I am sorry that there hasn’t been a mayor’s report for a couple of weeks – I’ve been suffering from a chest infection which has laid me up somewhat.
It has been an eventful and disruptive couple of weeks for the town. I must thank everyone for their endurance over the water crisis and, after the event, I know we will all appreciate how lucky we are in the UK to have clean, running water piped to our homes, when so many in the world do not have this. I must also thank all those volunteers and personnel who were handing out bottled water at the station and to all those who made deliveries to residents in town, thank you. Plus thanks to our MP for all her endeavours.
Thanks must also go this week to Anthony Kimber. Firstly he has organised the vaccine centre for Covid jabs, which again is hosted at the Tilling Green Community Centre. It is so wonderful that volunteers in our community are willing to go out and help, making a difference to people’s lives, so a big thank you to all those making this happen. Secondly, Anthony is very involved in our Ukrainian hub, ensuring the welfare of our visitors and also acting as liaison to those hosting the families. People are still coming to Rye from the Ukraine and Anthony is ensuring they are settled, have all they need and are able to access support in the area.
We visited Dover on Saturday, October 7 for the Speaker of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports’ official day. The speakership rotates annually around the five head ports and two antient towns and this year Dover has the speakership. I was joined by our mace bearers, the mayoress, and of course Sophie, and it was a lovely day in glorious sunshine. We met most of the other Cinque Ports mayors who were part of a parade along the seafront with cadets and armed services, and were joined by Brigadier Boxall, deputy constable of Dover Castle on his last official outing in the role before returning to operational duties in the army. We wish him well for the future. There was a blessing of the town and sea.
It is a busy week coming up, and I do hope you can join us for the 70th National Town Criers Championship on Saturday from 10:30am – 12:30pm and 2pm – 4pm, and the annual car cruise on Sunday from 2:30pm.
Image Credits: Rebekah Gilbert .