Its hard to believe March is over and done with already.  Do you feel, like me, that life is going past in a flash at the moment?  I think it's the repetition of eat, sleep, work, walk, repeat with very little to punctuate the memory file.  

March has been a bit like that with the lockdown still in place, but the government roadmap has seemed to signal a bit more optimism and increased activity - nothing more so for us than the return of children to school.  I hasten to add that our children are well past school age, but it has meant that Mr Mayor was invited to join Bishopton, Alveston and Stratford Primary to speak and present prizes in conjunction with various competitions.

One of these competitions was the writing of a story about Mr Mayor in the style of Roger Hargreave's Mr Men books.  Congratulations to all the winners but a particular mention must go to Lottie Whiting for her story which was Mr Mayor's personal favourite.  I must add that there was a particular favourite of mine about being afraid to make a speech, which Mr Mayor is planning to pass on to all future mayors.

Mr Mayor had also been asked to talk about books he had read as a child, so long discussions ensued about our memories of childhood reading.  Mr Mayor's favourite childhood character was Alf Tupper, aka The Tough of the Track from the Victor comic, but you have to be a certain age and demographic to remember him.

Another milestone this month was the completion of the internal decoration of our second home (aka, the Town Hall).  As the Town Hall had to be closed, it was an opportune time to carry out this work ready for reopening when allowed.

Mr Mayor gave the Deputy Mayor and I a guided tour.  It was stunning before, but now looks even better and I can't wait to see it open once again.  The Deputy Mayor has been told in no uncertain terms that this standard must be maintained.

On 23 March we had the National Day of Reflection, with a minute's silence at midday to pay respects to all those who have sadly died from coronavirus during the pandemic.  I accompanied Mr Mayor to the Remembrance Garden, where we stood and listened to the tolling of the bell at Holy Trinity Church 295 times, representing each resident of Stratford who had passed away.  We found it a very clear and poignant reminded of all those families who have been less fortunate than us and have experienced such dreadful loss during the last 12 months.

Finally, on a happy note, we had a very nice surprise when two packages arrived for us.  Mr Mayor opened the Youth Market on Waterside last summer and noticed when walking around that one of the artists - Ben Staves, offering "globe" prints of towns and cities - had a notable gap and so commissioned a new piece depicting Stratford-upon-Avon.  This finally arrived and we are now the proud owners of the original artwork and a colourised print - look out for the prints at the next Youth Market. 

That's all for March, but I'll be back in May for one last report before Mr Mayor steps down.  Until then, stay safe but enjoy the relaxation of rules hopefully heading our way.

February has been and gone.  So what happened? 

I have to say that at the moment, writing an article on Consorting with the Mayor is a bit like commentating on a cricket match when the rain stops play: everyone is waiting for something to happen and in the meantime, you have to try and make the best of it and keep the spectators entertained. 

Right at the end of the month we had the pleasure of being asked to meet and congratulate Alex Pearson at the finish of her walk, accompanied by her two dogs, from Leamington to Stratford to raise money and awareness for Safeline.

This organisation helps survivors of sexual abuse.  We were particularly proud to be invited to this event as Safeline was originally founded over 25 years ago by Di Shoreman, a Stratford social worker, who ran the telephone helpline from her spare bedroom.  We are pleased to report that Alex has raised £500.00.

A couple of days later we were invited to Stratford Rowing Club to see the adaptive rowers take to the water for the first time this year.   We were able to accompany them, although I'm glad to say it was from the comfort of a launch - we weren't expected to row.  The adaptive squad at the rowing club is a particular favourite of Mr Mayor as it is inclusive of all his three good causes for this year - volunteers, people with disabilities and sport and leisure for all.

Whilst there have only been these two official occasions to report upon, Mr Mayor's antics continue to entertain me, and hopefully you have enjoyed hearing a little of what goes on at home.

We were asked to volunteer to do a national Covid study for 12 months, undertaken by Oxford University and the Office for National Statistics, and we had our first home visit at which they drew blood and we took nasal/mouth swabs - no problem, until Mr Mayor was a little overzealous with his nasal swab causing a nosebleed.  Have a mentioned before he has a penchant for accidents?  He has. however, learned the error of his ways and in subsequent tests has managed not to do any further damage.

On a similar tack, he decided as our dog-groomer was closed that he would have a go at dog-clipping and to be fair, has made a very decent job of it.  Whilst he was allowed to wield the clippers, I felt it was in his best interests, to say nothing of the dog's if I remained in control of the scissors.

We also play a game every time we walk the dogs of trying to identify our knitted squares on the Remembering Trees on the Bancroft and in Holy Trinity churchyard.  We must walk around with our eyes closed as we have only just found them - hurrah!

It's not exactly high-octane excitement, I know, but it's easy to be disproportionately excited about anything at the moment, and you have to get your enjoyment where you can.  I believe that they will be taken down during March so if you haven't had the opportunity to take a good look at them and read about the project, please do.

Finally, we have all now heard the government's "roadmap" and can maybe see a chink of light at the end of the tunnel.  However, I think we need to be very cautiously optimistic.  Here's to hoping that March moves forward in the right direction.

The new year has begun and another national lockdown is in place.  Mr Mayor has only made one public appearance during January, having been invited to cut the ribbon for the opening of the new Poundland store at the Maybird Centre.  Unfortunately, this was at 8:15am in the rain but nevertheless it was good to see something positive in amongst all the doom and gloom, and we did get to meet the 'Pound Hound'.

Although January is traditionally quite a quiet time in the Mayoral calendar, we would normally still be attending several functions so, as there is no glitz and glamour to report on, I thought I'd keep you posted on what goes on behind the scenes.

I think most people think that the role of Mayor is just ceremonial, but it's much more than that.  The Mayor leads the Town Council and, in that role, sits on every committee and sub-committee - planning, finance etc.  He also sits on, and is involved with, many outside organisations such as Stratford in Bloom, Christmas Lights, etc. 

This takes up a lot of the Mayor's time, but one good thing to come out of the pandemic is the reliance on Zoom meetings as there is no more travelling to and from meetings, which is good for time management and for the environment.

He has also been heavily involved in one other item of note, which is the redecoration of our second home (AKA the Town Hall).  Because it can't be used by the public at present, it's been an ideal time to give it a much-needed spruce-up.  The outside will also be having some work done in the near future.  It's such a lovely building that it's good to see it being refreshed for future use.

In Mr Mayor's case, this is only a proportion of what he does.  He also has a part-time paid job with NFU Mutual, is Deputy Chair of the Town Trust and Secretary of Stratford Running Club.  All in all, he's a busy bee most of the time, and this of course has a knock-on effect at home.

I'm sure everyone else is battling with the ramifications of working from home.  The biggest issue in our house is the annexing of different parts of the house for various of his tasks.  With both him and our son working from home, I sometimes feel like practically the whole house is office and I'm tippy-toeing around trying not to interrupt.

I think we are slowly developing a sign language - a flat hand raised is usually "Be quiet, I'm on a Zoom" - I think you probably know the hand signal response to that!  It does get a bit wearing at times, but I haven't been referred to as 'Atilla the Mum; recently.

At least I haven't reached the same level as my sister-in-law. who confessed to having taken a glass of wine out with her on one of her daily walks - to be fair, she is home-schooling two under-tens.

I'm actually thinking of extending the tier system into our house.  Level one: everything pretty much normal.  Two: keep at least three feet away.  Three: move back to at least six feet and keep all communication to a minimum.  Four: I'm isolating in the bedroom, keep away and why have we only got two bottles of gin in the house?

Who knows what February will bring?  I suspect not much change but for now, keep safe.  As a good friend of mine would say: "think positive, test negative".

In her last article, Mandy mentioned my fall whist out running and the less said about my clumsiness the better.  However, it does provide an opportunity to say thank you to the ambulance crew who were on the scene so quickly to attend to me.

Being temporary indisposed has meant a break since my last update but it does mean I have some events that I need to catch up on.

Firstly, there was a Virtual Volunteer Fair organised by WCAVA.  At the beginning of the year I had various discussions with WCAVA and had offered the use of the Town Hall to facilitate a Volunteer Fair.  The ongoing restrictions have prevented this, so huge thanks to Jane and Fiona for organising a virtual event that I was pleased to attend and contribute towards.

One of the benefits of a virtual event is that the Fair has been recorded and anybody can go to the WCAVA website and watch the Volunteer Fair which is an interesting and informative event.

Remembrance Sunday is always a key event in the Mayoral Year and the lead up this year proved a real challenge for all involved.  The continuing change in the restrictions meant that plans were in place for at least three different scenarios depending on how many people could safely congregate in the Remembrance Garden.  Ultimately, a more stringent restriction precluded any gathering of note which necessitated a cancellation of all plans and a move to a pre-recorded event.  Filmed on the preceding Wednesday this was broadcast at 11:0am on Remembrance Sunday and I also went to the Remembrance Garden on 11 November to lay the wreaths.

Of all the events that have been impacted by Covid the loss of the Christmas Lights switch on and Santa’s Grotto at the Town Hall is the one that I have felt the most.  A virtual message about the switch on can be watched here.  There was a plan that I would switch on the lights early on the Thursday but my fall the day before put an end to my involvement in any events for at least a couple of weeks.

The whole period in the lead up to Christmas would normally be a busy time for Mayoral engagements. This year has been incredibly quiet and a recorded reading for the broadcast of the Christmas Service and a visit to Holy Trinity Church on Christmas Eve were notable exceptions. The latter was a particularly memorable occasion as it was the first occasion this year that I was robed and accompanied by the Mayoress (photo courtesy of Elizabeth Dixon.)

I think we are all glad to see the end of 2020 and hopefully 2021 will bring better fortune for all. My Seasonal message can be found here.

The next appointment for Mr Mayor was to don his official robes and attend the Remembrance Garden for a recording of the Remembrance ceremony, to be aired on 11 November.  This was followed up by a recorded message to be broadcast on Welcome Radio.  On 11 November he went to the Remembrance Garden again to officially lay a wreath on behalf of the town.  His next outing was to be on 19 November to switch on the Christmas lights.  This is normally one of the highlights of the mayoral year, with crowds outside the Town Hall, Father Christmas, school choirs and a great time had by all.  Obviously, this year had to be very different.  The lights would still be switched on, but at 6am in the morning (you can imagine I was looking forward to getting up that early) to stop any crowds from gathering.  

Unfortunately, Mr Mayor didn’t manage this due to unforeseen circumstances.  I have mentioned previously that Mr Mayor is a little accident-prone.  On 18 November, whilst out for a run, he tripped and fell – fortuitously in front of an ambulance.  No bones broken, but a badly damaged shoulder and shock.  He was checked out, brought home and delivered to the sofa by the paramedics – first-class service yet again from our NHS.  This was followed up by an appointment at hospital and a collar and cuff for two weeks.  So now, not only am I Mr Mayor’s PA, proofreader and general dogsbody, I am his valet as he can’t dress himself.  

Still on the home front, we had a very “interesting” occurrence in the early hours of 28 November when, for the second time in a few months, we were woken by blue lights and lots of noise.  Last time it was a burst water main; this time a car on fire.  Whilst we could all do with a bit of excitement during lockdown, this we could do without. 

With Tier 3 looming, I wonder what will happen in December?  I’ll be back in the new year with more news from the mayoral diary and home, but in the meantime, Mr Mayor and I would like to wish everyone a happy Christmas and healthy and prosperous new year.

I mentioned in my last blog that there had been very limited engagements involving other local dignitaries so I was really pleased to initiate and host the first Zoom meeting where we could all meet up for the first time and share stories about we were managing in these strange times.  We have all been equally hit by the guidelines we are having to adhere to, and the cancellation of events doesn’t show any signs of waning.  

One such cancellation was that of the Mop and whilst this was fully understandable I was pleased that a token ride was in place to ensure I was able to read the proclamation at the formal opening of this historic event.  The Mayor’s traditional appearance on one of the rides took on a very different appearance this year.

TV and radio celebrity Mark Steele was 'in town’ for his popular radio series.  Held in the Dell gardens the event was different from his usual shows but I am sure it will make for interesting listening when it is aired later in the year. A notable event for me was meeting up with Mark after the show for a pint in the Dirty Duck.

The sad news of redundancies at the RSC featured heavily in the news and I was asked to give a comment for BBC Midlands.  Whilst not the scenario I would have chosen for my first television appearance it was an enjoyable experience albeit that my screen time was very limited.

Stratford in Bloom has featured heavily this month as I did an introductory speech to their first virtual Awards Ceremony. It would have been lovely to present all these trophies in person but fortunately I did have the chance to present the Chairs Trophy to Thomas Tallis-Hathaway and to go to Bridgetown Primary School to present the Schools Award. 

I was grateful to the Rotary Club for once again involving me in one of their projects as I spent a pleasurable couple of hours planting bulbs opposite the entrance to Cox’s Yard as part of their raising awareness of the continuing efforts to eradicate Polio.

Knitting isn’t something I have tried for over fifty years so being tasked to knit a square for the Remembrance Tree was an interesting challenge. I have to be honest and say that the square that appeared in the Herald photo was (due to timing constraints) not my attempt but I was determined to accept the challenge. I have now successfully completed my square and whilst I am pleased with my effort it is recognisable by a slight flaw caused by a dropped stitch.

Finally, after over 5 months in office, Mandy had the opportunity to accompany me to a civic event as we travelled across to Leamington for their Civic Sunday. Social distancing was strictly adhered to which sadly meant no socialising which only served to emphasise the value of the monthly Zoom meetings.

Full Herald articles can be found by downloading the issue published on 22 October.