The Town Council is pleased to announce that Councillor Rodney Reed has been elected as the Mayor of Seaford for the 2020-2021 municipal year.
Councillor Reed was voted in as Mayor at the recent Annual Meeting of the Council held virtually on 21st May 2020. At the meeting, Councillor Reed thanked outgoing Mayor Councillor Nazish Adil for her service to the town.
Quote from Cllr Reed (pictured right) on his appointment
“I am honoured and humbled to have been appointed Mayor with the unanimous support of the Council. I look forward to working cooperatively with all Councillors for the good of our town and in being part of the town emerging from the current restrictions and being successful again in business and supportive in community”.
At the same meeting, Councillor Jean Cash was appointed as Deputy Mayor of Seaford. Councillor Cash is well known in the town for her teaching career at Seaford Head School, which included being one of the Deputy Head Teachers. Councillor Cash looks forward to working closely with the Mayor in supporting the Town Council and community.
Due to COVID-19, the usual ceremonial handing over of the Chains of Office could not take place at the meeting and instead Past Mayor Cllr Nazish Adil and both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor arranged an innovative, social distanced handover in the days following. This included a traditional announcement from the Town Crier of Seaford, Peter White, at St Leonard’s Church lychgate (pictured left and the video of which can be found on the Mayor of Seaford’s Facebook page).
Councillor and Mrs Reed arrived in Seaford from Cornwall by way of Birmingham and Dhaka. Councillor Reed has been Managing Director of several companies including one he inaugurated in Birmingham and another in Dhaka. Before his retirement to Seaford and in recent years his work has been as a Sustainability Consultant, working on pollution prevention in the textile and leather processing sectors. During his time in Seaford he and his wife have become members of the Seaford Baptist Church. He has also represented Seaford Town Council on the outside bodies ‘Plastic Free Seaford’ and ‘Tree Wardens Group’. Councillor Reed is the outgoing President of the Martello Rotary Club, his Rotary experience dates from 1983.
Councillor Reed reports that his experience of Seaford has been of a warm, welcoming, lively community. The town’s situation between the sea and the Downs has made a Cornishman feel very much at home with the smell and sound of the sea and Seaford’s special feature, the sea ‘breezes’.
Approached by several councillors, Councillor Reed agreed to be put forward for election as Mayor hoping to be able to encourage co-operative working in the Town Council for the good of the community and the business sector. Councillor Reed has made it clear that the Town Council has an excellent team of very capable officers and he intends to make it his priority to enable councillors and officers to discharge their differing roles and responsibilities cooperatively.
Mrs Ann Reed will support the Mayor as his Consort (pictured right). Mrs Reed is a member of the Rotary Club of Seaford and Inner Wheel Club of Seaford. Arriving in Seaford in 2017 Mrs Reed enjoys singing with the Seaford Choral Society and is a Member of the U3A Orchestra.
Councillor Reed is delighted that Rev Andy Machin, Minister of Seaford Baptist Church, accepted his invitation to be Mayor’s Chaplain and looks forward to a Civic Service and later in the year a Carol Service at Seaford Baptist Church, perhaps virtually and hopefully ‘face to face’.
Councillor Reed is keen to be part of the work enabling the town to emerge from the COVID-19 lockdown. He looks forward to the Town Council’s facilities and services fully reopening, to businesses reopening and re-generating, and to the excellent community spirit evident in the COVID-19 situation continuing as vibrant community life.
Being appointed the Mayor of Seaford during the COVID-19 pandemic and social restrictions means that Councillor Reed will chair ‘virtual’ Town Council meetings. It might be the turn of the year before councillors can meet ‘face to face’ in the Council Chamber. Civic engagements for the Mayor will likewise be ‘virtual’ rather than ‘face to face’. Councillor Reed looks forward to the challenge of chairing Town Council business and to being involved in civic life in a ‘socially distanced’ era. His extensive experience in the business and ‘not for profit’ sectors will be an advantage in developing new ways to work, as will his local authority experience from his earlier career in Birmingham.
Councillor Reed has not chosen a charity for his term in office and intends to hold discussions with the charity and voluntary sector across the town, to find out what would be most helpful for them in getting back onto a sound financial basis. According to Councillor Reed “not only is ‘wind our strength’ but our community is also our strength!”.
Councillor Reed looks forward to receiving invitations, through the Mayor’s Secretary, to visit community groups, businesses, and social organisations as soon as ‘normal civic life’ becomes possible.
