Councillor June Harrison

Mayor of Hyndburn

BEING out in nature is good for body and soul and I love to get outdoors, either on my allotment, or in my garden, getting fresh air and exercise whilst I’m weeding, planting and pruning.

So it was lovely to be invited along to present prizes to people at the Great Harwood Civic Society Horticultural Show and the Baxenden Allotments and Gardens Society Show recently.

Both organisations have a membership who grow their own and who, besides reaping the enormous physical and mental health benefits of this, also form firm friendships in the process too.

I thoroughly enjoyed both events where I saw all manner of flowers, vegetables, crafts and artwork and received a warm welcome too!

Another wonderful outdoorsy day was at the Forest School where I unveiled a piece of fantastic Forest School art work in the company of the artist and the children who attend the Forest School at the Park Child and Family Centre.

Macmillan is one of my Mayoral Charities, it’s a cause close to my heart and so it was fantastic to be invited to lots of Macmillan Coffee mornings last month.

The coffee, the cake and the company was superb at each and every one, all raising lots of money for this great cause.

I’ve been to Accrington’s magnificent Town Hall Ballroom three times recently.

The Town Hall is now in its final stage of a £1.5 million transformation, which will see the newly refurbished ground floor area finished and open for business in November.

The three events all celebrated and highlighted the amazing achievements of people and organisations in our community.

My first visit to the Town Hall was for the Hyndburn Community Sports Awards, recognising local sporting achievements of athletes, coaches, volunteers, teams, clubs and schools across Hyndburn.

Later last month I went along to the Hyndburn Cultural Association Community celebration, recognising the hard work of community members and raising funds for my Mayoral Charities.

Then, most recently, it was back to the ballroom at the Town Hall for Accrington and Rossendale’s Higher Education Graduation Ceremony, showcasing the brilliant educational achievements of college graduates.

All three events were extremely enjoyable evenings, and all made me very proud to be part of our Hyndburn community. Thanks and congratulations to everyone involved.

I’ve also been to lots of other wonderful celebratory events including the Rotary Club’s Charter Dinner and the Over 50s Forum, two more organisations who also do great work in Hyndburn, and I enjoyed both events immensely.

Hyndburn is also lucky to have so many remarkable young people who do great things for their community and lately we’ve been along to two events highlighting this.

One was the Princes Trust awards and the other was the Accrington Sea Cadets fund raising dinner.

It’s great to know that we have so many young people doing their bit for the community and Hyndburn’s future is certainly bright with them around.

Tomorrow, Saturday 26th October, at 1pm we’ll be cutting a special anniversary cake in Accrington Market Hall to celebrate 150 years of our beautiful Market Hall. There’ll be a free vintage fair on the Town Square and a historic display taking you through the past 150 years of Accrington Market Hall, come and join us!