W / C Monday 21st March

A visit on Monday from students of the Lycee Renaudeau in Cholet, our twin town in France.  The visit was all in English, this time, and we did our usual job showing round the Chamber and parlour.  In France, they do not seem to have a chain of office for the Mayor, nor the robes, and of course their Mayors are the equivalent of our elected ones and serve office for several years, so the difference in systems has to be explained.   On the Tuesday, we attended the AGM of SSAFA (Soldiers, Sailors Airmen and Families Association). It was very impressive hearing the Chairman talk of the work their volunteers do and how they will help any individual in need who has served in the Armed Forces and their dependents. The organisation celebrated its 125th anniversary last year. Last year they raised over £140,000 in support of requests for help from both north and south of the Borough.   In the afternoon, we also had a visit form the Consul General of India; then, there was a visit to the Rotary Club of Meriden, where my son Robert gave an excellent talk and presentation on the subject of Horatio Nelson and the battle of Trafalgar.

The Mayoress attended Abbey Farm in Atherstone on the Wednesday to support the Mayor of North Warwickshire’s charity. We then went to a performance of “Oliver” by the Peterbrook Players. The cast seemed to be enormous, but it was a very competent, more importantly enjoyable work. Richard and Kelly Tye were the joint directors: their first musical, but they have done well. The tickets were all sold out for all performances

Marie Curie launched their fund raising appeal for their new Solihull and West Midlands Hospice on the Thursday and the event was held in the Council Chamber, with very good attendance.  £7m needs to be raised by April 2013 to complete the appeal. Everyone knows how important the local hospice is, but we had a very moving account by a well spoken young lady, who told how Marie Curie had cared for her brother in the last months of his life.

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The Mayor of Solihull’s Ball for All

The Mayor’s Ball for All took place in Saturday 26th March and well over 400 people attended at the Motorcycle Museum.. Nmbers were a little down on the previous year, but it seems enjoyment was up, according to all reports and hopefully we will have raised a lot of money for Macmillan Cancer Support and other Mayoral charities.  T S Gamecock provided a guard of honour for my entry and then the sea cadet drill team gave an excellent display. They recently came second out of over eighty teams in the district competition,narrowly missing a place in the national final.  The whole evening went very well and the Charity Committee did a really great job in putting it all together. To my complete surprise, I was presented, in front of the whole audience,   with a Paul Harris Award, by Jane the President of my Rotary Club (Meriden), which made me very proud.

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The Sunday saw two events. Firstly, a visit to the EBYDS (English Bowls Youth Development Scheme) School of Excellence National Final at the Bowls Centre in Brick Kiln Lane. We saw juniors compete and they were amazingly good. Apart from a typical bowls game, of trying to get the bowls nearest the jack, they also had some Skills competitions. They were so accurate and it was very interesting seeing them all perform.

Thereafter, we went to St Alphege Church to the St George’s Day Parade and service attended by the many sections of the Solihull Scout Association. The banners were all very colourful and I read the lesson, the Gospel according to St Matthew 22:34-40