The Mayor of Havant's blog

Today our Mayoral year came to an end and I handed over to Councillor Faith Ponsonby. We had a final photo taken with three of our Mayor’s Cadets and one at the Civic Banquet at The Brookfield in the evening.

Andy and I have had a wonderful year and we wish Faith and Michael the very best of luck for their year ahead, I am sure they will enjoy the role as much as we did.

Today Andy and I attended the funeral of ex Mayor and Leigh Park Councillor Virginia Steel. In a packed chapel Father Jonathan Jeffrey led a lovely personal service. Virginia was obviously well loved by her family and residents of Leigh Park. She was a member of the Leigh Park Community Singers who sang beautifully during the service.

On a sunny Saturday morning we were pleased to visit some of the talented artists on this year’s May Day Arts Trail on Hayling Island.

From paintings to ceramics, painted scarves to silver jewellery, bags to greetings cards, there is a wide variety of work on display from local residents. Well worth a visit. Until we visited last year, I had no idea how many gifted people we had living on the Island.

At a lovely service conducted by The Rt Revd  Christopher Foster, Bishop of Portsmouth, the Revd Dr Jenny Gaffin was licensed as priest in charge of the Hayling Parishes.

Revd Gaffin was formerly chaplain to the Bishop and the service was a warm and personal one.

I am sure she will be popular with all the parishioners of the three Hayling Anglican Churches.

This weekend is the second one of the 2016 Emsworth Arts Trail. We started by visiting six artists exhibiting at The Brookfield Hotel, then we drive around others on the Trail. What talented people there are in The Borough. From jewellery makers, to those working in wood and painters of every genre.

It seems the Trail is busier each year, with hundreds of people visiting the different artists.

Our second invitation of the day was to open the new Costa Coffee in High Street, Emsworth.

On a sunny day with a Jazz Band playing outside, we were pleased to cut the ribbon, to open the new 68 seater Costa. With it’s leaflets about tourism and the Community Room, it will I am sure be a welcome addition to Emsworth.

We did enjoy cutting the ribbon to open The Rock Project in Waterlooville this morning. The first one in Hampshire, this allows young people to learn to play guitar or drums in the first part of the lesson. Then in the second half they join in and play with a band.

We played the drums! Electronic ones that I had never seen before. Great fun for us both.

This evening Andy and I hosted a thank you drink and nibbles party in The Parlour. We wanted to thank those people from local organisations who had supported us in my Mayoral year.

We were pleased to welcome guests from the Havant and Hayling Lions, H.I.A.D.S, and the Hayling Horticulteral Society. Without these selfless people our year would have been the poorer and we are very grateful to them. We all said how quickly the last year has gone and how much we had enjoyed it.

It was a great pleasure for us to open the Stride Centre In Denvilles today. Unveiling a plaque in the building and planting a tree in the garden.

The Centre built by David Wilson/Barratt’s was erected instead of S106 contributions being paid to HBC for the Nursery Fields/Copseys Nursery development.

It is a lovely building which will be well used by local residents and Community Groups.

This evening, Andy and I along with Councillor Mike Fairhurst, were invited to learn CPR at a session with the cadets of St. John’s Ambulance in Havant.

The St John’s Ambulance have already taught the Mayors of Fareham and Gosport this year and we were very pleased to learn as well.

It is good to know that should the need arise, we would hopefully have the knowledge to keep someone alive until an ambulance arrived.

This evening we were happy to attend the Provincial Grand Lodge of Hampshire South East Area Cheque Presentation Evening.

Over 30k was presented to a number of charities by Lodges from across the area. Individual Lodges decided how monies raised should be spent, giving pleasure to many small and large charities.

Organised by the Hayling Island Tree Wardens, it has become a tradition for each Mayor of Havant to plant a tree on Hayling Island. This morning it was my pleasure to plant a New Horizen Elm in Hayling Park. I will be able to visit “my tree” and hopefully watch it thrive.

This afternoon Andy and were honoured to attend a Thanksgiving Service at Winchester Cathedral for Her Majesty the Queen’s 90th Birthday. It was a wonderfully patriot service with music from both HM’s wedding and Coronation.

All the Mayor’s and Chairmen from across Hampshire were in attendance for what will be the last Civic Service for us in our Mayoral year.

We were delighted to join our friends at the Havant Lions Club for their 51st Charter Night. Held at the Brookfield, it was attended also by a table of our friends from the Hayling Lions.

During this my Mayoral year, the Lions have been a great support to us. Both financially and in helping us distribute our Community Chest. Their time is given freely to support good causes and I consider myself honoured that I have had their help this year.