Last night I attended the 2012 Wiltshire and Swindon Sports awards at the Steam Museum in Swindon and was delighted to be asked to speak on behalf of Wiltshire Council. This gave me the opportunity to reflect on the outstanding work of Team Wiltshire this year and the impact of their work. The Team focused on sport, activity, heritage and art and they delivered a wide ranging programme of inspiring events that engaged hundreds of young people and our communities. I made it clear that this year was just the start - now we need to create a lasting legacy that captures the wealth of enthusiasm and that unique community spirit that many of us experienced this year. The evening was hosted by ex-England rugby captain Phil de Glanville and Shelley Rudman was the special guest speaker, which some of you may recall, she was the skeleton bob silver medallist at the 2006 winter Olympic Games. As a local Pewsey girl she spoke with passion about being part of her community and thanked them for their support and encouragement.
It was a really good event that incorporated gymnastic performances and fencing displays as part of the award ceremony. I was both inspired and overwhelmed at the dedication and self sacrifice made by those shortlisted for the awards, and would like to extend my congratulations to John Bedbrook, Pat Harris, Malcolm Miles, Geoffrey Russell and Ian Wheeler who were the winners of the Outstanding Contribution to Sport in Wiltshire awards.
This year has seen a renewed enthusiasm to take up a sport or activity, especially in many young people, which is just great. We cannot underestimate the affect and impact that the Olympics and the Paralympics Games has had on the whole country and on our county.
It wasn’t just about taking up a sport or being inspired to be more active, and it wasn’t all about winning medals – although we did do really well in Wiltshire with a number of medals won by our local Olympians with Ed McKeever, Heather Stanning, Aaron Moores and Stephanie Millward – it was also about the spirit of the Games and what this spirit did for our local communities.
Our challenge is how we keep this spirit and renewed enthusiasm alive into 2013 and beyond. In my blog last week, I mentioned setting up a Legacy Steering Board to ensure that we do keep the momentum and energy of this year going. The board will have its first meeting soon and I am really looking forward to discussing this further and exploring how we can do this. In the meantime, I am attending most of the area boards to reflect on this summer’s unique events, the impact they had on our county, and to promote and hopefully inspire our local communities to consider what they can do to keep the spirit alive. The feedback, so far, has been encouraging and it is clear that those communities that came together this year want to continue coming together. As I always say a strong community is a thriving community that will do more for themselves.
Which reminds me, yesterday morning I chaired the Action for Wiltshire board which was established to help reinvigorate the local economy and support those affected by the recession. The board has a number of projects and its success has been down to strong partnership working. One of the projects is looking at how we work with local businesses and colleges to create jobs for young people through apprenticeships, graduate schemes or trainee roles.
We also discussed the forthcoming Welfare Reform and how critical it is to raise awareness with those who will be directly affected and to ensure that we can provide the support that will be needed to help these people.
Following this board meeting, I chaired the Military Civil Integration partnership board meeting where we heard about the Army’s new structure, following the announcement of the national defence cuts, and, how this will affect Wiltshire. Given that we are a unique county with the largest military population, which is set to grow with the implementation of a Super Garrison at Tidworth, it is important that we continue to work closely with the Army to assist and support their continued integration in our communities.
Finally, the manager and staff forums start next week. These will take a look back at what we’ve achieved over the last few months and a look forward to what’s coming up; the challenges and opportunities we face. As always, there will be plenty of time to ask questions and to find out more about what’s happening in the council and I am really looking forward to seeing you all.
Jane.
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