The Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers were dancing in the rain as the people arrived at St Helens Church, the venue for the Mayor Making this year. This is the annual ceremony where the Mayor of Abingdon is elected.
The outgoing Mayor. Councillor Helen Pighills, gave 4 Mayors awards to people in the commnity at the ceremony. They were:
- Jenny Berrell, Curator of the Abbey Buildings 1987-2016 (above left)
- Flt Lt Joan Smith who headed the Abingdon Air Cadets from 2004-2016 (above right)
- Neil Porter who organises the Abingdon Air and Country Show
- Staff and volunteers of the Barns Cafe, Northcourt.
The new Mayor is Councillor Alice Badcock (right). Her family has a very long history in Abingdon, She went to Caldecott and Larkmead School. Since coming onto the council Alice has created and organised Music in the Park, as well as many of the events during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
She is seen here talking to the last of a very long queue of people who came to the Mayor Making. The new Deputy Mayor is Councillor Jan Morter alongside.
…what are the ‘benefits’ of being a mayor? Does it look good on a CV? Is it salaried? Is there a pension? Clubcard points? Discount vouchers? Free parking? One of the larger changing rooms at The Leisure centre?
I have never thought about being a mayor before; I’m just wondering if I am missing out on something…
It probably wouldn’t hurt your CV but the answer to the other questions is ‘no’. You won’t have many free evenings or week-ends for a year and you have to buy a lot of raffle tickets. You are missing out on being a very small footnote in the history of the town. That is about it.
But then… when would you watch telly… And… I wonder what you’d “go for” where having it on your cv counts.
… but thanks, although I still hope for further enlightenment… especially if clubcard vouchers are at stake!
No clubcard vouchers. You get an allowance to pay for civic events, but are likely to be out of pocket at the end of the year. But a Great honour to serve your town in this way. Mayors are usually the next longest serving elected member of Abingdon on Thames Town Council who have not been Mayor. Tasks involve: chairing council meetings, attending over 150 town and civic events in the year, making speeches and opening things, organising events sch as the over 70s Christmas Party, and Mayors civic dinner, and raising money for the Mayor’s charities in any way you want.
Thank you backstreeter for indulging my query. I think, on balance, I still don’t get it though….
Perhaps it’s me…..
I haven’t been Mayor but those who have, including my missus, all say that the main benefit is that you find out a huge amount about the people and range of organisations and activities in the town.
For my part, the highlight of her year as Mayor from my perspective was helping to judge a charity quiche baking contest at Peachcroft Community Centre. Delicious
The vast majority of Mayors have been retired people, so having it on your CV probably doesn’t add a lot of value for most, and we certainly ended up out of pocket by the end of Sam’s year.
It’s not for everyone. I don’t know whether or not I’ll get the chance at some point but it would be quite a struggle to combine it with a (more than) full time job and other commitments and for someone who isn’t great at smalltalk at the best of times!
Not wishing to take anything away from Alice who I know will put her heart and soul into the job I am a tad perplexed by Neil’s comment about whether he’ll ever get the job as if to suggest is a right of passage? Personally I think this post should be an elected one and not necessarily a post for a politician ? Any thoughts peeps?
First and foremost, as a Parish Council, which the Town Council is, we have to elect a Chairman at the beginning of each municipal year. As we have a Royal Charter from Queen Mary in 1556, the Chairman is also the Mayor.
All Mayor’s are elected members of the Council and the Mayor is elected by those members. The Council by law cannot be fettered in its choice of Chairman.
it is a wonderful tradition and each Mayor brings their own personality and style to the role.
ah well…I just don’t like quiche!
this is not relevant to the current discussion, but when I lived in Abingdon i once went to the library to actually look at the Charter.
The charter is often invoked as sacred writ whenever anyone wants to change anything in Abingdon, but it is rarely directly quoted.
I found a transcript of the charter in the Library, in the local history section, in a locked cabinet, in a book about something else.
I found that the actual charter commanded that the council do a number of things that it no longer did, and did not discuss a lot of things that people assumed the charter commanded.
My point is … times change. Sometimes Abingdon needs to change as well.
I would love the town council to be de-politicised. I can see no reason for political parties to be involved at that level of local government. Other towns do fine without a party whip. But i do not think it would ever happen in Abingdon.
A good idea David… But certainly “un-chartered” territory!
Again not trying to belittle Alice’s role, but wouldn’t it be good if our mayor had more of a dynamic role instead of a ceremonial one? Someone who would have been on scene at the recovery of Ellis Downes rather than judging a cake competition? Someone who would take note of and stop things that aren’t concussive to the good of the community? like taxis taking up all the lay-by parking? Why is the outdoor pool still empty? Why were the water jets not working last weekend? Why is our traffic a nightmare ? Etc , if we had a visionary dictator.rather than a ceremonial mzyor some of abingdons problems could be addressed, in short if Alice had more power she could achieve much more
I think you’d be good at trying to fix our town Captainkaos.
Have you ever considered local government?
Your get my vote!
I mean ‘you’d get my vote’ …
Ha ha thanks Sasga. Seriously though as David of Luton said we gave a miriad of rules and legislation embedded in the various charters that have been granted to the town over the centuries and it may well be that Alice has a lot more power than she and us are aware of? Perhaps the town archivist could confirm some of the finer points of them, but more importantly and very relevant is are any of those rules still enforceable given that they were granted to a borough council that was abolished in 1974? Can someone confirm please?
Might it not be more productive to turn our attention to the potential for improvements in the powers of the Town Council which is offered by the current discussions on merging the two layers above it? The County Council and District Councils are working on rival proposals: each has engaged a set of consultants (what a waste of public money) and the County Council have promised public consultation (not sure about the District). The proposals are due to be complete by the end of June. If Town Councils want more powers this would be an ideal opportunity for some to be devolved down to them…
Indeed Hester, but I’d still like to know if “stuff” granted to Abingdon Borough council through the various charters are still binding now the borough no longer exists? Did the power etc bestowed upon the borough transfer to the Vale or are they redundant ?
Got to agree with Captainkaos and Hester. Be great to have a French style mayor with power over local decision making. Having three organisations involved in various aspects of the town is frankly a costly madness that is achieving nothing – just look around!
… Out of interest… Would you really trust such a person to make the “right” decisions?