Sir Roger Gale
Member of Parliament for Herne Bay and Sandwich (including West Thanet)
 

There is an election this weekend.
 
On Easter Saturday we shall gather in the King`s Hall to meet the contestants and select the young lady who, with her Court, will represent the Town for the coming year as Miss Herne Bay 2011.
 
We shall also take the opportunity to thank the team that have carried out this hard work – for hard work it most certainly is – during the past twelve months.  We shall remember that, away from the sunshine glamour of the Carnival parades and dances, there are the rainy days also and the occasional boorish behaviour that has to be tolerated with a smile.
 
Most people see the Carnival floats on parade or meet Miss Herne Bay and her Princesses as they add colour and brightness to the Queen Vic Hospital`s Annual fund-raising event.  Far fewer see the Courts as they go about their task in both fair and freezing winter weather as they open fetes, support Town fairs, and visit the elderly in residential homes at Christmas.
 
Over the years those of us who have been invited to play a tiny and very modest part in the selection process have watched with some pride as those that we have chosen as the Town`s ambassadors grow in confidence and stature in the course of their year. All have, I think, through the hard work of the Carnival`s Chairman, Andy Birkett, and his team,  enjoyed the experience and have, with the Herne Bay Carnival  “reference” behind them, gone on to other adventures.  This is fun, certainly, but for many it has also proved to be a stepping stone towards still greater success.
 
So thank you, to Miss Herne Bay 2010, Charlotte Farrant, and to your Princesses, Eloise Acton and Kerry-Ann Middleton.  You have worked incredibly hard and we are grateful to you and we look forward to meeting those who will wear the crown and coronets for the coming year. They will have a hard act to follow but we know that they will rise to the occasion.

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