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West Berkshire Council scoops national award

(L-R) Ed Balls, Susan Halliwell (Interim CEO, West Berkshire Council), Gabrielle Mancini (Service Lead, Customer Engagement and Transformation, West Berkshire Council) and Jonathan Swain from award sponsor, the McLean Partnership.

We're delighted to have picked up a national award for Digital Transformation.

The award was presented by the Municipal Journal (The MJ), the UK's leading local government publication, and recognised the work done by West Berkshire Council and our partners to improve services through its Smart Cities Cluster project.

The project, which was funded by Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, saw West Berkshire Council and its fellow Berkshire local authorities working with local start-ups and SMEs to improve services to residents using new technology. In West Berkshire, this included employing sensors in supported accommodation to help prevent falls in elderly people and the rollout of a chatbot on the Council's website to answer common resident queries during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Other initiatives funded through the project included a social prescribing app to prevent isolation and a device to prevent unnecessary electricity usage in local authority-owned buildings.

Covid-19: Targeted Community Testing

Community testing continues to be an important part of the response to Covid-19 - particularly as the weather becomes colder and we socialise indoors more often.

We're running a Targeted Community Testing programme with our mobile van visiting priority groups in West Berkshire such as deprived wards, homeless communities and ethnically diverse communities to ensure they have access to LFD assisted and home test kits and are given help in how to take the tests..

The services is being delivered on our behalf by Healthwatch West Berkshire - and we're pleased to be working with partner agencies to help residents protect themselves and each other from Covid-19.

Assisted tests are useful because they are supervised by experienced testing staff meaning they will provide a more accurate result, and any difficulties with registering the result can be addressed. The testing staff can also discuss other health and wellbeing issues that residents may be facing such as alcohol, diet, physical activity, smoking and mental wellbeing.

The latest schedule for the Community Testing Van is available here and is updated each week: https://info.westberks.gov.uk/lateralflowtesting

Step It Up for Recycle Week

We want to say a huge thank you to residents for continuing to recycle. 

To mark Recycling Week, we're asking residents to keep going and  'Step It Up' and improve on the great work that we all do to recycle as much of our unavoidable waste as possible that can't be reused.

Here in West Berkshire we're a district of recyclers - but there are some simple things that we can all do to make our recycling even better.

Top tips for recycling in West Berkshire:

• Recycle more of these items at the kerbside: food, aerosols, plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles, and cleaning and bleach bottles.
• Recycle more of these items at your closest Recycling Centre: plastic pots, tubs and trays, cartons (Tetrapak), textiles and small electrical items. 

And if you're at all unsure about how to recycle a specific item, remember that Recycle Now's Recycling Locator can show you exactly what needs to go in the recycling bin where you live - just pop in your postcode!

Cllr Steve Ardagh-Walter, Executive Member for the Environment, said:

"Let's all take a bite out of climate change by recycling or composting our food waste, which you can do at the kerbside in your green bin, with or without a garden waste collection subscription.

"Most of us are stepping it up to take climate change down, and recycling is one of the easiest ways to do it. Take action - recycle more."

Keep in touch with us by following our Recycle for West Berkshire Facebook page.

World Alzheimer’s Day

Did you know yesterday was World Alzheimer’s Day?

To mark the occasion staff from our Adult Social Care team were at Shaw House to undertake training on the ‘Dementia Bus.’ The bus tours the country providing immersive training to participants who experience physical and mental challenges which replicate those that people living with dementia face on a daily basis. 

• Many local ‘in-person’ groups and activities for people living with dementia and their carers have restarted again recently. A new dementia café and carers support group has launched at the Fairclose Centre in Newbury. It runs on the first Wednesday of each month from 11am-midday. 
• Regular dementia walks are also organised locally by Age UK (Berkshire) and Dementia Friendly West Berkshire.
• The Corn Exchange, Newbury, also runs a monthly Memory Café and more information including ‘how to book’ can be found on their website.

The Great Big Green Week

This week marked the start of Great Big Green Week, a national week of events celebrating action on climate change.

There are several events taking place across West Berkshire this week and until Sunday (26 September), run by our fantastic local green groups as well as parish and town councils. You can find out about local events here.

We're also busy celebrating The Great Big Green Week by:

• Encouraging schools to sign up to the Eco-Schools programme -  meaning they have committed to embed simple environmental systems in their schools with the students leading the way. If this sounds interesting to you, why not speak to your school about signing up: https://www.eco-schools.org.uk

• Working alongside Greenham Trust to help offer local schools, councils and community groups the opportunity to plant one or more trees to enhance the local environment for years to come. To celebrate 25 years of the Greenham Trust, and in support of the Queen’s Green Canopy the Trust plans to provide up to 25,000 trees to be planted throughout the region over the next planting seasons. Applications for trees are now being taken. 

• Supporting World Car Free Day (22 Setember). Employees at the Council have been using alternative modes of transport to get to work or to meetings by leaving their cars at home - and we've been encouraging residents to take part too.

In addition, it's Bike to School Week from next Monday so dust off your bikes and find your helmets! Over the last year, we have worked hard to improve our cycling and walking infrastructure over the district. We also want to make travelling to school safer for children, which is why we are piloting School Streets in Calcot. You can learn more about School Streets here, and also give your feedback on the Calcot scheme here (survey open until 30 September).

Join us for World Food Day

Residents are in for a treat on World Food Day next month. Educafe will be holding a special community cafe on Saturday 16 October to celebrate World Food Day. As well as the usual tea and cake, there will be a variety of food available as well.  Save the date, and pop in for something to eat and drink - the World Food Day Community Cafe will be open at The Globe in Newbury from 11am to 4pm. More information will be available nearer the time. Educafe provides weekly community cafes with complimentary tea, cake and other snacks as well as information and support accessing local support services. Weekly activities and learning opportunities, including English conversation practice Local service provider pitches Confidential help desks Ethnic market stalls for ethnic enterprises They are held every Wednesday from 11am to 3pm at The Globe Indoor Garden on Bartholomew Street in Newbury. To find out more visit the Educafe website.

Designed by: @IllustratedGreen (Instagram)

Free courses to improve English and Maths skills

The Berkshire School of English is delighted to offer free ESOL, English and Maths courses for adults living in West Berkshire. Some courses are face-to-face and some are online - they can be joined at any time. If you know a family member or friend who might be interested they can find out more online. Alternatively, more information is available by calling 0163545900 or by emailing the Berkshire School of English.

Health and Wellbeing in Schools Awards

With pupils now back at school, it's great to see so many schools participating in our Health and Wellbeing Award scheme. The awards encourage a focus on health and wellbeing, while recognising and celebrating the work already happening to support children, young people and the wider school communities..

It's part of a larger healthy lifestyles programme in schools, which includes providing relationship advice, encouraging active travel such as cycling and walking, and advice on healthy eating.

And finally...

• On Sunday (26 September) there is work on the line outside London Paddington to improve reliability. If you're travelling to or from the capital, please note there will be no services in or out of the station until noon. Find out more on the GWR website.

• The search will soon begin to find the 2021 Community Champions - look out for more information in a future newsletter. You can also be first to hear about it by signing up to our Community Champion Awards newsletter.