Mary Reid

My next stop after The Mount was Maple Infants. It's a bit more difficult explaining local democracy to children aged 5 to 7 and I must admit that I'm not used to talking to 180 little ones all at once.

But they asked me lots of sensible questions, such as: Do you live in Buckingham Palace? Do you like doing the job? Do you wear your chains all the time?

I brought out this young man to tell me about the badge - words and picture - on his school sweatshirt.

I then explained that I had a badge with three fish on it. Someone suggested they were sharks, but in the end we agreed on salmon. 

They also spotted the letter R (for Royal), and they learnt to say 'The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames'.