THE new Mayor of Beaconsfield made history last week as he became the first person to be appointed to the role for a second time.

Councillor Steve Jones first became Beaconsfield Town Council’s Mayor in 2006 and has said he feels privileged to have the unique opportunity to accept the responsibility for a second time.

The Beaconsfield Town and South Bucks District councillor added he is looking forward to the year ahead and hopes it will be fun for all.

He said: “It is a rather unique privilege of course, if you look at the list (of past Mayor’s) no one has ever been asked to do it again for a second time, I was mayor in 2006/07 and I really enjoyed it.

“I want to make it an enjoyable year again, not just for me, but for other councillors and people in the community too.

“I will be putting fundraising events and dare I say it making it a fun year a top priority.”

Mayor Jones was appointed to the role in a council meeting last week whilst Cllr John Read was appointed as his deputy.

The Mayor believes that fundraising is an essential part of the job and said he hopes to be able to work with community organisations to raise as much as possible.

He said: “Last time I was reasonably successful in fundraising, I think we raised over £17,000 in my year to contribute to the new girl guide hut in Beaconsfield.

“This year the deputy is obviously John Read and this year he is the chair of the Round Table. One thing I would really like to do is work with Round Table to help raise funds for community initiatives.

“I also found out that Cllr Janet Simmons will be the chair of Rotary this year. I think it would be fantastic if we can bring these three organisations together, particularly with our fundraising hats on.

“I think it will bring a bit more of a community spirit to the town by involving these parties which don’t normally mix together.

“Hopefully over the next few weeks, I can meet with them to discuss that and then hopefully we can announce the charities we would like to support - I would like it to be a collective decision rather than a personal decision.”

Having done the job before, the new Mayor is hopeful that he will be able to successfully follow in the footsteps of outgoing Mayor, Sandy Saunders.

He said: “Sandy was a very enthusiastic Mayor and a very energetic guy with ideas on what he would like to do for the town and I am very happy to follow in his footsteps.”