Mayoral Service in St Bees
To St Bees Priory this afternoon for the Mayoral Service marking the start of the year of Norman and Yvonne Clarkson as Mayor and Mayoress of Copeland.
Unlike many parts of the country Copeland does not have a tradition of a majority party letting anyone else having a turn as Mayor. This year however, it has happened and Norman is the first Tory Mayor of Copeland for many years.
There was a procession through St Bees, and then the church was reasonably full for the service. It was an excellent service. I think the idea of de-politicising the mayoralty to some extent and letting each party have a turn if they have candidates of good quality is a sound principle so I hope this year is a great success. I have no doubt that Norman and Yvonne will be an excellent Mayor and Mayoress, and I think the presence of many members of the public to support them today bodes well for the year, as did the fact that some people had come from the more distant part of the borough - for example, there was a good contingent from Millom.
One straw in the wind was that, during both sessions of prayers and intercessions, the priests who were leading kicked off their prayers for public services by mentioning health provision. There is continuing concern about this issue, and rightly so. More on this subject tomorrow.
Unlike many parts of the country Copeland does not have a tradition of a majority party letting anyone else having a turn as Mayor. This year however, it has happened and Norman is the first Tory Mayor of Copeland for many years.
There was a procession through St Bees, and then the church was reasonably full for the service. It was an excellent service. I think the idea of de-politicising the mayoralty to some extent and letting each party have a turn if they have candidates of good quality is a sound principle so I hope this year is a great success. I have no doubt that Norman and Yvonne will be an excellent Mayor and Mayoress, and I think the presence of many members of the public to support them today bodes well for the year, as did the fact that some people had come from the more distant part of the borough - for example, there was a good contingent from Millom.
One straw in the wind was that, during both sessions of prayers and intercessions, the priests who were leading kicked off their prayers for public services by mentioning health provision. There is continuing concern about this issue, and rightly so. More on this subject tomorrow.
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