Books, Bikes and Blindfold through Sevenoaks

Published: 30 September 2025

The highlights of last week as Sevenoaks Mayor all began with B!

First, the launch on Wednesday of Sevenoaks Literary Festival at Sevenoaks Primary School allowed me to attend the only event in the Festival for which you can’t buy a ticket. Along with around 300 students from Sevenoaks Primary, Lady Boswells and St Thomas’, I was privileged to meet Sita Brahmachari, who began her career as a children's writer in her 40s. Her first book won the Waterstone’s prize - and since then she hasn’t looked back. Her talk held the audience spellbound, telling her story of growing up in the Lake District through to starting to write. Her message was that reading books is great - and creativity through writing even better. Be brave and tell your story!



Early on Thursday I was at The Vine to greet 40 cyclists, who had chosen Sevenoaks to start their 'Ride the Change' tour of Kent, Sussex and Surrey. Their message is that we all need to take action to combat climate change and loss of nature (whatever our County Council says). They are carrying it to Faversham, Hastings, Brighton and Guildford - where they arrived on Sunday. It would have been great to join them - but the next adventure was imminent.



Each year, the Sevenoaks Town Mayor and the Chairman of Sevenoaks District Council are invited by Guide Dogs for the Blind to experience our town in a new way. Blindfolds on, they walk the High Street, Bligh's Meadow and London Road, first with a white cane then with a guide dog. I started off slowly down the High Street from Waitrose with the cane. Keeping roughly on track by following the shop fronts was OK until we reached Specsavers, then the bus station. Linda Harrison from the District Council had a much tougher stretch across the zebra crossing by Boots, past all the tables and chairs by Pret and the Oak Tree and into Bligh's where there’s a lot of street furniture. After that we were led at speed by Monty, a lovely Labrador cross, through Bligh's and Bank Street onto London Road, where we took the blindfolds off at the Post Office. It was a valuable lesson on how confusing our streets can be, and how trust in a trained guide dog can make a huge difference.

Don't forget Sevenoaks Vegan Market is on the Vine this Saturday, 4th October! Come along to enjoy food, music and stalls.    

Cllr Tony Clayton
Mayor of Sevenoaks