A royal award was presented at the election of Brightlingsea's new deputy.

The freemen of the Cinque Port Liberty of Brightlingsea gathered at All Saints Church yesterday (Monday) to elect one of their members, John Stannard, as deputy.

At the end of a deputy's time in office he has the opportunity of awarding a medallion of merit to a person who has carried out a lot of work for their country,

The retiring deputy, James McClure, awarded the medallion, this year, to the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, the Queen Mother.

The ancient ceremony is known as choosing day.

Present at the event were the Mayor of Sandwich, Bernard Butcher, Town Mayor of Brightlingsea, Darren Barenger, Mayor Deputy of Sarre, Wendy Penn and the Mayor Deputy of Fordwich, Val Clark.

Approximately 150 freemen attended the ceremony along with two year ten students from Colne Community School.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.