My Lord Ladies and Gentleman. Welcome to Marlborough Mayor making 2013. Bienvenue a tous le monde.
13/05/2013
No it’s not the winning number for the new Marlborough Lottery, but lots of 13’s, my lucky number.
It was in 1310 that the first recorded mayor of Marlborough, then called ‘Bailiff’, was appointed, his name was John Godhyne. A wealthy merchant, with the Constable of the Castle, he co founded the White Friars/Carmelites Priory formerly on the Priory Gardens site.
Ironically when the monastries were dissolved by Henry VIII, the Mayor of 1552, Robert Brown, bought the site.
Today 13/05/2013, I have become the 518th mayor since that time. My mayoral year is a mere blip in the last 703 years of former mayors in this historic town. Let us not forget the history of the area goes back thousands of years. Our beautiful countryside and prehistoric landscape is the longest inhabited area in England.
I am truly honoured and humbled to be elected by my fellow councillors to become mayor for 2013–2014.
I liken my year to the Olympic torch bearers of last year in that I am picking up the torch of history from the outgoing mayor and carrying forward, passing it on to the next mayor in a years’ time.
The world in 1310 was certainly very different from today, almost unimaginably so. Taking a time line of 100 years ago 1913 to 1914, the mayor was E N Colbran, life then was also very different from todays’ fast moving world.
Its significance to my term of office is that it includes the year 2014 which marks the centenary of the commencement of the First World War. The year 2014 and the following four years have a number of significant centenaries. Names such as the battle of Ypres, Somme and Passchendaele echo down the ages. Plans are already afoot to ensure this important milestone in history is remembered with dignity and respect and I intend that this Council together with local and county heritage organisations will play its full part in the centenary events.
For interest the Town Clerk has obtained from the History Centre in Chippenham, the minute book for 1913 which will be on show upstairs during the reception and gives an idea of what went on in the borough council at that time.
History is history and very important, but we need to look forward. Today life is global, instant, the importance of community is in my view greater now than it has ever been.
Marlborough is a historic place and we need to celebrate that together with our community, to stand out as a beacon, as a vibrant market town that has its own clear identity in an ever more regulated and standardised world, where increasingly every town looks the same. Vive la difference!
So this year’s theme is about celebrating our town’s rich treasure trove and the diversity it holds and building a greater sense of community. Not easy but why not? Some would say we live in a time of austerity, yes, but it is not all about money it’s much more about people.
Together we can make a difference. Often the greatest things happen during the most challenging times.
To this end I believe we need to have a vision of what we want to be, much more akin to towns in Europe. Et maintenant je continue mon addresse en Francais. Je propose…
I propose we look to create Vision 2020. I cannot in one year achieve everything I would like to, so it is about enabling and working with what we already have here, often unnoticed, for it never ceases to amaze me personally the depth and breadth of what goes on in Marlborough — too many to list in this address.
We should look to 2020 in the optical sense, for clarity in creating a pathway to the goals which we as a community would like to achieve in time for 2020.
We must not forget that as a Town Council we have limited powers of what we can and cannot do. As a council we need to become better at informing the townspeople of our role and what we do and I hope that the newly launched website will go some way towards that.
At the same time it is important that we collectively have a sense of pride in our town and that we work closely together with Wiltshire Council in delivering much needed services so that they too can feel part of our community.
The next big project we are working on together is total resurfacing of the High Street, which will take place later in the year.
Marlborough is also the market town for a host of surrounding villages and we look to embrace a wider spirit of community in our area.
As mayor, one of my roles is to appoint a chaplain for my mayoral year. Having given thought to this and sought views, I have decided to invite all the existing religious ministers to be chaplain on a rotational basis with the Reverend Andrew Studdert-Kennedy acting as the lead.
As part of this I am going to include a Quaker philosophy – as I come from a Quaker background and was taught at a Quaker school.
This has provided me with an inspirational set of values for living in this ever changing world. Quaker beliefs stand for, in broad terms, equality, peace, simplicity, truth and integrity. Focusing on equality, where everybody is equal, it is about respecting different people and different ideas, honouring all faiths, celebrating a rich community made up of many cultures, reflecting a broad inclusive spectrum of the global family.
Picking up on community, a quote from a Friends Meeting House, I think quite apt: ‘Quakers strive for a unity that encompasses diversity. They value cooperation rather than competition, taking time to learn from others points of view, trying not to be confrontational. This is practised in collective decision making where the sense of the meeting is paramount.’
Deputy Mayor and fellow Town Councillors, old and new to this role, I ask that we adopt a positive approach in running this new council and embrace this philosophy to make things happen for the good of our community.
Let the community see their council working together for the community in a more harmonious way. We will not always agree but in the spirit of equality I would like us to debate without recrimination or competition.
This year, as I have already indicated, is the start of the commemorations of World War I, but it is also the year of the bee and we should not forget that we will also be celebrating a royal birth, with connections to Marlborough.
In terms of the Town Council we have a number of important projects in the pipeline which I look forward to making progress on, not least the so named Fogg’s bogs in the Town Hall basement. Of course, to achieve these projects it is not just what Town Councillors put in to making things happen on a voluntary basis, we are not paid, but also down to the Town Clerk and her staff who work quietly in the background, often unnoticed.
I would like to thank them now for their continuing help and support.
At this point in my address, as is customary at Mayor making, I would also like to reappoint David Sherratt as the ceremonial officer in my mayoral year. David, thank you for your continuing role as Ceremonial Officer and for your great support of the Town’s historical heritage. I would like to say how much I’m going to enjoy working with the Beadle, Macebearers and Town Crier who together make these historical occasions so special.
As part of my role it is in my gift to nominate a charity during my mayoral year. After much deliberation, I have decided to choose two charities. The first is the Marlborough and District Dyslexia Association which is a local charity founded some 30 years ago by Gill Wallis, who is with us tonight. Dyslexia, which I have, is not something that can be cured, you have to learn to manage and live with it. It is on one level a gift and on another level a curse.
I was lucky in the support that I had when I was growing up, rare at that time, but many are not so fortunate. It affects people from all backgrounds and is often grossly misunderstood, I hope you will join me in my efforts to support this very local charity and raise its profile in the community and empower it to do more work with people of all ages and backgrounds.
In this modern electronic world where everything is increasingly done via the internet, for some dyslexics filling in a form online, or even offline, can prove to be a very difficult, if not impossible task, leaving them massively disadvantaged and almost excluded from society.
I relate a story that was told to me about an 11+ question where two dyslexics were asked the difference between milk and butter to which they answered ‘dairy products’. The correct answer was supposed to be one is a liquid and one is a solid, dyslexics think differently.
My handwriting is appalling, let alone spelling. As one of my tutors said on a piece of work that was returned to me, ‘Unless you improve your spelling you will Loosmore marks’. Dyslexics find it difficult to fit into a regulated box, need I say more?
I hope we will be able to help more individuals in our community overcome the issues that dyslexia raises and give them a sense of being able to cope with every day life and be part of the community on a more equal basis.
My second charity also provides a very focussed service to Marlborough although not locally based. Cancer, like dyslexia is indiscriminate and affects people of all ages and backgrounds. Last year I had the honour of opening the mobile chemotherapy unit at Savernake Hospital.
Although not here permanently it is providing an improved service for patients on a regular basis, meaning they don’t have to make what are sometimes long and difficult journeys. The charity is called ‘Hope For Tomorrow’ and relies on voluntary contributions to operate this invaluable service and it is in this spirit that I wish to provide some help to ensure that the service can be sustained for the benefit of our community.
Both of the charities have set up stands upstairs for you to obtain more information during the reception and I hope you will spare a few moments to take a look.
Turning to celebrating our town, I have decided to appoint an Artist in Residence to bring to life a series of initiatives during the year, to embrace and celebrate our community and in the coming weeks the story will unfold.
I hope that it will not only help to promote art and culture in our community and involve all ages but will also help in raising funds for my two chosen charities. The artist is Susanna Bailey who gained her Masters at the Slade School of Fine Art and teaches art in Marlborough and the surrounding areas.
She has exhibited internationally and I think will bring an interesting perspective to this year’s theme. I will say no more at this stage other than watch this space, however I hope we will all be able to enjoy the results from what is planned.
I have mentioned the phrase ‘all ages’ on several occasions. Although for some of us, it may feel a long time ago, we were all young once. Youth and its place in a community is often discussed and can be seen as an issue, however, in my opinion youth of today is very much part of all of our futures, it is important, I believe, that we engage more and listen to their aspirations as a Town Council.
We have recently employed two young men, both resident in the area, as part of our Open Spaces Team, about which I am delighted. As a council we need to do more and I have asked the Town Clerk to scope a way forward to develop the structure of a Youth Council that links into all that is already being done for youth in the town and in doing so establish a working group to drive this initiative forward.
The importance as to whether this can be done in my mayoral year is not my main objective, it’s much more about enabling and facilitating, making it happen and doing it properly to leave a legacy so that the youth of our town feel truly engaged in what is established.
On a wider level I hope to continue to build on our ties with all the schools in the town and develop stronger links with Marlborough College. I look forward to moving the Town Forum forward with the business community, including the Chamber of Commerce.
This is intended to support sustainable economic development of the town and enable us to consider putting in a BID (Business Improvement District) application. A BID is, well complicated. So let me start…on second thoughts, no I will not even try to explain this as it will almost certainly put all of you to sleep if you are not already!
Welcome to those attending from 4 MI Battalion this evening. I hope that over the coming year we can work together to make you feel an even greater part of our community. Marlborough’s Transition Town status is now established and we will continue to support its broad objectives and vibrant community market. In the environmental context let us not forget the Community orchard – it’s apple juice now, perhaps scrumpy later?
I will be continuing to make the Awards of Waites badges as established by last years mayor Edwina Fogg. On that note, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to her as Mayor (I have a lot to live up to) and wish her a full and speedy recovery.
Thank you Edwina for all you have done for the town with such grace and dignity. I would also like to thank all other retiring councillors for their hard work during their time in office and wish them well for the future.
On another note, I will continue to develop our associations with all the Marlboroughs around the world with whom we have established relationships together with the Gambia, perhaps more links can be established.
Being a great advocate of sport — from the sidelines anyway — the continuing growth of sport in Marlborough is a particular interest and I will wholeheartedly support the further growth of the Sports Forum with its very important role for youth in the town.
Much has already been achieved and long may it continue. I’m there for you, but I am NOT going to run! I might walk though!
I was delighted to learn the other day, that the Merchant’s House, another gem in our town, is going to shortly open a museum which will enable us all to celebrate our rich history. Great news – another positive development for our community and for promoting tourism in our town. Credit to all those involved.
Later in the year I plan to announce other initiatives including one to support the Wellbeing of our community, for the moment, call it work in progress.
Meanwhile, the town continues to celebrate in various ways, including the Jazz and the Literary Festivals, as well as this year showing for the first time on the Live Screen at the Town Hall, the Glynedbourne season of operas.
As usual many, many other things are going on in the town, to mention a few the Annual Gardening Association prize giving day, classical orchestral concerts, the Community Choir and the Marlborough College Summer School and the list goes on, too many to mention in this address.
To those I haven’t mentioned by name, thank you for what you bring to the town and may we work together to make Marlborough ever more vibrant. And do I hear rumours of a Beer Festival?
To bring us up to date, in the world of instant news, to show how Marlborough continues to make its mark around the globe, fellow councillor, Nick Fogg has just returned, jetlagged, from an international conference in Bahrain where he was among some celebrated company, past and present world leaders (no name dropping: I think I have heard CLINTON mentioned).
Perhaps Marlborough should establish a network outposts to develop the Marlborough brand. Now that sounds like an idea! Let us celebrate what we have and build on it in a positive and harmonious way.
Thank you to those who have helped so far and to those who will in the future, making special mention to Fiona, my mayoress for all her patience so far and for her support in the forthcoming year – we are both very much looking forward to meeting more people in our community.
Oh yes, fitting a few more things in, we are also getting married in my mayoral year. A first, from my understanding for a mayor in office.
To the year ahead, let’s have some fun and humour. To take a phrase used at the recent thanksgiving service for former mayor, Lillian Ross, I ask the Deputy Mayor and fellow councillors to make this new council a ‘happy council’.
Join with me, let’s take this town forward, I hope some of the things that can be achieved in my mayoral year will be a legacy for the future.
Thank you for your attention. Merci beaucoup pour votre attention. A bientot.
And the winner is….. You the townspeople of Marlborough.
Author shows how writing can make you happier
