Atherstone's first citizen to be given a 'belated civic send-off' once the dust settles on Covid measures

MAYOR CARL GURNEY ADMITS HIS YEAR OF OFFICE WENT FROM 'FULL PELT TO FULL STOP'

ATHERSTONE mayor Carl Gurney will be given one "last hurrah" by the town's burghers as a token of gratitude for a coronavirus-ruined end to his year of office.

Town councillors are rallying round the first citizen after seeing his term as a "great ambassador" completely ruined by the impact of the Covid pandemic.

The 71-year-old has had no official duties to perform since mid-March with his final act being to hand over the ceremonial chain at the annual meeting on May 21.

He told Nubs News the lockdown measures took his busy civic calendar from "full pelt to full stop".

One minute he was looking forward to the highlight of his 12 months – the annual dinner with neighbouring dignitaries in attendance – the next he found himself being 'shielded' from the outside world for 12 weeks as a COPD sufferer.

Atherstone Town Council took the unusual step of splitting its lead role in 2019/20 – selecting Tory Councillor Gurney as the civic figurehead and David Wright as chairman and de facto leader.

The split duties appear to have worked well and Councillor Wright sympathised with the mayor's bad luck to run into such a formidable opponent as anyone has faced – in Covid-19.

Councillor Wright said: "It is a sad end.

"Councillor Gurney has been a great ambassador for the town as mayor.

"It is a real shame his year finished in the way it did."

However, Cllr Wright has promised the town council WILL mark his year with a formal event.

He added: "The annual dinner may have had to be cancelled but we will, at some point later this year, have one – assuming we are able."

Councillor Gurney said he was obviously disappointed the March 21 dinner did not take place and everything stopped from there. A special VE Day 75th anniversary was planned for later in this week at Leamington, which has also been cancelled.

"My diary went from full pelt to full stop," he added. "But I accept we are fighting something that is invisible, and I don't think we'll be footloose until there is a vaccine

Looking back on busier times earlier in his mayoral year, the highlights of the second half of his year with his wife and consort Pauline included a legal service for the High Sheriff of Warwickshire in October, which he described as an "honour to attend, as well as the annual Remembrance Day parade.

In November he saw Atherstone Dramatic Society's "amazing" production of the Sue Townsend comedy Bazaar and Rummage, followed by a luncheon alongside members of the Worshipful Guild of Feltmakers, keeping alive a St Clement's Day tradition as old as the hat factories themselves.

In December, the Hinckley and Bosworth mayor's carol service was followed by the George Eliot Hospital Charity 'thanking event'. He hosted a civic reception in conjunction with Dickens 2019, welcoming many civic guests from around Warwickshire to Atherstone.

As a keen historian few evens would have matched the February 15 opeining of the Roman Mancetter & Boudica Heritage Centre in the village's St Peter's Church.

In the same month he attended the Alcester Town Council dinner and the Warwickshire County Council civic get-together in March, before the pandemic brought his year to an abrupt end.