Page 80 - Phonebox Magazine November 2014

Newport Pagnell Mayor’s Chair
My thanks go to an avid reader who called me up to talk, in depth, about last month’s article. One of the things that
he was actually unaware of was that local councillors were elected or co-opted. I’m not really sure where he thought we came from! Sadly we had to say goodbye to two councillors, John Broatch and Sam Miller, but welcomed on board George Purkiss and Trevor Webb. However, we still have a vacancy for another so if you’re interested please contact the Town Clerk.
A really busy, but interesting month, kicking off with a visit to the High Sheriff’s house for an evening reception.
Cllr Mike Barry
We have an annual Muster in Newport. This is a series of historic walks around the Town and is always well attended. This year I was lucky and only had to stroll through the High Street with the Deputy Mayor of Milton Keynes and the Carnival Court. We crossed the Iron Bridge, into Castle Meadow, over the new Bridge and up into Brooklands Centre for a cream tea. That, in itself was most enjoyable, but I must congratulate all those who took it seriously and burnt off a good few calories.
It’s always nice when other members of the ‘Chain Gang’ meet because we get invitations to, for example, a Garden Party at Grendon Hall and a Civic Service in Rushden.
I always dread AGMs. They’re normally only really of interest to the concerned body. However, the Milton Keynes’ Scouts AGM at Bradwell Abbey was different, to say the least. They had a wonderful speaker, who kept everyone on the edge of their seats with his humour and delivery.
We are currently putting together our Neighbourhood Plan and went out to consultation to the public with three half day exhibitions. These were extremely well attended and we are now in the process of sorting and collating all the many and varied comments that were made by the residents. It is too early yet to forecast the sense of feeling from everyone who attended, but this will be published, hopefully in the not too distant future.
We’ve not got a new shop on the High Street, called The Emporium. I had the pleasure of cutting the ribbon at the opening and the sneak preview beforehand was fascinating. You’ve just got to pop in and have a look! This is just the sort of shop the Town needs and I think I’ve solved a lot of my Christmas present ideas already.
I’m not really into choral music, or at least I thought I wasn’t. But Cheryl and I attended a concert in the Parish Church put on by the Newport Pagnell Singers and the Sounds Familiar Community Choir. This was in aid
Newport Pagnell Town Football Club
Recent Newport Pagnell Town matches show why football is such a fascinating game.
The 3-2 home win against
Desborough started with a moment worthy of Laurel and Hardy (...younger readers, ask your granddad about them) when after only five minutes the Newport goalkeeper and a defender crashed into each other as they both went for the ball and allowed it to run to a Desborough forward for an easy tap into the open goal. By contrast the game ended with a late winning goal that justified football’s nickname of “the beautiful game” as a perfectly flighted Keith Williams free kick was met by a well placed Dom Lawless header that gave the visiting goalkeeper no chance. We saw chaos at the start, perfection at the end – and almost everything in between those two extremes during the rest of the 90 minutes. The other two Newport goals came from Josh Crawley and Dom Lawless.
Four days later Newport Pagnell won 4-3 away against Northampton Sileby Rangers. Jared Cuniff, John Thorpe and Dom Lawless (two) scored the goals. This time they did not need a late winning goal. They established 80 Phonebox Magazine
a 4-1 lead and the second and third goals against them only came late in the match, in the 79th minute and in added time at the end.
These results moved Newport up to eighth place in the United Counties League Premier Division.
In earlier league matches Newport Pagnell Town lost narrowly 2-1 to title favourites Rushden & Diamonds at Willen Road. They seemed likely to get a point but, as in the equivalent match last season, the visitors
Saturday 8th November (3.00pm): Holbeach Town (UCL Premier Division) Saturday 22nd November (3.00pm): Deeping Rangers (UCL Premier Division) Tuesday 2nd December (7.45pm): Cogenhoe United (UCL Premier Division)
scored a very late winning goal. This was followed by a 1-1 draw away at Harrowby. In two cup competitions Newport found themselves 3-0 down, but the matches followed very different patterns from that stage. In the FA Vase against a strong Berkhamsted team that is top of the South Midlands League Premier Division they were unable to recover from that deficit and 3-0 was the final score. Away at Huntingdon in the United Counties League Cup a dramatic comeback saw Newport score three goals in