Apart from the A264 and the A24 what links Crawley and Worthing?
Not a lot on the face of it but the fact is both towns, as well as having a Mayor and Deputy Mayor also have a Youth Mayor and Youth Deputy Mayor.
Only Crawley and Worthing in the whole of West Sussex have this arrangement.
But what is a Youth Mayor? Put simply they are a person chosen by other young people to represent them and their role is to promote positive images of young people, ensure the young person voice is heard and raise awareness amongst young people of what is available for them to do. Across the country Youth Mayors are making great strides in ensuring these aims are realised. They are showing time and again that they can be an important vehicle to provide focus and a cutting edge to a range of issues affecting not only themselves but also the whole population. Having a Youth Mayor is also beneficial to adult decision-makers. It shows the local authority is serious about changing young people’s lives for the better. By having a Youth Mayor the town recognises the need to take the views of young people into account.
This year’s Youth Mayor, Tumsil Abbas, this week attended with me the annual Dragon Boat event in aid of St Catherine’s Hospice. This major event helped to raise much needed funds for the charity which does so much good work in and around Crawley.
Tumsil was delighted to be able to award some of the prizes. Congratulations must go to the team from Smith and Western who won a closely fought final race by only half a second.
However, it is also right to say well done and thank you to all the teams who took part and helped to raise funds the charity needs. I suspect that on Monday morning there were a lot of tired bodies.
At the end of June I was privileged to host the signing of the Armed Forces Covenant where the town pledged to assist armed forces personnel, both past and present, and their families.
Over the weekend I was a guest of 103 Battalion REME at a reception to celebrate the signing of the covenant not only in Crawley but in other towns and districts in the area. The covenant signing was merely the first step in what hopefully will be a successful and long-lasting partnership between the town and the armed forces.
At the reception we heard something of the work being done to help young people, particularly those who are sometimes described as NEETS - Not in Employment, Education or Training.
It sounded very exciting and one which could bear much fruit in the years to come.
I realised on Sunday that on that day I had been Mayor for 100 days. It is common to look back on how things have gone. I can only say that I have been heartened by the generosity of people here in Crawley and also honoured to meet so many people who do so much for others.
There have been some people, not from Crawley, who have remarked that Crawley is special in the way its people care for others.
This is a sentiment with which I wholeheartedly concur.