Cheltenham Liberal Democrats

MAYOR'S ADDRESS TO THE ANNUAL COUNCIL, MONDAY 14th MAY 2007

Councillors, Honorary Freeman, Honorary Aldermen, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

I wonder what my parents would have thought if they'd known I would end up treading the boards of Cheltenham Town Hall dressed in musquash, lace and a big gold necklace. Possibly they would have been very proud. Equally possibly, they would have strangled me at birth. Nonetheless, it is a great privilege to be Mayor of Cheltenham, and I would like to start by saying a few words of thanks.

I thank the Council for electing me as Mayor. I thank Cllrs Jordan and Hale for their very kind words. With great humility and affection, I thank the people of St Paul's and St Peter's Wards without whom I would not be here in the first place. And last but not least, I thank Jacky Fletcher for being such a wonderful Mayor and colleague over the past year. In Jacky Fletcher, Cheltenham has a good and faithful servant and the town owes her an enormous debt of gratitude.

Over 20 centuries ago, a few years before Jacky and I were born, the great Jewish scholar and teacher Hillel said this: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I?"

Nations, families and communities exist because we are not just interested in ourselves. They exist because we are here for each other. I am proud to be the Mayor of a town which has such a strong sense of shared values, and such a rich tradition of philanthropy, and of public and voluntary service.

The Council is at the centre of a network of organisations - social, commercial, environmental and cultural - that feed each other and depend on each other. As Mayor, I will do my best to nurture and strengthen the bonds that hold Cheltenham together as a successful community.

As Cllr Jordan mentioned, I am not a native Cheltonian. You might call me an adopted son. I came here 34 years ago when I started my working life and I am extremely fortunate to have done so.

To me, Cheltenham is more than just a geographical location - more even than just a community. Like a much-loved friend and companion, it has its own unique and delightful personality - lively and confident, kind and compassionate, shrewd and practical, full of variety, full of imagination, erudite, elegant and entertaining, sometimes amazing, sometimes infuriating but never less than fascinating.

Of course, Cheltenham has not always been described in such enthusiastic terms. In 1821, the great writer and reformer William Cobbett described Cheltenham as "a resort of the lame and the lazy, the gormandizing and guzzling, the bilious and the nervous". Fortunately you have only to look at the members of the present Council to see how very different things are today.

The motto of the Borough of Cheltenham is famously Salubritas et Eruditio. These days it would take an army of consultants to come up with a slogan like that. In those days it was one man with a quill pen and a Latin dictionary.

Salubritas is usually translated as Health. But actually the Latin word for personal health is salus. Salubritas means something slightly different. You could translate it as healthiness or wholesomeness or by our modern expression of quality of life. Eruditio, of course, is easy to translate as knowledge or learning.

Salubritas et Eruditio. Quality living and learning. What a fine summation that is of Cheltenham's proud history. And what a powerful vision of the future.

Quality living and learning. Today so much of what we are trying to achieve as a Council is about one or both of these things, whether it's our programme to bring council housing up to the Decent Homes standard, our policies to protect and enhance our green open spaces, our promotion of recycling, our support for the Festivals and for lifelong learning, our efforts to secure Cheltenham's future as a cultural centre, or the Civic Pride initiative to make the town centre a better place to live and work.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have been involved in local politics in Cheltenham for a very long time. I've served 20 years on the County Council and ten years on the Borough Council. I've always felt that being on the Council is a bit like being in an open prison. The difference is that in prison you get parole for good behaviour, whereas on the Council you just get a longer sentence.

One thing you learn from a long period on the Council is that what divides us is less important than what unites us. Party differences matter, but Cheltenham people still expect us to work together when we can. One of my ambitions as Mayor is to help create an atmosphere of constructive co-operation on the Council.

In my early days as a councillor I had two good friends on the opposite side of the chamber, the late Sir Charles Irving and the late May Dent, and they helped me appreciate that your opponents don't need to be your enemies.

I remember how, when we were leading councillors in the 1980s, Charles would invite me to his house occasionally. And how he would serve the largest and most potent gin and tonics I've ever seen in my life. Somehow, through the alcoholic mist, quite a lot of useful work got done before I tottered out of the front door and zigzagged home.

Now far be it from me to suggest that co-operation between the parties would improve if Cllrs Smith and McKinlay got drunk together occasionally. All I can say is, it worked for us.

Another role I am keen to fill is as an advocate for the town. I want to be an advocate for preserving the identity of Cheltenham and maintaining the integrity of our Green Belt, against the very real danger that urban sprawl could merge Cheltenham, Gloucester and Bishops Cleeve into a single, hideous, homogenised conurbation.

I want to be an advocate for public services that are locally run and locally accountable, against the Whitehall mania for centralising services. As the Chief Constable and the Police Authority have shown us, the centralisers can be beaten.

Often in politics, we emphasise the things that are wrong. I want to speak up for what is right about Cheltenham. Wherever I go, I will sing the praises of this fine town - the beauty of its parks and buildings, the public spirit of its people, the skill and enterprise of its businesses, the vibrancy of its cultural life, the irrepressible energy of its voluntary organisations, the excellence of its schools, colleges and university, the dedication of its public servants.

I want my Mayoralty to celebrate Cheltenham's rich historic and cultural heritage. I am profoundly aware that, as leaders of this community, we walk in the footsteps of men and women of rare vision who shaped this town over two eventful centuries. In the next few weeks, we will be reminded of this, with the reopening of the restored Montpellier Gardens and the centenary of Cheltenham's world-renowned Museum.

2007 is the 25th anniversary of Cheltenham in Bloom, when we'll be hosting the Heart of England Awards here in this Town Hall in September. I want to encourage every household, business and organisation in the town to get behind Cheltenham's efforts to win continued success in Britain in Bloom.

The coming year will hopefully see the unveiling of an imposing bronze statue of Gustav Holst, probably in Imperial Gardens, thanks to the work of the Civic Society and the generous bequest of the late Miss Hamond. I want this to be an opportunity, not just to honour a great Cheltonian, but to celebrate the continuing richness of Cheltenham's musical life.

2007/8 is also the official millennium of the County of Gloucestershire, marking 1,000 years since the county was created. I want to use the occasion to encourage people to discover more about their local history. To that end, I have been working with the Cheltenham Local History Society to organise a Millennium Lecture on The Origins of Gloucestershire by the noted local historian Tim Porter, which will take place at St Andrew's Church on Sunday December 2nd.

Religion is not usually regarded as a subject of polite conversation in British society, but I want to say a word about it.

Last month, at the Forest of Dean civic service, Bishop Michael spoke of the growing distance between the religious and the secular. He also warned against multi-culturalism being used as a cover for a rigid secularism that has no place at all for spirituality.

His words helped to focus an important issue in my mind. Should we in this secular age be continuing with our traditional civic worship?

I respect the views of those councillors who prefer to take no part in civic worship. However, like Disraeli, "I am on the side of the angels". I firmly believe that much of our understanding of public service and social responsibility takes its inspiration from religion.

Therefore I have made a conscious choice to continue opening council meetings with a prayer and a moment of contemplation. I am delighted to announce that the Reverend Tamsin Merchant, Chaplain to the University of Gloucestershire, will be my chaplain for the coming year.

I invite you all to join me for what promises to be an enjoyable Mayoral Service at our parish church of St Mary's on Sunday June 17th. I will also be inviting the Council to join me for a New Year Service at Christ Church on the first Sunday of 2008.

At the same time, I mean business about genuine multi-culturalism. I have for many years had a warm relationship with the local Hindu community, and as Mayor I want to reach out to all Cheltenham's ethnic and faith communities.

Can I turn now to the Mayor's Charities for 2007/8. As we go through life we learn many lessons. And one of the profoundest lessons we can learn is about the unique importance and infinite possibilities of every human being.

Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, one of the most inspiring and visionary figures of the 20th century, put it like this: "I am very conscious that it is above everything else with people that I have to do; with individual human beings, each a person in his own right, unique and unrepeatable, each a member of our own human family, with the dignity and responsibility that this implies".

Throughout my life, one thing that has constantly inspired me is the ability of human beings to cope with the worst of difficulties - the ability to discover hope and joy and opportunity in the darkest of places.

The three charities I have chosen for the Mayor's appeal do a fantastic amount to help people lift up their lives and fulfil their true potential for happiness. The Leonard Cheshire Home of Gloucestershire, acting out the vision of its founder, provides not only residential care but life opportunities for severely disabled people. Cheltenham and District Carers and Families is a much-needed local support group for families and carers of children with special needs. Grippers, a new local charity, funds activities which help young people return to normal life after severe mental illness.

To celebrate the vital, life-enhancing work that all these charities do, I propose to call the Mayor's Appeal for 2007/8 the Lifting Lives Appeal. Our voluntary committee has been working to organise a programme of events which in different ways celebrate the best of Cheltenham life, starting with a Night at the Daffodil on June 7th.

I also hope to support Cheltenham's voluntary organisations in many other ways. For example, 2007 sees two important landmarks - the 40th Anniversary of the National Star College and the 150th Anniversary of the Gloucestershire County Association for the Blind. I will do all I can to help these superb organisations achieve their goals for this very special year.

I am pleased to announce that my wife Jonquil, my daughter Madeleine and my council colleague Lydia Bishop have all kindly agreed to assist me by sharing the duties of Mayor's Consort in the coming year.

John Webster - not the councillor but the poet and playwright - wrote: "'Tis better to be fortunate than wise." I have been fortunate in my family, my friends and my opponents - not in my case mutually exclusive categories.

I thank my fellow councillors for electing me. I relish the job you have given me to do. And I relish my part in the task which as councillors we all share: to make this town as beautiful, as prosperous, as safe, as pleasant, as full of character and as full of life as we know it can be.