Mayor's Voice

A new Mayor has been appointed for Bromley – and it’s a name you might recognise. That’s because from 2020-2021, Cllr Hannah Gray was previously Mayor of Bromley, and not only did she have to face the challenges a new role presents, she had to do so under lockdown conditions. Her goal back then was to respectfully ‘modernise the Mayoralty’ - a goal she executed brilliantly, upping everyone’s game when it came to the use of technology, social media and all things digital. Now she’s back, we sat down with Cllr Gray, your new Mayor of Bromley, to discover what’s next on her agenda…

Q: Huge congratulations on your new appointment Madam Mayor. How does it feel to be back and what range of emotions have you gone through?

A: Well, I had to stop twice when giving my acceptance speech as I was overcome with emotion. I feel such elation and pride. It’s a great honour to be given the chance - the second time that they have trusted me to do what I do. A phrase that springs to mind is ‘Love what you do, and do what you love.’ Luckily, I have the privilege of doing what I love and loving what I do.

Q In terms of your focus for the coming year, what are your plans?

A: We had tremendous success stories in my previous year, and I need to find out how they are doing. I’m very passionate about our start-up businesses in the borough and, as the previous Small Business

Champion, I still intend to help our small businesses and charities and support all of the fabulous work that people are doing.

Q: Since your appointment (at the time of interview, it was the day before), what have you been up to?

A: I’ve just been over to the Ukraine Hub, which is open on Thursdays here in the Council. It’s for both the

Ukrainian families and for people in the borough that are taking families in. They can find out about schooling, grants, youth clubs, the DWP, NHS, doctors, dentists...

The Hub is also running regular coffee mornings to bring people together which is wonderful. The

Ukrainian families, which we have the privilege of looking after, are going to enhance our wonderful borough with their diversity. I watched as the children, who can’t speak a word of English, found ways of communicating at the coffee morning and were being invited to birthday parties of children they had just met - the unity is fantastic.

Q: Now that there are no Covid restrictions, what are you looking forward to that you couldn’t do before?

A: I’m going to thoroughly enjoy going out to schools, handing out certificates, hopefully inspiring young people, supporting business and charities in person and not on Zoom. I’m also going to continue with the podcasts, keep up with our social media and use of all forms of communication so we can support people and shine a light on their great achievements.

Q: Who are your chosen charities this year?

A ‘Every Breath’ was originally set up by two friends of mine, Emma and Nick, and has already given tremendous support to people with lung cancer. It developed out of their own personal experience and is a charity for local people, so the money raised will be spent locally. The next one is a project called ‘Leaving

Care’ who have set up a Come Dine With Us lunch club for children leaving care. The club will allow the children to get together, cook and experiment with different recipes, based here in the grounds of the

Civic Centre in Bromley. We have already had people from local restaurants volunteering their help and providing ingredients, it’s wonderful. We’re also looking at hosting a big event for Ukrainian families and host families, hopefully this summer.

Q What have you learned from your previous post as Mayor – and what’s the best thing about being Mayor of Bromley?

A I made so many tremendous connections so I’m looking forward to continuing to work with those people – and meet others too. My acceptance speech was based on People, Passion and Progress; people in the borough are amazing and we have a fantastic community which pulls together. For example, we want to see a place of reflection for people who have lost someone through the

Covid virus, so I’m going to push for that.

It will be somewhere uplifting and tranquil and we want them to know the borough hasn’t forgotten them. We started up the #ProudofBromley again and we should all be so proud of our wonderful borough.