The Chair made the following announcements:

-     There had not been as many invitations to attend events and functions in January and February compared to November and December 2023.

-     As Chairman she tried to attend every meeting and since January she had sat in on several informal briefings and attended planning committee meetings.

-     In January, the Chair and Vice-Chair hosted a reception for all officers to  say thank you for their hard work. This included members of Customer Services, Democratic Services, IT, Housing and Homelessness, and Planning as well as members of the Senior Leadership Team. The Chair was introduced to the Council’s new Chief Financial Officer, Andrew Vallance, and looked forward to working with him.

-     Talking to the Housing and Homelessness Team resulted in an invitation to visit and sit in their office to listen to calls and begin to understand the width and breadth and complexity of cases they deal with on a daily basis.

-     On Wednesday 7 February, the Chair spent several hours at the Town Hall with the Customer Service Team, both in the reception and in the call centre.  The Chair was struck by the compassion of the staff in dealing with a wide variety of calls.  Juggling two screens with many tabs open they were able to answer most enquiries without having to forward the resident to a new department, thus honouring the “Tell it Once” strategy discussed at the Anti-Poverty strategy meeting that the Alliance worked on in the last administration. 

-     The Chair congratulated everyone she met for the great job they do that really made a difference to residents.   The Chair would be returning to the Housing and Homelessness department and in addition spending time in the planning department.  The Chair commended all Councillors whether they had been in office for 10 months or 10 years or longer to follow her lead, as the staff really appreciated it.

-     On 3 February, the Chair and Vice-Chair attended a concert at St Barnabas church to hear the Premiere of Iseult, written by local musical director Kenneth Roberts. It told the story of forbidden love between Princess Iseult of Ireland and Tristan of Lothian.

-     On Friday 15 February, the Chair enjoyed a morning at Little Gate Farm, shown around by their Chief Executive Officer, Andrea Randall Smith, where the Chair learnt about the ethos behind the project.  It helped that the day was sunny and warm, but everyone was happy in what they were doing, and the Chair commended the staff there for their incredible passion for those in need of their support.

-     On Saturday 17 February, the Chair was invited to open the Strandliners event held in Rye and thanked their members for continuing to clear stretches of our river. There were many community and voluntary groups all working together to benefit the ecology of our district; many expressed their gratitude for this Council’s grant support.

-     The Chair advised of the sad and unexpected passing of former Councillor Eric Armstrong early in the new year.  Eric Armstrong had served on the Council between 2003 and 2007 representing Bexhill Old Town Ward.  During that time, he served on the Licensing and General Purposes and Scrutiny Committees, as well as being Bexhill Town Mayor for the Bexhill Charter Trustees in 2006-2007.