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May 25 EpilogueEncore
Just when you think it's safe to go out, someone hits you from the blindside!!
Who to blame & who to praise? I don't know, I'm sure.
It was just one helluva surprise when I went into the Town Council offices, expecting to do a short training session, and I finished up the recipient of a "This Is Your Life" style event complete with speeches,dvd presentation & banquet.
To everyone who attended, supplied photo's or other material, provided the meal, said nice things or whatever your contribution can I say "thank-you" - No - a thousand times thank-you. After all Mablethorpe & Sutton is my "adopted" home, my town of birth being Boston, but for the community to chose to mark the end of the mayoral year in such a touching manner has been a really humbling experience.
But, just as I had the baton passed to me, it now passes to another and I have no doubt, from the tone of her speech at the AGM of the Town Council, that Cllr Margaret Rolls intends to do a really good job too. Please support her as you all supported me & this area really will prosper.
Again, on behalf of myself & June, "Thank-you all for making my year what it was. Thank-you!!" - Words just don't seem enough
May 18 Final entryCan anyone else hear a fat lady tuning up???
It's May 18th & there are now less than 25hrs of being mayor to go & the last official duty has been completed. When I started this blog I knew that eventually this point would arrive but, now that it has, the whole term seems but a blink of an eye
Our round of civic services for the year concluded with visits to Alford at the end of April & Sleaford at the beginning of May. Sleaford was a good example of the traditional type whilst in stark contrast Alford was probably the best of the more modern ones we've attended.
In my last entry I forgot to mention the fine meal we had with the Trusthorpe Camera Club on the night of their annual presentations and whilst on the subject of presentations we also enjoyed our night at the Domino League presentations as well on the 7th.
Amongst the many meetings during this last month we saw the first, of what I hope will be the first of many, informal liason meeting between Town Council & ELDC. Being informal it is not open to the public & does not make any decisions, but it does allow both bodies to share thoughts on the future and take back to the official meetings of each how the other is thinking. Long-term I'm sure that this will enable both to work better with each other rather than against each other as it sometimes seems! Neighbourhood Management meetings during this time also seem to be making things happen in our area.
This final week has been full of diverse activities - a visit to the theatre in Louth, the investiture of the new Skegness mayor and the service of tribute in St Giles' church in Lincoln to the life of Chad Varah are just some of them. Chad, who died last November just 4 days short of his 96th birthday is best known to us as the inspirational founder of The Samaritans.
It's been a great year full of deights & surprises but the final curtain will fall at just after 7pm tomorrow night when Cllr Margaret Rolls takes over as mayor with her husband Cllr Ted Rolls as her consort. So it just remains for me to say on behalf of June & myself " Thank-you for giving us such fantastic memories & GOODBYE!!" April 25 The end is nigh....Taking advantage of the mayoress
Actually that should read, taking advantage of her being out, I'm updating.
Back on the 14th I chaired the last full council meeting of my year & a memorable one it was for several reasons. We started with the usual prayers but for the first time ever these were led by a member of the Muslim community. At the last minute Jayur Ali, you may know him from being the owner of the Taj Take-away, was unable to make it but sent his friends Gary Warner & Mohamet Ali to officiate. Following that I took the oppourtunity to present some awards on behalf of the council to members of the public. 3 people were honoured this year - Jeff Smith to acknowledge the work done by him & the committee who organise Sutton & Trusthorpe Carnival - Shelagh Price, not only for her dedication in her day job at Linkage but also for the sterling work she has done in the other community projects she has supported - Margaret Codling, for both her work for animal welfare and especially for being the driving force in acheiving the skatepark. Well done all 3!! The meeting also heard from Brenda Turnbull, Director of the Coastal Action Zone, that there are many future plans for regeneration for this & coming years. Alround a good night
Later in the week the mayoress & I attended the civic banquets of Lincolnshire County Council and ELDC. Both were excellent evenings with the chance to discuss what is going on with members of councils from many & far flung corners of Lincolnshire & even some from beyond the boundaries.
On the 19th we joined the Mayor & Mayoress of North Hykeham for a visit to the Aviation Centre at East Kirkby. It was an absolutely fascinating day. Having driven by this local attraction on many occasions promising to visit & never getting round to it, we really enjoyed looking back at history that not only effected local people but also the whole world, culminating with the taxi-ing run of "Just Jane" the Lancaster bomber. Which reminds me at this years illumination switch on we will be having fly pasts by a Dakota & Spitfire.
The whole of the last week seems to have been nothing but meeting after meeting, some the usual council meetings but also ones involving the Turism Forum & In Bloom Group and others which reminds us that the summer season is just about upon us & a lot of great events are only just around the corner.
But, for tonight, I'm taking it easy whilst the Mayoress is out on duty without me - not something that happens often & usually only if 2 events clash but tonight is different - the official engagement is a fashion show!!
Final thought, my thanks to John Gregory for the kind words. John is the guy you see at all our local events recording them for posterity either in snapshots or on video, I think he's now got more pictures of me than my mother!!! April 14 Marching into AprilEntertaining April
Well I'm starting at the end of March, when on the last Friday the learning disabilities group that meet at the Boatshed regularly hired the OAP Hall and put on their concert performance as The Boatshed Stars. What a fantastic afternoon it was with the audience carried along by their sheer enthusiadsm & enjoyment. I was privileged to be there.
The following day it was over to The Eagle Hotel to join the Sand Racing Club on their presentation night. A very busy night with a tremendous range of awards going to bikers of all ages. This marked the end of their 38th season & Mablethorpe is already looking forward to the first day of the 39th year which starts on 19 October. If you've not been down to the beach when they are competing you really are missing out.
Sunday saw us warmly welcomed to Burgh-le-Marsh for their civic service on probably the sunniest day of the year so far.
The following busy week involved the regular coastal councillors meeting at Lincolnshire County offices where sea defences were once again the main topic of conversation because we had a presentation from the Environment Agency on the subject. Other regular meetings, such as the Tourism Forum, Senior's Forum & Neighbourhood Management (how quickly this has become a regular fixture in my diary) were interspersed with "one-offs" on ELDC's landscape characteristics and the Flood Fair event. However the biggest event was not strictly a mayoral event but was, in fact, one I attended in my role as District Councillor, namely East Lindsey District's Full Council meeting. At this there was a financial report, of only small significance overall, but one small part was concerned with having to spend £71,000 on repairing the roof of The Dunes Complex. I had to call to task the original decision of the council, some years previous, made against the wishes of the community, to put the buildings out to lease; to once again question the validity of what was done because the bills for the establishment keep coming in - even though the income goes to private hands; and to question why,when the report actually admitted that the state of repair was not known at the time the lease was let, the process had still gone through - AND WITHOUT BUILDING REPAIRS BEING ONE OF THE CONDITIONS!! With my business brain in gear I say good luck to the fellow who got in before any one else had a chance to put in a bid BUT with my councillor hat on I will continue to ask ELDC why they were so determined back then to "gift away" one of the town's most prominent assets.
Back to Mayoral matters. Sutton Primary School invited myself & the mayoress to have a look around their establishment on the day they received their Healthy Schools Award. This was in recognition of several years of good work in improving the diet of their young people. It was great fun making fruit kebab's with many of youngsters & the school dinner was brill too!
On 5th the coffee morning proved a great success in bringing together a lot of local groups who often work in isolation, and it made a few bob for charity. The succesful winner of the Mayor's Brainteaser will be announced just as soon as we've got all the entries checked over. At the same time we found a few minutes to pop a few doors down the road to congratulate Furnichurch on the completion of their 3rd year of operation. It was great to hear that they are now financially established and looking to expand what they do in the years ahead.
Horncastle civic service took place on the following day & gave another chance to meet up with & swap ideas with fellow mayors in the beautiful surroundings of the parish church which hosted both the service & the reception afterwards, the whole event being rounded off by a beautiful drive back through The Wolds.
Monday night was the night of the Annual Town Meeting, I say annual, but from the start of the next civic year in May there will be at least 3 every year. Anyhow the meeting was very well attended by both councillors from the town & also members of the public. As mayor it was my duty to sum up the work of the council over the previous year & then answer questions. Although it was a very long series of questions that emerged I was very pleased that so many people chose to show an interest in what their local council is doing on their behalf and I sincerely hope that the more regular holding of such meetings will encourage even more local people to take part.
Most of the week was spent down in London but we came back to get involved in the Acre Gap open day. Best suit & wellies!! Many thanks to deputy Mayor & Consort Margaret & Ted Rolls for the warming coffee & cakes afterwards, much apreciated on a chilly day.
Sunday 13th saw it be our turn to hold a civic service & invite dignataries from all over the county to our towns as well as have all our local groups join in celebrating the work of local government in our area. I took the decision NOT to hold it in any one particular church for a variety of reasons but the main one was to enable as many of our different faith groups to participate as possible - a neutral venue, if you like. My thanks to those members of the Anglican, Methodist, Salvation Army, Catholic & Christian Fellowship communities that came along to the Community Hall on Stanley Avenue and took part. Also I must thank the schools who participated - Tennyson for their musical contribution from Gareth Kiedyk and Mablethorpe Primary for the wonderful drawings that were on show around the venue of their interpretation of "our mayor"!! A gold star to them all & 2 to the ones who are convinced that my beard is still black & not grey!! So many people put in so much work to make it a great day - THANK-YOU ALL.
Best of all was watching how many of the visiting dignataries turned towards the sea as they left after I had extolled the virtues of our wonderful beach - and I'm pleased to say it was most of them.
So just 5 more weeks to go - where has the time gone?
March 26 March roars onRunning boots and skates
Sports Relief runners in Mablethorpe are all heroes in my eyes. In some of the worst weather of the year so far, there was a massive turn out to support the good cause by young, old, able or not so, fit or challenged - even the animals. I really was impressed by the dedication shown. A word to for the Running Club members & Marathon Committee people who did a sterling job of organising, marshaling & supporting on the day when more sane people were sheltering in doors - Whoever you were, Well done you did a fantastic job in the circumstances and I hope you've thawed out by now!
The weather was at least behaving itself when the mayoress & I were invited to officialy open the Boots store that has taken over the premises of the pharmacy on High St. A lot of the same staff are still there but it's nice to see a real "high street name" on our high st.
On a busy day on 18th one of my stops was to meet up with a representative from Local Alchemy, who are part of the New Economics Foundation & who helped start the regeneration in the town. I say helped because like all interventions from outside, the whole thing was far too short term. When I challenged them over this they acknowledged that the work in Mablethorpe was only "a pilot". I had to point out that, to the people who live here, Mablethorpe is far more than a pilot, it's full-time real life!
To conclude the day I visited the Army Cadets on their annual inspection. A fine turn out by all, a fact remarked upon by the visiting inspecting officer, and it was a great privilege to be asked to present one of the annual awards that are given out on the occasion.
The Easter week-end got off to the best possible start when we went along to the seafront, on yet another blustery day, to have photo's taken to mark the opening of the skatepark. Well done to everyone who has helped bring this to reality, too numerous to mention but I would like to highlight 2 things that I believe were crucial to bringing this wonderful facility to our town. First I would like to thank the crew that brought the wooden structure from Lincoln at the drop of a hat - by doing what you did you managed to tip the balance in favour of "when it will happen" from "if it might happen". Finally I have to point out the resilience of one individual, without whose dogged determination and never say die attitude I don't think we would have got where we are - Margaret Codling, we all owe you a debt of gratitude & you are in inspiration to any of us who want to see things really happen around here. Well done Margaret.
What a week-end for weather yet again. Disappeared into church on Sunday morning picking our steps through the snow & emerged in beautiful sunshine. Went back again on Monday to view the floral decorations in the Flower Festival. This is the second such event we've attended at St Mary's & once again the organisers & arrangers had a triumph on their hands ( & the coffee's always good too!!).
Finally I must advertise the coffee morning being put on in The Boatshed on Victoria Rd on Saturday April 5th between 10 -1pm. There will be a few stalls there & a warm welcome, so if you fancy a natter with me or just want a look around the place, please drop in. |
Thanks for visiting!
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your progress through the year Tony and I just don’t know how you and June find the time to do all you do.
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