Election of the Mayor
(a) To elect the Mayor of the Borough for the Municipal Year 2022-23
(b) The Mayor to make the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
Minutes:
The retiring Mayor, Councillor ITE Harvey, welcomed all members and guests to the Annual Meeting of the Council and invited Father S. King to say a word of prayer.
The Mayor gave a thank you speech as follows:
“It was a great honour to be elected Mayor one year ago tonight, and it has been a real privilege for the Mayoress and I to have represented Spelthorne over the last year. We have attended events in Borough, further afield in Surrey, and visited our twin town of Melun, France last October. We have sought to be ambassadors for the borough.
There is no doubt that my Mayoral year has been very much of two halves. The first half was made much more difficult by the remnants of COVID with many reluctant to host or attend events, ongoing restrictions, last minute cancellations, and even my own pre-Christmas church service being postponed at short notice. The highlight of the autumn was undoubtedly our civic trip to Melun in France during which I was made a ‘Chevalier du Brie de Melun’ – basically a ‘big cheese’! I understand previous mayors have enjoyed similar honour, if one can put it that way. I know my predecessor Cllr Barnard is also a ‘big cheese’.
We have cut ribbons and opened buildings, an outside gym, a river jetty, planted trees, attended various church services, receptions and other events and consumed quite a number of glasses of Prosecco.
My postponed Mayor’s church service took place in late February and the reception afterwards was at London Irish Rugby Club in Sunbury, and visitor Mayors were very impressed with the facilities.
We have hosted a fantastic ABBA tribute night in March and two other Surrey mayors have separately told me that it was the best event of their mayoral year.
Also in March, Jaguar Land Rover in Sunbury very kindly hosted a very successful business reception for us where over 60 attended, and well-known hotelier and philanthropist Surinder Arora was the main speaker.
The Spring Blossom Mayor’s Charity Ball was held a month ago at the newly refurbished Holiday Inn Shepperton. Turnout was excellent and appeared to be enjoyed by all. The dance floor was still full at twenty past midnight. Many businesses that I had previously worked with while Leader were generous, and as well as covering the significant cost of the live entertainment and disco, contributed prizes which together with private raffle prize donations enabled us to raise many thousands.
The final fundraising event we hosted was the Mayoress’ Ladies Film and Fizz Afternoon, which I was banned from attending, two weeks ago in the Korda Theatre at Shepperton Studios. They enjoyed viewing the latest version of West Side Story and obviously more Prosecco. Shepperton Studios kindly paid for everything, so all ticket sales as well as the inevitable raffle went direct to our charity fund.
When deciding on our charities, the Mayoress and I wanted to make a real difference to those young people in our ... view the full minutes text for item 69
Election of the Mayor
(a) To elect the Mayor of the Borough for the Municipal Year 2021-22
(b) The Mayor to make the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
Minutes:
The retiring Mayor, Councillor C. Barnard, welcomed all members and guests to the Annual Meeting of the Council and invited Rev. J. Samadi, to say a word of prayer.
The Mayor thanked the officers of the Council, his Mayoress, the Deputy Mayor, Deputy Mayoress, Spelthorne residents and the Mayor’s secretary, Mrs. Sheila Kimpton, for their hard work and support during his Mayoral year.
Reflecting on his year in office the Mayor announced that a considerable sum had been raised for his nominated charities. The Mayor explained that whilst his Mayoral year had been different to most due to the pandemic, he had been fortunate to experience some of the normal Mayoral events whilst standing in for former Mayor, Councillor Mary Madams, during a period of ill health. The Mayor wished Councillor Mary Madams a full recovery.
The Mayor thanked Councillor R.W. Sider BEM for inviting him to the opening of a new venture at Trio pharmacy, Shepperton. He also thanked Councillor Saliagopoulos for inviting him to open a visiting facility, and tea in the garden at Ashford House nursing home, and Councillor Sue Doran for inviting him to visit the Stanwell allotment project and to the ancient Stanwell fair on the village green.
The Mayor reflected on the many visits he had made to the District Scout and Guide groups and to local schools and listed some of the awards he had had the pleasure to deliver including Spelthorne in Bloom awards, presenting over 100 litter picking certificates to children and Civic awards and commendations.
It was moved by Councillor O. Rybinski and seconded by Councillor A. Brar that Councillor I.T.E. Harvey be appointed Mayor for the Municipal Year 2021-2022.
It was moved by Councillor A.J. Mitchell and seconded by Councillor M. Gibson that Councillor A.C. Harman be appointed Mayor for the Municipal Year 2021-2022.
A recorded vote was conducted, as requested by Councillor R.A. Smith-Ainsley with the results as follows.
FOR Councillor I.T.E Harvey (20)
Councillors: Bateson, Beardsmore, Brar, Doran J, Doran S, Dunn R, Dunn S, Fidler, Grant, Harvey H, Harvey I, Lagden, Nichols, Rybinski, Saliagopoulos, Sexton, Siva, Smith-Ainsley, Spoor and Vinson.
FOR Councillor A.C Harman (18)
Councillors: Attewell, Barnard, Barratt C, Barratt R, Boughtflower, Buttar, Chandler, Gething, Gibson, Harman, Islam, Leighton, Madams, McIlroy, Mitchell, Mooney, Noble and Sider.
Resolved that Councillor Ian Harvey be appointed Mayor for the Municipal Year 2021-22.
A short adjournment took place to hand over the robes and badge of Office to the new Mayor during which a short video highlighting moments from Councillor Barnard’s Mayoral Year was shown.
Councillor Ian Harvey made the Declaration of Acceptance of Office as Mayor of the Borough of Spelthorne and took the Chair. He thanked his proposer and seconder and the Council for supporting him in his election as Mayor. He presented Councillor C.F. Barnard with the past Mayor’s badge.
The outgoing Mayoress, Mrs. Barbara Barnard, presented the Mayoress badge to Councillor Mrs. Helen Harvey who in turn presented Mrs. Barnard with a past Mayoress badge. ... view the full minutes text for item 140