Colchester: Councillor to open fisheries - at sea
7:30am Friday 5th August 2011
AN historic ceremony to mark the opening of the oyster season is to return to the high seas.
Former Colchester mayor Sonia Lewis ended years of tradition when she opted to mark the official opening of Colchester Oyster Fishery from dry land.
She could not perform the traditional ceremony from a boat in the River Colne because she suffers from acute sea sickness.
Instead, she opted to carry out the ceremony from the Blockhouse at the eastern most tip of Cudmore Grove in East Mersea reviving a tradition which dated back hundreds of years.
However, Colchester’s new mayor Helen Chuah said she would be carrying out the ceremony in the river - although she has a phobia about water.
For more on this story, see this week's Essex County Standard