Flying the flag for Newbury's heritage

The design encompasses the town council’s coat of arms, on a field of red and blue, with a wavy line representing the River Kennet running across the middle.
It features the golden emblems of Newbury Castle, a teasel, a corn sheaf and two crossed swords.
Newbury Castle, besieged by King Stephen in the 12th century, harks back to one of the town’s earliest references, when it was known as Neoburiae, before becoming New Burgh on being granted borough status in 1189.
The teasel represents the wool industry that existed in Newbury, as the spikey plant heads were used in the combing of wool, while the cornsheaf shows the status of a market town.
The two crossed swords symbolise the two battles of Newbury during the English Civil War in 1643 and 1644.
The chairwoman of the committee, Gabrielle McGarvey (Lib Dem, St John’s), said that the designs were only mock-ups and that a lot more work would need to be carried out to finalise the detail, such as making sure the swords were historically correct.
A question was raised by Allan Mercado, who asked why the flags on the design pointed in a different direction to those on the Town Hall’s stained glass windows. Kuldip Singh Kang (Con, Falkland) asked whether a lighter ‘Newbury’ blue could be used instead of the darker one in the mock-ups.
Mrs McGarvey replied that there were different ways to display the flags and that these issues would be included in the finalised design.
Advice on the designs for the flag has come from the Royal College of Arms and The Flag Institute.
Tony Stretton (Con, Clay Hill) congratulated Mrs McGarvey for her thorough work saying: “I didn’t realise it would be such a drawn out project.”
Julian Swift-Hook (Lib Dem, Pyle Hill) said it would be good to see a flag used in the 21st century that represented the history of the town.
The flag is part of the 50th anniversary of Newbury being twinned with Braunfels in Germany, when there are plans to hand over a flag and scroll.
Mrs McGarvey said she hoped that a flag would be ready to display on the day of the Newbury Carnival on July 14.