IT has been a busy few weeks for Cllr Claire Hewlett, as she delved into her role as deputy mayor and, more recently, acting mayor of Camelford.

Following former mayor Kirsty Ferguson’s resignation at the Camelford annual parish meeting on March 7, Cllr Hewlett fell into place as acting mayor of the town, having enjoyed a busy year as Ms Ferguson’s deputy. She started her report by saying: “Firstly I’d like to say how sad I am to be sat here, to be honest. I would have really liked to convince Kirsty to stay, but her health wouldn’t allow it. She worked her little socks off.”

As Green Party spokesperson for North Cornwall, and with this hat on, Cllr Hewlett then reported that she attended a climate change conference, which was organised by the University of Exeter. “It was very sobering and quite depressing, actually,” she told the meeting.

The meeting also heard that Cllr Hewlett attended the mayor’s event at Launceston Town Hall, along with Cllrs Andy Shaw, Stephen Bond and Michael Coombes, where they each took a turn to read poetry, raising money for the homeless charity, St Petroc’s.

More recently, the town clerk, Esther Grieg, introduced the meeting of the town council on Tuesday, March 19. She started by saying: “Our former chair resigned so we need to elect a chair.”

Cllr Andy Shaw was quick to propose welcoming deputy mayor, Claire Hewlett, to take up the role, becoming acting mayor for the town council, following former mayor Kirsty Ferguson’s resignation.

The mayor’s election is on the first Thursday of May, Ms Grieg told the meeting. “If you want to be elected as mayor or deputy mayor, you need to have the paperwork in beforehand.”

The Post would also like to clarify that Cllr Claire Hewlett was not attending the Brexit march recently in her capacity as mayor of Camelford, as could have been perceived in the March 28 edition.

Cllr Hewlett was attending the march, held in London recently, in her capacity as a campaigner with the Cornwall for Europe group. This is not linked to her role as acting mayor or councillor with Camelford Town Council in any way, as might have been suggested in the March 28 edition of the Post.