Town Mayor

Godalming Town Mayor for the Year 2009/2010 - Councillor Joy Poulter

Joy has lived in Godalming for 35 years, she is married to Mike and they have two grown up sons & five grandchildren. She swims three times a week at the Charterhouse Leisure Centre and sings in both the Ss Peter & Paul Church Choir and Godalming Choral Society.

Joy has been a Town Councillor since 2007 but has a much longer history of commitment to the Godalming community. She was a governor at her sons schools and for eight years ran a summer play scheme for children with special needs. More recently Joy was Chairman of GO Godalming for a number of years and many new and lasting initiatives were set up under her chairmanship. These initiatives included Godalming in Bloom, Sport Godalming, the Mayor's Pancake Races, Welcome Pack and many 'Shop Window' Competitions. During this period GO Godalming also organised Godalming's VE Day celebrations where Joy forged a strong link with Godalming College and helped the young people from the Leisure and Tourism Department to put on events in the town including, raft races, a fun run and a drama workshop.

Joy was also chairman of the Godalming Choral Society for four years and her responsibilities included organising three concerts annually. Joy also worked with the Ss Peter & Paul Church arranging the successful Church Street Festivals. In 2005 she worked with the Town Mayor, Peter Martin, orchestrating celebrations to commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar and in 2006 she organised part of the celebrations for Godalming's 125 years of electric light.

Joy joined Godalming Rotary Club in 2007 and is a very active Rotarian. She has set up an Interact Club (Junior Rotary 14 to 18 year olds) at Prior's Field School. Their first international project encouraged the whole school to participate in sending shoe bags to an orphanage in Sierra Leone.

Joy spearheaded the restoration of Godalming's Bandstand and for the last three years has arranged 16 to 18 free concerts annually held there every summer Sunday afternoon. These concerts have been very successful attracting audiences of between 400 and 1,000 people. Having worked tirelessly fundraising for the project Joy is at present anticipating the completion of a roof on the bandstand. It is hoped that the new bandstand will be opened at this summer's first concert on 7 June 2009.

In case of query please contact:
Lynne Purnell
PA to the Mayor on 01483 523575 or office@godalming-tc.gov.uk