Mary Reid

Astonishing! Around 600 people packed into the Guildhall this evening for the Mayor's Attendance Awards. Medals were awarded to well over 200 children and young people who had achieved a 100% attendance record last year.

Attendance medals date back to the late 19th century, but died out over 80 years ago. So we decided to revive the tradition, and were amazed at how it was received by the children and parents. The BBC picked up on the story, and the Evening Standard is covering it tomorrow.

This was yet another bright idea of Ming Zhang, who has once again put Kingston at the top of the league table for school attendance. with an even higher 94% attendance record.

There is a bizarre twist to this event. Medals were specially designed and commissioned in the UK, and the supplier then sourced them from China. Remember the story a few weeks ago about the bras and knickers from China that were impounded somewhere in Europe? - along with 300 rather nice medals, it seems. Fortunately, we were able to get some from another source just in time.