Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Friday, 24 September 2010

Even on a wet morning Marjorie and I along with the SBC Officers could feel the excitement building up as tonight is the Celebration Dinner and presentation of the awards for Entente Florale 2010.  

After breakfast we walked to the Salt Museum for the opening of the market by the Mayor of Cervia. There were stalls set out in the museum for tasting and buying local produce. It gave me time to present the Mayor of Cervia with a letter of thanks and a Stockton plaque. We were able to socialise with the judges for Entente Florale and many parties from other countries with whom we had built up a rapport. There were some sailing boats in the harbour with their sails up showing what the old fishing boats were like. The earliest boat was built in 1925.

After lunch we had a walk up to the Palace Hotel to see how the flower tableau was progressing and some tired volunteers were still busy, but even the unfinished  tableau was a delightful sight to see. It didn't take long before we had to put on our finery and I must say everyone looked very smart. Our hotel had put out plenty of umbrellas for our walk through the light rain to the Palace Hotel. The tableau was now complete and looked magnificent in the evening light, and everyone was vying to have their photographs taken with it as a backdrop. We met all the judges and participating parties for pre-dinner drinks and entertainment by a Dutch Choir who sang songs from different countries with which we were encouraged to join in.  

We had a sea food meal with Cervia being a fishing port, but one of the SBC Officers did not like fish so she was missed out on the meal. We did order a vegetarian meal for her, but it didn't turn up until we were eating our sweet of Baked Alaska.

It was now time for the awards and we had the Jersey contingent at our table and they were hopeful for a Gold Award. The awards were given in alphabetical order so Jersey received their Gold Award before us.

We were called up to the stage as the last recipients and stood there in anticipation of our award. Everyone gave a cheer as we were awarded the City Gold Award. Even though we received the award on behalf of the whole Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, we must say a big "THANK YOU" to all the employees of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, without whose hard work we really could not have won the Gold award.

It was now time for photographs before we left the Palace Hotel for the walk (or float) to our hotel. I carried the plaque which weighed 10 kilograms (or 22lbs in old money) and even the light rain couldn't dampen our spirits.