Mayor's Message: Attending community events and hosting fundraisers
Mayor's Message by Cllr David Bligh. July started in very much the same vein as June ended, with the Open Gardens events – this time in Linslade. It was lovely to visit such a variety of beautifully designed landscapes with the Mayoress, some for the first time and some to see how they had developed over the last year or so. Thank you to all who opened their gardens to the public – they’re a joy to behold as well as raising funds and awareness for some very worthy causes.
On the same Sunday as the Open Gardens I also attended the Spectrum Community Arts Summer Spectacular show at Vandyke Upper School. Spectrum are one of my nominated charities again this Mayoral year and provide amazing opportunities for children and adults with neuro-diverse conditions to express themselves through performance. Jade Cook and her wonderful team of volunteers and performers created a truly magical and uplifting show. Congratulations for the huge amount of hard work and energy on display.
Although not a Leighton-Linslade Town Council event, I was honoured to again be invited to be one of the float judges of the Carnival Court and travel in the procession to this year’s annual Carnival held in Parson’s Close Recreation Ground. It was a very warm day, but great fun was had by all. Well done to the organisers, the Carnival Princesses and everyone who participated in putting the games-themed floats together. Congratulations to the winners of the various categories of floats and walking groups we judged. It’s a real community event and it would be fantastic to see even more schools and clubs taking part next year.
My first fundraiser of this Mayoral year was held at the Lime Tree Restaurant on North Street on Tuesday, 15 July to support and increase awareness for the work of Reclaim Life. Thank you to all who came to support the event, including the Mayors of several neighbouring towns. It was a very successful evening where over £700.00 was raised for Reclaim Life. Thanks also to Mohammed and his team at the restaurant who hosted the event beautifully and provided great food, as always.
The Grounds and Environmental team at Leighton-Linslade Town Council work really hard to maintain and improve our beautiful parks, open spaces, allotments and the Vandyke Road Cemetery. This work was nationally recognised in July by the award of Green Flags. Congratulations and thank you to the team – we are all incredibly lucky to enjoy your dedication and effort, in all weathers, to help make our Town such a lovely place to live.
Our Twin Town friends from Coulommiers, in France, and Titisee-Neustadt, in Germany, visited the Town for the Linslade Canal Festival weekend. Great fun was had by all at the reception at the White House, the visit to the Leighton Buzzard Brewery, the Black Lion and, of course, at the Festival itself. Thank you to the Council team for putting on such a great event for all our residents – it was great to show-off our Town to our international visitors.
My next fund-raising event will be a train ride and afternoon tea on the Narrow Gauge Railway at Pages Park during the early evening of Friday, 5 September, to raise funds and awareness for the Leighton-Linslade MS Support Group. Tickets are going fast, so please visit the Leighton-Linslade Town Council website for details of the event and to find out how to book your place.