CROWDS of well wishers lined the streets of a historic seaside resort for an ancient ceremony to welcome its new mayor.

Craig Robinson

CROWDS of well wishers lined the streets of a historic seaside resort for an ancient ceremony to welcome its new mayor.

Kevin Webster and his deputy Pamela Stock were cheered and waved as they made their way to the parish church in Aldeburgh yesterday.

It was part of the traditional inauguration ceremony that takes place in the town every year and regularly attracts a large number of residents and visitors.

Mr Webster, 56, a BT engineer, is the 89th mayor of Aldeburgh since 1885, when it was a borough.

His party included the mayoress, deputy mayor and consort, mace bearer, town clerk, 15 councillors and 21 visiting dignitaries.

They were escorted to the civic service by 653 Squadron Army Air Corps, the British Legion Brass Band and a large parade with members from 11 local societies and organisations, including Aldeburgh RNLI and Coastguards.

The procession wound its way from the town council offices at the medieval Moot Hall up the hill toward St Peter and Paul Church.

Following a short service the parade then made its way back to the seafront.

Mr Webster, Aldeburgh born and bred, told the crowds he was proud to uphold the ancient and honourable traditions of the town and thanked everyone for giving him the opportunity to serve as mayor.

Speaking after the event he said he was looking forward to the year ahead and pledged to tackle issues including affordable housing and traffic.

“Aldeburgh is a great place to live; it's got everything that you need. I love it here and I'm very proud to have this opportunity,” he said. “The next 12 months will be challenging. The Boundary Committee's reshuffle of local government will be interesting and we are also dealing with affordable housing. We've had one site turned down but we are looking in to that.

“Traffic is a definite problem and has been for as long as I can remember. It's another issue that we need to tackle but obviously it can only be done in cooperation with other authorities. We will be working with them to see what we can do.”