High School Pupil Council

A quick dash into the Council Offices this afternoon to meet the High School Council. I didn't take the camera so this will have to be a dry old post!!

Good to meet a bunch of altruistic youngsters keen to help themselves and others to better their lives for no obvious and direct benefit apart from the glow. (and glow they were as the council offices were the warmest I've ever known them today - not necessarily because of the heat of the debate but from the unusually humid and growy weather!)

Service is a good thing and without it society wouldn't exist and our communities would be anarchic! Effective lobbying and negotiation is an art and I hope that we as a Town Council as part of the wider Longridge Partnership can work with you to help make your environment better.

Primary School Sports Week

Monday dawned a bit soon after a mad family week end and I was again on parade at Barnacre Road School.

This time it was to help kick off a week of Sport and Physical Activity as part of a national initiative to crank up participation in sport. Blessed with great weather the whole school assembled on the playground and along with Deepdale Duck took part in a warm up aerobics session - teachers and assistants and the lot!

Had a bit of bling competition though - paralympian cycling silvermedallist Rik Waddon came to school for the morning to show off his bling and answer questions .....I left him with inquisitive year 4s asking about his training regime.....here's me in my bling making sure he didnt get chance to trump me (in this pic at least!)

Well done to Mr Smith and all at school for getting stuck in this week. You make me feel distinctly inactive at the moment!

The Mayors Hair and a Food and Drink Festival

Stuart Hall graced Longridge with his diminutive physical but massive otherwise presence on Saturday. (he would have put it considerably more lyrically than that - a man as at ease with words as he is with people).

One of his business interests includes Lancashire Magazine which was a main sponsor of the First Longridge and District Food and Drink Festival hosted by Promac Leisure - AKA The Corporation Arms at Longridge.

The Town Council had also made a contribution and as a result I got to wear the bling again alongside our MP Nigel Evans as the official opening took place on Saturday morning.

By 11 oclock Mr Hall had readjusted the mayors' hair for numerous photos and a Radio Lancashire slot and I decided it was time for cider!! Shortly afterwards the sun came out and the cooking demos got going. Reports back from the organisers suggest that 1300 people attended over the 3 nights and 2 days and there is every chance that there will be another next year! I hope so!!!

visit http://www.longridgenews.co.uk/longridge-news/Longridge-food-festival-hailed-a.5420120.jp for the local papers take and better pic of the job too!!

Civic Sunday

With Ribble Valley alongside and Clitheroe tucked in behind it was the annual Civic Sunday parade around Longridge last Sunday. Just as thrilling for me was having the gang at the back of the parade. Family and friends from as far away as Kent (thanks Sal!) brought up the rear as we walked round the town - with me getting quite choked on occasions. Fortunately the rain held off (as it seems to have done on numerous occasions locally this summer) and we made it into Church dry! In the pic is a lady looking like a Cossack - grandma joined in for the parade in a minibus and then church - her 101 years seemingly irrelvant as the great feeling of the day took over!

The service had been designed to be as young people friendly as we dared hope without wrecking the formality. The interactive reading with the youngsters on the chancel steps was great and Tom Eckton and Sophie Watson did me, Barnacre Road Primary School and themselves proud in the second reading. The music was great and in a salute to last year's mayor the Band got the chance to play Highland Cathedral again - brilliant.

there will be more on this as some more pics arrive - I hope! we didnt take any as usual but felt that we were being papped a lot that day !!!

Mrs Billington is 100

Monday after Civic Sunday and the bling was out again. This time to help Mrs Billington in Pleasington Court celebrate her 100th birthday. The ageing process has been kind and a pretty sprightly lady made a grand entrance in the lounge at the St Vincents scheme where family and residents joined her for a toast tea and cake.

Happy Birthday Margaret!

Mayor Man

Tomorrow is Civic Sunday and a special friend can't make it up from Cornwall to be part of the proceedings. My mate Rufus sent me a card instead and it's brilliant - thanks old bean!

School midsummer fair

Dead chuffed to be asked to be at Barnacre Road school to present the prizes for the girls netball and the boys football competion yesterday.

I'm a governor there so it was even more special. Well done to all the organisers, parents and teachers and the young people too.

The weather held off until the prize presentation and did a good job of clearing the place.