Cllr. Rachel Parry Spring 2022

Our family has lived in Sevenoaks for many years and, for those of you who don’t know me, I’m married with two sons who went to school locally; we now have four grand-daughters and I retired early, having taught in several of Sevenoaks’s primary schools.

Sevenoaks has an exciting time ahead, with all the special events planned to celebrate the forthcoming Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. The Queen is our country’s longest reigning monarch; Queen Victoria reigned for nearly 65 years but this year we in Sevenoaks, with the rest of our country, will celebrate that Queen Elizabeth the Second will have served our country and the Commonwealth for 70 years.

During her reign Her Majesty, like so many of us, has overcome many difficulties, most recently catching Covid-19 and the death of her husband Prince Philip, but has also been able to enjoy many happy moments, when she has led us through much happier times.

Throughout our town there will be a variety of events, something for everyone and for families and groups, in different parts of Sevenoaks, so be prepared to get involved. Perhaps there’s going to be a street party in your road, when neighbours will get together and enjoy themselves.

There will be also official events on particular days and times including lighting the town’s beacon which will link us in Sevenoaks with events in London and many other parts of the country. The Town Council’s Website will list all our local celebrations and also many as possible of the national events. 

A hint – If you’re out and about in Sevenoaks during June’s Jubilee Long Weekend: look out for the CROWNS – small, medium sized and very LARGE!

To continue the celebrations and promote our green agenda and enhance our environment the Town Council will continue with its tree planting programme for the Queen’s Green Canopy.

In July Sevenoaks Town will be judged as one of the seven finalists in the National In Bloom competition, the first year that our town has been in the national final! With the help of our partners we will try to make Sevenoaks full of flowers, clean and tidy, trying hard to be the best possible town; so giving pleasure and care to our residents and our visitors. We will be competing nationally, against six other towns across the country, trying to win Gold medals as we have in the past.

The Town Team will be asking our residents and businesses to help tidy their part of the town dealing with weeds, removing litter etc. and making our town look great.

As Mayor my fundraising events will concentrate on helping, in various ways, the whole of Sevenoaks Town’s community with a special focus on the needs of our younger residents. There are many groups who could do with a little extra help. and local charities that need a boost.

In April this year a national survey found that Sevenoaks was the Southeast’s “Best Town to Live in”. I think that we can all agree that this is a super reflection of the beauty of our town, the involvement of our residents and our businesses and also the hard work and commitment of our Town Council.