Mayoral Viewpoint: Councillor Mike Booth
As Hyndburn moves rapidly into autumn and the nights draw in, our sunny days may be becoming fewer and far between but the community spirit at engagements remains as bright as ever. Our month kickstarted with the iMEP Music Festival, headlined by global superstar Jess Glynne and saw thousands attend this remarkable evening of live music, also featuring Cian Ducrot, Kimberly Wyatt and many more. Would you believe Hyndburn is now well and truly a venue for an autumn music festival?
Amongst our ceremonial duties this month was the rededication of the Great Harwood War Memorial. The ceremony was conducted with great dignity in memory of the fallen, along with those whose names have now been added to the epitaph. Attendance at ceremonies and functions organised by the Royal British Legion highlight the work undertaken to help ex-servicemen and women living in our community today.
One of the busiest events attended so far was the Futures careers convention held at the Accrington Stanley at the start of the month. This event also gave me the chance to reconnect with Rhyddings students and one or two of my old colleagues (Yes, a few students reminded me that I once taught their parents!) Once again, the Amazing Accrington team created a spectacular day for our young people, giving them the opportunity to explore the post-education opportunities in and around Hyndburn.
Not forgetting our Hyndburn primary schools, this autumn also saw over eleven hundred pupils from Y3 each receive an Accrington Stanley shirt in the big shirt give away by the first team. Our founding member of the English Football league really know how to engage with young people and this same spirit carried through to the fundraising event at the Accrington Stanley Community hub, where we saw how well used this new 3G community asset has become for our borough.
This covers just a handful of the many fantastic engagements the Mayoress and I have had the privilege to attend this month, and I would like to extend a warm thanks as always to all of the brilliant local organisations, civic dignitaries, and community groups that invite us along to their events. I would also like to make an honourable mention for the Hate Crime Awareness Week partner video that I was invited to take part in – this was a moment that saw all sectors of Hyndburn’s diverse community come together to spread the message that hate crime will not be tolerated.
Fundraising is key to many of these wonderful endeavours and this autumn, the Mayoress and I are launching our Hyndburn Youth Challenge. As many of you know, the careers of the Mayoress and I have been closely connected with young people for many years – Christine was a Youth Worker at the Burnley Boys Club for over thirty years and my long career in secondary education gave me the opportunity to appreciate the many talents, creativity and energy of young people in our community. We are therefore inviting secondary schools, youth groups and cadet organisations to raise money for our chosen charities using a startup sum of £50. More information will be shared in due course!
Finally, I would implore all to make a trip to Accrington Town Centre this coming weekend to attend the brand-new event, ‘Enlighten’, that will be taking over some of the town’s most prominent buildings. There will be a huge array of performances and activities taking place, so there will certainly be something to appeal to all.