2nd February
The Darlington Mayor’s Variety Show, hosted by Peter Barron MBE, which the Mayor and Consort attended, bore witness to the incredible amount of talent in the town. Every act was excellent but there were stand out performances from Maria and James, DAPA, Magician Tim Lichfield (ably assisted by our Mayor), DOS and all the dance companies. It was a great night out at The Hippodrome. Well done Jan Cossins in putting together such a great evening’s entertainment. Our Mayor was delighted to catch up with Megan Robson, who was serving drinks in the VIP bar.
4th February
A cracking night took place at the Races in the Parish Hall with Matthew Lowery Entertainer at the starting post. Some great fun ensued with good friends from last year’s Chain Gang supporting our Mayor and 4 of this year’s Mayors and Consorts too. Great help was afforded by the usual crew: Karina, David, Judith, Chris, Gill, Glen and Annette. There were lots of winners of Prosecco and Celebrations on the night.
5th February
Tonight the Mayor and Consort were to be found at the Twinning Association Farewell Dinner as guests of Alda and Philip, held at Hardwick Hall Hotel. It was a pleasure to meet fellow Hamminkeln Mayor, Burgermeister Berndt and his friends Annelise and Hildegard. Lirica provided the excellent musical entertainment. In the words of The Spice Girls, ‘Friendship Never Ends’!
10th February
The Mayor and Consort organised another excellent music night in the Parish Hall, this time featuring The Gastric Band. They played a delightfully varied couple of sets which had the crowd dancing from the off. The Mayoral team ran a tombola instead of a raffle this time, which was a great success. Many thanks are due to the fantastic team of helpers once more and to the Civic guests for supporting the event.
15th February
The Mayor and Consort enjoyed a trip to Spennymoor to watch the Spennymoor Youth Group’s performance of ‘Return to the Forbidden Planet’ with Deputy Mayor, Derek Taylor. Inspired by Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’, yet with lots of quotations from other of his plays, this juke box musical is packed with rock ‘n’ roll classics.
16th February
The Mayor and Consort were asked to officially declare the new Co-op Funeralcare premises in Rectory Row open, which we were delighted to do. Also present were some Town Councillors, Co-op Funeralcare Area Manager Sarah Tooze, Sue and Trudy, Co-op Pioneer Tim Dredge, clergy, celebrants and members of the public, who all took part in the Service of Dedication in some capacity. In addition, I was asked to judge the pancake pictures from our 2 primary schools, which were very imaginative. Following a guided tour of the building, mouth-watering refreshments were served.
16th February
The Mayor and Consort’s second call of the day was to catch the tail end of the Sedgefield in Bloom Coffee Morning in the Parish Hall, which was packed to capacity. The tombola and raffle stalls proved extremely popular.
21st February
The Mayor and Consort were very happy to support Stuart Watt’s Coffee Morning and mega-raffle in the Methodist Church Hall, raising funds for the British Heart Foundation. An estimated minimum of £455 was raised today.
23rd February
The Mayor and Consort were delighted to welcome PCC Joy Allen along with Fleur Brown and the CrimeStoppers Team to the Veterans’ Coffee Morning. Lots of people took the opportunity to chat with them all about how anti-social behaviour affects them personally and what steps are being taken to combat these in our village. It was a positive, informative session.
23rd February
The Mayor and Consort were invited to a wonderfully informative evening at Spennymoor Art Gallery in the Town Hall with an illustrated talk on the life and works of local artist Norman Cornish, given by his son John. Mayor Ian Geldard kindly put on wine and cheese afterwards for the guests.
29th February
The Mayor and Consort were delighted to be invited to the Mayor and Mayoress ‘At Home’ event in Hartlepool Civic Centre this afternoon. There were some excellent musical performances from the students of St Hild’s, St Cuthbert’s and High Tunstall Schools to entertain us. It was lovely to see Headteacher Jo Wilson from Sedgefield with her party of schoolchildren there.