Mayor of Wirral Cllr Les Rowlands' theme for the year will be the "growing elderly population on Wirral"

Mayor of Wirral Cllr Les Rowlands’ theme for the year will be the "growing elderly population on Wirral"

Mayor of Wirral Cllr Les Rowlands’ theme for the year will be the “growing elderly population on Wirral”

                                               

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

The new Mayor of Wirral for 2015-16 Cllr Les Rowlands gives his first speech as Mayor

Mayor of Wirral Cllr Les Rowlands 18th May 2015
Mayor of Wirral Cllr Les Rowlands 18th May 2015

This continues from Cllr Steve Foulkes on being Mayor "it’s the first time in my life I’ve been genuinely liked as a politician".

In Mayor Les Rowland’s first speech as Mayor of Wirral (which starts at 6 minutes & 39 seconds into the video above , he said he was “delighted and proud to follow in the footsteps of so many who have held this position of Mayor, the first citizen of the Borough”. He spoke of the charities and organisations he and the Deputy Mayoress had visited in the previous year and that the “the work that goes on around us unseen every day is truly amazing”.

He thanked the previous Mayor (Cllr Steve Foulkes) and Mayoress (Elaine Nolan) for “their efforts during their Mayoral year” and that they would be a “hard act to follow”. The Mayor gave them his blessings for their forthcoming wedding.

Mayor Les Rowlands thanks Sue Carroll, her team, Nick and the drivers who “looked after them during the year with dedicated professionalism”. He also thanked Tony Hope and his team.

His theme for the year would be the “growing elderly population on Wirral”. Mayor Les Rowlands spoke about his 86-year-old mother and how proud he was of her.

Continuing he explained the theme in more detail, “Growing old has its numerous problems, but by far the worst is the loneliness that comes with age. To have someone to talk to even once a week, I have often heard said it is wonderful. So this year I would like my Council to encourage everyone across the Borough to take a look around their community, identify elderly person to adopt for a quick chat or offer to get a bit of shopping. Believe me it will mean so much just to know somebody is there.

I will be throughout the year inviting the elderly and lonely to the mayoral chamber for a cup of tea and a chat. I would like the time to visit homes for the elderly and show our ongoing support and commitment. I would like my Council to encourage throughout the many policies the building of stronger links and the strengthening of our elderly communities.”

The first charity he would be supporting would be the North West Air Ambulance, who were “truly a life saver”. His second charity was the Clatterbridge League of Friends who raises funds for Clatterbridge Hospital. The third charity would be the Wirral Alzheimer’s Society who support people with dementia.

Mayor Les Rowlands thanked people for their patience and for their support throughout the year. Over the next few days he would have the pleasure of meeting the Queen at the palace and that they were invited on board the Queen Mary [2] by Cunard to thank Wirral and Liverpool for hosting the Three Queens event.

He invited everyone to stay for the rest of the evening’s entertainment, which including a choir and a singer and he hoped people would have a great evening.

Nominations were invited for Deputy Mayor. Councillor Phil Davies proposed Cllr Pat Hackett as Deputy Mayor, Councillor Jeff Green seconded the proposal of Cllr Pat Hackett as Deputy Mayor. There were no other nominations, so Councillor Pat Hackett was elected as Deputy Mayor.

If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.