West Berkshire Villagers have Guest Bloggers, who post on a regular basis and are professionals in their own subject. We would like to introduce you to Jana, who knows all there is to know about recycling in West Berkshire, Graham Steel for the music scene in West Berkshire, Marcus Lilley with Ageing creatively for the over 55's, Margaret Finch a professional gardening expert who explains gardening through the seasons,  Caz Campbell, wellbeing coach and Julia Kellaway with stained glass and the open studios.

Let me introduce myself. I am a full-time working mum of 2 boys and a freshly published novelist of The Ninth Cross by my pen name J. Karst. Every single day I also try to do the little bit I can in saving the environment for future generations.

     I joined this scheme and created an account linked to a Charity called Canine Partners. In order to get the volume of waste needed, I started promoting of all waste that I take to recycle, such as crisp packets, biscuit, cake, cracker wrappers, confectionery wrappers, used toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes and many more packaging and in turn in 2019 I removed 2.5 tonnes of waste out of West Berkshire and raised over 3K for charities. Through this venture I met many lovely people who helped me to grow my confidence which in turn helped me to achieve my dreams of publishing a book.

   In order to give back, I would like to publish in this newsletter short articles, slowly introducing you to the world of recycling of what you can start today at home and hopefully empower you to become who you want to be and achieve your dreams. That’s of course to ensure that if your dream is to become Lady Godiva and ride through your village in your birthday suit on a donkey, then you can’t say that the Community News Page told you so. Everything within limits! The barriers we want to break is to make that little change that will account to thousands worth of good deeds. Have a fab day and look out next week for another short article.

Margaret Finch lives in a beautiful house with an amazing walled garden. She joins Paul Presents to talk about the garden- the butterflies and bees, her previous florist shop with its wonderful window displays, the competitions they held and how they were part of the community with their charity events. Her garden has heritage apple trees, a long history and she designs her garden to have colour throughout the seasons. Margaret is currently doing hyacinths in pots for Christmas, organizing her compost and she gives us a few gardening tips. Margaret also does some workshops and people such as Alan Tidmarsh, programmes like Gardeners World and Waitrose have used her gardens for filming. The gardens are dementia friendly and disabled friendly. Complete with her new Guest Blog with gardening tips

With over 30 years experience of putting on events large and small, the Graham Steel Music Company is a one stop shop for all music related events, including working with venues & festivals, programme entertainment, event management and promotion and publicity.

Graham keeps up to date each week on what is happening on the music scene.

Hello! My name is Caz Campbell. I’ve lived in Newbury most of my life, I’m a mum of two daughters who are 5 & 7 and I have three other job “hats”:  I teach baby massage, I’m an emotional coach and I’ve published a book focusing on happiness, kindness and calmness. It’s called “Donkey on a Waffle” and includes topics which I’m going to talk about in this blog. Feel free to join my free Facebook group which also discusses these topics, with fun facts, posts and chats:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/818543508893746

We all make mistakes, but mistakes don’t make us, i.e. they don’t make us who we are.

Berkshire Youth help with the transition from childhood to young adulthood, supporting young people to reach their full potential and make a positive contribution to their communities. We help young people through leisure activities, helping them to grow. Many of the young people we work with are vulnerable or disadvantaged and unable to access help elsewhere.

We focus on prevention and helping young people who are missing out, not yet in crisis and who can’t afford what is on offer or face barriers to access: they may have mental health issues, responsibility as a carer or low self-esteem.

"Our passion is Wildlife, sharing knowledge and creating amazing experiences"

"The Bird Whisperer"