 Mayor’s awards - tell us about outstanding locals
Wokingham Borough Mayor Cllr Beth Rowland has launched the Mayor’s Honour Awards to recognise people who make an outstanding contribution to their community.
The awards are open to adults, children, young people and community groups who work, live, study or provide services in the borough.
The Mayor and Deputy Mayor Cllr Adrian Mather will select worthy winners from those nominated by members of the public.
Examples of nominated people can include fosterers, volunteers, carers, teachers and employees. For children and young people, the Mayor would like to hear about individuals who have overcome a difficult situation or have outstanding achievements.
Nominations now open, send by email. They should be no more than 100 words and should set out why someone should be considered.
 Government underfunding punishing local services
Rampant inflation and the Government’s decision to make Wokingham Borough the lowest-funded council in the country continues to punish our residents.
Spiralling inflation beyond the council’s control is seeing rising costs, while our increases in Council Tax are capped.
Residents in the area get the least funding from central Government per person of any unitary authority in the country.
Compared to other areas, residents in Wokingham Borough get more than £400 less per household each year towards their services than if it was funded in the same way as the average unitary authority. This is £30million per year in total.
To balance the budget,our teams are looking at how to reduce expenditure as quickly as possible. As part of finding these savings at last week’s executive meeting, councillors agreed to proceed with a consultation on grass cutting, public bin collections and street cleaning.
We continue to lobby Government for a fairer funding deal for our residents.
 New playground in Spencers Wood
A new playground has been opened on Clements Close in Spencers Wood, with Deputy Mayor Cllr Adrian Mather on hand to cut the ribbon.
The community event was attended by residents, our community engagement and housing teams, Citizens Advice Wokingham and the builders of the equipment.
Fun and laughter was provided by children’s entertainer Mr Muddles and sweet treats sent along by SHARE Wokingham.
The new equipment includes a climbing frame, climbing net, in-ground trampoline, swing sets and more.
The opening marks the end of several months of improvement of council housing in the area, including re-painting the outside of properties and installing new doors and windows, cutting down overgrown shrubbery and resurfacing parking areas.
 What to do this summer (free or low cost)
The Berkshire Mummies blog has a list of free or low cost activities across Berkshire which you could do this summer.
The blog lists 50 things you can do for free to make the most of the school holidays. Some in our area are:
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California Country Park, Wokingham – The play area is a large play space which is suitable for both younger and older children
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Cantley Park, Wokingham – The park has an excellent variety of play equipment to suit all ages – it is laid out in different zones for different age groups and there is also wheelchair accessible equipment in the play area
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Dinton Pastures Country Park, Wokingham– There is a great play area here plus there is a lovely walk to be had around the lake
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FBC Play Area, Finchampstead– Finchampstead Baptist Church (FBC) Play Area is an impressive space which is suitable for all ages and there is certainly plenty to do. There is a large playground plus a multi-use games area and a woodland walk
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Pinewood Centre Adventure Play Area, Wokingham Without – There are two brilliant playgrounds at The Pinewood Centre in Wokingham Without – one is a wooden adventure playground set in a woodland and the other is train themed and next to the Pinewood Miniature Railway
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Woodford Park, Woodley– There are three play areas here plus a paddling pool and skatepark
- The War Memorial and Mosaic Trails, Wokingham – Did you know there are three Wokingham Trails which you can do for free? All of the trails can be found on the Wokingham Town History App which is free to download and gives you all of the locations for the trails and the things you are looking to spot
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Woodford Park paddling pool, Woodley – Check opening times on the website
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Simon’s Wood, Finchampstead – A lovely place to walk and wonderful to be fully immersed in the woods – with tall trees, thick woodland and well defined paths
A host of other free or low cost events are also suggested for the rest of August and some in September too.
Cost of living help
Daily essentials, mortgages, rents and other costs continue to rise. We know most people have cut costs and many are relying on loans or friends and family to get by.
If you’re struggling now, there’s help available, including:
What you might have missed
Here’s all our updates from the last week:
You can sign up for any of these newsletters online.
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