It was grand to see so many people at mayor making on the bank holiday weekend. It was a great showing of young people and I hope they enjoyed the hot pennies as well as the chocolate coins. The drummers were great, as too the town crier, and it was lovely to see local people enjoying this event after two years without due to Covid.
Thank you to all who contributed at the Cinque Ports and to Jeremy; we raised £266, which will go to the Rye Homes for Ukrainian guests to help them settle in and any needs they may have that we can help with.
Since then, I have chaired a meeting of the council to place colleagues on to various committees.
It’s not all glitz and glamour: two days later I cleaned out the gutters at the town hall and with the senior assistant town steward replaced the flags.
I attended a fascinating talk at the community centre given by the craft club, all about the life of Bond author Ian Fleming. This too raised a goodly sum to help our Ukrainian guests.
We met some of them the following day at the Baptist Church, courtesy of Rev’d Fiona Gill and all those helping the Rye Hub, including Caroline Drummond and Anthony Kimber. Hosts and guests attended and were warmly welcomed and signposted to various avenues of support.
On Tuesday, with Oliver Lucas I attended to the fire basket at the top of Udimore Road for the jubilee celebrations, making good any damage so that it can be lit to record our thanks to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
On Sunday, May 22, I am performing at the De La Warr Pavilion with a group of Hastings shantymen, singing with full orchestra as part of the International Composers Festival.
Not a bad start to what I hope will be a good year for the town. I look forward to updating you in a few weeks’ time.
Image Credits: Andi Rivett , Rebekah Gilbert .