Mayoral Viewpoint: Cllr Terry Hurn
The days may be beginning to grow shorter and the weather may have started to turn but the month of October ushered in a fantastic slew of events for the Mayoress and I. Thank you to the many community groups, organisations and local businesses who extended an invitation to us this month – it was a real pleasure to share these special, celebratory moments with you and we are both continuously humbled by the honour of attending these engagements.
October began for us on a strong footing with Amazing Accrington’s Future’s Event, held at Accrington Stanley Football Club. The day saw hundreds of young people from the borough’s secondary schools attending a fair designed to highlight the many different career paths and post-school options available to them. The Mayoress and I had a wonderful time talking to both those manning the various stands, taking part in their activities ourselves, and chatting with the young people who seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed their time.
As part of our roles as Mayor and Mayoress, we meet hundreds of people from every walk of life which is a real honour in itself – every week we have the chance to meet people who represent all of the traits that we value most here in Hyndburn and we feel a real sense of pride from people in their local area. With that in mind, we were humbled to be invited along to celebrate the 107th birthday of local resident Edna Warmsley at Pendle Brook Care home. Edna is originally from Great Harwood, an area she continues to love to this day, and it was heartwarming to see so many come together to celebrate this special occasion with her. Thank you Edna, and the team at Pendle Brook Care Home, for letting us share this day with you.
The Mayoress and I are firm advocates for supporting the wonderful small businesses here in Hyndburn and this week we had the pleasure of showing this commitment by attending the Seasonal Sneak Preview evening at A Bit O’Summat in Accrington. It was a pleasure to see the local community come together to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the business and to see the official unveiling of their new Christmas stock and displays. I encourage everyone to head into the town centre and support the local traders who help to make Hyndburn such a wonderful place to work and reside in.
Finally, it was a true privilege to attend the official unveiling of the new Broadway banner, replacing the Accrington Pals Banner that has sadly come to the end of its life and designed to represent the past, present and future of our borough. So many people from across the borough came together to celebrate this moment and it was delightful to see which parts of the banner resonated with different people. The banner may be just a small first step in the exciting Levelling Up and Town Centre Investment Plans that will be coming to the borough very soon but it is a well-welcomed splash of colour to Accrington Town Centre and I for one cannot wait to see what comes next.
This covers just a handful of the engagements that the Mayoress and I have had the pleasure of attending but I am keen to emphasise our gratitude for every single invitation we receive – we have thoroughly enjoyed everything that we have attended and I sincerely look forward to the months ahead.