A HUSBAND and wife team of councillors has been installed as the new Mayor and Mayoress of Swale.

Cllrs Alan and Jean Willicombe, Conservative ward members for Woodstock in Sittingbourne, were installed as the borough’s new civic dignitaries at the mayor-making ceremony during Swale Council’s annual meeting at the Wyvern Hall, Central Avenue, Sittingbourne.

They take over from out-going Mayor Cllr John Morris (Con, Sheppey Central) and his wife Ann, from Eastchurch.

A vote of thanks to Cllr Morris was proposed by Cllr Ken Pugh and seconded by Cllr Sue Gent, and he was praised for his role as borough ambassador.

Cllr Morris presented cheques totalling just over £8,920 raised by him for the Mayor’s charity fund to Macmillan Cancer Support’s Kent Appeal received by Laura Burtenshaw, Kent fund-raising officer; Swale Youth Development Fund, represented by chairman Rose Moreton; Kent Music, received by acting chief executive Robert Hoult, and BRFM Training represented by Keith Baldock.