Mayor's Blog October 2009
Mayoral Blog 2009/10
Councillor John B. Sullivan JP, GNSM, LTCL
Welcome to the official Blog of the Civic Mayor of Tameside
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The school holidays has meant it’s been a relatively quiet week for Mayoral engagements. However, we have still attended some superb events and once again my thanks go to everybody who has worked so hard to make these functions so enjoyable.
On Monday evening, Francoise and I were delighted to welcome to the Mayor’s Parlour Sue Mitchell with members of staff and users from the Tameside Family History Centre. Through my own personal experiences with the team, I know they work very hard and do a wonderful job in helping people learn about their past.
There were no Mayoral engagements on Tuesday but on Wednesday I was pleased to attend a Citizenship Ceremony at Dukinfield Town Hall.
There were no engagements on Thursday but on Friday I was honoured to be invited to officially open the brand new Currys/PC World Store on the Snipe Retail Park.
It is a fantastic new flagship store, the only one of its kind in the North West. The Manager and his team gave me a terrific welcome and it was lovely to see how enthusiastic and excited they were. The store is a much welcome addition to the Snipe and has also created 26 new jobs. All of these positions have gone to people who live within an 8 mile radius of the store so that’s wonderful news for the Borough.
Later I attended the Tameside Training Consortium 4th Annual Conference at the Village Hotel in Ashton. The theme of this year’s conference was “Working Together to Put People First in Tameside”. I joined the afternoon session and was very impressed with the programme particularly the brand new training through drama initiative. The Consortium is an employer led partnership in Tameside, which is facilitated by the Council and the private care sector. I had a super afternoon with a wonderful dedicated group of people who really do a terrific job under truly difficult circumstances.
Considering we had such a quiet start to the week, boy did we have a busy day on Saturday! We started the day by calling in at the Greater Manchester East County Scout Council ‘Drop in Day’ at Egerton Park Arts College in Denton.
The event had been organised as part of the Scout Council’s Annual Conference to encourage people to learn more about Scouting and the opportunities it provides for young people.
It really was a very interesting event with lots of information and displays on offer, as well as being a testament to the unbelievable dedication of a wonderful group of volunteers. From here, we moved on to Denton Festival Hall to visit the Tameside (Denton) Art Society Annual Exhibition. It was a superb display of work by extremely talented local artists and Francoise and I felt as though we could have stayed there all day. However, duty called and it was on to our next event, a Community Fun Day on the site of the former Hawthorns School in Audenshaw.
The day had largely been organised by PC Katie Murray, Community Beat Manager for the Audenshaw area, who in spite of a really bad cold was there encouraging everyone to have a great time. It was a fantastic event with a host of stalls and activities for the whole family to enjoy. All the monies raised from the day will be ploughed back into the community and it was heart warming to see so many local people, council staff and local councillors pulling together to help make the event successful.
On Saturday evening, we were invited to attend a Charity Dinner Dance at Ashton Masonic Hall in aid of Children in Need. The event was organised by the Asda Store at Eastlands in Manchester. It was a superb evening with wonderful food and excellent entertainment including performances by members of the junior Hallé Orchestra and the Blackley Brass Band. Everybody had a fantastic time while generously supporting a very good cause.
On Sunday, Francoise and I visited the site of the infamous Gorse Hall Murder. The murder of George Harry Storrs in Stalybridge in 1909 remains unsolved. 100 years on, Councillor Jackie Lane, the Council’s Project Head for Heritage and the Friends of Gorse Hall took us back in time to retell the story of events leading up to the crime.
It was a fascinating story, superbly narrated, with surprise re-enactments performed by brilliant local actors and the unveiling of a commemorative plaque by Mr Tom Mills, a great nephew of the victim, it was a great way to end to another unforgettable week.
Thank you for joining me.
See you again soon.
Kind regards
Mayoral engagements have been quieter this week as we approach the school holidays.
On Monday afternoon, I had the pleasure of hosting the third in a series of receptions for Council employees to recognise and acknowledge their hard work and dedicated service. This time I was joined by staff from Services for Children and Young People. It was an honour to meet ‘the team’ and to offer my thanks for the outstanding work they do for this Council and the people of the Borough.
Later, Francoise and I welcomed ladies from the Denton Women’s Club to the Town Hall. We had a lovely evening and I think everybody enjoyed their tour of the Mayor’s Parlour and Council Chamber.
There were no Mayoral engagements on Tuesday and Wednesday so I took the opportunity to catch up with a few jobs at home.
On Thursday evening, we were joined by the Reverend Philip Bennison and guests from the Rotary Club of Hyde. Once again, Francoise and I had a super night in excellent company and it was good to be able to show our appreciation for the wonderful work the Rotarians do within our local community.
On Friday night, we were invited to attend the Mayor of Wigan’s Civic Reception at Haigh Hall. It was a splendid occasion in a superb setting and my thanks go to the Mayor and his team for a lovely evening.
I had a private commitment on Saturday, so the Deputy Mayor very kindly attended a Licensing Service for the Reverend Josie Partridge at St Peter’s Church in Ashton. Josie has been appointed as the new Team Vicar in the Parish of the Good Shepherd in Ashton and will be responsible for St Peter’s and Holy Trinity Church.
There were no engagements on Sunday so that brings another week to a close.
Thank you for joining me and I hope to see you again soon.
Best wishes.
My first engagement of the week was to attend a meeting of the Trustees of the Burton and Heginbottom Charity. The Charity was set up in the 1930's from the residue of the will of Mrs Burton of Warren Lea, Ashton-under-Lyne to benefit the elderly of Ashton. Each year, a notice appears towards end of October in the local newspaper inviting residents of Ashton, who are over 70, to apply.
Usually around 100 applications are received and successful applicants receive a voucher to be used at one of a small number of shops in Ashton Town Centre.
On Monday evening, Francoise and I had the pleasure of welcoming the Borough’s young Ambassadors for Sport to the Mayor’s Parlour. These young people are specially selected talented leaders or performers in sport who have very realistic aspirations about going to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the future. We had a super evening and we were delighted to be able to meet and chat to our guests and to wish them every success for the future.
On Tuesday morning, I headed over to Holden Clough Primary School in Ashton-under-Lyne to present two very prestigious awards. Holden Clough has recently achieved the Eco School Green Flag award and the International School Award. This is a wonderful achievement and everybody at the school should feel incredibly proud of their success. Well done Holden Clough!
From here, I visited Tameside Hospital 
and spent some time with Mrs Barbara Thompson JP and volunteers from the League of Friends. It was a lovely visit and very interesting. Did you know that the League of Friends has raised over £¾ million to buy equipment for the hospital? Neither did I. They do an incredible job and it was a pleasure to meet some of those involved and to hear about their work.
On Wednesday lunchtime, I was invited to visit Hyde Bangladesh Welfare Association to help welcome a small delegation of senior Bangladesh Civil Servants who were visiting the area as guests of Greater Manchester Police. The visit went very well and I was delighted to lend my support to the occasion.
On Wednesday evening, Francoise and I were joined by our Deputies, Sue and Kieran and other Council Members at the George Lawton Hall in Mossley for a production of “Hot Mikado” courtesy of Dukinfield Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society. It was a brilliant show and my congratulations and thanks go to everybody involved.
On Thursday afternoon, I invited the Chief Executive and members of the Council’s Executive Management Team to join me in the Mayor’s Parlour for tea and cakes. It was good to meet up with ‘the team’ in a more relaxed atmosphere and to chat about my year in office.
There were no engagements on Friday but on Saturday, Francoise and I had a lovely evening at the Armoury in Ashton with members of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regimental Association on the occasion of their annual Passchendaele Dinner.
On Sunday afternoon, we joined members of the Droylsden Royal Naval Association and Tameside and District Ex-Services Association at the Irish Club in Ashton for their Trafalgar Day Concert and later we visited the Hindu temple on Russell Street for a superbly themed celebration of Diwali and the Hindu New Year. Here, we were privileged to witness one of the largest events in the North West with a focus on family and environment.
It really has been another super week and Francoise and I are grateful to everybody who has given their time to these the events and has helped make our engagements so enjoyable.
That’s it for this now.
Hope to see you next time.
Best wishes.
Hello again, thank you for tuning in.
Unfortunately this week, Francoise has really been under the weather and therefore has been unable to join me at most of our Mayoral engagements. Thankfully, I am pleased to say that she is feeling a lot brighter now and hopefully it won’t be too long before she’s back to full fitness.
On Monday evening, I was delighted to be able to welcome representatives from the Tameside Talking News for the Blind.
This wonderful group of volunteers produce a weekly oral news service for the visually impaired residents of our Borough. They really do provide a fantastic service and I took this opportunity to thank them for their work. One couple in attendance, Mr and Mrs Harry and Mary Ritson, actually founded the group over 30 years ago and amazingly still help to produce the weekly news. I was pleased to be able to recognise their loyal and dedicated service on the evening, by presenting them with a gift as a small token of my appreciation.
There were no Mayoral engagements on Tuesday, but on Wednesday I attended a Memorial Service at St Gabriel’s Church in Ashton for former Tameside Councillor, Mrs Dorothy Parry. Dorothy was elected to Tameside Council in 1996 to represent the people of Ashton St Michael’s Ward. She served for one term of office and during that time was the first ever Chair of Ashton District Assembly. Although I didn’t know Dorothy personally, I have heard many lovely things said about her from my colleagues and I was honoured to represent the Council at this special service.
Later, I attended the launch event of a new community group called ‘The Hope Learning Partnership’. The group is made up of volunteer members from the local Christian community who share a common interest in working towards building a community that is supportive of people and families facing life affecting issues. I was pleased to attend the launch and to offer my good wishes to everyone involved.
On Thursday, I was invited to attend a luncheon at the Indian Community Centre in Ashton to welcome the Archbishop of York . The Archbishop was visiting the centre as part of his tour of the diocese and was accompanied by the Bishop of Middleton . It really was a pleasure to join them on this occasion as they met and chatted with members of the local community.
Later, I welcomed the Deputy Lieutenants of Tameside to the Mayor’s Parlour. The Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester appoints several Deputy Lieutenants from each Borough in the County to support him in his work. I was delighted to meet our representatives and to learn a little more about their role.
On Friday morning, I was pleased to attend and to officially open this year’s World Mental Health Day event at Ashton Town Hall. World Mental Health day is celebrated in October each year and is an internationally recognised day to promote mental health and well being around the world. Each year a different theme is chosen and, for 2009, the focus was on 'integrating mental health into primary care' - with the aim of helping people to use mental health services closer to their home, so that they can keep up with daily activities and families stay together.
There were lots of displays and activities in the Town Hall and hopefully many people took the opportunity during the day to call in to learn more about the services available here in Tameside.
Later, I visited Bowlacre Elderly Persons Home in Hyde to help celebrate the 100th birthday of Miss Ada Blackshaw.
Unfortunately, due to Francoise’s illness, we had to cancel a Dinner we were scheduled to attend on Friday evening with the St John Council for Greater Manchester. We did however join them on Saturday morning at Manchester Cathedral at a special 'Service of Thanksgiving and Rededication on the occasion of the visitation of Priory of England and the Islands'. It was a very important event for the members of St John Ambulance in Greater Manchester and Francoise and I were delighted to be able to lend our support.
On Sunday morning we returned to Manchester Cathedral once again, this time for Annual Service for HM Judges and all those associated with the administration of justice. An important day to mark the beginning of the Legal Year. The event included a civic procession into the Cathedral with full robes and Mace and Francoise and I were pleased to be accompanied by the Borough Solicitor.
In the afternoon, we headed over to Droylsden to help celebrate the 100th birthday of Mrs Agnes Hunt and then, in the evening, we attended the Tameside Diwali Celebrations outside Ashton Town Hall. We had a wonderful night with members of our local Hindu Community which included some fabulous entertainment and a lantern parade around the town centre.
And that brings another busy week to an end.
Thank you for me joining me.
I hope to see you soon.
Best wishes.