Skegness Town Hall Open Day
Lincolnshire Heritage Open Day Event
news story date 9th September 2006
Skegness Town Hall, including the Mayor’s Parlour, was opened to the public for the first time in history as part of the Lincolnshire Heritage open day events.
The public were allowed in on Saturday 9th September and were able to examine the town’s historical treasures such as the original 1908 painting of the Jolly Fisherman by John Hassall.
We caught up with Councillor John Byford, who had proposed the idea of the public open day.
Coun Byford (pictured below) showed us into the Mayor’s Parlour, describing some of the town’s treasures which are on display there.
Coun Byford showed us the original 1908 painting of the Jolly Fisherman by John Hassall.
He said “The painting was commissioned by the Great Northern Railways to advertise excursions to Skegness from Kings Cross in London. Since then it has been used the world over and is a very famous image now”.
Coun Byford told us that the Skegness Town Council, who own the copyright on the ‘Jolly Fisherman’, gets many requests from businesses to use the image, which has appeared on anything from fridge magnets to the Number 6 Bus to Lincoln….
The painting in the next photograph is another original by John Hassall which was painted in 1928.
Coun Byford pointed out the differences between the two paintings. The Jolly Fisherman has moved over to the left to include the Pier in the picture and there are no clouds in the sky
The Jolly Fisherman mascot has recently undergone a controversial restyling (picture left)
Interviewer Paul Gooch asked Coun Byford what he thought about the new design Jolly Fisherman.
“I hate it!, he declared. “but we’re probably stuck with it now!”
The next Skegness Town Hall treasure is described by Coun Byford and the Town Clerk, Alan Crawshaw.
The picture shows two keys which are the keys to the Skegness Clock Tower. Coun Byford told us that these had recently come back to the Town Council. The keys, made of solid silver, were presented to the Countess of Scarborough, one in 1899 and one in 1932. He said “It’s so nice to see them back in the Mayor’s Parlour after being away for so long. It’s great that the Earl of Scarborough has decided to give them back”.
Mr Crawshaw showed us the ‘Programme of Ceremonial to be observed on the Celebration of the Marriage of the Earl and Countess of Scarborough and the Dedication of the Clock Tower’. The document is dated 11th August 1899.
(click photo below to enlarge)
Mr Crawshaw went on to say that a hundred years later, in 1999, Skegness celebrated the 100th birthday of the Clock Tower by holding a ceremony on Clock Tower Island, which included placing a Time Capsule beneath the Clock Tower.
Placed inside the Time Capsule was a local newspaper, a complete list of members of the Skegness Urban District Council and Skegness Town Council, a video and articles from local children.Moving on, Coun Byford drew our attention to a lace picture, also on the wall of the Mayor’s Parlour.
He told us that the picture was made by Steibals, a local lace making firm back in 1977 to commemorate one hundred years of Skegness.
Coun Byford then showed us into the Council Chamber. “This is where it all happens”, he said.
He pointed to where the Town Clerk, the current and previous Mayors of Skegness sat during Council Meetings, and told us that the twenty town councillors, who represented four wards of Skegness, five members per ward sat at an arced bench opposite.
Interviewer, Paul Gooch asked Coun Byford if the Skegness Council was represented by the major national political parties.
Coun Byford affirmed that it was, comprising of representatives from the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal and Independent Parties.Back in the Mayor’s Parlour, Councillor Terry Bryan (below) told us about the Mayoral Chains. He said that the Council had recently purchased a new set of Mayor’s and Deputy Mayor’s Chains.
Coun Bryan said he had actulally had the pleasure of wearing this chain when he was Mayor.
The chain bears the old Skegness Urban District Council emblem, which has now been replaced with that of the present Skegness Town Council, which has the Jolly Fisherman logo on.
Coun Bryan explained that each Mayor has his name added onto the links of the chain. As the chain became full, there was an option to have more links added, but the Council decided it was more appropiate to purchase new Mayoral chains, which are now being worn by the present Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
The exhibit below is the Civic Regalia of the Deputy Chairman of the Skegness Urban District Council. It was presented by Councillor D H Lilley in 1960.
What else do we find in the Mayor’s Parlour?
The Mayor himself, of course!
below: The Mayor of Skegness 2006 to 2007, Coun Phil Kemp.
Webmaster’s note – taking photos in the Mayor’s Parlour is a photographer’s nightmayor (sorry couldn’t resist that!) as exhibits are behind glass and there are lots of reflections and windows. I’m not a professional photographer, so please forgive the flares etc – I did my best!
Video of the Skegness Town Hall Open Day
I am very disappointed indeed to see that the Skegness Council has removed the official,dare I say, legal and historical crest from the Chain of Office of the Mayor.
The origional crest was derived from one of Lord Lumley’s which is on the tomb of his first wife Lady Jane Fitzalan (d 1577)in The Lumley Chapel, Cheam, Surrey – five miles from our home.
My question is did the Council approach the present Lord Lumley on this matter?
[...] 1908, and this original, along with the second painting, hangs in the Mayor’s Parlour in the Skegness Town Hall today. It is generally understood that Hassall painted the second work in 1928, and the artwork is [...]