The Mayor’s Proud Of Bromley e-newsletter distributed on 17 July 2024, with an introduction to subscribers from the Mayor of Bromley, where he shared reflections from his first two months in office.
Your Mayor of Bromley 2024 to 2025, Councillor David Jefferys
Welcome to my first Mayoral newsletter, which I will be using to share with you some reflections each month on all that is taking place across the borough.
While I hope many of you will be enjoying a series of offerings already about my time as Mayor, such as following on my social media channels, which I thank you all for, I will be using this newsletter more as a blog, to draw out some themes throughout my Mayoral year.
The reflection on this inaugural edition covers the period from the council annual meeting and “Mayor Making" on the 15 May. Talking with past Mayors from Bromley and with the “new" Mayors in our network from across London and Kent in recent weeks, two comments are consistently made.
These are, “extensive service as a councillor (13 years for me) does not prepare you for what you will experience” and the second is the word “humbling". I was aware of the fantastic tradition of volunteering and service in our great borough, but not the sheer range of this service and the intensity and inventiveness of the groups - it is breathtaking. It is also so humbling to see and experience what so many are doing often under very tough circumstances.
The first 2 months have been very busy and parts of the programme have had to be rescheduled or adapted because of the announcement of the General Election made exactly one week after taking office. This has highlighted the strengths and adaptability of the Mayoral Office; they are a fabulous team.
The Mayoress and I attended 63 events in just the first 6 weeks and the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress have also been very busy and a huge support - you will hear more on their reflections in the next edition.
Mayoral themes
At my installation, I set out four themes for my year, namely further enhancing community collaboration and cohesion in Bromley, promoting health and wellbeing, promoting the environment and sustainability and finally, increasing understanding and interest in science. It is wonderful to see how these themes have resonated across the events and more widely.
Touring around many area, school and church fetes, I have been struck by how many stalls and groups are focusing on the environment and promoting health and wellbeing, often in highly innovative ways. It is great to talk to groups about their work and then on occasions ask if I can visit them to learn more and to help promote what they are doing. Sometimes the Mayor can identify and facilitate contacts between groups. The two themes of the environment and health and wellbeing were a very central part of the Penge Festival, the Kesfest, Chislehurst Thrives, the Biggin Hill Festival and Penge Pride Festival. The Mayoress and I also attended Festival of Yoga held at Darrick Wood school and were taught some of the basic techniques of Yoga and spoke on modern approaches to integrated health and wellbeing. On a more practical level, we joined Thames 21 and the Friends group to clean up the River Ravensbourne and then later in Rivers Week to assist in moving stones in the river bed to build a new dam, which should improve oxygen levels in the water. On a similar theme, I joined the year 7 Wetland reclamation and support group at Bishop Justus school to see what they have done and to hear about their advocacy programme. Truly inspirational, as was the excellent panel discussion I attended on World Environment Day at the Greener and Cleaner Hub in the Glades.
In the next edition, you can expect to hear more about my next Mayoral theme of promoting science in Bromley, which is taking shape with some exciting events being planned.
Honouring our armed forces
June saw both the commemoration of the eightieth anniversary of the D Day landings and Armed Forces Day. On June 6, we attended a most moving Commemorative Service at the Orpington War Memorial which was very well attended and that evening we represented Bromley with the other Mayors from across the Diocese at the D Day Commemoration Evensong at Rochester Cathedral. These events highlighted the debt we owe to that generation and were particularly powerful and poignant for me, since my late father landed on Day D plus 1. On Saturday 8 June we joined a magnificent 1944 style afternoon tea party held in Chislehurst by the Rotary. Earlier in May, I joined the speaker of Lewisham to remember the crew of HMS Hood which sank in 1941 with loss of 1841 lives, many coming from our two boroughs. This theme of service was carried forward into Armed Forces Week when I attended 4 Armed Forces Day services, one with other Mayors from across London at City Hall and our own service held in front of the Old Palace, followed by a reception for both veterans and current members of the armed forces , the cadets and reservists. As I said in my speech, we in Bromley are proud to fly the flag on Armed Services Day, honour the Armed Forces Covenant and recognise what our service personnel are doing today. We salute those reservists and cadets who are looking to carry this service into the future. Finally, it was a great privilege and honour to take part in the Veterans Service at the St George Chapel of Remembrance at Biggin Hill, where I spoke at length with some of our veterans from both the Battle of Britain and from the Normandy landings.
Architecture and history
We have magnificent architectural and historical heritage in our borough. This was brought home to me when talking about the heritage associated with our three rivers in the borough, the Beck, the Cray and the Ravensbourne, when viewing the Saxon sun dial at All Saints Church Orpington, and at the buildings at Bromley and Shepherds Colleges when I took part in the Founders Day Service. How many know that we have the pillars of the Old Royal Exchange scorched on one side during the Great Fire of 1666 in Bromley. A question perhaps for my Mayoral Quiz Night in the New Year! I must also mention the restoration of the Bandstand in Croydon Recreation Ground, which I was delighted to reopen, with such a musical as well as architectural heritage. This heritage and much more was highlighted in an exhibition I attended in the Glades organised by the Bromley Civic Society.
Final reflection
I would like to conclude by highlighting the Citizenship Ceremonies which are currently held most weeks and are a key Mayoral duty, as each week I conduct these to welcome new citizens in Bromley to our nation. Somebody said to me that these must be a chore. Far from it, these are genuinely a highlight of my week. It is an honour to welcome our new UK citizens as they join us alongside their families and supporters. Each week I talk to many about their backgrounds and their hopes and aspirations for the future and it is a pleasure to see how pleased they are to become citizens and to offer their experience and expertise to our borough.
Best wishes,
David Jefferys
Mayor of Bromley 2024 to 2025