The new Lord Warden and Admiral of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle, Admiral the Lord Boyce, GCB, OBE.,paid his first visit to Rye on Sunday 17 May.
He was welcomed by The Mayor of Rye Councillor Ian Potter and Mayoress Jessica Neame. After inspecting the Guard of Honour made up of Cadets from the Rye Sea Cadet unit he was taken into the Town Hall and introduced to the Deputy Mayor Councillor Paul Osbourn and other councillors, he then spent an hour at a special reception and enjoyed talking to the local characters that were gathered to meet him. He was greatly impressed when Councillor Breeds revealed his family records go back in Rye 500 years and was introduced to ‘Butcher Breeds’, or all that is left of him, still in the gibbet in the Town Hall attic. After the reception The Lord Warden was accompanied in a small procession, led by Mayor Councillor Paul Osbourn , on a short walk around the cobbled streets, terminating at the Mermaid Inn for luncheon.
The visit to Rye came less than a week after Lord Boyce was installed in office as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, at a session of the Grand Court of Shepway held in Dover, on Tuesday 12th April.
Born in 1943, Admiral Lord Boyce has the credentials to make a fine Lord Warden, he follows in some very famous footsteps, Winston Churchill and the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother to name but two. He was educated at Hurstpierpoint College and the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. He joined the Royal Navy in 1961 and rose to the position of First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff. In 1998 he served as Chief of the Defence Staff and Aide-de-Camp to H.M. The Queen from February 2001.
On his retirement, in 2003, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce was created a Life Peer (with the title Baron Boyce, of Pimlico in the City of Westminster) and he now sits as a cross-bencher in the House of Lords. The new Lord Warden was appointed by The Queen, on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Those that met him on this visit were impressed. “He took a genuine interest in Rye and will make a fine Lord Warden”.
Rye’s Own May 2005
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