Hello all,
At the Annual Council meeting on 18th June, I handed over the mayoral reins to our new Mayor, Councillor Colin Barnard.
This has of course, been a very different year for being Mayor and as a result of the Covid Virus, our opportunities to attend functions and to hold fund-raising events has been greatly curtailed. It is such a shame that for the first time ever, the Mayor has been unable to host one of the main fund-raisers, the Ball.
Nevertheless, my consort, Andrew Hopgood, and I have been delighted and honoured to be invited to attend so many interesting and worthwhile events across the whole borough, and I do hope our presence has helped to swell the coffers of many of our hard working charitable and voluntary organisations. We are very blessed in Spelthorne to have a large number of marvellous people who give so freely of their skills and time to make life better for others. Everywhere we went, we were warmly welcomed and greatly enjoyed so many exhibitions, competitions, displays, fairs, etc, both on land and on water!
Incoming Mayor, Colin Barnard and his wife, Barbara, stepped into the breach on the occasions Andrew and I were unable to attend, which meant we were able to provide mayoral presence at every event to which we were invited. I am very grateful to them both and do hope these experiences have also helped him prepare for his own mayoral year, for which I wish him and Barbara every success and much enjoyment.
Despite our shortened year, we have successfully raised an excellent amount of money to be distributed to my main charities, Eikon and Midas+ as well as to a number of other charities across the Borough that have done so much for our community, especially during these challenging times. As we are unable to host the usual Mayor’s Charity Fund Giving event, letters, photos and of course, cheques will be sent to them all and I do hope our donations will help them continue their superb work and support to our vulnerable residents.
So, finally, my heartfelt thanks to everyone for their kind and generous support – It has been a fantastic experience and I have been very proud to be your Mayor of Spelthorne for 2019/2020. Thank you.
Mary Madams