The Chairman firstly welcomed Chief Inspector Tim Cook, District Commander, to the meeting.

The Chairman extended his gratitude and thanks to the local schools who took part and the residents who came out in their droves to congratulate Lizzy; and Go buses, Arriva and the Sevenoaks Chronicle. It was an excellent showcase for the Council. He could not believe the number of people who wanted to be photographed with him, as well as Lizzy.  He advised that he had learned after the event that he had a closer connection than he realised in that he had worked with her Grandmother 25 years ago when he had been a lecturer and she had been a librarian at the same college. 

He expressed his pride in the Council’s officers who had organised a professional, first class event in a very short time, and understood that in the past couple of weeks he knew that many had worked exceptionally hard to make to make the parade a great success.

It was particularly noteworthy that this occurred at the same time as the Sports Relief Mile event on Sunday 23 March at Sevenoaks Preparatory School, which was coupled with the launch of the Air Alert scheme. The workload and pressures were illustrated by the fact that that he had received an important communication at 8.20pm on the Saturday evening from the officer concerned.  Again he congratulated all involved.

The Chairman had been privileged to lead the Council team at Sunday’s Sports Relief Mile, which had raised in excess of £120 so far. One team member did the mile; the remainder did three, including the Chairman.  Anyone minded to contribute to this very worthy cause should please log onto: https://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/chairmans-sevenoaks-council-team.

The Chairman advised that he had attended the memorial service for John Thompson Spare OBE, who had been a long serving former Councillor at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and at one time its youngest Mayor.  He had also been the founder/president of Voluntary Action Tunbridge Wells (VATW) which later became and is now known as Voluntary Action West Kent (VAWK). 

The Chairman reported that he had also spent a day on what he called the ‘dust carts’, but the Chief Officer Environmental and  Operational Services was at pains to tell him there were called  ‘waste collection freighters’ these days.  It was incredibly illuminating, and indicative of a huge need to educate the Council’s waste generators (residents) as to what was and what was not recyclable, to help improve the Council’s recycling rates. He expressed his thanks to the crew who took him out, and to all of the refuse collectors, who were clearly much more significant ambassadors of the Council than may be appreciated.

He took the opportunity to remind Members of the Sevenoaks ‘In Bloom’ competition.

The Chairman extended an invitation to all Members to attend his Civic Service at St Mary the Virgin Church, Woodlands, Knatts Valley at 3.00 p.m. on Sunday 13 April 2014.  If interested, he requested that Members email him.   It was a very small Church with limited space so it would be on a first come, first served basis.