Dear Residents of Maldon.

At this time of year I am almost halfway through my term of office as Mayor of Maldon Town.  It has been an honour to represent the Town at many functions locally and afar.
We are approaching the festive season and I look forward to the first of these public occasions when the Christmas Lights will be switched on late afternoon of the 3rd December.  At this time we celebrate the birth of Jesus through our many different ways of life.

We attended the Christian Aid service at the Salvation Army Hall.  It was a really lovely service which concentrated on the establishment of a co-operative set up to help the local coffee growers.   We were appalled to hear that many people were paid just $4 per day before the co-operative was set up.   Since then, the growers have been able to process the coffee beans themselves and schools and housing have been improved.   The Nicaraguan coffee growers have now become part of the Fairtrade organisation and life has improved hugely for them.
 

We dropped into the Christian Aid Spring Fair and Coffee Morning at All Saints this morning.   Lyn bought a couple of necklaces that caught her eye and, of course, some books!   Then we enjoyed a cup of coffee, some delicious cake and a good chat with various people.
 

We went to the Mayor of Havering's Civic Dinner on Friday 13th May 2011.   As it started at 7.00 p.m, Lyn came straight from work and got changed in the cloakroom, which she shared with the Mayoress of Medway who also had to come straight from work!   A really enjoyable evening with great entertainment from various young people from the Borough.   It was very nice to win a raffle prize that we could keep instead of putting it in our next raffle!   The only downside to the evening was being stopped and breathalysed by the police on the way home.   The policeman seemed quite disappointed when

Thursday 12th May 2011 - This, for me, is one of the high points of the year - when I donate all the money raised by the fundraising events, sponsorship of the rowing race and other donations, to my three main charities and to many other smaller organisations.   There were about 70 people present, including Robert Long, the Chairman of the District Council, and the folk who had been invited to the first, cancelled, Victorian Evening.   Robert also presented the cheques to his three charities and Tesco presented a cheque to the War Memorial Committee to go towards the plaque which has been a

We attended the second part of "The Maldonians" on Wednesday 11th May.   If anything, it was even more amusing than the first part, and the audience was most amused to realise that many of the issues in the 1890's are still relevant to-day - particularly the Promenade Park!!   After the performance, a number of us repaired to the Blue Boar for post performance drinks with the cast.

We gathered on the Prom with the Scouts Council on Sunday 8th May at 2.30 p.m. and paraded up through the town to All Saints Church for their delayed St George's day service.   Although we had a few spots of rain before the parade, the sun then came out and we had a lovely afternoon.   The service was very nice and the young folks all played their part beautifully.

We attended the Twinning Association AGM on Thursday 5th May - Lyn as Secretary and me as President (as the current Mayor).   It is a big year for the Association this year, as the Dutch from our twin town, Cuijk, are coming over for the official twinning visit in June.   58 guests will be arriving on 16th June, which is the largest party for a very long time, and a full programme of events has been planned.

Wednesday 4th May 2011 was our Bollywood Evening arranged by our good friend,Foyaj Miah of Curry Nights Restaurant. 

We were invited to the Maldon Rugby Club's Minis presentations and barbeque on Sunday 1st May and spent a very enjoyable couple of hours with them.   They seem to be going from strength to strength and we were both impressed to see so many girls among the players.