First tasters

Posted By: Robin Parker
Date Posted: 10/06/2007

This week saw the first time we were going out together as Deputy Mayor and Mayoress substituting for Peter and Helen. Both our heads were into it to such an extent that I omitted to open an envelope through the door only to discover too late that it was papers for a meeting Friday morning!

We were asked to go to a fund raising dinner on Wednesday for the Sahiwal Working Party at Karim’s restaurant at Bowlee, in my ward and a place we frequently use for (pun intended) a ‘Karim tea’. Prior to that, though, we had already committed ourselves to attending the Bishop of Manchester’s visitation at our own church, All Saints and Martyrs, Langley. I discussed it with Rina, the Mayor’s Officer, and she saw no problem in using that as a precursor to the Sahiwal engagement and attending with the Chains.

So in fact the first official/unofficial event where we were ‘enchained’ was in our own church hall. The purpose of this gathering was for the Bishop to meet local community representatives and most of the ‘usual suspects’ were there. It was a strange feeling being in a new role with people who know us so well simply as Robin and Anni. They were proud to have us in that role and we were similarly proud and also humbled to be there. Politically (small ‘p’) of course it did no harm either to the church, Langley or the Borough for us to greet the Bishop as civic dignitaries.

On to Karim’s to be warmly greeted by Cllr Irene Davidson. Quite appropriate, really, because as Leisure Portfolio Holder I had done a lot of work with Irene during her Mayoral year and I believed, and told her so, that I thought that it was the making of her as a mature politician. So it was good to have the boot on the other foot, though what she will feel about me by May 2009 remains to be seen! I hope I can live up to expectations. It was also a pleasure to greet another old colleague and former councillor Abdul Hamid Chowdry. We had worked together soon after I was first elected to set up the Sahiwal link. Next year is the 20th anniversary and I pledged to enable a really good ‘do’ as Mayor to fund raise and celebrate that. Wednesday’s fund raiser was for a short fall in funds for the latest ‘Eye Camp’, a mobile surgical unit in Sahiwal where patients would come for comparatively simple operations by our standards to restore their sight. We were staggered to hear from the presenter that they had seen 450 follow up out patients in a day!

Thursday was ‘Volunteer of the Year’ presentation at Spotland Stadium. Volunteers are the life blood of the community and so attending that was a real pleasure for both of us. We were ably supported by Cllrs Brett, Dearnley and Watkin (all party). The best part of it was when the formalities were over and we were able to circulate in a relaxed atmosphere and chat with the volunteers from different organisations. Sadly, though, it ended on a downer when Motability informed us that attempts to save the Middleton operation had failed. I suggested that we use the word ‘suspend’ rather than ‘close’, because with the regeneration of Middleton Town Centre I’m sure that the need will re-emerge.

We were exhausted at the end of both days but actually welcomed the ‘tasters’ because we are now aware how much adrenalin is involved and how we must learn to pace ourselves for a much busier schedule next year. The up side is that we are looking forward to it even more.