It's election day in Wokingham and as polls opened at 7am the sun decided to get his hat on. At California Ratepayers Hall bright sunshine burst through the trees as a steady trickle of voters arrived, while traffic queued at California Crossroads 100 yards away.
Every ward is contested this year, with Reform UK, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Greens standing in every seat, plus an extra candidate in Wokingham Without.
Finchampstead Liberal Democrat Laurent Seraphin welcomed the crowded field. "I think it's good! Gives people choices!" Sitting councillor Peter Harper agreed: "It's great to see so many candidates. It's great for democracy as long as the right person wins."
Mr Seraphin, originally from the French Alps and in the UK since 1996, added: "There's a big vineyard in Twyford that produces a decent white."
In Emmbrook it began quietly. Councillor Imogen Shepherd Dubey said: "It's a quiet morning here... I'm the only teller here," and later: "It's looking very calm and positive... Nice day for a stroll around talking to people... I think we are all enjoying the sprint to the end."
In Norrey's ward Labour activist Andy Croy, sharing a polling station with Conservative Phillip Cunnington, said: "Yes - more than we expected because if it's a nice day, more people turn out... but you've got to be a bit careful standing in the sunshine."
Reform UK's David Halsall, a former Conservative council leader, said: "It'll be a seismic day." He added: "It's impossible for me to take the council back... because it's only in thirds."
At a Twyford polling station council leader Stephen Conway warned it was harder than usual for parties to tell who had voted because people were using photo ID rather than polling numbers. "The number of votes we are able to record as voting with their polling numbers is much smaller than the number of people who have actually voted."
Ted O'Neill, Local Democracy Reporter
