New Mayor for Tamworth

Tamworth now has a brand new Mayor. One of the town’s longest serving councillors – John Garner – has now been sworn in as Mayor for the next 12 months.

Cllr John Garner, a ward councillor for Amington, was unanimously voted into the position at the Annual Council meeting held at the Town Hall – and it is the second time he has held the post.

He was leader of the council in 1983, first served as Mayor in 1988 and was first elected to the council in 1979. His service includes eight years as Cabinet Member for the Environment where he was instrumental in introducing the joint waste service with Lichfield.

Cllr Richard Kingstone, a teacher at Rawlett School, will serve as Deputy Mayor for the year.

Following the vote, which saw Cllr Garner said: “Being elected Mayor is a huge honour and I promise to do my very best to uphold the high standard set by my predecessor, Cllr Tina Clements. The office of Mayor is not about the person, it is about the borough of Tamworth and the people I serve.”

Outgoing Mayor Cllr Tina Clements, who represents the Wilnecote Ward, said she has been hugely privileged to serve as Mayor during 2012 – a year which saw the Olympic Torch Relay come to Tamworth, new discoveries in the Staffordshire Hoard and a Heritage Lottery grant for Tamworth Castle.

She said: “It has been the greatest honour of my life to have represented Tamworth as Mayor, to have met so many wonderful people, groups and organisations and to help promote community pride and the many good works that go on in the town. I would like to thank everyone for giving me my moment to shine and for allowing me to be me.”

During her year in office, Cllr Clements has attended almost 400 engagements and has raised more than £6,000 for her two charities for the year – SPIN and Tame Community First Responders.

Lance Corporal Mark Whetton from the Army Cadet Force was inaugurated as the Mayor’s Cadet for the forthcoming civic year. He will attend certain civic duties with the Mayor, representing young people in the town.

Wardens don’t get in a flap as they rescue ducklings

Street warden James Harrison with the rescued ducklings.

Two of Tamworth’s street wardens got more than they bargained for when they started work on Tuesday morning – and found themselves carrying out a two-hour duckling rescue.

Warden Michael Osborne was just starting work in the town centre on Tuesday morning when sharp-eyed market staff alerted him to a brood of 12 ducklings which had fallen from the wall at the back of the Nationwide Building Society in Market Street and were trapped at the bottom of the Castle Keep.

Michael radioed his colleague James Harrison, who climbed down into the Keep, armed with a child’s fishing net, kindly loaned by the Tool Box.

He managed to capture all the ducklings and put them into a cardboard box – but that was not the end of the duck drama.

The mother duck had flown off, so the wardens were then on a mission to reunite her with her brood. Said Michael: “We were trying to get the mother duck to follow us down to the river, without much success.

“Eventually, we managed to get the ducklings to quack loudly enough to encourage her to fly down onto the top lawn by the wall. We then released the ducklings from the box and the mother then made her way to the river, closely followed by all 12 ducklings.

“It was a real team effort to rescue these ducklings and reunite them with their mother. It took us about two hours, but we were delighted to be able to help out.”

This isn’t the first time that Tamworth Borough Council’s street wardens have found themselves riding to the rescue of animals in distress.

In 2007, fellow wardens Pete Layton and Jane Heath hit the national headlines when they used a vacuum cleaner to rescue Henry the hamster, who got trapped in a hole in a kitchen in Stonydelph for 24 hours.

County Council elections and Wilnecote by-election

Staffordshire County Council election (Tamworth) and Wilnecote by-election results
Name in bold denotes successful candidate.

Below is a list of all results for the Staffordshire County Council elections in Tamworth and also the by-election in Wilnecote.

Amington division
John Mills,UK Independence Party (UKIP) – 791; Jeremy Oates, The Conservative Party – 842; Sheree Peaple, The Labour Party – 1043; Marguerite Stockdale, Liberal Democrat – 60 Lab gain

Bolebridge division
Chris Booth, UK Independence Party (UKIP) – 730; Carol Dean, The Labour Party – 1124; Mick Oates, The Conservative Party – 752; Jenny Pinkett, Liberal Democrat – 103 Lab gain

Perrycrofts division
Ben Adams, The Conservative Party – 1032; Stephen French, UK Independence Party (UKIP) – 754; Tony Harvey, Liberal Democrat – 116; Eddie Jones, The Green Party – 100; Andy Whiles, The Labour Party – 970 Con hold

Stonydelph division
Penny Bennion, Liberal Democrat – 39; Chris Cooke, Independent – 734; Lisa Crane, The Green Party – 106; Pauline Hinks, The Labour Party – 707; Andrew James, The Conservative Party – 480 Ind gain

Watling North
Steven Claymore, The Conservative Party – 1102; Brian Jenkins, The Labour Party – 1122; Simon Johnson, The Green Party – 199; Christel Roe, Liberal Democrat – 79 Lab gain

Watling South
Darryl Dean, The Labour Party – 1117; Michael Greatorex, The Conservative Party – 1414; Roger Gwynedd Jones, Liberal Democrat – 185 Con hold

Wilnecote By-election
Alex Farrell, The Conservative Party – 873; Joan Jenkins, The Labour Party – 890; Roger Gwynedd Jones, Liberal Democrat – 87 Lab gain