Mayor's Diary for 15th February 2007 - as published in the Wells Journal

By the time you’ll have read this, Hot Fuzz will be buzzing around the country. There has been some excellent write up’s about it. Thankfully, virtually all of them mention this great City. So, already we have had name checks and some very positive PR. Let’s all hope for the film’s success and that our local economy will benefit from it.

Over the past week I’ve attended 7 events, functions and meetings as your Mayor.

On Tuesday I had two engagements. First was the Chaplain and I hosting a reception in the Mayor’s Parlour for the Licensees of Wells. These people form the back bone of the ‘night time economy’. It is vital, as a market town in a very competitive age, that the City is vibrant for as many hours as possible. The Licensees, have a huge responsibility for a safe socialising environment. Quite often when events are held for businesses, it is when the Licensees are at their busiest, so not able to attend. This one was mid afternoon….

Later that evening I hosted an event for the Wells City Training Band, also in the Mayor’s Parlour. The training band set up and played five tunes, which all sounded fantastic. It was good to see some new talent coming through the ranks.

On Friday the Mayoress and I hosted the Civic Dinner at Andre’s. We had a fantastic meal, followed by the tradition of passing around the ‘Loving Cup’. Myth has it that if the ‘Loving Cup’ is not passed around the Councillors at least once a year (filled with port), then it is to be returned to the person who donated it. We managed to complete the tradition and can now safely keep the cup for another year.

Over the weekend, I didn’t have any Mayoral functions. So I was able to catch up with Julie Nicholas (my Mayoress) with some quality time. Julie is a great friend of mine and sometimes it’s wonderful to chat about the world without being on duty.

Over the next week my diary includes Council meetings including full City Council, the world premiere and Wells party for Hot Fuzz, a meeting of the Royal British Legion and the Twinning Association Dinner.