A busy month of mayoral duties in Leighton-Linslade

September started nicely with a fundraiser - Afternoon Tea and a Train ride on our fantastic Narrow Guage Railway (NGR) in support of the Leighton-Linslade MS Support Group. We enjoyed a sumptuous on-board tea, provided by Curiositea on a beautiful, warm, early Autumn evening including a magical sunset over Vandyke Upper School as we returned to the depot in Pages Park, raising £450.00 for the Group. Thanks to all of you who supported the event and the teams at the NGR and Curiositea.

Like me, many of you attended part or all of the Town Council’s Last Night of the Proms event in Parsons Close. The Heath Band were excellent, followed by live coverage from the Royal Albert Hall on the big screen and followed by a short firework display. The Town Council’s events’ and Grounds’ teams are outstanding, and I am truly grateful for the work they put in to bring our local community together.

I was greatly honoured to be invited back to help recognise the achievements of the players and coaches at Rotary’s Yes We Can Annual ‘Oscars’ Awards’ ceremony. If you don’t know about their work in disability sport, please look them up. It was a truly inspiring and uplifting afternoon – well done to Dick, Sandra and the whole team.

Cllr Pughe and I joined the Police & Crime Commissioner along with police officers and PCSO’s on a walk round our town centre to talk to some local businesses about local criminal activity and how to help the police deal with it. The overriding message is “if you see something suspicious – REPORT it!” The police can’t act if they don’t know about it.

My second fundraising event was a Coffee Morning held at Esquires to add some funds for the good people of Hospice at Home Volunteers who also had a market stall, outside Esquires that day. Thanks to all who attended, Esquires and the many donations of scrumptious cakes and raffle prizes from several local businesses including Pizza Express and Waterdene Foodservice. About £350.00 was raised for the group.

Other Mayoral duties included visiting our High Street shops with members of Healthwatch to allow dogs to enter with their pawrents, officially opening Marigold House Care Home, a beautiful facility, with Cllr Mark Smith from Central Bedfordshire Council and opening the National College for logistics on Chartmoor Road with the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, Susan Lousada. The College provides a fantastic opportunity to encourage more businesses to set-up in Leighton-Linslade. I also spoke at a coffee event organised by our local Fair-Trade group who kindly provided appropriate and yummy cakes from ‘Dotty about Cake’ – being Mayor is no job for a weightwatcher!

Outside our Town I represented our Council at events held by the mayors of Houghton Regis and Kempston as well as the High Sheriff of Bedfordshire, Camilla King’s annual Justice service in Bedford.

My next fundraiser will be a free concert for our local Macmillan Cancer Support group to be held at St Barnabas Church, Linslade on Saturday, 11 October – there will be refreshments, a raffle and a retiring collection. Full details can be found on the Leighton-Linslade Town Council website or App.

I look forward to seeing you there.