I FEEL privileged to have been chosen as your Town Mayor from early May 2019 until what we now know as ‘lockdown’.
During my term in office my wife and I have been involved in many Mayoral duties and engagements and have met many wonderful, devoted townsfolk who dedicate a lot of their time and energy to great causes, but I must say that the highlight of my tenure so far was of course Remembrance Day, where you turned out in your hundreds to commemorate the sacrifice our armed forces made to keep us all safe during both world wars.
Now that we find ourselves in another huge battle against this dreadful coronavirus pandemic, we can see the same spirit shown by our armed forces, displayed on the streets of our town by you, the next generation.
You have all shown great spirit and resolve to beat this virus by self- isolation and social distancing.
It has been hard and will continue to be so for some time to come but I find it very gratifying whilst out walking for exercise to find how cheery and polite other walkers are. Everyone has ensured they are two metres away from each other, often moving to the edges of verges or even crossing the road whilst remaining as cheerful as possible by saying hello to complete strangers.
This has been heart-warming and certainly reduces that feeling of complete isolation.
In recent weeks we have all turned out in our streets at 8pm on Thursday evenings to clap and give thanks to our wonderful NHS staff working tirelessly to care for and protect us all and I know they are encouraged by our gratitude but let us not forget the other frontline workers we sometimes take for granted.
They are of course our police force, fire service, refuse collectors, postal workers, voluntary service providers and our shop assistants to name but a few.
Following recent Government guidelines, our town council offices have been closed for the time being but I can assure you, our Town Clerk and his assistants have remained working from home to keep our town running as best they can in this unprecedented situation.
Your town, district and county councillors are also working from home but are always available to contact at droitwichspa.gov.uk – our town website.
