Summer arrives in Wiltshire

I think it’s fair to say that summer arrived last week as we all sweltered in the hottest temperatures seen for years. We put out warnings to older people, parents with young children and people with serious conditions, as we know that they are particularly vulnerable in this type of weather.

We also encouraged people to check on any vulnerable friends, relatives and neighbours to make sure they could cope with the heat. Our teams who work with vulnerable people raised  awareness of the importance of taking care in the warmer weather and whilst we have an important public health role to play, isn’t it great to see the sunshine and feel the warmth and it certainly seems to lifts everyone’s mood.

This was evident at recent events across the county at the summer solstice and the Armed Forces Weekend, which is always a real joy and a great opportunity to celebrate the dedication both of our current service men and women as well as our distinguished veterans. We have plenty to be proud of when it comes to our connections to the military in this county.

Last week I attended the Local Government Association’s annual conference in a very hot Harrogate. This is an important date in the local government calendar, and provides a great opportunity to network with other authorities and hear directly from government ministers. This year the focus was on devolution and how local councils move towards self-sustainability; particularly given the continuing reduction in grant funding. All local authorities are being encouraged to look at where they can create a combined authority. This will focus on combining with other councils and/or public sector partners. As we have already combined five authorities into one, our focus in Wiltshire will be how we are sharing premises and resources with the police, fire and health partners to deliver better services and save money. The government is likely to incentivize the creation of a combined authority with one-off funding. My aim is to have a bid for Wiltshire submitted prior to the summer recess. I will keep you all updated on this…

On a separate note, could I just say a huge thank you to all of you who took part and made our second curry and quiz night in aid of Hope for Tomorrow such a big success and so much fun. The event, which was held at City Hall in Salisbury, included an auction, raffle and a curry supper provided by the award-winning Hox Brasserie.

The winning team was ‘TBC’ (Ian Garrod, Surriya Subramaniam, Gary Tomsett and Jo McClay). Congratulations to them, and thank you to everyone who helped to raise more than £1,300 (this included the dress down day held earlier last month).  The money raised will help to provide mobile chemotherapy units across Wiltshire helping to provide treatment to cancer patients living in rural communities.

We have another opportunity to raise money for Hope for Tomorrow when the second Big Walk takes place on Saturday, 12 September. Two routes have been planned for this year’s walk; one starting in central Bath and the other in Pewsey, all participants will end the walk with well-earned tea and cake at County Hall in Trowbridge. Money raised will also support the Young Melksham charity – a local charity working with children, young people and their families in the Melksham Community Area.

As well as raising much-needed sponsorship for these two very worthy causes, the Big Walk  is great for getting active, seeing our beautiful countryside and spending time catching up with friends and colleagues – what more could you want!