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dronfield EYE
He’s back! Coun Philip Wright has been re-elected for a second successive year as Dronfield Town Mayor
P AULINE and I are delighted to begin a second term as Mayor and Mayoress of Dronfield, following my re-election
at the annual Town Council meeting.
It was most certainly a honour and a privilege to represent
Dronfield and the Town Council in 2017-18 as the 44th Town Mayor since 1974.
We were extremely busy and very quickly learnt as to how active the town is, a place that is envied by many larger towns. There is a huge community spirit and one only has to stand for 30 minutes in the early evening, either in Dronfield Bottom, or the top of High Street, or on Eckington Road at Coal Aston, to appreciate how active the town really is. It appears that the whole town is out on manoeuvres going to this meeting or that meeting, there being so many churches, clubs, Scouts, associations and various other organisations to get to.
Dronfield was voted to be ninth best town to live in during 2017 and I cannot think that will have altered 12 months on. Also one of the safest towns in which to live in the whole of the East Midlands.
My Mayor's diary details 246 items that I chose to attend.
It would be remiss of me not to mention just a few of the highlights throughout this last year, the first being the Soldiers’, Sailors’, Army & Families Association AGM at Cavendish Hall on the Chatsworth Estate. This was soon followed by visiting our twin town of Sindelfingen's Strassenfest last June, where I had to give a four- page presentation on how prepared Dronfield is in the event of a major disaster.
It was a delight to attend the Vicky Durning School of Dance bi- annual production the Civic Hall and also DronFest in Cliffe Park.
A black tie event at Chatsworth organised by the Soldiers Charity unfortunately wasn't as lucky with the weather as DronFest, with the rain bucketing down, and “Beating the Retreat” had to be cancelled.
Pam Barker's retirement from the Dronfield Town Council office
mayor’s
EYE
Dronfield Town Mayor, Coun Philip Wright, with Deputy Mayor Coun Lilian Deighton (left) and Mayoress Pauline Wright
after 20 years of active service was marked by a warm send-off. Dronfield in Bloom held their annual awards ceremony in the Civic
Hall and I was amazed at how many participants there were, especially from the various schools.
Pauline and I were invited by Coun Rosie Smith to attend an event in Unstone to mark World Peace Day on 21st September, again a lovely event attended by two classes of local schoolchildren.
Dronfield Rotary Club gave Pauline and I the opportunity of meeting with President Laxmi of the Rotary Club in Nepal and raised their Nepalese flag next to the Union Jack on the lawn of the Peel Centre.
The Remembrance Sunday march from School Lane was once again so well supported with the St John Band leading the procession. There were more than 40 different organisations taking part in fine sunny weather, but with a very cold chilly wind. It was my duty to place the wreath on the memorial on behalf of the Town Council.
One of the happiest events we attended was the wine tasting in Coal Aston Village Hall where Dronfield's Wine World shop had arranged for 101 different wines from around the world to be individually tasted by all the 100 plus people present. Sadly, after two hours-or-so, we had only tasted about 75% of them!
Switching on the Christmas Lights in the Library Gardens was indeed a very special occasion, made even more so due, yet once again, to the involvement of so many Dronfield schoolchildren.
Helping to prepare and serve Christmas Day Lunch on 25th December at St Andrew's Church was a lovely opportunity to bring people in Dronfield together who would otherwise have been on their own.
Last, but not least, was all the considerable hard work and effort put in by the previous year's Town Mayor, Coun Alan Powell, and his brilliant team in pulling off the very first Dronfield Arts Festival.
With over 50 separate different events all going off almost simultaneously in the heart of old Dronfield, it proved difficult for Pauline and I to visit every single one, but eventually we did make an appearance to around 40 of them. “Must try harder” as my teachers used to write on my annual school reports!
Finally, it would be remiss of me not to thank numerous people and organisations within Dronfield. Firstly all my fellow Town Councillors who work tirelessly and for all the hours they put in voluntarily into making what Dronfield is - a lovely town to both work and play in. Thanks to the Leader of the authority and also my deputy or standing in at occasions when I have been unable to.
Also a huge thanks to all those other employees who work tirelessly in the Council Office and our Outside Services staff . Thanks also to the team at Dronfield Eye for their excellent
magazine which everyone looks forward to reading.
To conclude, I must, of course, give thanks to my dear wife,
Pauline, who, as Mayoress has wholeheartedly supported me in my duties, in spite of the tragic death of our son, Nick, in February. This caused both of us immeasurable sadness and we do thank everyone for their sympathy, concern and offers of help during this period.
Coun Philip Wright, Dronfield Town Mayor
dronfield
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