New Mayor




Portrait courtesy of Edward Reeves Photography, Lewes 

 

INTRODUCING THE MAYOR...

At the Council’s annual ceremony of Mayor-making on 13th May, Cllr Dr Micheal Turner was elected to serve for the 2010/11 municipal year; taking over from Cllr Amanda Dean.  Whilst Mike was keen to point out right from the start that he would most definitely NOT be jumping out of any aeroplanes (however good the charitable cause!), and nor would he attempt any river crossings using only Scout-constructed rope bridges, this is what he had to say about himself.....

 

Dr. MICHEAL ANTHONY TURNER - RBTC Dip., B.ED Hons, M.A., D. Phil

I was born in Crowborough in 1941 and lived in Sussex for my first 18 years.  I represented Sussex Youth in Athletics and Sussex Scouts at the 1957 World Jamboree.  My father ran a building and plastering business and my five brothers all followed him into various aspects of the building trade.  I trained as an Actor and Drama Teacher at Rose Bruford College (alongside Tom Baker, Laurie Taylor and Nerys Hughes).  My working life was in Education and I taught in primary and secondary schools in Kent for 13 years before becoming a lecturer in English and Drama at Brentwood College of Education which later became Anglia Ruskin University. Whilst there I taught teachers, supervised research, made training videos with the BBC and OU and followed my own research and publication programme.  In my spare time I founded a staff and student dramatic society and directed 40 plays including some I had written. I concluded my career in 1996 as a Principal Lecturer in charge of School based Teacher Training.  During my 22 years in Brentwood I founded the Warley Ramblers walking group and led the team who raised the funds for building Brentwood Theatre – of which I was Chair of the Trustees for 10 years.  Brentwood voted me Citizen of the Year for my efforts.  I still have a strong connection to Brentwood through my partnership in Warley Vineyard.  Since I came to Lewes I have worked at Lewes Theatre and directed 10 plays there, acted in 3 and worked backstage on set construction on about 60 productions and I am at present Newsletter Editor.  I have also written four plays – three of which have been performed in Lewes.

I have been a Councillor for 3 years and I have been active in the community since I came to live in Lewes in 1995.  My earliest involvement was working for the Rodin project (with an office in the Town Hall) and next was working as a governor for Pells School (I completed 10 years as Chair of Governors). 

Town twinning has been one of my interests for many years.  Since living in Lewes I have been on the committee of Lewes Twinning Association and have been involved in organising exchanges with Blois and Waldshut-Tiengen.  We have had art exhibitions (I remember especially John Ham’s steel sculpture The Kiss at the Mairie de Blois and concerts, for example, the Big Blow, when Ringmer School Band joined with Stadtmusik from Waldshut and LGB Brass).  We have reunions, joint meetings and exchanges.  Local organisations involved include Lewes Rugby Club, Lewes Tennis Club, Lewes Badminton Club and the Parish of St Pancras.

In recent years there have been work experience students from Blois and some Lewes students visiting Blois. The Blois College of Catering and Hotel Management is seeking a closer relationship with Lewes and Eastbourne branches of Sussex Downs College.

Priory works underway
The Priory of St Pancras, Lewes.  Henry VIII’s engineer did not quite complete the destruction of this one! Work began on 7th June 2010 to strengthen the remains and make them safe  for public access.  Works will take about six months.   The long-awaited works to re-open the 11th Century ruins of Lewes Priory have begun.

When completed, the remains of the buildings will no longer be locked-away behind safety fencing, and there will be pathways, seats, and interpretation boards explaining the rich history of the Priory and its part in Lewes life over the centuries.  This will all be supported by a carefully-planned education programme for schools and others, and allow access for everyone.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has granted Ł600,000 towards the project, which will cost over Ł809,000 in total.  The project is the brain-child of the Lewes Priory Trust, who lease the site from the Council, and is the result of over fifteen years of planning and fund-raising.

Contractors Kier Longley took control of the site on 7th June, and will be responsible for it until the completion of the works, which should take around 24 weeks.

Unfortunately, the public will not be able to enter the site during most of this time, although there will be short periods at certain stages of the work when it may be temporarily re-opened.

For more information, contact Nick Cragg of Cragg Management Services (tel 01444 880344).

New Youth Sports Award scheme


 

Introducing the Lewes Youth Sports Awards 

"Celebrating achievement by Lewes’ young people”

The Council is about to launch a new Youth Sports Award scheme for schools and sports clubs to recognize achievement by the Town’s young people – able-bodied and less-able alike.  Awards will be made to: a junior boy, a junior girl, a junior team, (under 12yrs of age), and a senior boy, a senior girl and a senior team (under 19). Whether disabled or able-bodied it doesn't matter as long as the nominees have achieved an excellent standard in their particular sport.  Entry to the Award scheme will be limited to individuals and teams who either reside in Lewes (parish), or belong to a team or club based in the town.

So...all you sports teachers and sports club coaches and trainers: look around at your students and teams and see which of your youngsters has contributed in an outstanding way to their sport during the year ending 1st September 2010.

Hope to see you at the Awards Ceremony next year!

Save 10% in 2010




We've signed up to 10:10.  Will you?

Lewes Town Council has joined dozens of other Councils in signing-up to the "10:10 campaign", which seeks to get individuals and organizations to make a firm commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 10% in 2010.

Climate-change is a matter of local as well as international concern. Making a difference is a matter for individuals and every tier of government as well as international organisations.  

Our aim is to achieve an absolute 10% cut in our carbon emissions over the year.  Our buildings are already more eco-friendly than most people imagine; we have low-energy lighting (much of it sensor-controlled for efficiency) and modern heating boilers and control systems (and we are miserly with our heat!).  Our WC’s use waterless technology wherever possible, and low-consumption systems where it is not.  Nonetheless; we have committed to have our buildings audited, to find any more areas for improvement, and to keep track of our emissions, to measure progress in reducing them.  Once we have this data we can use a simple online reporting tool to tell the 10:10 organization how our savings are adding up.

We are encouraging everyone to sign up as 10:10 individuals.  Helping to hit the target – by, for example, implementing a cycle-to-work scheme, having a weekly meat-free day, or investigating lift-sharing or car-pooling – will all help.

This year, let’s take the first step towards a better, happier, healthier future. If we decide not to, we know what a future with climate change will bring and none of us want that.  Carbon is the problem, starting to cut our CO2 emissions is the first step of the solution. That’s why we’re inviting everyone to make a simple 10% cut in their carbon over the next year.  We’re on board; are you?

Further information is available at the 10:10 website  www.1010uk.org