Council are asked to:
(a) Elect the Mayor of the Borough for the Municipal Year 2023-24 and
(b) The Mayor to make the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
Minutes:
The retiring Mayor, Councillor S Doran, welcomed all members and guests to the Annual Meeting of the Council.
The Mayor gave a thank you speech as follows:
“Firstly, I would like to welcome Councillors, both new and returning, to the Chamber and congratulate you all on your successful election to this place. They say time flies when you’re having fun and the last 12 months as Mayor have flown by. It was a privilege to meet residents, both young and old, across our wonderful Borough. We have some amazing people in Spelthorne who are doing wonderful work all for the benefit of other people and I commend everyone who puts the wellbeing of others over themselves.
I am delighted to say that we were able present cheques totalling £27,000 to the Spelthorne Mental Health Association, Stanwell Family Centre as well as Dramatize, 398 Squadron Staines & Egham ATC and 1st Stanwell Scout Group.
Over the course of the year, I have attended over 120 different events. These have included a Holli Festival event, Kempton Park Racecourse and Stanwell Moor Easter Fun Day. We also arranged a Music Night at Sunbury Cricket Club in April and an Afternoon Tea at Squires Garden Centre in Shepperton earlier this month.
My Mayoral Ball was held on 25 March, and I am grateful to Visit Staines, Willmott Dixon and Heathrow for kindly agreeing to sponsor the evening. I would like to thank everyone who attended this and other events over the past year.
The past 12 months have been historical for this country. It was an honour to represent the Borough as we celebrated Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee last June, mourn her majesty’s passing in September and mark the Coronation of King Charles III. Spelthorne Borough Council was created in 1974, so this was the first time this authority was able to mark royal events of this magnitude.
As a Council, we have marked a number of events ourselves. We celebrated Pride Month last June, marked Holocaust Memorial Day, continued to show solidarity with our friends in Ukraine, who are suffering appalling atrocities and just last week, we celebrated Middlesex Day with a flag raising ceremony outside the Council offices.
I will be eternally grateful for everyone who has helped me over the course of the year, including my consort John, my charity committee, fellow Councillors past and present, officers and I want to pay special tribute to Maxine Cole, my Mayoral PA who has been such a big supporter of me and John this year.
I will close with a few words about my Deputy Mayor who has been a great help to me over the past 12 months. It has truly been an honour to be Mayor of Spelthorne and to represent our wonderful Borough and I, once again, thank everyone who made this past year possible”.
It was moved by Councillor Sexton and seconded by Councillor J Doran that Councillor Saliagopoulos be appointed Mayor for the Municipal Year 2023-2024.
Resolved that Councillor Saliagopoulos be appointed Mayor for the Municipal Year 2023-2024.
A short adjournment took place to hand over the robes and badge of Office to the new Mayor.
Councillor Saliagopoulos made the Declaration of Acceptance of Office as Mayor of the Borough of Spelthorne and took the Chair. She presented Councillor Sue Doran with her past Mayor’s badge.
[Councillor Saliagopoulos, The Mayor, in the chair.]
The Mayor invited the retiring Mayor’s Consort, Councillor John Doran, to present her consort with the Mayor’s consort badge. The Mayor then invited her consort, Mr Yanis Saliagopoulos, to present Councillor John Doran with the past Mayor’s Consort badge.