‘A picture paints a thousand words’ so I’ll just shut up and suggest that you take a look at the pictures and article on the British Cycling Federation website!

I’m going to struggle to find words adequate to describe last night’s cycle race! It was just simply amazing! A fantastic success.

As I have said here on several occasions, this race was a Town Council sponsored and organised event. We’ve never done anything on this scale before so it was important that we got it right. The cycling side was looked after by Steve Douce from Barlaston who did a brilliant job in attracting the country’s top sixty professional riders to enter the race. But the really hard bit, putting the show together , was carried out by our Town Clerk, David Turner and a small sub-committee chaired by Jill Hood. And all the hard work paid off last night!

Despite the poor weather four thousand spectators saw a truly thrilling race. I know nothing about cycling but for one and a quarter hours I was totally enthralled by the speed and skill of the riders. And to see the winner, Malcolm Elliot aged over forty, win by a margin of almost a minute was awesome!

The town looked fantastic - barrriers around the entire route and a temporary bandstand in Granville Square. And after the event everyone was saying the same thing - “we must do it again next year”. I think we’ve done it again! We’ve put Stone on the map!

Last night we put the finishing touches to the Cycle Race plans when we met representatives of the three local cycle clubs. They will be providing up to fifty members as Marshalls for next weeks race and tonight we ran through all the final details.

They were all very excited and eager to see the cream of British cyclists racing around the circuit. It will be their job to marshall the whole course and to man the three crossing points. So it was important that they all understand their roles and duties.

David Turner, the Town Clerk, ran through a long checklist of items which only confirmed what a massive event this is going to be. Highways will start removing kerbs and barriers at the bottom of the High Street on Monday, the firm erecting the barriers will come into town on Tuesday and start preliminary work, the stage for the Jazz band will be built later this week and the whole town will be barriered off on Wednesday. Road Closure Orders, temporary event licences, notices to local shops and residents, sponsorship arrangements, advertising banners etc. etc. - I’m sure we’ve covered everything!

Stone’s first bike race, the Circuits de Stone, run under BCF rules takes place two weeks tomorrow - so the pace of the arrangements is really hotting up! Two meetings today - one with some of the town’s publicans this morning and the other with members of the working group this afternoon.

Granville Square will be the place to be! With road closures in place, most of the square will become probably the best viewing area in town and with live entertainment playing on a stage built above the flower bed and the surrounding pubs and restaurants serving customers outdoors, there really will be a carnival atmosphere! Not that the rest of the town will be ignored! Most pubs and bars will be doing a roaring trade and thousands of spectators are expected to be lining the route.

The partying starts at 6.30 p.m. and the racing begins an hour later. Four of the sport’s top teams have entered and the pack will contain almost sixty of the country’s top cyclists. Race commentary will be the BBC’s commentator Hugh Porter. But we will have to open the roads again after the race - so the party must be over by ten! What a great night is in prospect! So remember the date - WEDNESDAY 18th JUNE.

Steve Brooks, Chairman of the Stone Music Festival, invited me to tonight’s meeting of the Music Festival group in view of the fact that the Town Council is sponsoring the Sunday street party. And I’m delighted to report that everything is looking good! A stage across the top of the High Street ( a la Xmas lights switch on) and a list of acts starting in the morning and continuing throughout the day and and ending with the Queen tribute band, QE2, in the early evening. This should be the street party of all time!

There’s just a month to go now and the official programme will soon be out. But in the meantime note the dates on the calendar -Thursday July 10th to Sunday July 13th.

What a pity there was a clash of dates last weekend. As you will have read elsewhere, we were away for the weekend at Dartmouth to enjoy their Music Festival. So we were unable to attend the Italian Day organised by the Stone Twinning Committee or the Woodland Crafts Day on the Common Plott on Sunday.

By all accounts both events were a huge success. I am told that the Westbridge Park was packed for our Italian visitors and that hundreds of people went up to the Plott. Everyone I’ve spoken to says how enjoyable both events  were. Congratulations to all concerned.

What a super day! Earlier this week I received a letter of invitation to join the Town Mayor aboard a vintage bus to attend the Potteries Omnibus Preservation Society’s annual rally at Wedgwood Visitor Centre. So, at midday, a lovely old London Transport Routemaster bus appeared in the Market Square and, after photographs were taken, we joined the civic party on the top deck.

After travelling along the A34 and up to Blurton we duly arrived at Wedgwood where we were regally greeted by committee members and photographers. For the next two hours we were escorted around over 100 preserved buses and a collection of vintage cars. And whilst all of that was going on , a continuous fleet of old buses was travelling down to Stone to collect and deliver passengers from Crown Street.

These old buses certainly brought back many memories for me. Numerous old PMT buses vied with Crossville, Turners and many other well known local bus company examples. It just makes you realise what a monopoly Firstbus and Arriva now have and how boring it is to see the same livery colours wherever you are in the country.

But the bonus of the trip was that it is obvious that POPS are very anxious to get involved with us in Stone to see what further events or rallies we can arrange with them. I have already sown the seed of an idea for them to ponder - perhaps some event during the Food and Drink Festival in October?

The trip back to Stone was on an open top Leyland. This really caused a stir on the journey with several cars giving us a friendly toot on their horns as they passed!

There have been several suggestions over the last few months that Stone should host a Literary Festival but nothing seemed to be materialising. We had Peter Holland’s book launch a couple of months ago and Dave Smithwick organised Tommy Smith’s book launch in the Crown Hotel. But then nothing more seemed to happen.

Well, after a meeting today, I can let you into a secret! It’s almost certain that Stone’s First Literary Festival will take place next May. It’s very early days but some great ideas were suggested and there is definitely enthusiasm to move the project forward. Another meeting is scheduled in a couple of week’s time after which, I guess, a formal announcement will be made. If anyone would like more details or would like to be involved please get in touch.

Stone Town Band played their first concert in the amphitheatre on Crown Meadow this afternoon and what a delight it was! An audience of about fifty sat and enjoyed the music in warm sunshine and even had the opportunity of licking an ice cream! And  across the canal four new residents in Joules Court sat outside their french windows with a bottle of wine enjoying the free entertainment for two hours!

This is exactly the sort of use we had in mind at the Town Council when we decided to create the amphitheatre a couple of years ago. The Town Band have booked the venue for two more concerts during the summer and after the success of today’s concert I wouldn’t be surprised if other groups decided to do the same.

Sorry to bore you but - yet again - another dry day for Stone’s Farmers’ Market. The record still stands!

Forty one stallholders and several thousand people in town are testament to our proud claim that Stone now has the best Farmers’Market in Staffordshire. Compared to 23 stalls at Stafford last month Stone was really buzzing today! The Food and Drink Festival working group secured the attendance of Murphy’s Marbles to play outside The Lounge throughout the day and the crowds were still tapping their feet at five o’clock when we had to ask them to go home! The marquee company wanted to take the stall down and finish for the day!

Another successful day for the town. As one shopkeeper said to me as I left tonight  ” I wish we could have a Farmers’ Market every Saturday”!