By Kate Fleming
The 50th Anniversary of The Independent State of Cuckfield was celebrated in glorious autumnal weather over the three days of the penultimate weekend in October.
Firstly, the election of the new Mayor took place in The Hayloft at The Talbot. The fifty candidates were gradually eliminated during the evening according to the amount of money they had raised, with tension and excitement building up towards the final ten.
Right up until the last moment the result was in the balance, but as the bell chimed and the money counters completed their marathon task it was Wilf Knighton with £8,705.59 who managed to beat the favourite Leanne Knapman (with the tidy sum of £7,748.08) to become Mayor of the Independent State of Cuckfield in this record-breaking 50th year. It made a 2016 overall total of £23,058 raised for local organisations and charities.
Mayor Knighton will play a major role in the distribution of these freshly raised funds, his track record in local affairs is highly impressive.
He has lived with his family in Cuckfield for 53 years, and, as soon as he was able to release himself from the demands of commuting from Haywards Heath to London Bridge, he could focus on improving the community facilities for our area.
[Read the full story on p.14 of Nov/Dec 2016 Cuckfield Life magazine]