Southend becomes a City

Yesterday, Southend (the town I have lived in for most of my life, and love) became a City, something that the late Sir David Amess (its MP who was murdered) had long pushed for (see here).

I had been invited to the opening ceremony at Southend’s Civic Centre, because of my involvement in one of its many charities, but had to cry off last minute, having succumbed to man flu / Covid.

I was able to capture snippets of what went on, afterwards, on social media etc., including You Tube videos featuring the guest of honour, Prince Charles (see here and here). I was pleased that Sir David was suitably honored e.g. by having a new pier train named after him.

What practical difference becoming a City makes, I cannot say, but it is undoubtedly an honour and one which Southend will build on.

Amidst joy and celebration, my biggest disappointment was Prince Charles making parallels between the freedom Southend has with the freedoms Ukraine does not have due to Russian invasion (see here for my thoughts) along with his advocacy of the Great Reset, which ironically will take away freedom and unsurprisingly not a word said about freedoms taken from protesting Canadian truckers.