Mayor's October blog
My apologies, my blog is dreadfully late this month. Mostly because it has been the busiest month of my Mayoral year so far. However, it has also been the most exciting and enjoyable.
The major event in October of course was the visit to the town of His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent. The Town Council and 4 Military Intelligence Battalion had many meetings to plan the day down to the last detail. We agonised over the design of the plaque on the War Memorial, road closures, who would be presented to the Duke and even what we would have for lunch. I think that you can imagine those meetings. We really should not have worried, the Duke was a charming and gracious guest who immediately put everyone at ease and as a result we all had an enjoyable and memorable day.
Since writing my last blog I have attended five council meetings, seven sub committee meetings, eight civic occasions, opened the Mop Fair and attended three training workshops for Finance Audit, Planning and Bench Marking. So if you would like to bench mark and audit a planning meeting I am the person for the job.
On the 10th October I was fortunate to be invited to celebrate twenty five years of the Splash organisation in the town hall. Splash has been running a programme of positive activities for the most vulnerable young people in Wiltshire during school holidays. Their aim is to divert young people from negative behaviour and to raise their self esteem and confidence. Paul Martin from Televisions “Flog It” was there and conducted a very successful auction. Also attending this celebration was Bear Grylls and I can confirm to his many admirers he is as charming in the flesh as he appears on television.
The 15th October saw me in Salisbury as the guest of the City Mayor Councillor Jo Broom. Along with other Mayors of Wiltshire we visited the very progressive special needs school Exeter House. The building was ultra modern and the methods used to try to get these young people to their full potential were awe inspiring. The overall impression and memory I am left with from this ground breaking school is of happy smiling faces. We were then privileged to have a tour of Salisbury’s beautiful City Hall and after lunch visited their world famous cathedral.
Later on in the month I attended the official unveiling of the new Air Ambulance for Wiltshire, a Bell 429 helicopter. I was given much very technical information about its capabilities but suffice to say that the bit I was most impressed with was that the air ambulance can reach anywhere in Wiltshire within eleven minutes from being called, very comforting for us all.
Preparations continue for the Christmas Light Switch on Evening which is on Friday 21st November. From three o’clock onwards Santa will be in his grotto in the Town Hall meeting the children of the town. It may be wise to book as he gets very busy. A market with many interesting stalls will be in the High Street and also some children’s rides and candy floss stalls. The school carol choir event will be held in St Mary’s Church from 5.30pm. Santa’s sleigh will drive through the town at approximately 6.30pm with a lantern parade of children following and singing carols. I will be on board the sleigh accompanying Santa to a stage in front of the Castle and Ball where the citizen of the year will be announced followed by the countdown to the light switch on at 7p.m.
I do hope that you can join us on the 21st November it is promising to be a very enjoyable night.