By Alex Clarke (Chairman EECF).
For those who have never been, let me say that Epsom and Ewell is an interesting and unique borough; and not just in the political sense. With the Downs and countless other spots of beautiful tranquillity there are plenty of places to go to get away from the hurly-burly of modern life and to contemplate the world in peace. This is juxtaposed with a busy, buzzing vibrant market town full of shops; cafes and market stall all selling all kinds of goods and delicacies. Such a place is ranked very highly by those who dwell in it, and such a place has history as is reflected in our proud clock tower – sometimes described as the Brick Big Ben. It is quite simply a happy place to live, and great place to grow up as I have here.
Therefore, when Cllr Sullivan proposed to grant the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment the Freedom of the Borough, on the eve of Remembrance Day, he had no idea that anyone would even consider voting against it. However, they did, in fact the rest of the Committee did – and whilst I am sure all of them turned out on Remembrance Day with their poppies on prominent display, I wonder if they thought of the local families of our borough’s soldiers in our local regiment…and whether they thought about the pride and joy they would have given those families, those mums and dads, brothers and sisters to see their warriors, their local heroes, marching through their home town heads held high! I really wonder about how they denied an honour such as this to so worthy a regiment as the Princes of Wales Royal Regiment, the Tigers?
This week, the Council got a second chance to right this wrong, and at the full Council meeting on Tuesday the 15th of December, Cllr Sulivan once again stood up and with powerful oratory presented a compelling case – backed by 2000 signatures that have been gathered so far. The point of this meeting though was not whether or to grant the Freedom of the Borough, but rather whether to convene a Special Meeting of Council to decide the matter. It was a heated debate, with one Residents’ Association Councillor’s remarks comparing the Conservative Councillor to the BNP struck from the record on a point of order. Unfortunately those put forward by another Councillor of the same group suggesting that the awarding of the Freedom of the Borough to the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment would DEMEAN the award, were not stricken from the records.
The matter went to a vote, and I can say with joy in my soul that we won, 16 votes for, 13 against and 5 abstentions. Therefore there will be another meeting to decide the matter once and for all and for us to be successful we need not a mere majority but 2/3rds of all votes cast – therefore 26 votes will need to be cast in our favour.
Therefore we will continue our campaign, continue to collect signatures and write to our Councillors, and continue to be a presence. That this debacle is set to continue is an outrage, it is something which I certainly never expected to see in my little town; but here it is and it is now our duty to see that it ends as it should, with our local regiment, the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment, being granted the Freedom of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell.
p.s. for those who wish to support us please sign this online petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/online/32077.html
or our facebook page and where you can sign up to come and help is:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&gid=175890528436
or to see the recent write up in the Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1236484/Youre-worthy-Council-snubs-honour-British-Armys-decorated-regiment.html
or for more background please go to the blog of our local conservative group leader, Cllr Sean Sullivan
http://epsomintouch.blogspot.com/
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