Mayor’s Blog 144

Armistice Day, Remembrance Parade, Carnival Thank You Party, Asker Meadows Nature Trail Plan

Armistice Day

The Armistice, an agreement to end the fighting of the First World War as a prelude to peace negotiations, began at 11am on 11 November 1918.  Armistice is Latin for to stand (still) arms.

To this day we mark Armistice Day around the United Kingdom with a Two Minute Silence at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month.

At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month – we will remember them!
On Saturday I represented the Town Council at the 2 minutes silence at the War memorial in South Street. It was a short affair and seemed to suffer slightly from the traffic up and down South Street.
The Market Traders, when requested, turned off their music and I popped into the Electric Palace on the way and asked that they observe the 2 minutes and they responded willingly.

Remembrance Parade

A slightly soggy start to events on Sunday but it didn’t deter anyone and it was a great pleasure to finally wear the full Civic Regalia at an event in Bridport. I was amazed just how many organisations were
represented at the parade and they all assembled in East Street for the customary inspection by the Mayor (and Mayoress). The inspection took quite a while. It was wonderful to see all of them in their uniforms and standing proudly for inspection.

The crowds came out in numbers to show their support and it was a joy to be part of such a show of respect and solidarity.

The weather played havoc with a certain lady’s hair and I appeared to be very focussed but otherwise everything ran like clockwork (almost) and the sun almost made an effort to shine at 11.00.

After the ceremony finished it was time for the service in St Mary’s Church which was very enjoyable and with the Band playing again it seemed to inspire some enthusiastic hymn singing.

Sadly the rain started again when we came back out but we were fortunate it didn’t spoil the occasion.

Carnival Thank You Party

It was a pleasant surprise to be invited to the Carnival “Thank You” party, the Carnival seems so long ago. Bridget and I really enjoyed a lovely evening with food and drink and a lot of conversation. It was a
pleasure to have the opportunity to meet the 2 Carnival Princess attendants again, they were both wearing their tiaras and sashes that they wore in the parade. Lovely young ladies and I was reliably informed that one of them (no names) was looking forward to potentially being the Princess next year! All the volunteers were thanked for their hard work that made the Carnival such a success and they hope it will be even bigger next year. The Carnival helps to raise money for charity and cheques were presented to local beneficiaries by the Carnival Committee Chairman, Mr. Graham Davies. It is proving to be a good fundraising event thanks to the generosity of the folk in Bridport.

Asker Meadows Nature Trail

I was recently contacted by Nicola Dennis, a Committee Member of the Asker Meadows Nature Reserve Project, about a very interesting scheme that involves the creation of a nature Trail in Asker Meadows. The funding so far has come from the Wessex Water community fund but I am sure that once the project gains publicity that there will be lots of volunteers and funding opportunities in the future.

Already sponsors have started to come forward and the wood for the signs and some replacement benches have been very kindly donated by Rob’s Logs.  https://robslogsdorset.co.uk/  so thanks to Rob.

The scheme was  given approval  by the Town Council’s Environment and Social Wellbeing committee this week which is a step forward although it is still early days.

The Bridport catchment primary schools were approached about the project and there has been a favourable response to the drawing competition that was launched last month.

Part of the project will be to produce a map of the Meadows and it is proposed to have names for different areas. If you would like to put ideas for names forward then please do.

There is a newly created website https://askernaturereserve.co.uk/  and a new Youtube channel
which is intended to host small videos of the wildlife and amazing community events that occur within the Meadows. It is hoped this will prove to be a useful community resource and another fantastic
project in Bridport. One day otters and beavers? Who knows.