To receive such announcements as may be made by the Mayor.
Minutes:
The Mayor:-
1. Announced the recent sad death of Honorary Freeman, Mrs Margaret Duddy OBE. Margaret was a former Leader of Macclesfield Borough Council. Her funeral would be held at 12.00 noon, on Friday 8th March at St Mary’s Parish Church, Disley and the Mayor would be representing the Council at the funeral.
The Mayor also announced that former Crewe and Nantwich Borough Councillor, John Beech had recently died and that his funeral would take place on Thursday 7th March at 11.30am at St Mary’s Church, Acton.
Members stood in silent tribute, as a mark of respect.
2. Announced that, since the last Council meeting in December, he and the Deputy Mayor had attended over 40 events:-
Before Christmas he had visited the majority of the Council’s major Office locations to wish staff a very happy Christmas.He and the Mayoress had been made very welcome and through the generosity of staff had collected nearly £500 for his charity fund. He had also attended quite a number of carol services and brass band concerts.
On 20th December he had the honour of opening the Council’s new Registration Office in the Municipal Buildings in Crewe and was very impressed with the facilities that had been provided for registering births, deaths and marriages. He understand that the facility had been very well received by the public.
In late December he was one of a very few Mayors from across the North West to be invited to meet with Dr Dipu Moni, the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister when she visited Manchester. This was both a very interesting and informative meeting.
After Christmas it was the pantomime season with ‘Cinderella’ at the Lyceum, Crewe; a ‘never to be forgotten’ performance of ‘Beauty & the Beast’ at Woodford and last week, ‘Sleeping Beauty’ at Shavington.
In early January he had the pleasure of attending the North West Showmen’s Guild annual luncheon which this year had been held at Cranage Hall, Holmes Chapel. There was quite a gathering of Mayors & Mayoresses from a wide area and he had been very surprised to receive a generous donation, from the Guild, as the hosting authority, towards his charity fund.
He had also been delighted to attend Civic Church Services at Crewe and Wistaston.
Cheshire East’s rail stations had been very successful in various categories at this year’s Awards evening held in Northwich with Chelford, his Ward, had been declared as Cheshire’s Best Kept Station.
3. He and the Mayoress had attended a number of Mayor’s Balls and Civic Ceremonies both inside and outside the Cheshire East boundary, putting Cheshire East well and truly on the map.
4. Reminded Members that he would be hosting a charity Sunday lunch at the Tytherington Club in Macclesfield on 12th May. Formal invitations would be sent out very shortly and he was most grateful to those Members who had already indicated that they would be attending. Other Members who wished to attend should contact The Mayor’s Secretary.
5. Welcomed Mike Rowan, the Interim Borough Solicitor, to his first meeting of the Council and also welcomed Sir Nicholas Winterton, Honorary Freeman, to the meeting.