Discovering the soul of Swindon

SWINDON is a town easily misunderstood. It has fast become the new Slough or Milton Keynes for comic mock-taking, just like one of those chronic playground jokes which everyone laughs at but few understood.

I was back in the town last week for a few days catching up with friends, and it was good to be back. If ever you want to discover the soul of a place, to understand what makes a town tick, then meet the people and listen to them.

Swindon may not be blessed with the formidable architecture of Oxford, even the centuries-old history of Bath and boy it’s got its fair share of problems, but this is a town with a heart of gold which took me years to truly understand.

I caught up with former mayor Rex Barnett and his wife Sandra. I’ve written about fabulous Rex previously so I won’t dwell too much on the great man again. When I saw him on the Friday, Rex had just undergone a third course of chemotherapy in a bid to hold back the tide of lung cancer. He was looking good, formidable and as jolly as ever, waiting to learn the results of an x-ray which would determine how the course of chemo was faring.

The Reverend Simon Stevenette, vicar of Christ Church in Old Town and his delightful family played host to afternoon tea. He had heard about Ross’s plight at the weekend and read my blog about how sorely my faith had been tested. Simon didn’t try to defend what had happened, he didn’t come prepared with a ream of answers, but instead he listened, questioned and I was surprised to leave the vicarage with my heart filled with a better sense of purpose.

Few will have heard of David Latham, but he is the man who pulls the strings behind Mindful Employer which is run by the Richmond Foundation in Swindon. Mindful Employer does such formidable work to improve mental health in the workplace by educating employers and working with them. In just over three years, David has already achieved huge results in the town through conferences, seminars and networking with companies to highlight issues of mental health. He is just a one-man band, yet as we chatted over a curry in Old Town one evening, there was no curbing the enthusiasm of a man.

Tony Martin is another top fella. He is Zurich Community Trust’s volunteer manager, and one of the leading lights behind the Pride of Swindon awards. I had lunch with Tony who is the driving force behind Involve Swindon which provides so many volunteering opportunities in the town for companies.

In April, along with Swindon MP Robert Buckland, I spent two days’ volunteering at places such as the Broad Green Breakfast Club, Prospect Hospice, the Samaritans shop and enjoyed the best part of a day painting at the Swindon Scrapstore. Those 48 hours, which were organised by Tony, helped me to truly discover the soul of Swindon; a town filled with hundreds of unsung heroes who are the Big Society which David Cameron talks about. They do their unselfish work without reward or recognition – they are the foundations upon which Swindon is built.

There were several others who I was genuinely pleased to see again last week and whose friendship I value. Seeing them last week served as a reminder that those who write off Swindon do so through blind ignorance, without fully understanding the value that this town delivers.