Freedom of Medway to be conferred upon the Royal Engineers
Posted by Alan Collins on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 12:13

Medway Council voted unanimously to confer the “honorary freedom of the borough” on the Royal Engineers, at a special meeting last Thursday.

The freedom of the borough is the highest honour a Council can give and all but two of the 55 Medway Councillors were present and voted for the motion, which read:

In pursuance of the power vested in it by virtue of section 249 of the Local Government Act 1972, the Council confers the honorary freedom of the borough on the Corps of Royal Engineers in perpetuity, in the interests of cementing and fostering the close and longstanding bonds of friendship and mutual respect existing between the Corps of Royal Engineers, Medway Council and its predecessor authorities.

In a rare act during the discussion, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Medway also spoke on the topic, which was dear to the hearts of many of the Councillors assembled.

I for one welcome the move, as a great recognition of the tremendous work that the Royal Engineers do and marking the first ten years of the Medway Unitary Authority.

Continue Reading “Freedom of Medway to be conferred upon the Royal Engineers” »

260 Views | 1 Comment | Print This Post

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Jarrett hits out at Murray over choice of language
Posted by Alan Collins on Friday, January 18th, 2008 at 00:34

The Deputy Leader of Medway Council, Councillor Alan Jarrett, hit out at Cllr Teresa Murray’s choice of language during a debate of the full Council.

Cllr Murray introduced an amendment to a motion about concessionary bus fares, and called all those who opposed her motion (i.e. the present Conservatives along with Independent Councillor Ian Burt) “nutters”.

Cllr Jarrett used his next speaking opportunity to hit back, reminding the Council of a recent Standards Committee ruling, saying that the use of the word “nutters” in a defamatory context was unacceptable.

136 Views | 1 Comment | Print This Post

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Merry Christmas Medway!
Posted by Alan Collins on Friday, December 21st, 2007 at 17:40

It seems that there is a joker amongst our citizens, going by the alias Festive Cheer.

Today I, along with at least three Medway Conservative Councillors, two other Conservative Campaigners, a Conservative Parliamentary Candidate and the three Medway Conservative Constituency offices, received an email from “festive” (merry.xmas.tories@hotmail.co.uk) with two links.

The first (http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1650057464) led us to a video of Cllrs Mrs Diane Chambers, Alan Jarrett, Rodney Chambers and Rehman Chishti dressed as elves and dancing to a very festive song.

The second (http://www.scroogeyourself.com/?id=1651457929) led us to a video of Cllrs Mrs Teresa Murray dressed as Scrooge, dancing to the same very festive song.

Both videos are well worth a look, but remember to turn your speakers on!

168 Views | 2 Comments | Print This Post

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“We thank you. We admire you. God bless you all.”
Posted by Alan Collins on Friday, November 23rd, 2007 at 14:27

The heartfelt words of Councillor Nick Brice were greeted with unanimous agreement across the council chamber as they debated Councillor Rodney Chambers’ motion supporting our Armed Forces on Thursday, November 22.

The motion’s text, which was agreed unanimously, as written in the agenda, is as follows: “Our armed forces are acting in the highest traditions of our nation in their conduct of operations overseas. Reservists and regular servicemen and women alike share the burden and risks and they do so in the most difficult of circumstances, with great pressure on manpower and other resources. On behalf of the people of Medway this Council wishes to express admiration at the bravery, endurance and professionalism of our servicemen and women, as well as the fortitude and quiet courage of their families at home in the United Kingdom.”

The response from members was overwhelming, and below I have decided to share as much of it with you as possible, interspersed with my personal opinions on some members’ comments.

Continue Reading ““We thank you. We admire you. God bless you all.”” »

335 Views | 5 Comments | Print This Post

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -