My Election to the Town Estate

 

Why did I stand ? There were various reasons. The Charity known as the Town Estate had intrigued me since I came to Melton Mowbray from London in 1991. The Town Parks reminded me of a very miniature Regent’s Park with the play areas, the water, the beautiful trees, shrubs and flowers. They were oases in the centre of  a busy market town.

I often took my grandchildren to play in the parks, to enjoy the miniature train, the little roundabout and to feed the ducks. Then to enjoy a cup of tea and perhaps an ice cream.

I soon began attending the annual meetings of the Town Estate, firstly thinking ‘how quaint’ then I began to feel somewhat uncomfortable. There was no attempt to verify that I actually lived in the town before I voted .

Then the votes would be carried off to be counted elsewhere which I thought was extremely unusual ! But it was definitely not illegal.

I began to accumulate a collection of books and information about the Town Estate and the more I learned about the history, the more I was impressed.

 However, like most people in Melton Mowbray I loved the parks but I had no idea what made the Town Estate ‘tick’.

For many months before the Annual Meeting in October 2007 people were asking me to stand for election to be  Senior Townwarden as there was a belief that I would endeavour to make the Town Estate more open and accountable.

I read as much as I could about the working of the Town Estate including some of their annual accounts and the governing document.  I also spent many hours on the World Wide Web reading numerous publications produced by the Charity Commission. I was determined to be well prepared.

It was not easy deciding to actually stand. But the Town Estate is an important organisation which, I believed,  should be more open and should consult more and I wanted to help.

So I did make up my mind to stand but not until the day of the meeting. I knew I would be nominated but I was pleased to be seconded by someone from the floor. 

At the meeting I had asked the Chairman why the Town Estate did not consult more and was told ‘Because we don’t have to.’ With my Councillor background I especially understood the importance of openness and consultation and although I was certainly not surprised at the Chairman’s reply, I believed it was not appropriate for 2007.  I asked that the votes should be counted in public but my request was refused.

I gave a quick synopsis of my C.V.  The other candidate chose not to give his and the votes were then cast by writing the chosen name on the voting slips. The meeting continued while the votes were counted in secret in another room and I was surprised at the length of time the count was taking.  I judged there to be about 100 residents in the theatre who could vote.  

There were three tellers counting – how could it take so long ?

I was thinking that I had obviously received a respectable vote but I was not really expecting to win.

However after about an hour, the tellers returned to announce there had been five recounts and I had won by 55 votes to 53. It meant I was the first ever female Townwarden, Junior or Senior to be elected to the Town Estate since it began in 1549.

What excitement !   I had made history and felt very privileged to be part of such an ancient organisation. 

A few feoffees congratulated me but most did not. But over the years I had seen enough elections to know that an unexpected result is not easily accepted by everyone but an unexpected result is still a democratic result and people usually acknowledge that and I looked forward to working with my new colleagues. 

August 2008