Why was the beacon late?

Here in Winchelsea, there was a super street party and a number of other events. The only real let-down was the lighting of the beacon.

Winchelsea Corporation signed up to the national beacon scheme, which was set up to light over 4,000 beacons across the country in an attempt to set a world record in celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee.

All the local beacons were timed to be lit at 10.15pm. In Winchelsea, however, the Mayor lit the beacon before 9.30pm! It is bad enough that the Winchelsea beacon is the only one in the country which cannot be seen from any other beacon (rather defeating the purpose of having a beacon) but why was it lit in broad daylight and out of step with the rest of the country? Did the mayor have more important things to do?

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