Christmas Message from Wigton Town Council

Wigton Town Council would like to wish all the people of Wigton a happy and peaceful Christmas with your loved ones and our very best wishes for a much better 2022. Although, we may be heading into further restrictions to halt the spread of yet another Covid variant which I am sure our community will respond to with our usual positive attitude and resilience.

There has been much to be positive about this year not least the rollout of 3 doses of the vaccine and thanks must go to our local health care services and volunteers who rose to this enormous challenge. It is heartwarming to know that the people of Wigton are continuing to do their bit to help us all stay safe and get through this new challenge.

We hope you like our new Christmas lights especially the feature lights on the Fountain. The Council was very disappointed that we could not have our usual Christmas Lights switch on again this year but we have already started making bookings for next year and this will surely go ahead! The Festivals Committee are already planning outdoor events for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next June including being part of the nationwide Beacon lighting ceremony.

Our key project of the Barton Laws changing rooms is now complete and doesn’t it look good! We are delighted with this fantastic facility which will be a real asset to the town and thanks go to all those funders who helped to make it a reality.  Football Foundation and Sports England. We are planning a grand opening event in the Spring when the weather is better. We are also pleased to have our new CCTV system up and running in the centre of town.

Our new project over the next 3 or 4 years is the development of the land next to Barton Laws which we are very excited about. You may have noticed the pop up putting green on here over the summer which was a great success and thanks go to Councillors Armstrong and Hodson for all their work on this. We are hoping that this will be back next year and become a more permanent feature. This was only the start! Many of you will have seen the tree planting and construction of a new pond and these are the first stages of our plan to transform this area into a natural public space which everyone in Wigton can enjoy. We also want to include walks, play areas and seating and will be consulting with people in Wigton in the new year to ask you for your views on what you would like to see in this area. We are grateful for a grant from Cumbria County Council which has kick-started the project, the trees supplied by the Woodland Trust and the vision and hard work of Councillor Nick Robson in leading the project.

Councillors are also very much involved in the Wigton Town Team which is leading our bid for funding from the Borderlands project. A Wigton Place Plan is being produced which will highlight the key areas where we can further develop economic growth in Wigton and earmark projects for the future.

Thanks must also go to our staff who have worked tirelessly again this year to maintain our services, open spaces and the town centre. The floral displays over the summer months looked lovely and were much admired. We also wished a fond farewell for a happy retirement to Julia Webster after 10 years as our Assistant Clerk and welcomed Annemarie Robson as our new Assistant Clerk.

WE WISH YOU ALL A PEACEFUL AND JOYOUS CHRISTMAS WITH YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND ALL OUR VERY BEST WISHES FOR A BETTER 2022.