New mayors receive the chains of office (From Witney Gazette)
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New mayors receive the chains of office
7:00am Friday 25th May 2012 in Headlines
By Andrew Ffrench, covering Didcot and Wallingford. Call me on 01865 425425
Lord Mayor of Oxford Alan Armitage receives his chain from Sergeant of the Mace David Hawkins
ALAN Armitage became Lord Mayor of Oxford this week and pledged to support asylum seekers and local artists.
He took over from Elise Benjamin, the city’s first Green mayor, at the mayor making ceremony in the Town Hall council chamber.
After being given his mayoral robes and chain, Mr Armitage, Liberal Democrat city councillor for North ward, said he was looking forward to his year in office.
He added that he would be using the Lord Mayor’s car, a Toyota Prius with the number plate FC1, instead of riding a bike to get to engagements as Ms Benjamin did during her year of office.
Mr Armitage, 61, said: “I think people like to see the Lord Mayor’s car and they will expect me to give them a wave when I go past.”
His chosen charities for the year are Arts at the Old Fire Station, a charity running a theatre, dance studio and art gallery at the George Street venue, and Asylum Welcome, which supports asylum seekers in Oxford.
The father-of-three, who lives in Summertown, added: “Asylum seekers can often be essentially destitute, so I want to raise as much money as possible for Asylum Welcome and its volunteers.
“And there’s an exhibition space at the Old Fire Station which I would like to support, so that local artists get an opportunity to showcase their work and get the confidence to go on.”
As chairman of Oxfordshire’s European Movement, Mr Armitage requested that the Flag of the European Community was flown from Carfax Tower during the mayor making ceremony on Wednesday.
Following the ceremony, a reception for the new Lord Mayor was held in the main hall of the Town Hall in St Aldate’s.
In Wallingford, Ros Lester drank from the Loving Cup in an ancient ceremony as she became the new mayor of the town.
Mrs Lester, 62, replaced fellow town councillor Colin Dolton as mayor in a ceremony at the town hall last week.
She said: “The town clerk Andrew Rogers saluted me as the new mayor and took a drink from the cup first and then I took a sip.
“All the other town councillors also took a sip from the cup, which contained a kind of brandy.
“The ceremony goes back hundreds of years. I am delighted to be mayor of Wallingford.”
Army cadet Ben Green, 16, from Wallingford, was chosen as the mayor’s cadet for the year and will accompany Mrs Lester to a number of events.
Monica Lovatt, wife of town council leader Sandy Lovatt, was elected Abingdon’s mayor, replacing fellow Conservative Mike Badcock.
She said: “When I was first elected in 1991, I didn’t think for a moment that I would ever be mayor.
“Now, 21 years later, I have that honour and I am looking forward to the next year.”
In Didcot, town councillors voted in Pete Read, Labour councillor for Northbourne ward, and he replaces Phil Hayward.
Wantage Town Council elected Charlotte Dickson as town mayor for a second year at the council’s annual meeting. Fiona Roper will serve again as deputy mayor.
In Witney, Harry Eaglestone is to serve as mayor for a second year.
Bicester Town Council elected last year’s deputy mayor Dan Sames to the position, while Tony Ilott has become mayor of Banbury.
Comments(6)
Man on the Green
says...
7:01pm Fri 25 May 12
LORD PETER MACVEY 0X2 6EG
says...
9:19pm Fri 25 May 12
Fruit_Bat
says...
6:31pm Sat 26 May 12
He sends people back into situations of war, torture or poverty for such victimless "crimes" as entering the country without the correct papers (impossible in some circumstances to get them!).
Many of these are actions which have recently become criminalized; there are approximately 50 immigration act offences (as opposed to offences under the criminal justice system) and in just one year - 2007 - 900 people were charged and convicted of these.
You can't make the racist border regime humanitarian or fair - the whole point of it is to punish desperate vulnerable people to put them off coming here.
LORD PETER MACVEY 0X2 6EG
says...
3:38am Sun 27 May 12
Fruit_Bat wrote:The real problem is too many bogus illegals coming here to leech off of the system, or carry out organized crime, which leads to suspicion of the few real political asylum seekers. That is why it is big business in Africa and Asia.
The Mayor has said he wants to reach out to ethnic minorities and asylum seekers; while in his other job he sits on a Tribunal which deports them! Total hypocrisy.
He sends people back into situations of war, torture or poverty for such victimless "crimes" as entering the country without the correct papers (impossible in some circumstances to get them!).
Many of these are actions which have recently become criminalized; there are approximately 50 immigration act offences (as opposed to offences under the criminal justice system) and in just one year - 2007 - 900 people were charged and convicted of these.
You can't make the racist border regime humanitarian or fair - the whole point of it is to punish desperate vulnerable people to put them off coming here.
Man on the Green
says...
11:14am Tue 29 May 12
Who, Fruit_Bat, would you have decide on asylum cases? People like Mr MacVey, perhaps? Or someone who is sensitive to the situation of and does something about those in real need? I know which I would prefer. And as for claiming that the whole point is "to punish desperate vulnerable people", do please stop and think. The whole point is to check whether they meet the legally defined criteria so that the UK complies with the Treaty commitments it has entered into, inter alia. There's no "conflict of interest" there.
As for Mr MacVey, I sometimes wonder that he hasn't been prosecuted for incitement to racial hatred (indeed his hatred seems to extend to anyone who doesn't agree with him). The spleen he pours out on these pages often goes way beyond what can be considered legitimate exercise of free speech and descends into hate-filled invective. We all tend to tip-toe around him, for fear of provoking a stream of abuse in reply. I certainly reproach myself from time to time for not responding to some of his more offensive comments. But at the time time, it's a bit like giving UKIP or the EDL the "oxygen of publicity". He seem to crave conflict just as most of us shy away from it. He has indeed succeeded in this instance in eliciting a response from me. I shall, no doubt, regret having done so...
Oxfordaboard says...
4:26pm Fri 25 May 12