Page 32 - Phonebox Magazine October 2006

Olney Town Council
Introducing Councillor John Boardman and Deputy Town Clerk Sandra Grummitt
Profile John Boardman
My husband Bob and I moved to Olney in has become a full-time position and in 2002 I
1994 with our young family. Prior to joining Olney Town Council in 1996 on a part- time basis to assist the town Clerk, I had been in general banking for 21 years.
As the office requirements, in particular accounting, expanded over the years, my role
was promoted to Deputy Town Clerk responsible for all financial and accounting issues.
Bob and I are active members of Emberton Sailing Club where Bob is one of only two sailing instructors and I am currently vice-president of the Sailing Club after four years as treasurer. d
Profile
Sandra Grummitt
Olney First School, Year 3 School Council with the Britain in Bloom Judges alongside the 1929 Bentley and 1930 Lagonda kindly loaned by Norton and Pat Brock.
Britain in Bloom
On Monday 17th July the Judges from the Thames and Chilterns in Bloom Association visited Olney to judge our town in the 2006 Regional round of Britain in Bloom. The judges were taken on a walking tour down the High Street into the Cowper and Newton Museum Gardens, Rose Court, Osborns Court, the Cemetery, the allotments and the Kitchener Centre. At the Kitchener Centre the judges were met by Norton Brock and Kevin Brown in vintage cars who drove the party to the Recreation Grounds where Trish and Bob Hedges gave a demonstration of their reed cutting and basket making activities. The party then travelled to Olney First School where the headmaster Steve Dunning and his Third Year School Council showed the school’s recycling facility and their Silver and Foundation Year gardens.
On Wednesday 6 September Olney Town Council hosted the Awards and Presentations by the Thames and Chilterns in Bloom Association. These were presented to the winning towns and villages following an Introduction and Welcome to Olney by our Town Mayor, Paul Watson. Olney were joint winners of the ‘small town’ category with Woodstock in Oxfordshire. The points scored by Olney were the highest for many years and together with the Winner’s Cup Olney was presented with a Silver Gilt framed Certificate. d
Pictured after receiving the joint winners cup and silver gilt plaque, from the left and standing are Cllr Deirdre Bethune, Cllr Jeremy Rawlings, Mary Richardson, Peggy Smail, Viv Evans, Cllr Tony Evans, Cllr Paul Watson, Cllr Alan Richardson and seated are Town Clerk Pat Slaney, Dorothy Watson and Deputy Town Clerk Sandra Grummitt.
36 Phonebox Magazine
Iwas born in Preston Lancashire in 1948, moved down to Shrewsbury in
Shropshire at the age of seventeen and started work at the Rubber and Plastics Research Association, during which time I gained my HNC in Mechanical Engineering. Judi and I married in 1971
and moved up to Aberdeen working for the Michelin Tyre Company.
We moved to Olney in 1976. We have three daughters, Melissa, Charlotte and Amy. I have always had a keen interest in motor sport and have been an active competitor in the off-road scene for the last twenty years. My other passion is travel: I am hoping to explore
Iceland next year in a Land Rover. I joined Olney Town Council in May 1982, and have sat on a number of committees, being Chair of Finance for some years before becoming Town Mayor in 1987 – a position I was proud to hold for the next three years.
I have been a governor at the Middle School and President of Floral Fiesta.
I have seen the Town grow and change over the years and would like to think Town Councillors past and present have made valuable contributions in helping to keep this Town a very special place in which to live in.
Serving on many Committees in the town I have met some wonderful people and I hope I can carry on serving the town of Olney with my fellow councillors and be of assistance to any organisation that requires my help, for many years to come. d