Farewell from Gary Harrison

Published: 02 August 2024

Gary Harrison, Community Warden, has shared a heartfelt email regarding his departure from KCC. An extract is below:

"Just a short email to say GOODBYE from me.

As you may have heard, KCC have had to make budget cuts and reduce the size of the warden service. Unfortunately for me, I was not one of the survivors!

This last year during the process has been difficult, also following the COVID pandemic and a health issue I encountered, so I have not been as visible as of old days nearly 20 years ago when I first started as the Community Warden for the Elham Valley!

I hope some of what I did changed some lives for the better, and I am particularly proud to have been part of the process for the improvements and facilities at Jubilee and Tayne field Lyminge and helping to save the Old Cricket hut at the Gore that was almost derelict at some stage, along with running a community youth club for many years. I strongly believe that giving young (and old) people things to do, makes for a better community and I am glad to see there is a strong community spirit that has continued this theme.

None of the things I did would have been possible without the support of residents, local groups, parish councils, local authorities, and police, so I would like to thank you all for your support over the years.

There are too many people to thank personally, so I will not go down that road, but to say, you know who you are."

Thank you for your hard work over the years Gary, you will be missed!