3rd June – Visit to Buckingham Palace

On the 3rd June I was privileged to attend a Buckingham Palace Garden Party this was a lovely experience, except that it positively poured with rain and was very cold.   In attendance were Her Majesty The Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex, Princess Alexandria and the Duke of Kent.  Despite the weather it is a memory that will live with me forever.

31st May – Beauty and the Beast at Hayling College

On the 31st May I attended Hayling College to see Beauty and the Beast performed by the Hayling Music Society.  It was an excellent production, the youngsters performed brilliantly and were a credit to the society.  As the performance was coming to a close the fire alarm sounded, having realised that there was no fire, the cast rose to the occasion magnificently raising their voices to a crescendo they almost drowned the sound of the fire alarm!  On leaving the premises to my amazement, the fire service were already in attendance;  whilst the fire alarm went off only due to intended  smoke on the stage,   as part of the performance, it was reassuring to know that the Fire Service were on site so quickly.

Having taken over the reigns as Mayor of the Borough of Havant one of my first engagements was attending the CHAOS event welcoming back Matthew Charters after his marathon runs.  Although he was tired and his feet were incredibly sore he had thoroughly enjoyed himself and the people from CHAOS were delighted to welcome him back.    Quite an achievement having run seven marathons in seven days in order to raise funds for the charity.