I WAS delighted to be asked to contribute a column to the Chelmsford and Mid Essex Times.

I thought I would begin by introducing you to this year’s Mayoral party. My name is Duncan Lumley and I became the Mayor of Chelmsford in May this year, with my wife, Edna, becoming Mayoress. I chose my fellow Councillor, Jon de Vries, as my Deputy Mayor who is supported by the Deputy Mayoress, Maria de Vries.

The role of Mayor is seen as a symbol of authority and open society and an expression of social cohesion. The Mayor can act as a link between the various bodies, organisations or groups that they visit and can feedback views and concerns of people to fellow councillors. Similarly, the Mayor can also take the Council’s messages and themes out into the community. However, it is important to say that the role of Mayor is a non-political one.

Each year the Mayor chooses a particular charity or charities to support and this year my Deputy and I are delighted to be supporting three local charities; Age Concern Chelmsford, City of Chelmsford Mencap and Friends of Columbus. We felt that the choice of these three would fit in well with our theme of supporting the vulnerable in our City. We were thrilled that our first fund raising event, a race night at Columbus School, raised just over £1,000. We have around 600 various local charities operating in the City area and it is important that we support these organisations who receive limited financial support.

I thought you might be interested to learn about some of the things the Mayor does over the course of a week, although I have to say there is no such thing as a typical week as each one is different to the one that went before. Over the last week we have hosted a visit for the 2nd Chelmsford Beaver Scouts in the Mayor’s Parlour and a reception to mark the retirement of Lord Petre as the Lord Lieutenant of Essex. We visited Boswells School to attend a drama production which was excellent and shows just how talented our youngsters are.

The Mayor acts as a Trustee for the Keene Memorial Homes and on Wednesday I visited the Homes and had the pleasure of meeting several of the residents. On the same day, the Mayoress and I met with some special needs children at Falcon Bowls Club which provided an opportunity for them to try their hand at a bowling session which we all enjoyed tremendously. Wednesday was a popular day for engagements as in the evening the Mayoress and I attended a presentation at New Hall School which was a lovely occasion and we were surprised and impressed at how confident the students were in speaking to an audience of about 600 people.

I mentioned the Mayor’s Parlour earlier. This is the room where we host small groups of school children, students, Scouts, Brownies and Guides etc. who wish to learn more about the Mayoralty. Also in this room I sign all the relevant legal documents on behalf of the Council and we hold weekly meetings with our Deputies to discuss the many requests to attend functions that we receive.

Over the course of a week I receive approximately 150 emails to deal with, so I am often reading them late at night or very early in the morning before setting off to events for the day.

As you can see, the role is extremely busy. However, I feel very privileged to be the Mayor of Chelmsford and I know my Deputy is also conscious of the honour. It is very rewarding when you can meet and say ‘thank you’ to the various organisations who contribute to the local community and who help to make Chelmsford such a special place to live.