The Mayor’s Proud Of Bromley newsletter - October 2024

Your Mayor of Bromley 2024 to 25, Councillor David Jefferys

It has been a historic week for the council as we held our first council meeting at our new Civic Centre at Churchill Court.

I had the honour of cutting the ribbon to officially open the chamber ahead of this meeting and welcoming councillors, officers and guests to the modern new chamber, which will hold council committee meetings going forward. The Mayor’s team has also now completed its move into the new Civic Centre and I know colleagues from across the council are busy relocating their services as well.

Alongside all this excitement, there is also plenty of Mayoral activities taking place, shown by the 66 events for the Mayor and Mayoress in September, alongside a busy programme for the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress as well.

Local litter picking

Building on initiatives promoting recycling and repairing household items over summer, the focus of my environmental Mayoral theme shifted in September to spotlight reducing litter. We have been working with street and park friends groups on various litter picks, hoping to cover all wards by the end of my time as Mayor.

We kicked off this focus through a litter pick with the Friends of Southhill Woods and the Shortlands Residents’ Association. Our efforts were first in the park then moving to local roads and the parade of shops. I would encourage residents to get involved and help make a difference, either as part of a group or through litter picking when out in the borough, which I do during walks with my dog!

Charity fundraising

One of the roles of the Mayor is to raise money for their nominated charities. In September we held an event at the beautifully refurbished Bromley Old Town Hall, which was well supporters by Mayors and their consorts from across London and Kent, from Brent to Folkestone. Thanks to all for their support.

During this year, I want to highlight the work of my charities and also that of other Bromley charities. In September, I was pleased to walk 20k on behalf of other London Mayors to raise money for the London Ambulance Trust to provide extra cardiac defibrillators and local CPR training and to join a 10k run for the Chartwell Cancer Trust for Children at their Ride and Stride event at Bewl Water.

Bromley heritage

Next April will be the 60th Anniversary of the creation of the London Borough of Bromley, when 5 predecessor councils came together. We have begun planning our commemorations for this, with great ideas being evaluated. Our heritage was very much a feature of my recent events, particularly as September features Open House Festival. 19 locations were opened to the residents across the borough. The deputy Mayor and I visited 13 of these events, ranging from the art deco building which is the temporary home of the West Wickham Library to the opening of the wonderfully restored Crystal Palace Subway, with its incredible entrance tunnels that once led to the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace. We also visited the Bromley Archives at the Central Library, seeing how new items are added to the collection and studying records from the distant past.

Our heritage is also our living history, and I was reminded of this when wearing the old chain from the Penge Urban District Council at Penge Fest in September.

Our heritage was much to fore when we joined the congregation of St Barnanabas Church in St Paul’s Cray for the 60th Anniversary of the opening of what was at the time a highly futuristic and iconic design of a new church. It was also most moving to meet so many veterans at the Battle of Britain service at Biggin Hill Memorial Chapel. We owe them so much.

The final visitor to the Mayor's Parlour and office in the Old Palace was most appropriately the current Bishop of Rochester and his wife. The Old Palace was built in 1775 as the home of the Bishops of Rochester. During the visit, archives from the shared heritage between the Diocese and the borough were presented by the Bromley Historic Collections team.

It was also an honour during the month to give a lecture and after dinner speech in the City on “the Mayoralty in London the City”.

World Dementia month

September was World Dementia month and I have a long-standing research interest in Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementias, with Alzheimer’s Research UK also being one of my mayoral charities. We were pleased to attend a series of events related to supporting those living with dementia in Bromley and their carers. These included the “love to move” mobility classes and the connect to live group, a fascinating lecture on Material Democracy, a walk for dementia and attending the release of the World Dementia report.

Bromley was one of the first boroughs in the country to have a dementia support cafe and we should have 10 of such centres by Christmas, far more than any other comparable area. We also have support locally to care for and support the elderly and those living with dementia from the Anna Chaplaincy, which was led in our Diocese by Julia Burton-Jones. I was delighted to join Julia for the Bromley part of her commemorative walk recently and to attend a special service at Rochester cathedral to mark all those who had contributed to this achievement. The singing of the special dementia hymn was most moving.

Final thoughts

There is much important volunteering that takes place in Bromley and I was proud to help recognise some of these efforts recently at the Community Volunteers Awards for Community Links Bromley.

I was also proud to join for the reception hosted for Team Bromley after their incredible victory at the London Youth Games this year, with thanks to Mytime Active for leading on this. Local double Olympic bronze medallist Sam Riadon joined for the remarkable occasion. Sam’s speech to the team was inspirational and sets them up to shortly begin the defence of their title. Best of luck!

Best wishes,

David Jefferys

Mayor of Bromley 2024-25