Mayoral attire is rare sight as events go virtual

I have made up my mind that this Mayoral year is a virtual one.

Since my last column I have attended just two events wearing my Chain of Office where I have actually been seen! That’s two events in four weeks.

Considering that last year I was averaging 17 events every week, my presence around the borough is now a rare occurrence.

If you had been lucky you might just have caught a glance of me in my full mayoral attire last week, standing behind the Cenotaph making a video recording for Remembrance Sunday.

The council are producing a ‘Tribute to our Veterans’ to commemorate this very special and important annual event.

You will be able to view this on the Council website nearer the eleventh hour on the eleventh day.

The presentation will include prayers, speeches and music that would normally be played in normal times.

These are not normal times and this year’s event has be cancelled to prevent crowding.

Casting my mind back just 12 months, it was a moving experience to be stood at the cenotaph representing the people of the borough, then having the privilege in laying a wreath to the fallen in bloody conflicts during the last century, including my Grandfather William Baron who was killed in France in WW1 and who I am named after.

During the filming I was using an autocue to help me with my speech. It was the first time I had done this and it was much more difficult than I thought.

Those of you who know me well will know of my vast experience with amateur theatre, both on stage, acting and off stage, producing and directing shows.

It took several takes before I got the speech right, reading the lines from an auto cue doesn’t need any acting, I kept acting, dramatic pauses and all that it’s what I have always done!

My admiration of the news readers on the television has now gone up a notch or two.

The second time I wore the Mayoral chains was chairing full council, this was a Zoom meeting streamed live on YouTube.

Councillors are getting used to attending meetings when they are not really there.

I was the nearest to the ‘actual’ Town Hall Council chamber, Zooming in from Number one Riverside.

I think Councillor John Hartley Zooming in from Littleborough Pennines was the farthest away.

The rest were all virtually there.

The meeting was a fairly lively one, which is good for democracy.

Obviously these meeting are different from normal but are a fairly good substitute.

I personally always enjoyed the exchanges in the chamber between Councillor Brett and Councillor Dearnley, especially in heated debates and when Councillor

Kelly joined in it got even more heated.

You don’t get any ‘body language’ in Zoom meetings which is a shame, however council business gets done and that’s what’s most important.

I have just received the news that the bid for Heritage lottery funding for our Town Hall restoration has been approved which is wonderful.

A lot of very hard work has been done to make this happen.

The Team lead by Jonathan Hindle must be congratulated; our gratitude goes out to everyone involved. Thankfully this isn’t virtual, it’s for real.