Mr Mayor’s Diary September 2009
Up to date the Mayoress and I have now attended over 100 engagements.
Since my last report we have welcomed HRH Princess Royal to Salford;
attended an open day organised by the Salford Sailing Group; welcomed a
Chinese delegation to the Civic Centre; attended the 190th Anniversary of
Chapel Street and Hope URC; hosted a lunch for the Salford swimmers
selected for the GB Swimming Squad; visited the Eccles Community Art
Gallery; attended a weekend of festivals; unveiled a commemorative plaque
relating to the evacuation of Salford children; and attended the funeral of
Fusilier Simon Annis who died tragically in Afghanistan.
The most memorable events have been:
Salford Sailing Group – we chose a very windy day to visit this Group’s
Open Day at Pennington Flash. The group use dinghy sailing as a medium to
engage with young people from Salford some of whom have difficult family
circumstances. The Mayoress and I had met representatives from the group
at our first ever engagement when the Freemasons gave the Group a sailing
dinghy so it was interesting to see the end product - young people sailing
with great competence some after only a short period of tuition. The highlight
of the afternoon was a demonstration of synchronised sailing across
Pennington Flash followed by a capsizing exercise.
Eccles Community Art Gallery - it was a real pleasure to visit the Eccles
Community Art Gallery which is situated on Boothway, Eccles (near Silcocks).
The gallery which is the brainchild of Karen Illingworth is only open on
Saturdays but has some really good paintings by local artists as well as
representatives from community groups giving out information on their
particular projects – when we there a representative from Friends of Eccles
Station was in the gallery talking to people about the projects that the Friends
were undertaking.
Salford Swimming Club - the Club has just had 8 of its swimmers chosen
for the Great Britain squad which is a really major achievement both for the
club, the individuals concerned and the City. It gave us great pleasure to
meet up with 6 of this very dedicated group and to get to see some of the
medals which they had won recently at the National Championships. Heather
Fredreikson was one of the swimmers and she had brought with her her
Paralympic medals from Beijing which included a Gold Medal. I knew most of
the swimmers from the days when my daughter swam with the Salford Squad
so the meeting brought back many happy memories and meant so much
more because I had some idea what both the swimmers and their parents
had to go through to attain such a high standard in their swimming.
Festivals -the Bank Holiday weekend was memorable for two things the
awful weather and the number of community festivals which were going on!
The Mayoress and I visited Ordsall, Broughton and Buile Hill parks as well as
the Brown Cow in Winton and the Irlam & Cadishead Summer Show. There
were good crowds at all the events and lots of very interesting stalls with a
major emphasis on falconry!
Evacuation Memorial -the Mayoress and I also attended a very special
event at Sainsbury’s on Regent Road where we helped unveil a plaque
commemorating the remarkable evacuation of 20,000 children from Salford
immediately prior to the start of the war. We met with Eric Youd who had
campaigned for some considerable time to get the plaque erected as well as
some of his fellow evacuees who had amazing tales to tell of their
experiences. All credit to Sainsbury’s for getting behind this project and also
to Timpsons who donated the plaque.
Funeral of Fusilier Simon Annis – the Mayoress and I represented the City
on this very sad occasion. Fsr Annis was given a full military funeral and
hundreds of local people lined the streets of Irlam & Cadishead to pay their
respects. From the tributes that were paid during the service it was clear that
Simon had been quite a character during his short life and I was really proud
that so many local people were prepared to support his family at this
incredibly difficult time. As his mother, Ann Annis, put it in her tribute to her
son, ‘The lads are all heroes; they do a job that’s so brave and so special. We
feel they need more support and recognition from our country. If we are
British, let’s be proud of being British and show all of our special heroes we
are here for them’. At the funeral I think local people did just that and I hope
Simon’s family were able to take strength from this amazing show of support.
To find out more about these events and everything else that we are doing check Mr
Mayor’s Diary on the City Council website where you will also find the delights of my
webcast.