On 10 December 2025, Town Councillors met to agree on the budget for the 2026/27 financial year. While the decision to raise the precept was a difficult one, our goal is to ensure our town continues to thrive through steady investment in our local services and environment.
Your Precept Update
To fund these improvements, there will be a small change to the annual precept.
For a Band D property, the figures are:
Current Rate: £260.19 per year (£5.00 per week)
New Rate: £288.81 per year (£5.55 per week)
The Change: An increase of 55p per week, totalling £28.60 for the year.
The total precept requested for the year is £1,934,744. While this is an 11% rise, it remains below many recent cost-of-living increases. This adjustment allows the Council to deliver more for everyone who lives and works here.
Where the Investment Goes
We want to be clear about how these funds are being put to work for the community. Key projects include:
Community & Events: Increasing grants for local groups and hosting more events at the recreation ground.
Sustainability: Investing in green spaces and a new solar battery project, which is set to save the town £5,000 every year.
Better Communication: Launching a new, accessible website and improving how we reach out to residents.
Governance & Transparency: Funding councillor training and live-streaming meetings so you can easily stay informed.
Staffing & Operations: Adding new roles and conducting reviews to ensure our team can continue to provide high-quality service.
To ensure the precept is used effectively, a Full Council meeting in January will confirm the specific budget allocations for the year ahead.
Letters to Heaven Unveiling
On 17 December, I officially unveiled the "Letters to Heaven" post box at Curzon Street Cemetery. The ceremony was led by myself and Reverend Caspar Bush, joined by our community partners and members of the public. This partnership highlights the compassion and creativity that make Calne a special place to live.
This community-led project provides a quiet, dedicated space for residents to send messages, birthday wishes, or notes of remembrance to loved ones they have lost.
The "Letters to Heaven" post box is managed through a dedicated partnership designed to ensure that every message is handled with the utmost respect and sensitivity.
Odette Funeral Director oversees the regular collection of all letters and cards from the cemetery. Once collected, these messages are kept in a secure, private location. To ensure complete confidentiality and peace of mind for the community, no letters are ever opened or read.
Each year on Easter Sunday, the collected messages are taken to Reverend Caspar Bush. In a final act of remembrance and respect, the Reverend performs a formal cremation of all the letters and cards. This process ensures that the private thoughts and wishes of residents are handled with care from the moment they are posted until their final commendation.
To initiate the unveiling, I prepared and read the following:
This Letters to Heaven post box began as a heartfelt idea shared by a member of our community. Lucy reached out earlier this year, having experienced her own loss, and wondered whether Calne might benefit from a place where people could write to loved ones they miss.
Her suggestion touched me deeply, and I know it resonates with many of you.
The Letters to Heaven post box is more than a simple object; it is a vessel for love, remembrance, and connection. It offers us a gentle way to express feelings that often go unspoken — to write to those we miss, to share memories, and to keep bonds alive. We all carry names and faces in our hearts — loved ones who shaped us, guided us, and whose absence we feel. This post box gives us a way to honour them, to speak to them, and to keep their presence alive in our lives.
Calne has always been a town that values togetherness. This post box reminds us that grief and remembrance are not solitary journeys, but shared experiences. By supporting this project, we affirm that every voice, every memory, and every story matters.
And so today, we thank Lucy for her courage in sharing her idea, and we thank everyone who has helped bring it to life. May this post box be a source of comfort and connection for all who need it.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following partners who made this project possible:
Inspiration: Local resident Lucy, who brought the idea forward.
Support: Members at Calne Town Council for voting to accept the proposal of this project, along with officers, particularly Rob Mercer and Kelly Adams.
Construction: Signature Fencing, Chalford Building Supplies, and the Calne Town Council Grounds Team for providing materials and creating the reflection area.
Management: Odette Funeral Director, who will collect the letters regularly, and the team at St Mary the Virgin Church.
For a while, I've been tinkering with a Google map that highlights Calne’s international connections with its twinned towns: Charlieu (France), Eningen unter Achalm (Germany), and Caln Township (USA).
Each pin reveals cultural, historical, and civic links, including street names, exchange events, and shared heritage.
Here's the link:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/4/edit?mid=1jCcPHaH_bTIVAwlZUEawqlie_HMmOvo&usp=sharing
If you can think of other items to add, please let me know!
