January has been a less busy month than previously but there have been some very interesting events. The first of these was at The Life Centre in Moordown which was organised and run by Bournemouth People First who demonstrated to the invited audience the need for a ‘Bill of Rights’ Charter for people with learning disabilities. Their short presentations covered different aspects of their lives and clearly showed the discrimination and denial of civil rights which they suffer, often unintentionally, due to assumptions about their needs and abilities. They have drawn up the Charter and it certainly needs to be adopted and widely communicated to counteract these prejudices. One of the young men who helped with the demonstrations was one of the main participants in the Channel 4 TV programme entitled ‘The Undateables’ where he found himself a young lady friend.
Later in the month we attended a presentation at Poole Museum by children from two schools entitled “What’s Your Story”. The Poole Mayor was also in attendance as one of the schools was in Poole and the other in Bournemouth. The children had produced films about the history of their schools and had interviewed local residents to provide the information. It was a very interesting project which was presented very well by the children and reminded my husband and I of our schooldays.
Other attendances were at St Peter’s Church on the Holocaust Memorial Day at a morning Eucharist service, and in the afternoon at the Lighthouse in Poole for a Holocaust remembrance presentation. Both of these were very well attended and were very moving ceremonies. Then there was a celebration at the Wessex Hotel for the Council’s Adult Social Care Workers who have worked hard to maintain a good service during the changes which have been necessary in the restructuring of the service. A much more spectacular event was the UK Dance Championships at the BIC. The dancing was superb and the dresses very beautiful; it was a most memorable evening.
The Mayor has officially opened or launched several new projects and business. These included, a Gurkha restaurant, a Sue Ryder Charity shop, the Venus Awards for Women in Business and the Chinese New Year Celebrations at the Library.We also attended the launch of the Cathedral Innovation Project at the House of Lords. An interesting project we officially launched was at ‘Zip Yard’, which is a dry-cleaning business, where they have started a Clothes Bank. They accept clothes which people no longer require; they then repair and clean them and pass them on to the Food Bank Centre in Charminster where the clothes are given to those in need. The Mayor also presented awards to the Bournemouth in Bloom winners.
We attended two Burns Nights, one held by the Caledonian Society and the other being the Mayor’s own Charity Burns Night. Both provided excellent food and entertainment, the haggises were very thoroughly addressed and appropriately killed; the pipers were at full-throttle and Scottish accents abounded – great fun.
Other appointments have been to the All Saints Theatre for a performance of the ‘Scrooge Musical’ where we met the cast after the performance, including the many young actors who were still very excited. It was a very entertaining performance. We also attended the launch of the Spring Season at Pavilion Dance, where we watched a screening of the Bolshoi Ballet in a performance of ‘Jewels’. Needless to say, the dancing was superb but the screening went backstage and gave short interviews with the participants. There will be other such screenings at Pavilion Dance during the year and they are well worth attending.
We were invited by Bournemouth Hospital Radio to be interviewed for their Bedside Programme. So we went along to the rather drab looking grey building in the hospital grounds; a little nervously in my case. However, as the programme did not go out live this took the pressure off and it became a friendly, chatty hour with the interviewer. She was very interested in that we had written a book about Chinese temples whilst we were living in Hong Kong. She had lived for some time in the Colony and had bought a book entitled Hong Kong Temples which she said she had found very informative and useful. She later told us that it was the book that we had written. It was gratifying to know that at least one person had liked it!
In the Mayor’s Parlour we have hosted a group of teachers from Zibo, China, and the Head of Georgia’s Youth Parliament. We have held another dinner party, a soiree for local charity fund-raisers and the usual post-Council meeting with the Councillors. In addition there have been the meetings with the Mayor’s Charity Committee relating to fund-raising events, when we have discussed the Mayor’s Ball. We are planning to call it “The Mayor’s Charity Extravaganza” as we hope to be showcasing some of Bournemouth’s super talent.
In the Council Chamber there have been the Citizenship Ceremonies which have now increased to four a month from the one a month in the recent past. Oh, I almost forgot, we attended two 100th birthday parties on the same day, both quite lively events; one with a vocalist to entertain and the other with two young ballroom dancers. We always enjoy meeting these centenarians and learning a little of their lives.
That’s all for now.
God Bless
Elaine Cooper
Mayor of Bournemouth 