The chain came off on 13 May. I had a year of it, and I am not going to pretend it was not a thrill to wear it. But the thing I actually value from that year is not the photographs. It is a map, in my head, of how Wellingborough really works. Here is what is on it.
The people who hold the town together are not paid to
I lost count of the number of Saturday mornings that began at a breakfast club, a litter pick, a parkrun, a fete or a foodbank. Almost everyone running them was a volunteer, and almost all of them were tired. The single most useful thing a councillor can do for those people is to remove obstacles. A quicker answer from the council, a grant form that makes sense, a bit of public credit. I saw how far that goes, and I intend to keep doing it.
Every problem has an owner, and residents are rarely told who
Wellingborough sits under two councils. The Town Council, where I sit, runs Swanspool Gardens, the market, the Carnival, Party in the Park and community grants. North Northamptonshire Council runs roads, bins, planning, streetlights and most parks. The police handle crime. It sounds simple written down. On a doorstep it is a maze, and residents get sent round it for weeks. A year as Mayor taught me who to phone. I now use that every week for Victoria Ward, and I have written it up as a plain English guide.
Swanspool showed what local ownership can do
In May 2025 Swanspool Gardens and the Pavilion transferred from North Northants to the Town Council, and the tennis courts followed in June. I said at the time that it was a historic moment, and I meant it. When a town owns its own park it can invest in it, programme it and look after it in a way a unitary council covering half a county never will. It is the model I want to see more of.
Safety is the thing people raise most
On almost every doorstep, and at almost every event, the conversation eventually turned to feeling safe. A dark alley, a group hanging around the shops late at night, a bike stolen from a garden. I learned that the fix is rarely one big thing. It is streetlights that work, alleys that are gated, patterns that get reported so that patrols follow them, and youth activity that gives young people somewhere better to be. I spent a year meeting residents, walking streets and listening. The year is over. The listening is not.
Fundraising is really relationship building
The Mayor’s charities, Together for Short Lives and the Veterans Community Network, ended the year with £6,421.38 between them. The council records it as the most any of its Mayors has raised. I am proud of the number, but the reason it happened is that a lot of people, from the restaurant that hosted the last curry night to the families who came to the Teddy Bears’ Picnic, decided the town was worth turning up for. That goodwill is the real asset, and it is what I want to spend the next few years building on.
The full timeline of the mayoral year, with links to every press report, is here.