Christmas message from the Mayor

I would like to wish all Melksham residents a Happy Christmas and may we all look forward to a very special New Year.

Looking back on this past year, so much has started to change in our town. After years of talking and planning, we can now see the shape of the new sports facilities at Woolmore Farm. What a difference that will make to our football and rugby teams, with all facilities and pitches in one place. Our town teams have struggled for years with inadequate facilities and I am sure they will benefit from the new grounds.

Still on sport, the Wiltshire School of Gymnastics has just opened their new extension.

Once more our young people and athletes have the buildings they need to pursue their sport. Also in Bowerhill, this summer saw the long-awaited opening of the pavilion and sports pitches. A lot of hard work was put into this project by Melksham Without Parish Council.

As you read this, Melksham is again showing the rest of the county what Christmas lights should look like. We are extremely privileged to have such a superb band of volunteers, ably led by Paul and Alan Weymouth. On behalf of the town, thank you guys and gals for all you do throughout the year to make Melksham stand out.

During the summer, and long afterwards due to warm weather, we have enjoyed another brilliant display of flowers. It is good to see the input of local businesses in this, the Waitrose upcycled garden was a joy and there were lots of new hanging baskets. Wetherspoons, at the Bear won a regional award for their fantastic flower displays.

Two people played a big part in our town flowers, thank you Mike and Nigel for watering and looking after them. Let’s hope that next year we see yet more businesses becoming involved. The town again won a Silver Gilt in the Britain in Bloom South West competition, well done.

Could I take this opportunity to thank everybody who has either joined one of the monthly Town Tidy days, (first Sunday of each month at 1.00pm at the Town Hall) or has litter picked with some other group, we are proud of you.

The other evening saw the Melksham Young People’s awards evening – what a fantastic bunch of people we have here in Melksham. There are so many young people who spend a lot of their leisure time doing sports, or arts and they excel. It is good to note that the Canberra Youth Centre is again open for young people and numbers are growing.

Another group of young people can be seen around the town on a Thursday; students from Lackham College have been giving their time and expertise to our town. They have mended walls, restored the pond in the Prince of Wales garden in Church Street and are in the middle of reinstating an old path in the churchyard. When this is finished it will reopen the old route from Melksham House to the church, which has been closed for many years.

Talking about Melksham House, we all know that this will be the site for the new Melksham Campus, a long awaited project. Now we know that work on this will start in the spring, the first phase will be the Market Place redevelopment with the new road to the Campus.

Discussions are still ongoing with Melksham Town Council and Wiltshire Council to explore the redevelopment of the Assembly Hall and include it in the Campus scheme, giving Melksham one centre for leisure and council. The plans for this are due next year – yes it has delayed the build, but what will result will be a 21st Century facility we can be proud of.

Looking to the future, the new dig of the Wilts and Berks canal is still in the plans. The group has had to do a huge amount of research, prepare numerous plans on everything from newts (again) to flooding and archaeological papers, so it is no wonder that this takes its time to come to fruition. Perhaps we will hear the news in the coming year, and what a change that will make to our town.

So, in conclusion, we must all admit that our lovely little town of Melksham is steaming ahead with lots of new plans and improvements that will make it a far better place to live and work. Our main resource is you and I, the people, the community, you are part of a very special place, and I hope that we can all play our parts, whether it is with our sports, our groups, our organisations. There is so much that is out there, if you are still sitting at home, come out and join in our town and all it has to offer.

I am privileged and proud to be your Mayor and I wish you all a happy and Holy Christmas and New Year.

Terri Welch