A FORMER mayor is ready for life after office after attending a total of 500 events and raising about £32,000 for his nominated charities.

David Harrison, former Wickford councillor, has spent two years as mayor of Basildon - and today he begins a new life outside of the council chamber.

Having served the council on and off for around 30 years, Mr Harrison is very proud of the work he has done during his tenure.

He said: “After two years, it is very suddenly all over.

“It has gone quite quickly and has been a great time which I have thoroughly enjoyed.”

After a full-on couple of years, he is planning to take a short break, and taking time to appreciate the people he has met and worked with.

Mr Harrison said: “It is amazing the number of organisations I have met.

“I think there is not enough publicity given to some people in the borough.

“I feel very humbled to have met them.

“It was also fantastic to have been able to welcome Olympian Max Whitlock after he won his medals, meeting the Duchess of Cambridge in Wickford, and there have been little things that have just been amazing moments.

“I even did an interview with a nine-year-old girl at Quilters School in Billericay. She asked me a lot of questions, with one being; ‘what are councillors like?’. She was fantastic, and I was really impressed.”

Mr Harrison now plans to start supporting his son, Lee, who is goalkeeping coach for Southend United.

Lee set up the charity, GKs for Gosh with his friend, Wes Friedel, after Mr Harrison’s grandson, Luke received treatment from Great Ormond Street Hospital after a tumour was found in his kidney when he was ten.

Mr Harrison said: “The charity has just started up again and I would like to get involved with that.

“It would be great to get as many Premier League clubs involved as possible, getting signed shirts, gloves and boots sent over so we can use them for fundraising for the hospital.”

Now that he is moving on from life as a councillor, Mr Harrison is leaving with many happy memories and very few regrets.

The new mayor of Basildon was elected last night at its full council.

Mr Harrison hopes the new mayor will be able to continue improving the borough.