MELKSHAM will go to the polls in three weeks’ time to vote for its new town, parish and county councillors, and 29 candidates will be working hard to secure their place in one or more of the 22 seats up for grabs.
Candidates have been announced for the elections on Thursday 4th May, which will determine who will form Melksham Town Council, Melksham Without Parish Council and Wiltshire Council for the next four years.
All town and county seats will go to a vote, but only the Berryfield ward of Melksham Without Parish Council will be contested.
The deadline to register to vote is today, Thursday 13th April. Go to www.gov.uk/register-to-vote or call Wiltshire Council on 0300 456 0100.
20 people are competing for 15 seats on Melksham Town Council, half of whom are newcomers and the other half current councillors.
Current councillors Anderson, Christy, Forgacs, Sanders and Pam Wiltshire will not be standing for re-election.
Melksham Without Parish Council will only fill eight of its 13 seats in the election because just two out of a possible six people have volunteered to represent Bowerhill, and the Blackmore ward is one member short.
Cllrs Brindle, Nicol, Jan Chivers, Sankey and Tait will not be standing for re-election in the parish.
The Wiltshire Council county seats – the ones that pay over £12,000 per year – will be more hotly contested, with 17 candidates competing for five positions. All current county councillors for the area are running again.
Of the local candidates for all three councils, 15 are Liberal Democrats, 15 are independent (no political party affiliation), one is Labour, nine are Conservative, three are UK Independence Party (UKIP) and three are part of a new local party, Melksham First.
Melksham’s election candidates are:
Melksham Town Council
Central: Lisa Ellis (Liberal Democrats), Kathy Iles (Liberal Democrats), Martin Pain (Independent), Chris Petty (Independent), Hayley Spencer (Liberal Democrats), Mike Swanton (Conservative) and Terri Welch (Liberal Democrats).
North: Caroline Andrewes (Conservative), Pat Aves (Liberal Democrats), Ryan Clarke (Liberal Democrats), Simon Hedley (Liberal Democrats), Geoff Mitcham (Independent) and Richard Wiltshire (Melksham First).
South: Andy Hinchcliffe (Liberal Democrats), Jon Hubbard (Liberal Democrats), Anna Innis (Melksham First), Bruce Petty (Melksham First), Mike Sankey (Conservative), Tony Watts (Liberal Democrats) and Adrienne Westbrook (Liberal Democrats).
Melksham Without Parish Council
Paul Carter (UKIP), Steve Petty (Independent) and Richard Wood (Independent) will compete for two seats in the Berryfield ward. The rest of the council will be formed, without a vote, of independent candidates Terry Chivers, Gregory Coombes, Mary Pile, Alan Baines, John Glover and Mike Mills.
The parish council is appealing for five volunteers to join through co-option – meaning there is no public vote – to represent Bowerhill and Blackmore (Woodrow, The Spa and Redstocks). Anyone interested should contact the clerk, Teresa Strange, on 01225 705700.
Wiltshire Council
Melksham Central: Paul Grainger (Labour), Martin Pain (Independent), David Pollitt (UKIP), Hayley Spencer (Liberal Democrats) and Mike Swanton (Conservative).
Melksham North: Pat Aves (Liberal Democrats), Nick Holder (Conservative), Geoff Mitcham (Independent) and Richard Wiltshire (Independent).
Melksham South: Jon Hubbard (Liberal Democrats) and Mike Sankey (Conservative).
Melksham Without North: Phil Alford (Conservative) and Terry Chivers (Independent).
Melksham Without South: Paul Carter (UKIP), Ryan Clarke (Liberal Democrats), Steve Petty (Independent) and Roy While (Conservative).
![Melksham Times Past
A column about days gone by in Melksham by local historian Lisa Ellis
The Independent Chapel and Women’s Rights in the 1840s
A document I recently transcribed lists the baptisms performed at the Independent Chapel. This record is especially helpful in that, along with baptisms, a lot of them include birth dates - one of the ways I discover which day someone was born.
The following is taken from a Wiltshire Times article published on 9th November 1878 which reports a speech given during the 100-year services and to celebrate their renovations (what we now know to be the Rachel Fowler Centre).
One speaker, Rev. T. Mann, minister in Trowbridge, talked about the Chapel’s origins when he related how Rev. Honywill came to Melksham and how he’d gone on to remain as the minister for the Independent Chapel for almost 60 years. [Honywill and his family lived on King Street in what we now call “Legion House”.]
Read more on our website, the link is in our bio.](https://scontent-lhr6-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.75761-15/505444438_18038424887647822_3264519508333556874_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=gXZQJoHTNiEQ7kNvwHezuPI&_nc_oc=AdlrJvMDapuork_EjycPOcegNeMnCA37GEIudkxkTeCfTgvB5iijE05ojpwlYCd5gN8&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr6-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=0ZY31jxOGx2M8z1ZqYNvEg&oh=00_AfPY_C0B8EndpVcx78sVp9qVJgtm368WREf36ZX1_jO3mg&oe=6855C74A "Melksham Times Past
A column about days gone by in Melksham by local historian Lisa Ellis
The Independent Chapel and Women’s Rights in the 1840s
A document I recently transcribed lists the baptisms performed at the Independent Chapel. This record is especially helpful in that, along with baptisms, a lot of them include birth dates - one of the ways I discover which day someone was born.
The following is taken from a Wiltshire Times article published on 9th November 1878 which reports a speech given during the 100-year services and to celebrate their renovations (what we now know to be the Rachel Fowler Centre).
One speaker, Rev. T. Mann, minister in Trowbridge, talked about the Chapel’s origins when he related how Rev. Honywill came to Melksham and how he’d gone on to remain as the minister for the Independent Chapel for almost 60 years. [Honywill and his family lived on King Street in what we now call “Legion House”.]
Read more on our website, the link is in our bio.")
