Folkestone Town Council has announced this year’s Town Sunday Service is to be held in the Parish Church of St Mary and St Eanswythe on Sunday 7 July at 10.30 am.
From 1313 the inhabitants of Folkestone, summoned by the blowing of a horn, assembled annually at the Churchyard Cross in the Church grounds to elect their Mayor. After the Reformation and up until the end of the 19th Century, all that remained of the Churchyard Cross was its plinth and steps but the custom of the election continued.
In 1897, Canon Matthew Woodward, amid considerable controversy, had the present cross built using the ancient site. Although the Town Mayor is now elected in the comfort of the Town Hall, it is from the Churchyard Cross, prior to the Service in Church, that the Town Mayor is named and prayers said for the person honoured and elected by the Town Councillors for the Town of Folkestone.
The Town Mayor, Councillor Abena Akuffo-Kelly, will be there accompanied by Folkestone Town Councillors and other civic dignitaries. It is hoped to make the occasion as fully representative of Folkestone’s life and community as possible and Townspeople, clubs, societies and organisations are invited to be represented.