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A Year later Truelove Tours was again commissioned

by Colchester Comedy Festival to produce a short film for screening at Firstsite as a curtain raiser before all of the

main features selected for the June 2014 festival.

The result of the commission was

 “Civic Ceremonial II - The Telling of the Town Joke”.

In this piece Darren returned to the strange, loquacious  and decidedly dangerous world of His Worshipfulness A Mayor of Colchester, accompanied  once again by repressed, grovelling Town Clerk, Mister Tymperleys, the Borough’s Highest Ranking Idiot; Counsellor Timothy St. John Mycroft Young and now aided by deeply worried Secretary Miss Abbeygate…


In 2015 came another film  “Civic Ceremonial III - The Importance of Being Absent” in which His Worshipfulness and company had to  deal with a trio of borough problems in the form of a new local MP, a scheming Deputy Mayor and something decidedly unexpected being unearthed in the bowels of the local Theatre…


In 2016 Colchester Comedy Festival invited audiences to join His Worshipfulness for “Civic Ceremonial IV - The Beating of the Bounds”; a Comedy walking Tour commencing with the Changing of the Mayoral Trousers in the Council Chamber and taking in the sites of Historic Colchester from The Mercury Theatre to a selection of the town’s finest Pedestrian Crossings…

Civic Ceremonial II The Telling of the Town Joke CC III - Absent CC IV - Beating Civic Ceremonial IV The Beating of the Bounds Civic Ceremonial III The Importance of Being Absent Civic Ceremonial I An Audience With A Mayor of Colchester

A Colchester Comedy Festival Series.


In 2013 Truelove Tours’ founder Darren Gooding was commissioned to open Colchester’s inaugural Comedy Festival with a site-specific piece which took place at Colchester Town Hall within the Mayor’s Parlour. The result was “Civic Ceremonial - An Audience with A Mayor of Colchester”. Described as ‘The League of Gentlemen’ meets ‘Yes Minister’  the audience were taken on an intimate and hilarious journey into the deliciously dark heart of local government…