On Winchester Now this week:
- Anna O’Brien talks to Steve Erskine, as he retires after 6 years as Chair of Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
- Ron Venturi brings you this week’s news-in-brief:
- Working in partnership with Trinity Winchester, the City Council is increasing its support to ensure no-one needs to sleep on the street during the current cold weather.
- Councillors from across Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth, and the Isle of Wight are meeting early next week to decide whether to apply for inclusion in the Government’s Devolution Priority Programme.
- Teachers at Peter Symonds College are expected to go on strike again next week, in a row over pay, after sixth-form support staff were left out of the Government’s pay increases last year.
- Greene King pubs in Winchester are participating in the chain’s “Tub 2 Pub” campaign again this year, collecting empty sweet tubs for recycling, with money raised going to Macmillan Cancer Support.
- Congratulations to local residents mentioned in the King’s New Year Honours list.
- Paul Blitz shares the first of our 2025 Community Shout-outs:
- To the all-too-often-unsung heroes at the grassroots of our community who volunteered their time through the Christmas and New Year period to put others first.
- To those who took part in the festive ParkRuns – both those who jogged, walked or ran the course, and those who helped marshal the route, or simply cheered the runners on.
- To everyone who supported the Hampshire Hospitals Charity for their Christmas present appeal, resulting in 500 gifts being donated for patients in hospital on Christmas Day.
- To 10-year-old William, who raised £220 for those experiencing homelessness, and bought a £10 voucher for each of the residents of the Winchester Beacon.
- To the members of Winchester Rotary, who helped the National Trust plant trees at Hinton Ampner, as part of the Trust’s plan to plant over 25,000 trees across their Hampshire estates over the next few months.
- To the volunteers at the Friends of King Alfred Buses, who braved the wind and rain to give the public free rides on their heritage buses on New Year’s Day.
- Mary Blaxland is out in the city-centre asking people about their New Year’s resolutions.
