Brenda Burgess, Mayor of Crawley

  December - Bob and I celebrated our 40th Wedding Anniversary .

In January I hosted the Mayoral Ball. The picture below is of Peter Mansfield Clark MBE, the Director of Crawley Open House, which is my charity for this year. He is pictured with his lovely wife Juliet. Peter has recently been awarded the MBE for his involvement in the Community which includes his dedication to the Homeless and less privileged. Congratulations Peter!

Below shows a picture of me with a fellow'Chain'. I know him as Ron, the other half of Ron and Elspeth.  No we are not Graduating. We were honoured to be part of the Platform Party at the Brighton University Graduation Ceremony . This was the first time Crawley had attended such a Ceremony. Brighton University is keen that Crawley becomes an University Town - so are we in Crawley.       

April brought local celebrations of St George's Day. I was invited to attend Horley's Celebration which was fantastic. The picture below shows me with 'St George' who happened to be a resident from my own Town of Crawley. My dream is to hold such a day in Crawley, but celebrate the diversity which is England and the English today.

I don't know if many realised this, but earlier this year, the BBC encouraged a ' Thrill Seeker' Weekend where people of all ages could try their hand at scuba diving, climbing and fencing to name but a few. Here I am, in the picture below, having a go at fencing . My clumpy boots did not help but I had just been on a tree identification walk. www.bbc.co.uk/thrillseeker

Finally below shows me in my Mayor's Parlour for the last time. I have had a wonderful yet 'sureal' year meeting all sorts of different fantastic people; handing out Awards; opening events; attending AGM's; supporting Charity Events; eating mountains of cake and raising money for a really worthy Charity - Crawley Open House. So far around £11,000 has been raised.

Crawley Open House hosted a BBQ for me on Saturday. We had a wonderful time. A huge thank you to all those involved. Now on Friday 21st May I shall step down as 'The Worshipful the Mayor of Crawley' and return to the back benches of the Council. Hopefully I can find my Political Voice again!

I wish the New Mayor, Cllr Lee Burke, every success in his Mayoral Year. I know he will have a great year.

Thank you.

Brenda Burgess - Mayor of Crawley 2009-2010 signing off!

      What would you call a collection of 'Mayor' and 'Chairs' - in other words local dignitaries who wear chains?

When you decide to eat out in Crawley, go onto the website to find out how the restaurant of your choice has been scored out of five for hygiene, quality and presentation. Eating establishments from the burger van in Three Bridges to the Hospice have been scored. (By the way, both mentioned have scored really well )

During the tour, w

e were privy to a demonstration from a Parkour 'Dance' Group who will be performing at the Brighton Festival on the 25th May. They were brilliant.  We then went onto a recently regenerated area which includes one of the first, if not the first, Parkour area in the South East. Here more young people demonstrated this growing sport.

The tour finished at the Ifield Community College where we were entertained by the ICC Choir who have appeared across the country at National Choir Festivals and are brilliant! The choir includes a small group of Diego Garcian Drummers who are phenomenal.  

I was proud and hounoured to promote my town in such a positive way.

Talking of being proud; on Saturday I attended Horley's St George's Day CelebrationThere were stirring songs, Morris Dancers, music and mayhem. It was wonderful. There was 'St George', 'Lady Godiva' - fully clothed of course, - 'Britannia' and Her Majesty the Queen - or rather a superb 'look-a-like. ! I felt fit to burst with pride. It would be great if Crawley could have something similar next year!les, That evening we - my Consort and I - attended a 40's Dinner Dance for Brambles -a charity offering respite care for those with MS. Our own Millennium Big Band provided the appropriate music and as usual they were great! Well done and thank you. I shall miss all this when I step down from Mayoral Duties next month.

Thank you

  What a busy week out and about eating and greeting. Eating first.

I attended the Arts Council Dinner on Tuesday Evening. Following a delicious meal . we were treated to superb entertainment from the Award Winning choir of Ifield Community College . The whole evening was delightful. Thank you ICC, Crawley Club and the Crawley Arts Council.

Eating events continued with the Curry Evening at Horley in aid of Brambles Respite Care and St Catherine's Hospice. The food was delicious and we had a great time. Thank you Simon Marshall, the Horley Mayor, for inviting me. Of course it meant that I had to miss the musical event for the St Patrick's Day celebrations at the Hawth Theatre. Thankfully I have a great Deputy Mayor, Lee Burke, who attended in my place. I hear it was a great night and that the Comedian Jimmy Cricket was a sensational laugh.

I attended the St Patrick's Day Parade on the Sunday. It was a wonderful occasion and the weather for once was great. Other 'Chains' were there too and it was lovely to see them, as their presence helps to raise our profile and prestige. I hope the parade grows from year to year attracting more chains from more areas .Those attending on Sunday included Jane Keel from Mid Sussex, Simon Marshall from Horley and ….. the Deputy Mayor of East Grinstead. The Mayor of East Grinstead was hoping to attend but his wife has just given birth so he was otherwise engaged. Congratulations ……. on the birth of a baby daughter weighing in at 8lb 10oz - I believe.

  Now greeting!

I'm also going to shout CONGRATULATIONS to two of our local Secondary Schools. My husband and I have been honoured to attend super productions at Both Thomas Bennett and St Wilfrid's.

I watched a great presentation of 'Fame' at Thomas Bennett a short while ago and was honoured to greet many of the participants. The production was absolutely fantastic. Well done; then on Thursday we were invited to attend St Wilfrid's production of 'Little Shop of Horrors' , where onece more I greeted several of the talented cast members. This production too was magnificent. What talent our young people have in this town and what visionary teachers who think up such productions. You would never think 'amateurs' could honour such musicals - how wrong! These two musicals were of such good standard they would not have been out of place in the professional theatre. In fact I have seen worst productions by 'professional' cast members for which I have paid extortionate prices. If you ever get a chance of seeing productions at local schools, grab the opportunity with both hands - I promise you, it will be worth it. It was rumoured that a school from another area was visiting and might be less than friendly. How viscous such rumours can be because the said visiting school were the first to jump to their feet for a standing ovation. They were really supportive. Thank you.

  I am going to moan now.

   I know elections are coming up very soon, but when a certain Local Party of a certain National Party, invited one of the Ministers to the Town recently, I was horrified that, as Mayor I was not allowed to meet him!

  When I was recently invited to re-open the newly named local garden Centre, I felt as if Spring was coming at long last. ‘Wyvale’ has now become ‘Crawley garden Centre’. I am always pleased when local companies include the town name in their title because it puts Crawley on the map and pin points exactly where the company can be found. I call that clever marketing. I wish more companies and firms did the same thing. Perhaps Gatwick Land Rover could then be Crawley Land Rover. Using the name Gatwick conjures up an image of cars for sale right in the middle of a landing strip!

The 'Crawley Garden Centre' has been revamped with a new name and greatly improved facilities, especially its plant area . It also sports a lovely new enlarged café section, which looks light, airy and very welcoming. I shall definitely be there on a Tuesday as this, I believe, is ‘over 60’s day’.

I also met representatives from Winston's Wish who were hosting their charity at the Garden Centre. Winston's Wish is a charity supporting seriously and terminally ill children and their families. They were fund raising for this very worthy cause.

For more information contact 01242 515157

Email: info@winstonswish.org.uk

Or: westsussex@winstonswish.org.uk

 Helpline: 08452 03 04 05

 I entered the raffle and later discovered that I had won fourth prize - a lovely cookery book and two cute cuddly teddies. I was thrilled as I seldom win at raffles. I also sampled some of the home baked produce for sale at The Crawley Garden Centre. Their home baked cakes were delicious; something else to look forward to on my Tuesday trips!

Had this event been the second event of the morning, I would have encouraged the café to serve, or at least stock, Gluten free food especially in their home baked section, because the very next event involved meeting and addressing the Members at the Gluten Free Group at St Paul's Church in Northgate. Mr Tombs set up this support group when his wife Dodi was diagnosed with this terrible disease.

www.glutenfree-crawley.org.uk

 Apparently many people suffer from Celiac Disease. Having such a disease means that food containing gluten can not be tolerated. This is a real problem, as many restaurants do not supply such food on their menu.

More information on restaurants can be found on the website:

 www.glutenfree-crawley.org.uk/gluten-free-restaurants.php.

 Now when I shop I can choose whether or not to spend a fortune on a loaf of bread. Those with Celiac disease do not have such a choice.  A small loaf of gluten free bread can cost nearly £3.00!

As I said, had this been my first event and not my second, I could have encouraged the garden centre to stock home baked cakes that were gluten free. It would be good to link some sort of Gluten free concern with those who supply locally produced baked food

Talking of links brings me onto the next event I attended on the same day

After a very interesting morning and early afternoon, I headed to the Kung Fu School in my own local area. This school has been operating for a year now and has grown from strength to strength. It is the only one of its kind and works closely with schools and parents to encourage the personal skills required such as self discipline, respect, helping others, health, and exercise. To celebrate the school's success and the Chinese New Year of the Tiger, a group of Chinese performers gave a superb demonstration of their skills in dance and Kung Fu exercises. Children and adults were invited to try out some of the costumes and moves. I left just as the work shops were beginning. By that time the place was buzzing and everyone was trying to 'have a go' at something. For more information about the school, do look on their website.

www.kidskungfu.co.uk

www.kung-fulesson.co.uk

 Having watched the Chinese performers during the day, it was my turn to tread the boards, but not as Mayor.

I returned to my 'private' life by performing on stage at The Archway Theatre, Horley, in the evening. This event had been organised by a fellow dance group member and all proceeds were going to 'Help for Heroe's'. 

Well done Jayne!