Below also is the programme showing the other awards the Town Council gave out last night as well. And there is a selection of photos all taken by Katharine McElligott from the Town Council staff - thank you!
Review of the highlights of last year
My Ladies, my Lords, fellow Town Councillors, distinguished guests and honoured members of the Buckingham community, welcome to this Mayor Making event.
This has been an intensely engrossing, uplifting and joyous year for me & Julie, my amazing Mayoress who has helped me stay clear, centred and focused.
Buckingham is a bright and brilliant town, full of ambition, heart and dynamism. There is always something happening in our town. In fact all life is here. When I set out on this last year, I made ambition the theme for my Mayoralty. I said I would be looking for all the ways in which to support and celebrate ambition in the town.
I am lucky that throughout my life, I have met many people wrapped up in their sense of purpose, their aspirations and their ambitions. And this year I have met many more in my journey as your Mayor. It has been a glorious year of discovering ambition. But unlike panning for gold, the nuggets of shining ambition have been easy to find.
I have seen how ambition has built new sports facilities and encouraged even more sporting achievement. I have seen the intensity of relief and pride on the faces of students as gained their graduation. I have seen the joy of town council colleagues as they help the community make the town more accessible to all or finally get the new toilets built! I have seen new partnerships, plans and places become established and people grow in confidence and strength. I have discovered about the so many ways in which teachers inspire their students and pupils to learn and develop new dreams. I have been in awe of the determination and professionalism in lots of places to make a difference to people’s lives. I have been charmed by the way in which some fragile, vulnerable or cautious people are helped so carefully to shape their ambitions and enjoy the ride along the way.
I could go on and on… And if you really want to know more, please browse my blog - all of what I have done is all there! I have written about the 160+ occasions when I have represented the town and/or added a bit mayoral glitter when needed. It has been my pleasure to explain what a year in the life of a town mayor is all about and make that accessible to all. For those who like numbers, the blog I started this time last year has now been uploaded over 137,000 times. For me, social media can transform the relationship people have with their elected representatives and the councils that look after their interests.
This is now the time to thank a few people. This may take a couple of minutes but I am impelled to say these thank yous
Firstly there are two wonderful town council staff who have helped me to manage this year and follow due protocol. Thank you Katharine McElligott for all your wisdom and wry humour. Thank you Eloise-Mary Godwin for all of your gentle firmness and ability to remember things when I have forgotten them. Next, I must thank the Town Clerk: thank you Chris for your professionalism, integrity, insight and precise advice. You have helped me Chair the Council. Indeed, I could name every single member of the Town Clerk’s staff because each person has added something very special and uniquely helpful to my year as Mayor. I won’t list you all, but I hope each one of you knows how deeply grateful I am.
But I will mention Russell Cross, our illustrious Town Crier who has not quite burst my eardrums but has helped feel less lonely on many occasions. And Barbara Farmer of course who has carried the Mace for many a year now. Thank you for your long and dedicated service to our town. You really do add the gold. Thank you. And a bit more later of course.
And I must thank Cllr Mark Cole, the Deputy Mayor and his wife Alex who sadly cannot be here this evening due to an unchangeable work commitment. Both Mark and Alex have offered me and Julie wise counsel and sterling support on many occasions as well as deputising on many others.
I must also thank my fellow town councillors, especially the past mayors who have offered me their experience based advice and general support. Again I won’t list you each by name, but I hope you each know how much I value you and am just how proud I am to call you a colleague. You have helped make this year very special for me. And thank you for all that you do for the town.
And thanks also to fellow Mayors across the county and beyond in Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire. I have received invaluable guidance and ideas from them as indeed I have from all the members of the so called ‘chain gang’ here in the county, appointed and elected. I must especially highlight the past High Sheriff, Peter Kara - thank you.
I would also like to highlight the support and friendship I have built along the way with the University Vice Chancellor. Thank you Sir Anthony for all your help during this last year and thank you for all that you are doing for the town as well as the university. I am looking forward to continuing to build yet more bridges between the town and the gown.
And last but not least, all my family and close friends who have watched with intrigue and wry smiles as I have navigated my way through being Mayor these last twelve months: thank you for your love and support. And of course, my wife, Julie, my Mayoress, my love: thank you from every level and chamber of my heart.
I will say more about the coming year a little later on.
Meanwhile, I have the most enormous pleasure of presenting a cheque to each of the three charities I have been collecting for this year. Each cheque is for £1300. So firstly, the Buckingham Youth Centre who do such brilliant work for local young people…. Secondly for the NSPCC who support children locally and beyond to help them stay safe and be all that they can be… And finally UNICEF will receive this cheque soon. I did ask Eddie Izzard, a well known supporter of UNICEF, to be here this evening but sadly other prior engagements kept him away. But this one is for you Eddie and all the children of the world that have received life saving and life affirming help from UNICEF.
Speech for Barbara Farmer
Barbara Farmer was appointed to become the Town’s Mace Bearer on 2 November 1987. She has faithfully served the Town and Council since then, a period now of over 30 years. And I have the most enormous pleasure of recognising, celebrating and thanking Barbara for her dedication and long service.
Barbara’s role is a ceremonial and voluntary one - but one that she has done with exemplary skill, professionalism and panache. I know she will remember for example, accompanying the Town Mayor, Cllr Derrick Isham on the visit by HM the Queen in 1996. And how wonderful a day that was.
The Mace is priceless. It is made of silver gilt, and dates from the time of Charles II. On the raised flat top are the Royal Stuart arms. And between the letters at the base is an inscription as follows: “In the 12th year of the reign of our sovereign lord King Charles II by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland 1660”.
So I know I am glad I do not have the responsibility of carrying such a precious piece of history! I would probably have dropped it my now. More than once...
I should add Barbara is effectively my bodyguard at events such as these as the mace was originally a weapon of battle. Fortunately I have not had reason to call on her martial arts skills so far, but I have no doubt that she would despatch any combatant swiftly and without mercy should anyone threaten the Mayor of Buckingham. Indeed I know that Barbara has battled the elements of inclement weather on many occasions with grace, stoicism and determination.
Barbara is from a local family and is one the stalwarts of our solid Buckingham community. She is of course, the first woman to hold this position. And I am told, this was controversial at the time she was appointed by the then Mayor, Cllr Mordue after being nominated by Cllr Isham. Heaven knows why gender should have mattered but I am so glad that times have moved on much since then.
And so here we are, 30 years on Barbara. I am guessing that when you signed up for this role, you may not have expected to be here all this time later. But you are and Buckingham Town Council, Buckingham people and me as the current Mayor are extraordinarily grateful. Thank you so much for your long and dedicated service.
In honour of your service, here is small gift for you to wear. For those who cannot see it is a lapel brooch miniature of the mace itself. Thank you so much again.
Chairman’s announcements
Before I make my planned address, I need to mention the sad demise of one our former Mayoresses. Claire Stuchbury died last Saturday. Robin is grieving her loss greatly, as indeed are we all on the Town Council. Rest in Peace, Claire.
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Thank you again for making the time to be here this evening. I just have a few words to say, before we have some refreshments and be serenaded by musicians from the Royal Latin School. Thanks to them in advance and thanks to the musician from the Buckingham School who played at the beginning too.
I am humbled and deeply honoured to have been elected Town Mayor for a second year by my councillor colleagues. Thank you for trusting me with this responsibility again. I never presumed I would pass my probationary year. So thank you for your confidence in me.
I promise to continue to be the best Mayor that I can be. I will faithfully and diligently serve the Town Council and the people of our fair parish to the best of my abilities. I promise to uphold the seven Nolan principles of public life and service: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.
I will be relentless in searching for all ways to help Buckingham become an even better place in which to live, work, study, visit and play.
This year I have chosen three different charities to raise money for. Well, I say different, one is the same: the Buckingham Youth Centre. The other two are Bucks Mind and BACAB which raises money for the local Citizens Advice services. You might be wondering what links these three charities.
I have a very simple political philosophy: I want to help build a world in which everyone has dreams and ambitions and the wherewithal to achieve those.
The first part of that is fairly straightforward - everyone should have dreams and ambitions - having dreams and ambitions should not be a privilege just for a fortunate few. The second part needs a bit of unpacking: what do I mean by ‘wherewithal’?
For me this includes a combination of positive life skills, an understanding of how the world works brought about by good education and reflection, sufficient basic resources such as shelter, food and friendship, good health and well-being, confidence and hope. And the three charities I have chosen all help people gain elements of that wherewithal. (That is why they are so important and why I implore you to be generous later on with the collecting buckets!)
And when these charities (along with so many more people and agencies) help people increase their wherewithal, they also help people regain and refresh another magic ingredient, without which there can be no ambition and ultimately no progress for individuals or our society as a whole. And that ingredient is imagination
Imagination opens our minds and makes us explore the world in different ways. From Midsummer Nights Dream to Matilda, from Harry Potter to Yoda (May the fourth be with you of course) and from daffoldils to Xanadu: writers, poets and lyricists enrich our lives and help us think of something new and better
It is imagination that will be the theme of my second year as Town Mayor. Before I say a bit more about this, let me read you two poems especially written for this evening by pupils from our two secondary schools.
In advance, may I say a huge thank you to the two poets who have created these compositions. They are both wonderful and inspiring poems.
Firstly is a poem by year 8 student, Ffion Hacker, from the Royal Latin School. It is entitled “Imagination”
To the kneeling girl, the field is where she’ll be on her wedding day.
Pink peonies in her hair and a pearly white veil.
With creamy satin shoes and a fairy tale dress.
To the old gentleman next to her, the field is where his allotment will flourish.
Ripe rosy beetroot leaves tickle the delicate frothy sweet peas.
Parsnips and potatoes nestle underground.
In the centre a portly pumpkin watches over them.
To the small boy nearby, the field is where he’ll become an explorer.
Crawling through the undergrowth, on muddy hands and filthy knees.
Peering through his binoculars and navigating by the stars.
To the little girl making a daisy chain, the field is where she will meet the fairies.
With gossamer wings and tiny hands and feet.
Sprinkled with fairy dust, they will grant her a wish.
Although the field is just a field,And I have another poem by Daisy Abra from the Buckingham School, also in year 8. She has called it
To them it is so much more……..
A wedding day, a thriving allotment,
an adventure and a fairy world.
“I closed my eyes”
I closed my eyes and I could see,I am enormously grateful to Ffion and Daisy for these beautiful poems. I think they deserve a round of applause.
A whole new world in front of me.
A blood red sky, bleak mountains high,
Trees like silk, rivers of milk.
Clouds of gold above the ground,
And a deafening silence, not a sound.
No people, no war,
Just peace, and adventure in store.
No suffering, no anger, no sadness, no death,
No greed, no gain, no bereavement, no pain.
Happiness and joy floated by,
Like glimmering angels that never die.
And as beautiful colors joined my view,
My spirit flew.
This year, the Town Council will be refreshing and revising the Neighbourhood Development Plan. The world around us is changing rapidly and we must make sure that we do not allow ourselves to be boiled alive because we fail to respond to much bigger forces, trends and plans. But we must do more than simply try and react: we must seek to imagine the kind of future we want for our town. Without imagination we risk being drowned by the waves of change. With imagination we can surf these waves and arrive on the sunny beach of the future smiling and proud.
Just #imagineBuckingham - what can and should we be 30 or more years from now?
So imagination is my theme for the coming year and I invite everyone to become imagineers, and to flex and stretch our imagination ‘muscles’ - and set about imagining new and better futures for ourselves, our families and our glorious town of Buckingham and its community.
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