I was astonished to discover, the other day, that Rye, as a town, had made no plans whatsoever to celebrate the 9oth birthday of our Queen.
As a country, we are the oldest and most successful democracy in the World and as a town, and one of the Cinque Ports, we have more reason than most to be grateful to the past actions of Monarchy. It seems surprising, to say the least, therefore, that our Town Council, who should have taken the lead, appear to have totally ignored the event. Whilst I know that one of them is a republican, surely not all the remaining 14 are as well?
Other towns are, at the very least, lighting beacons, yet we were told that ours could not be lit because it was in poor condition (why? does it cost so much to keep a very simple apparatus in reasonable working order?) and, so I heard, a small tree was growing through it (excellent, one would think, ready made fuel). One can just imagine ‘elf ‘n’ safety, resplendent in hard hat and high viz jacket and trousers shaking its collective head in horror at the thought of so much as a match being burnt in the vicinity of the structure.
Fortunately, however, we have the Bonfire Boys who, in the true tradition of their calling, don’t give a fig for the nay-sayers and doom-prophets and those who say “you can’t”.
Looking out of my window at about 8.30 this evening, just as this paper was going to press, I saw, in the far distance, a small orange glow which grew into a bright blazing light.
The beacon was burning! Hurrah for the Bonfire Boys!
Finally, we have acknowledged the good fortune we have to live in a free country and to be reigned over by a wise and dutiful monarch. When I look at the shenanigans going on across the Atlantic it makes me even more convinced that we should be grateful for our present system and pray that it might continue for many generations yet.