Week by co-hosting a Volunteer Fair at Maidenhead Library, Saturday 8 June, 10am-1pm, and you can read all about the fair in the article below. 

Volunteer fair at Maidenhead Library


Next week we’re celebrating the 40th National Volunteer Week by co-hosting a Volunteer Fair at Maidenhead Library, on Saturday 8 June 10am-1pm.

 

Come along to meet community and voluntary organisations from across the borough. The fair is free to attend and will be a great opportunity to find out about what’s happening in your local area and how you might like to be involved.

 

We’re also inviting all stallholders and attendees to join us for The Big Lunch afterwards (from 1.30pm). The Big Lunch is a way for communities to get to know each other, we are inviting everyone to bring their lunch for a big picnic at the amphitheatre outside Maidenhead Library, weather permitting of course!

 

This Volunteer Fair is brought to you by the Voluntary & Community Sector Partnership. The partnership brings together the council, Berkshire Community Foundation, WAM Get Involved, Windsor & Maidenhead Community Forum and East Berkshire Community Learning and Skills Service, to offer our combined knowledge and resources to support the wonderful work of our local voluntary and community sector, that engage and support residents across the borough. 

 

If you have any questions or queries please email volunteer@rbwm.gov.uk or, if you would like to reserve a stall please contact WAM Get Involved at info@wamgetinvolved.org.uk.

Reminder: Come along to our consultation events


Residents are reminded that drop-in sessions will be taking place next week, along with an online webinar, as part of our consultation on a key planning document, which will assist with securing the right amount, and type, of new affordable housing in our borough.


  •  Windsor Library drop-in session: Tuesday 4 June  from 2pm to 6.30pm
  • Online webinar via Microsoft Teams: Wednesday 5 June from 7pm to 8.30pm (the link for joining will be added to the website during w/c 3 June 2024)
  • Maidenhead Library drop-in session: Thursday 6 June from 2pm to 6.30pm 


The draft Affordable Housing Delivery Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) is a technical document that, once finalised, will help guide developers and those deciding planning applications. While SPDs cannot create new planning policy, or change existing ones, it sets out detailed guidance to help the council and developers in negotiations to achieve as much affordable housing as possible from proposed schemes, placing the priority on social rented and affordable rented homes that best meet local needs.

 

We would like to hear people’s views on our draft SPD document, which you can read on our website, or in person at Maidenhead, Windsor and Ascot libraries. The consultation runs until 20 June.

 

Read more here.

How fostering makes a difference


Chloe and Danielle are two inspirational local care leavers, kindly supporting our appeal to find more people to become foster carers and make a difference for other local young people in the community.

 

We need more people from all walks of life to provide a secure, stable and supportive home for children in care, including teenagers, siblings and children with a disability. It’s a valuable and rewarding paid role.

 

Thank you Chloe and Danielle for sharing your stories.

Chloe’s story

 

“When I went to their home, I felt my life had restarted.”

 

Chloe went into foster care aged 15. Now 22 and studying at university, she says her foster parents nurtured and supported her to achieve her aspirations in life.   

 

Listen to her story

Danielle’s story

 

“I couldn’t imagine my life without them now. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

 

Danielle and her siblings first went to live with their foster parents in 2013. Now aged 23 and working with children herself as a school teacher, she says their ongoing guidance and support has shaped her life.    

 

Listen to her story

 


Could you foster?


We welcome enquiries from anyone aged 21 or over, regardless of income, employment status, gender, sexuality, religion, whether or not you have pets, own your home or rent. It’s your personal qualities that matter.



In return, we offer our foster carers excellent support, training and benefits via the council’s in-house independent fostering agency, Achieving for Children Fostering, which provides foster care services for the Royal Borough, Kingston and Richmond councils. The team had a Q&A on fostering in last week’s newsletter.


Our website has lots of information about the process and opportunities, we are also available via phone and email, make contact with us for an informal chat. Email us at fosteringenquiries@achievingforchildren.org.uk or call 020 8547 5355.

Webinar: An update on Berkshire's blueprint for nature recovery



Our Berkshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy is underway, developing our priorities for nature in our county, and mapping these into the most important locations, with the measures to achieve them.


Join us for a webinar on Tuesday 11 June to present a first look at the collaborative targets from responses to our community engagement workshops and survey held earlier this year. We will show the process that we are using to translate your priorities into a map of Berkshire.


This webinar is a great opportunity to learn about the progress of our Berkshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy, and to see the direction of where and how nature is being prioritised.


The strategy, once finalised, will prioritise where time and investment are most needed to improve, protect, or enlarge habitats, create wildlife corridors, or create new habitats on land or around watercourses. It will support joint working around nature recovery and focus the decisions, expertise and investment of many individuals and partner organisations, alongside helping to inform and support funding bids for specific projects.


Click here to book tickets for the webinar and here for more information about the project. The webinar is also part of the Reading Climate Festival, and you can find more events here.

Are you an unpaid carer?


The NHS Berkshire Carers Bus is due to visit Dedworth Road Tesco’s in Windsor (SL4 4JT) on Friday 14 June, between 2.30 and 5pm. No need to book. Just pop along to discover the range support available.


You’re an unpaid carer if you look after a family member, partner or friend who cannot cope without your support due to their illness, frailty, disability, mental health, or addiction. Unpaid carers play a significant role but many don’t recognise this or realise there’s a lot of local support to help them too.


If you cannot make this date and want to find out about local support, visit the carers section on the NHS Berkshire Healthcare website. 

Work to start on Monday 3 June to help improve road safety in Maidenhead neighbourhood


Responses to a consultation on proposals to improve road safety at Norfolk Park, a neighbourhood north of Maidenhead town centre and Kidwells Park, have shown that the majority of residents support the proposed traffic calming measures.


The work will introduce these measures at four of the entry and exit points to the neighbourhood. The specific measures are continuous pavement crossings for pedestrians across the roads, which will help to prioritise those on foot over traffic and help to reduce the speed vehicles approach the junctions and turn into the streets. Additionally, the speed limit will be reduced to 20mph on the residential streets. All the entrances/exits to the neighbourhood will remain open to vehicles under the project once they have been rebuilt.


As a result of the consultation, the council will begin works in week commencing Monday 3 June on the first junction – the junction of Craufurd Rise, Norfolk Road and Cordwallis Road. Temporary traffic lights will be used to keep this junction open whilst works are undertaken. The other junction improvements will be scheduled for later in the year.


We will monitor the effectiveness of the new junctions once built. Residents also highlighted as part of the consultation other issues such as parking on Cordwallis Road and the lack of a crossing over the A308 near the railway bridge. The council will look at options for how these issues might be addressed in the future, subject to feasibility and funding.

Reminder: Full road closure of Broadway


The full road closure of Broadway in Maidenhead will start on Tuesday 4 June to enable the safe demolition of the closed Broadway multi-storey car park.

 

Cabinet agreed last year to the demolition of the multi-storey building, to remove the safety risks posed by the failed structure, while reducing the potential for anti-social behaviour and town centre blight.


A full temporary road closure is required from Tuesday 4 to Thursday 13 June, daily between 9am to 3pm (though with no weekend closures) in order to enable the safe demolition of the staircase tower. This will ensure pedestrians and vehicles stay a safe distance from these major demolition works.


The footway on the opposite side will remain open. A diversion for motorists will be in place during this time via A4 Frascati Way, A4 Bad Godesberg Way, A4 St Clouds Way, Forlease Road, Bridge Road and High Street.


As a result of the road closure weekdays between 4 and 13 June the following bus routes will be affected:


  • Thames Valley Buses routes 3, 7, 8, 9, 16, 53, 234, 235, 238 and 239 will not call at Broadway, Market St, Library, Queen St, York Rd East bus stops between 9am and 3pm, but will outside these times. All other stops served as usual. 
  • Arriva route 7 and Red Eagle Buses route 63 will only pick up from Frascati Way stop S1/S2 and turn at the roundabout south of the station, at all times, not just between 9am and 3pm.

This week our campaign focused on falls prevention and household assistance


Our 'Ageing Well and Living Independently' campaign aims to give you and your loved ones the best advice for keeping well and highlight support of how to live your best life, whilst ageing in the borough.

 

This week focused on falls prevention and household assistance.

 

Royal Borough Community Spotlight


Here are just some of the upcoming community events and volunteering opportunities in the Royal Borough.


  • The Tuesday Singers are saying farewell to James Church our conductor and accompanist in August, and we are delighted to welcome Jo Hutchins as our accompanist from September but are still looking for a conductor. If you know anyone who is available on Tuesday mornings and can get to St Mark's Crescent Methodist Church, SL6 5BQ ready for a 10am start please let us know. We would also be delighted to welcome new members. Our ladies choir starts promptly at 10am and ends with coffee in the café area after 11.45am. More information visit, email or call 01494 443464.


  • Maidenhead Choral Society — call for singers. Maidenhead Choral Society will celebrating the life and work of Anton Bruckner by performing his Mass in F Minor, Te Deum, Locus Iste and more in their autumn concert, 16 Nov 2024. They welcome enthusiastic singers in all parts, and there are no auditions. Rehearsals are held on Monday evenings (excluding bank holidays) from 7:45 – 9:45pm in the music room at Furze Platt School. For more information visit.


  • Holyport Village Fair (Saturday 1 June, 12pm to 8pm) – Holyport Green, Holyport. This will be our 79th year celebrating this wonderful traditional event. This will be a family fun packed day for all, funfair, live music & entertainment, food & drink, traditional games, dog show, stalls and more. Visit our FB page for all updates. Free entry and parking, all welcome, this is a charity event for Holyport Community Trust, we look forward to seeing you there.


  • Come and join us for afternoon tea (Sunday 2 June, 2.30pm to 5pm) - St Michaels Church Bray SL6 2AB. Tea coffee and cakes will be served in aid of various charities. For more information visit.


  • Pub & Pastries Seniors Social (Monday 3 June, 11am -12.30pm) - The Fox & Castle Pub, Old Windsor. Relaxed, friendly, sociable gathering for our sensational seniors, their friends & family. Warm & welcoming to those experiencing dementia & other conditions, at any age, and any stage. Free entry. Small charge for hot drinks. More information email us or call 01784 335 804.


  • 80th anniversary of D-day zoom talk “Memories of D-Day” (Tuesday 4 June) – It will be based on interviews carried out with Maidenhead people who took part in the invasion and the subsequent Battle of Normandy. For further details visit.


  • Windsor Wellbeing Coffee Morning (Wednesday 5 June, 11.30am onwards) - Fox and Castle pub, Old Windsor. This will be a lovely morning where you can enjoy a natter and a hot drink in the lovely. There will be two short talks from Angela, a Mental Health Awareness Trainer and Evie, a Nutritionist and Gut Health Specialist: Food and Mood -Take control of your mood and get your mojo back. 7 Top Tips for Managing Stress - Practical & uplifting tips for managing stress. Entry is free and drinks will be available to purchase. We’ll also have a few goody bags to snap up too! Email madeleine@maidenheadunitedfc-community.org to secure your spot! 


  • 117th Royal Windsor Flower Show (Saturday 8 June, 10am to 6pm) - Windsor Great Park. This is a fabulous one-day event that celebrates gardening, nature, cookery, traditional crafts and old-fashioned fun which raises money for the charitable causes of The Royal Windsor Rose and Horticultural Society. Set in the beautiful historic grounds of Windsor Great Park, you’ll find a quintessentially British competitions’ marquee, along with top-notch exhibitors, Great British Plant Nurseries, thought-provoking talks, delicious food and lots of entertainment and fun for all ages and abilities. It’s a truly wonderful way to spend memorable time with friends and family enjoying life’s simple pleasures. For more information visit.


  • Gather and Grow Launch (Saturday 22 June, 11am) - Maidenhead Library. All welcome for an introduction to Gather&Grow, a talk on biodiversity and wellbeing. Come and visit the community garden and plant some seeds. For more information visit or email.

If you have an upcoming not-for-profit community event or appeal for volunteers 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 more than 21,000 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.


To see further volunteering opportunities in the borough, or for another way for community organisations to promote volunteering opportunities, please visit RBWM Together.

Our consultations - have your say


We regularly hold consultations and surveys to get your views on proposals within the Royal Borough.


Participating, sharing ideas, and giving your feedback is the best way to ensure your views are heard.


Our current consultations are:

Local Travel Updates


For details of further council works on highways, visit our website. For full local roadwork details, including work by utility firms, please visit the One Network website.


  • The full road closure of Broadway in Maidenhead will start on Tuesday 4 June to enable the safe demolition of the closed Broadway multi-storey car park. Please see the relevant article in this edition of the Residents Newsletter for full details.



  • Work to introduce traffic calming measures will begin on the junction of Craufurd Rise, Norfolk Road and Cordwallis Road, on Monday 3 June. Please see the relevant article in this edition of the Residents Newsletter for full details.

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