Councillor Derek Bedford was invested as the new Mayor of Ross-on-Wye on Monday at an extremely well attended Mayor Making ceremony, which was held at the Larruperz Centre. Once the new Town Council members had entered the hall, Town Clerk, Mrs. Denise Mason invited everybody to be seated and announced Councillor Bedford as the Mayor Elect. Councillor Phil Cutter, Mayor of Ross for 2006 / 2007 then invested Mr. Bedford as the new Mayor, who then signed the Declaration of Acceptance, promising to serve the people of Ross-on-Wye well.

After Councillor Bedford performed his first duty as Mayor by asking the Reverend John Hunnisett to pray, the present members of Ross Town Council were invited to introduce themselves to the public. All Councillors thanked the public for their support in the recent election.

The new Mayor then announced his wife, Mrs. Meryl Bedford as his Mayoress, who was given her Chain of Office by the former Mayoress, Mrs. Christine Cutter. Councillor Phil Cutter then addressed the meeting.

Continued . . .

Councillor Cutter firstly thanked all councillors who were in office last year for their work. He welcomed the new councillors and gave his comiserations to those who were voted out of office this year. He then thanked everybody else for their support including Denise Mason, the town clerk and her assistant Eva Bichsel, the council's handyman, Mr. Les Downing, the cleaners and caterers and a special thank you went to Rex and June Swallow, who run the weather station in Ross, vigilantly recording the weather and forwarding the data to the Met. Office. Their work has brought Ross-on-Wye national recognition.

Councillor Cutter presented bouquets of flowers to outgoing Mayoress, Christine Cutter, Denise Mason, Eva Bichsel and Mrs Meryl Bedford the new Mayoress and then made a presentation to the Mayor's Sea Cadets, thanking them for their support. He also presented a cheque to his chosen charity, The Community Hospital League of Friends.

Video footage of the new Mayor, Councillor Derek Bedford's inaugural speech can be watched in full, as can the rest of the Mayor Making Ceremony on the next page.

Continued . . .

Councillor Cutter then reminded everybody of last year's Mayor Making at which he announced his intention to introduce a Mayor's Civic Award to be given to somebody whom it was felt gave a lot to the town in some way or another, in recognition of their service.

I was poised with pen at the ready to write down the lucky recipient's name, when Councillor Cutter announced: '...and I'm going to give this award to Alan Wood!'.

I must say that I wish I'd had a camera to photograph Alan's face at that very second, however, I did not and upon being asked to join Alan at the front of the meeting, I felt tears of pride running down my face. Pride in the fact that all the hard work he puts into trying to promote Ross-on-Wye, day in, day out, for hours on end has been recognized and appreciated.

I would like to thank those who chose Alan to receive this award and to all who have given us their support. We will continue to serve Ross-on-Wye to the best of our ability and thank you once again for your special award, for which we are both very grateful.

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