Twilight - Speaker Mike Kennedy

ANOTHER ‘JOB TALK’ TO ROTARIANS FROM TOWN CLERK

The last time Henley town clerk Michael Kennedy spoke to Henley Rotary Club was in November 2009, a little over a year after his appointment, and he then gave a light-hearted but informative talk on the responsibilities of Henley Town Council and its clerk.

On Tuesday last week at the Red Lion hotel, he was again on his feet talking, but this time to his fellow Rotarians in his ‘job talk,’ having been inducted as the club’s newest member earlier this year.

Rotarian Kennedy, who is retiring from the town clerkship in two months’ time, said that he attended his first parish council meeting at Abbots Langley at the age of 16, later becoming a trainee auditor with Rickmansworth District Council, which became Three Rivers District Council after reorganisation in 1974.

After spending eight years with the London Borough of Brent, he applied for the post of town clerk at his then home town of Chesham, being appointed when the first choice candidate withdrew because of property price differentials. He was at Chesham from 1989 to 2002, then spending periods in Huntingdon and Ware before being appointed to Henley in 2008.  

After emphasising the three levels of local government, county councils, district councils and parish councils (Henley Town Council is a parish council although allowed to call itself a town council), he said that the only statutory duty of a parish council was to provide allotments. They had the power however to provide cemeteries, PCSOs, CCTV cameras, and to manage their various assets,  which in Henley’s case include the town hall, the Red Lion lawn, the moorings, the Mill Meadows car park, Dry Leas and several other sites.

Mentioning the history of the council, Rotarian Kennedy reminded his audience that the first Mayor of Henley was a gentleman called George Harrison! Among his own predecessors, Mr Robert Symon was the first town clerk, appointed in 1418, whilst a certain Mr John Buck held the record for the longest tenure, serving from 1590 to 1652, a period of 62 years, giving rise to the inevitable quip (also offered at his earlier talk!) of being unable to ‘pass the buck!’

Another predecessor was Mr Francis Blandy, who was poisoned by his own daughter, Mary Blandy, whilst six members of the Cooper family had held the post in the 18^th, 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

Philip Fletcher, the club secretary, gave the vote of thanks.

---

Members and partners had enjoyed a Christmas celebration at Henley Golf Club the previous week when music (and new lyrics for a well-known G&S song!) were supplied by honorary member Ken Fitt. And this Tuesday they were having a relaxed ‘fellowship’ lunch, before reconvening after Christmas on January 5.