NEW MAYOR, Councillor Mrs Brenda Goldspink will conduct Hedon’s traditional ‘penny throwing’ ceremony on Thursday 20th May 2010 after formally being ‘made’ Mayor at a private civic function earlier.
The traditional Penny Throwing event is always one of the first civic duties carried out by each Mayor following their annual election.
The event is supposed to be steeped in history and is a parody of the days when Hedon was a ‘rotten borough’ with people being offered money to vote for a particular Mayoral candidate.
After agreeing to vote for a particular candidate in return for payment (and after signing your vote in those days) the new Mayor’s agents would visit to give you your pay-off!
Nowadays the event is a real fun occasion with the pennies literally ‘thrown’ to local children by the town Mayor and other civic dignitaries. All local children are invited to bring their parents and take part.
The penny throwing starts at 7:00pm outside the Town Hall. It is a good idea to get there a bit earlier and make sure your local children get a good spot!
The picture is from last year’s event.