OUTGOING MAYOR'S SPEECH
Mr Mayor, High Sheriff, Civic and Honoured Guests, Councillors, Officers of the Council, Citizens of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees
Thank you, Councillor Maureen Rigg and Councillor Lupton for your kind words.
Thank you all of you for the opportunity to be Mayor, I didn't think I actually wanted to do the job, but I did, and I enjoyed it.
It's been a wonderful year for me, I've done 351 official engagements, and also 77 meetings to plan events, and other things. In total I've raised over £15,800. and there is a bit more to come in. Not everything is for the main Mayoral Charities, £1,000 is for the Motor Neurone Disease Association, and £175 for the EVE appeal . I am so grateful to everyone who has put in so much time, effort and money into raising this amount. Many, many thanks.
Last year I gave an indication of what my priorities would be, so this is what I've done
Opening up Town Hall
1,000 people, many of whom had never ever been in their own Town Hall before, have taken that opportunity on the open days and at fundraising events to look round.
They have learnt more about our history, and Kevin's tours have become legendary, people have appreciated them enormously. He has really brought history to life !
All of this has opened up links with the Council, and also we have discovered our own history and heritage, through listening to what people had to tell us, following it through, and doing more research on leads given. In particular, the story of Brass Crosby, the Stockton born man who went on to change how Parliament works, making public what was said there, as long ago as 1771.
The Town Hall has been transformed with happy people, interested people.
Many thanks go to the Housekeepers, Pat and Mary, who have made people so welcome, looked after us all so well, and made their visit special.
Other Faiths / ethnic backgrounds
I've Invited people from other faiths and backgrounds to events and made them welcome, in an attempt to get to know them better.
One event that stands out for me is the 7/7 memorial, I organised, with people of many faiths and none gathering in the High Street. I will always remember standing shoulder to shoulder with the leader of one of the Mosques showing that good Muslims and good people of other faiths stood together in the face of evil.
I hope that this has laid foundations of work for the future.
There have been so many happy times, even though often meeting and working with people with very tragic circumstances.
Unexpectedly - I find myself as Patron of the Africa Sport Embassy, and donned African football shorts and socks along with my chain embossed T Shirt to do the kick off at the John Owen Trophy match.
fair trade
This has been very much part of mayoral visits and receiving people in Town hall. When visiting other organisations or premises I had a reputation for looking in their cupboards to check their Fair Trade credentials - and quite a number have changed as a result!
Things have really moved forwards, we have reached the criteria for becoming a Fair Trade Town, and the application gone in, but there have been some bureaucratic hold ups, and, as some will know, this means delay in knowing if our application has been accepted.
Young people
I wanted to give them an opportunity to have a voice. I arranged for school councils to get together and do this, and this led to other things.
Also, I must say something about our young musicians.
One of the most wonderful parts of our programme has been the privilege of listening to our Tees Valley Youth Choir and Tees Valley Youth Orchestra. They are just the very best, and we have every reason to be so proud of them. There are many performances when I think that people pay a lot of money to go to London, and don't hear anything better.
I am giving a prize, hopefully building on an existing Charitable Trust, to last for at least 10 years to reward some of the young people who have made the greatest contribution to the Stockton Music Centre.
Durham University, Queen's Campus has been very much part of what I enjoyed doing. I have built on relationships already there, and hopefully made more and stronger links with our Borough, so that Town and Gown become a reality.
Voluntary organisations
One of my main themes of the year was to support and make links with the Voluntary sector.
Enormous amount of work goes off, our Town has a huge thank you to say to all of those who are involved in the voluntary work that goes on in our Borough. A lot happens completely out of sight of the public eye.
Dedication, time given, professionalism, sheer love of one for another shines through. Thank you.
In fact, in all of my dealings with so many people throughout my year, there is an enormous amount of pure goodness. Much of it is hidden from public view, but it radiates out.
Blog
How can I remember what I did - The Blog !
It was written almost very day. I was the first Mayor of a principal Council to do this. It has been read in many different parts of the world, and I've had interesting e-mails back. As a result of something I wrote about Brass Crosby, Wikipedia was changed. Stockton really has been put on the "e" map of the world. It may well be published at some time in the future.
Huge thanks to Alex Chapman, for all her help with the blog, and also to her stand in, Judi Asquith.
Many other thanks too.
You know who you are, and I'm sorry if I don't mention you, but there a lot of people who have done so much.
When I first became Mayor - the chains were too heavy, I was in terrible pain, and I thought I would have to give up being Mayor. Margaret Waggott gave me enormous help in sorting that out for me, and was a tower of strength along with Linda Lawty throughout the year. Mind you she has been risk assessing me ever since, but she has allowed me to choose my own performance indicators!
Stockton catering service have done some great food, from a few snacks to a full scale dinner. They have coped with different requirements, presented it nicely, and there are always compliments.
My own Group and other Councillors for all of their support, others in my group have had to take on extra work this year, and particularly my ward colleague, Julia Roberts.
Rev Tim Ollier, my Chaplain for the year. He and the rest of my Church for the enormous support they have given me, both spiritual and practical. I won't forget the service we had on Mayor's Sunday last year.
Susan Walton.
She has kept my diary and more importantly kept me straight. Whatever was happening and whatever chaos there was around, Susan knew what I was doing, where I was going, and I was never double booked. A real feat!
She sorted out my correspondence, only sorting out my grammatical errors very nicely, understood without me saying what my reaction to any things would be and I will miss her enormously.
Kevin
He has opened up a whole new world for us. The world of early. I have always believed in being on time. It has never occurred to me to be early, but with Kevin knocking on the door, getting us into the car and driving there, we usually got there early. Quite an experience. I learnt something very new. There are people that are VERY early, and nearly always people are there before me when I'm early. Quite an experience, but having done it for a year I'm not inclined to continue doing it - nothing exciting happens at "early".
But not only has he driven us saving all that embarrassment of getting lost, and nowhere to park, but looked after us and advised us impeccably. He also has become the unofficial photographer, taking many of the photos that appeared on the blog, as well as doing such heroic non-stop tours of the Town Hall, giving so many people enjoyment and interest.
Family.
Thank you so much for giving me the time to do this year, thank you for all of your help, your support, and thank you Jack and Heidi for climbing Roseberry Topping to raise money.
And finally, The Mayor's Consort - John
You have been such a great support to me for this year, well, for all the years leading up to it, too.
But this year, you've interpreted different languages and translated Latin inscriptions, put the washing out, and brought it back in again, explained the hierarchies of weird and wonderful institutions we have visited, kept the house going, but most importantly, you've helped in every way possible at every event we have been to, you've held my hand and given me the confidence to do it.
I don't know how to thank you, I'm not going to bequeath you my handbags or my hats, but I just hope that I can give you the help and support in your roles, that you have given to me.
