Arundel mayor elected for record-matching fifth consecutive year

Arundel Town Council has elected Cllr. Tony Hunt as Mayor of Arundel for the 5th consecutive year. Arundel has records of Mayors going back to the 13th century, but this is only the second time that the records show anyone has been elected five years running during peacetime, the previous occasion being 60 years ago. At the same meeting, Cllr. Angela Standing was re-elected as Deputy Mayor. In a separate vote, Cllr. Standing was re-appointed as Town Crier and Iain Stirling was re-appointed as the Mace Bearer.

At the Mayor-making ceremony, held in Arundel’s historic Town Hall, Hunt thanked his fellow councillors for electing him again but quipped that it might be like a fifth marriage – a triumph of faith over experience.

He told the meeting that the best part of being Mayor was being able to help, support and encourage the numerous people and groups in the town who were going ‘above and beyond’, doing remarkable things in the community, to make Arundel a special place to live.

Cllr Hunt drew attention to the recently opened Changing Places toilet in Arundel’s Crown Yard car park, which he described as an example of the kind of positive outcome that can be achieved when District Councillors and Town Council work together. “We had to campaign to get this facility in the centre of Arundel, and we will be contributing to the costs of its cleaning and maintenance each year. But this is well worthwhile because carers have told me how much difference it makes to their lives and to the lives of the people with disabilities whom they support, to have a toilet with space for a wheelchair, a hoist, and an adult-size changing bench. At the opening, we were joined by a group from a day centre catering for people with severe disabilities, One carer told me that without the hoist she could not change her son – so he would end-up sitting on a wet pad all day which was sore and uncomfortable.”

Hunt commented that this facility reflects Arundel’s identity as a caring community and as an inclusive, year-round visitor destination.