MAYOR of Evesham, Coun Mark Goodge writes for the Observer
This week, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Under normal circumstances, this would have been one of the biggest events of the year.
But these aren’t normal circumstances, and there won’t be any public events to mark the occasion. We can still celebrate in our homes, though, and take part online.
As part of our online celebration, the commemoration service that would have been held at the war memorial was, instead, pre-recorded with just a few participants keeping at least 2m apart at all times. It’s disappointing that we couldn’t do it for real, with councillors, British Legion members and the public present, but at least we do have a record of the service that can be part of our virtual events.
Another thing that won’t be happening this month is Mayor Making. This normally takes place on the second Monday in May, which this year is the 11th. But, like other councils in the area, we have postponed the Annual Council meeting which marks the beginning of a new civic year until we are able to hold public meetings again. To misquote Vera Lynn, we don’t know where and we don’t know when, but we will meet again some (hopefully) sunny day!
One other consequence of the lockdown is that we’ve lost some key fundraising events for the Mayor’s charities. That comes on top of having to cancel the annual fireworks in November due to the ground being waterlogged, which is normally the biggest source of funds for the charity appeal.
The kitty is looking distinctly empty at the moment! So, as part of the “2.6 Challenge” last month, the Mayoress and I decided to do a relay marathon by taking it in turns to walk round our street. We started at 9am on 26th April and finished just after 5pm, having done 52 laps of the street between us.
If you want to contribute to our fund-raising appeal, you can do that at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/mayor-of-evesham – I’m sure our charities would really appreciate it if you do.
