THANKS FOR AMAZING YEAR

THANK you to everyone who was kind enough to invite me and my wife Susan to so many of your special occasions during my year as Mayor of Rossendale.

It was an honour to represent Rossendale at civic events and the special invitations to many occasions here in the Valley and equally, importantly, representing and promoting Rossendale elsewhere. It was a great privilege to meet the many thousands of wonderful Rossendale people in so many various ways.

To witness and celebrate four special 100th birthdays with some extraordinary individuals who had lived full lives here in the Valley. There must be something in the Valley water.

To the many excellent schools we visited for so many activities including those special enjoyable nativities, the children’s challenging questions.

Observing the children hard at work and seeing how the schools are used for much more than just educating – school sporting and theatrical events and many other good uses.

The schools have willingly become a large part of community life, which is a credit to all the staff and all those people who volunteer and help to make good use of these excellent facilities.

Also, a thank you for our many interesting invitations to some of the many splendid churches we have in the Valley, serving communities not just in the important religious way but in so many other ways to help sustain and improve people’s lives.

I must say a thank you to all the voluntary theatrical people working here in the Valley. We have so many talented amateur actors giving some excellent performances. We have wonderful theatres who need supporting – their performances of well produced drama and musicals must be seen to be appreciated.

There are other types of performing art going on in the Valley, for example several excellent brass bands, dancing groups and choirs, and we have seen many special performances from talented people of all ages.

If you haven’t been to some of these well publicised events, please think seriously about doing so, your visit and the ticket prices will not disappoint you.

I would also like to say thank you, to everyone who supported my mayor’s charity fundraising events, especially for supporting the new mayor’s charity fund draw, which with support from some kind donors had some wonderful prizes to be won.

I must apologise for the council’s delay in publicising the winning ticket numbers but they were eventually publicised both on the council’s website and also in the Free Press.

The draw raised £3,500 alone, with my mayor’s charity fund in total raising nearly £15,500 – helping 13 local charities including the Northwest Air Ambulance, Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team, and Veterans in the Community.

Can I wish this year’s Mayor and Mayoress, Councillor Colin Crawforth and his wife Denise, the most enjoyable and hopefully as inspirational and successful year in office as we had.

Lastly my genuine thanks go to so many wonderful people of all age groups who work in so many ways doing voluntary work here in Rossendale – from helping or caring for someone, to being a good listener, giving help and advice in organising and planning events, and litter picking.

You all know who you are, and I’ve had the honour and privilege of witnessing and meeting a lot of you as Mayor.

Seeing at first hand the dedicated work you do to help one another, or to help those special people who need your help and support, in so many ways to improve theirs and other people’s lives in our community.

On a personal note and on behalf of the council, I want to say thank you to all. Councillor Granville Morris