The Lord-Lieutenant of Rutland
Serving the King and the community of Rutland
An unsung Rutland hero now has well deserved recognition! On behalf of Her Majesty The Queen I presented Mrs Sheila Saunders with British Empire Medal for her service to Ketton & Barrowden where she was the driving force behind opening a community shop. It was a great honour for me to present the BEM.
I had a great excuse for shopping at Oakham Castle on 24th November. The Fair Trade fair sells interesting well priced products and the producers get a fair return. Rutland is a fair trade county, which means we help some of the most vulnerable in the developing world. I was pleased to open the fair and I enjoyed getting some Christmas shopping done!
Over 2,000 people visited Oakham Castle in just over an hour to buy ceramic poppies from the amazing Armistice Centenary celebration display there. All the poppies were being sold in support of the Royal British Legion. Congratulations to all for this engaging Rutland project.
Is Peterborough cathedral one of the most beautiful but least known buildings in the country? It is Rutland’s diocesan cathedral but many don’t realise that. Queen Catherine of Aragon is buried here. There is always a fresh pomegranate on her grave; presumably the work of a secret society? I was given a remarkable roof tour, well worth doing.
On 19th November the fire service held a major incident exercise with Anglian Water to prepare should there be a chemical escape. I watched as an initially minor ‘incident’ escalated to a major one, then there were a couple of people to rescue from an area ‘contaminated’ with chlorine… All went impressively smoothly. Thanks to on call firefighters & water personnel. Great job!
I was delighted to attend the ‘Biz Club’ at The Falcon Hotel, Uppingham yesterday. Interesting business people were gathered for lunch. It was a privilege to be HM The Queen’s representative and present the Biz Club award to Terry Forsey of the Travers Foundation – a charity that helps 13 -30 year olds in creative arts & sports.
November 15th was Presentation Evening at UCC Rutland. We celebrated excellent results for GCSEs. I was pleased that the Lord-Lieutenant’s award for Outstanding Achievement went to Joseph Banerjee for his string of top grades. Congratulations to all & good wishes for happy futures. Joseph is now at Harington School.
At this event I was glad to meet African origin British who want to build understanding with police & the community, so that there is better appreciation of their law abiding culture. I loved the ‘egg in hand’ symbol – if authority is too firm the egg gets crushed, but if too light the egg is dropped & broken.
I think something very special happened on Armistice Day in Rutland. All across the county churches were packed with people of all ages remembering the lessons of WW1 – I hope it happened right across Britain. Let’s try & live happy lives that benefit others in remembrance.
There was standing room only for the service of Remembrance Day 2018 at St Peter & St Paul, Uppingham. People of all ages were present including many youngsters, meaning that ‘we will remember them’ is true. Thanks to Rev. Rachel Watts, Richard Cole and choir for a moving service and wreath-laying.
At the service we discovered that Uppingham has five women leaders! From left to right below, Mayor Miranda Jones, Vicar Rachel Watts, me, Commander of Rutland Police Louise Cordiner and High Sheriff Sue Jarrom! Historic for Rutland! How highly appropriate for the centenary of women’s suffrage. All are shown below gathered at Uppingham’s war memorial for the wreath-laying.
