AFTER a two-week stay in hospital Swindon mayor Rex Barnett is now at home and back to his usual cheery self.

The 73-year-old picked up a chest infection earlier in the year, which refused to budge, and in the early hours of March 26 he suffered a severe asthma attack.

He was taken by ambulance from his Haydon Wick home to the Great Western Hospital where he spent a week before he was transferred to the Royal Brompton Hospital, in London, for a bronchoscopy.

His mayoral engagements for the fortnight were cancelled or taken on by deputy mayor Ray Ballman but Rex is now looking forward to getting back to the job he loves.

“I’ve missed it so much,” he said. “There is such a fantastic community here in Swindon, everyone is so caring and we meet so many great people. I love it.

“I can’t wait to get back to normal. It has really niggled me that I have had to miss so much, especially the Pride of Swindon awards, the Mad March Hare, and, of course, Sandy Martin’s funeral.

“Sandy and I started the Mad March Hare off together last year, we even did the warm up, and only a few weeks ago I emailed him to say we should do it again but, unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.

“I have missed a lot, but I will make up for it during the rest of my term.”

Rex will kick off his return to mayoral engagements when he attends Gablecross police station today for Chief Superintendent Paul Howlett’s retirement but, under doctor’s orders, he will be taking it easy.

He will return to hospital in three weeks to pick up the results of his operation but says he is feeling fit and well.

“Both hospitals were brilliant and I have had hundreds of cards, emails and letters from people, I can’t believe it,” he said.

His wife Sandra said: “We have so many cards, we had them all up in the window at GWH but there are too many to put around the house.

“Rex has got a lot of people to thank for their support.”

Rex, who is the councillor of Haydon Wick, sees his mayoral term of office end in May.

During his year in office he has raised more than £30,000 for three charities – Prospect Hospice, the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Movement and the Willows Counselling Service.