THE TOWN SIGN - In 1987 when the Town Council was founded, following two years as a Neighbourhood Council, Haywards Heath did not have its own coat of arms and the then £3,000 cost of obtaining one was considered an unnecessary expense. A local resident, and former Town Councillor the late Bernard Bradford, came up with the idea of the town’s present logo, a Cavalier and Roundhead, following the oft reported, though unauthenticated, altercation during the Civil War in the area that was to become Haywards Heath. Within the sign there is also a Roman Eagle symbolising the Roman Road that runs through the town and a Rampion flower, which is reputed to only grow on the South Downs. The green mound that the soldiers stand on represents the “heath”. It makes for an interesting and original emblem for the town and has its place of honour on the Town Mayor’s Badge of Office. You can see the original and larger version of it in the garden at the corner of Church Road and South Road, opposite the Star Public House. In 1990, the late Ron Fletcher, a prominent Town, District & County Councillor, commissioned an oil painting of the Cavalier and Roundhead, which he gifted to the Town Council. This resides in the Council Chamber in the Town Hall. Prior to the picture being completed, the Council ran a competition for the local Primary Schools to come up with a motto for the Council. The winning school was St Joseph’s RC Primary with their suggestion “To Serve the People Well”