Remembrance Sunday Parade and Service at St Faiths Church, Havant – 9th November

Every year there are several parades and services throughout the Borough. This year it was my privilege to represent the Borough at the service at St Faiths Church, Havant.   It began with a short service at the War Memorial outside the church, where over 1,000 attended to pay their respects including many uniformed groups of children as well as representatives from 47 Regiment who have the Freedom of the Borough. Many wreaths were laid at the war memorial before going into the church for the main service.

The Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire was represented by one of the Deputy Lieutenants, Myrddin Rees Esq DL MS FRCS.   As part of the service 6 candles were relit – these were the candles that were lit during the Civic Vigil held on the 3^rd August this year – symbolising hope for a world without war.

After the service all were invited back to the Royal British Legion Headquarters in Havant for a reception. This was a nice ending which gave an opportunity for all to mingle, talk and reflect.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Hayling Musical Society – 7th November

In old fashioned music hall style this was a laugh and a teaser.   The audience was asked many questions such as, ‘Who Killed Edwin Drood’?   This is loosely based on Charles Dickens unfinished novel. T the strong vocal abilities of this group are renowned and certainly this was the case tonight.

We chose along with others to have a meal prior to the show this was very pleasant and set the evening off to a great start.

When the curtain went up we were in the ‘The Music Hall Royale’ and were entertained by an ‘over the top’ band of actors performing as they would have in the old fashioned music hall of days of yore!   By the end of the first act questions were being asked and the audience participation began.

What a lovely evening we had – great fun and we enjoyed every moment. After the end of the show we went backstage   to meet the cast and behind the scenes members.

 

 

Hampshire Schools’ Sports Federation Outstanding Young Sportsperson of the Year Awards Presentation – 6th November

I went to the Ashburton Hall in Winchester for this presentation.

The hall was packed with youngsters who had been nominated for awards together with family members and other dignitaries. Our host for the evening was Daisy Robinson (nee Brockman) who had been an Olympic Torch Bearer and Games Maker in 2012.   One of the very special guests was Kelly Simm (gold medallist in Glasgow 2014) – both of these people are/were Hampshire based.

I experienced great pride when a very young man Jack Helps from Oaklands Catholic School and Six Form College took the Gymnastics award, Tom Power from Havant 6^th Form College took the award for Trampoline and then Jimmy Yeung from Havant Sixth Form College again took the award for Table Tennis. These youngsters exude such talent and promise for the future. In fact well done to all those nominated as well!

Bonfire Night on Stockheath Common – 5th November

It is traditional for the Mayor to light the bonfire at Stockheath Common. It was a lovely dry night, not too cold and to my amazement there must have been thousands of people on the common to enjoy the event.   At first I thought the bonfire was not going to ignite properly, I should have known better because after a few hiccups it was ablaze!   A very well organised event with some superb fireworks it seemed to be enjoyed by all there with lots of ‘oohs and aahs’ from the crowd including me!   Well done Havant Borough Council!

I was delighted to be re-acquainted with Ashley Bowden who was there – a youngster who I had first met back in the summer when we went to the open day at Billy’s Lake.   I was pleased to be able to invite Ashley to join us in the enclosure to watch the fireworks as he had looked after me on two previous occasions.

Visit to Pathology Laboratory at QA Hospital – 5th November

What an interesting morning this was, we were taken around all the sections of the Pathology Department shown how bugs, viruses and other diseases are detected.   My guest was the visit was Ian Wattley, who had been a Naval medic and both he and I were fascinated looking at the various cultures, microscope slides etc.,   We saw all the equipment which enables a sample to arrive in the department be placed in a phial and given a barcode which is specific to this phial and can therefore prevent human error getting the samples mixed up.   We ended with a visit to the Mortuary which in many instances was extremely sad.

I would like to thank all the staff for this most informative visit. It was extremely kind of them to give us so much time.