Menna award is happy first duty for incoming Mayor
THE new Mayor for the borough has officially started her new role.
Councillor Lesley Smetham took over the role as Mayor of Cheshire East at the annual mayor-making ceremony.
Her first duty was to honour Macclesfield Paralympic hero, Menna Fitzpatrick.
She was bestowed the honour of Freedom of the Borough following her incredible performance at the recent winter games.
Menna was presented with the scroll of honour by the new Mayor after hearing council leader Rachel Bailey speak of her amazing courage and inspirational determination in overcoming her visual impairment.
The presentation was the highlight of the Mayor-making ceremony which saw coun Smetham, from Gawsworth, take the reigns after having been deputy Mayor to coun Arthur Moran for the past civic year.
And the new Mayor said she will try to use her new responsibilty to bring the council together.
Coun Smetham said: “I am looking forward to working with you all in a non-partisan spirit of co-operation and mutual respect, as we focus at full council on opportunities for making the best decisions possible for our residents within the constraints of the tough times that we are undoubtedly facing.
“In spite of much that is said and written in the media, there is a lot of good news to share about our council. Cheshire East is special for us and council has achieved much, not only since its inception in 2009 but especially during the past year or two.
“At the end of 2017, we heard that we achieved our highest number of awards ever.
“I hope that together we can build on that excellent provision for our residents and also develop our resilience to cope with whatever challenges we might face during the next year.”
She has chosen two charities to support, Carers Trust4all, formerly known as Crossroads, and Friends for Leisure. The young people’s charity works to give youngsters in special schools that are some distance from home the chance to meet with other young people in their neighbourhood through organised activities.
Coun Liz Durham, who represents Broken Cross, has been made deputy mayor for the coming year.