Minutes:
It was moved by Councillor Jones and seconded by Councillor Hilton
RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY
That, in pursuance of Section 249 of the Local Government Act 1972, the Council do admit
Colin Christopher Lloyd to be an Honorary Freeman and Honorary Alderman of the Borough of Crawley, the most honourable distinctions which it is the privilege of the Council to bestow in appreciation and acknowledgement of the eminent services rendered by him to the Borough Council as a Councillor from Councillor from 1990 until 2008 and from 2010 until 2016, as a West Sussex County Councillor from 2001 until 2005 and a Governor for many years at both Desmond Anderson Primary School and Thomas Bennett Community College and as an expression of the high esteem in which he is held by the Mayor, the Council and the people of the Town.
As well as Councillors Jones and Hilton, Councillor Crow also paid tribute to Colin Lloyd.
With the motion having been duly carried, Colin Lloyd thereupon signed the rolls of Honorary Freeman and Honorary Alterman, with his signatures being attested by the Mayor and Chief Executive.
On behalf of the Council and the people of Crawley. The Mayor then conveyed her congratulations to Colin Lloyd and presented to him a badge and scroll recording his admission as an Honorary Freeman and Honorary Alderman.
Colin Lloyd then addressed the Council and then assembled guest and expressed his thanks for being honoured ins this way. A copy of his speech can be found below:
Yes, thank you. Madam Mayor, councillors and guests. It is so nice to be here with friends and family for this lovely occasion at the town hall. Actually, you've made a few changes around here in the last few years. It felt like a bit like coming into a new building and I hardly knew the place.
I am delighted to receive this special recognition from Crawley Borough Council for my service as a councillor. Thank you very much indeed. It's a great, great honour. Thank you. And I'd especially like to thank Councillors Jones, Hilton and Crow for their kind remarks tonight I was very moved. Thank you very much.
I've got many fond memories of my time here and going back as far as working pretty closely with three of the giants of local government in Crawley, that's Alf Pegler, Bert Crane and Tony Edwards. As well as obviously with former colleagues here tonight Richard, Brenda, and Brian and other councillors, present and former councillors. Great memories of working with them. And It's also so rewarding to have such regular contact with residents in Tilgate that’s been mentioned tonight, and it is unusual for me to go to Tilgate, I don't live very far away from Tilgate now, but not see people I know and have a chat with and also in the wider community of Crawley as well. You know it's great to have those connections going back for years, many of them. And also is a great privilege to work with so many wonderful officers at Crawley Borough Council over the years, particularly in the services covered by the Environmental Services and Sustainability Portfolio, where so much has been achieved over the years and I have lots of happy memories of working with so many people for all those years.
I must acknowledge how grateful I am to my wife, Jean for her support over the years, through the inevitable ups and downs of serving in local government, always been a great support to me. I was moved to hear the comments about my late brother tonight as well we as we did serve briefly together on this Council until he moved away with work in Kent. He was elected in a by election. Now people do ask me sometimes, fairly often, actually, whether I miss my time at the Council or miss the Council, and evidently, of course, when something's been such a part of your life for so long, there are feelings of occasionally missing the direct involvement in the work of the Council and the Community as an elected representative. But I now find myself wondering whether, in a certain light receiving these honours sort of makes me a permanent member of the Council. I don't know whether that's true, probably not, but I hope to have an ongoing association with the Council anyway. I was very happy to attend the Community awards last week, and, I guess that going to those sort of events and supporting those sort of events is an important part of holding these and having these honours, and I'm quite happy to be doing those sorts of things.
So once again, thank you very much indeed for the recognition of my service that you've given me tonight and I look forward to meeting a lot of you and talking to a lot of you in the reception later on. So once again, thank you very much indeed.