Mayor's Diary (From Cotswold Journal)

Mayor's Diary

11:00am Friday 6th July 2012 in M-O

We started our week at the park to watch bell boat racing between local schools.

It was a wonderful event organised by local ‘paddlers’ David and Andy Train.

On Monday evening, Mark Goodge was elected chairman of our planning committee, it is tradition that the deputy mayor becomes chairman of this committee as a training ground for full council meetings.

On Tuesday, the mayoress and I visited Happy Days Playgroup in Hampton to show the children the mayor’s robes and chain of office. They all enjoyed playing dress-up and the chain only went missing once.

On Wednesday, the deputy mayor opened the new greenhouse at the Acquired Brain Injury unit in Cheltenham Road, while we headed over to Worceter to take part in the Mercian Regiment homecoming and freedom of the city parade.

On Thursday we went to St Egwin’s Middle School to take a look at what the young gardeners have done for the Schools in Bloom Competition, and in the evening attended the annual meeting of the Vale of Evesham Volunteer Centre.

Sunday was a long day, starting in the morning with a tour of the markets and charity stalls in High Street, Bridge Street and Market Square, before settling in to our allotted spot in High Street to watch the Olympic torch go through town.

Evesham was filled with onlookers and a wonderful party atmosphere spread among the crowds. Once the torch had passed, a vintage car pulled up in front of us to take us to the Crown Meadow for the opening of the Festival of Sport and to start a 5k race organised by Evesham Running Club.

We toured the many exhibits and stalls at the Festival of Sport before heading to the Rowing Club for lunch and to launch their new boats.

We ended our sport-themed day by presenting prizes to the winners of the Festival of Sport poster competition and the Journal Sports Champion Award to Julia Annis from Evesham Swimming Club.

I cannot fully describe how proud I was of our town this week, the crowds of people cheering the torch, the high spirits from our youngsters and the dedication and commitment shown by local clubs and societies. Thank you, Evesham.

ROBERT RAPHAEL Mayor of Evesham