Saturday 21st May 2011
As we reported on Wednesday 18th May Councillor Peter Barr has this week become Chesterfield's 371st Mayor, and today, in a Civic Service he was introduced to the town and his Mayoralty celebrated with a service at the Parish Church of St Mary's and All Saints (The Crooked Spire).
Hundreds of people lined the streets of the town to witness the party leave the Town Hall just after 10.30am to parade through the busy Saturday town centre to the church.
Attended by dignitaries including His Grace The Duke of Devonshire, MP Toby Perkins and Mayors and Civic Leaders from across the county it was conducted by the Mayor's Chaplain, Reverend Canon Michael Knight.
It was the first outing for the Mayoral Cadets too, as they accompanied the distinguished guests on parade with military colleagues and bands.
During a service in which Reverend Canon Knight spoke about the need for responsible governance and praised volunteers who gave up their time for service hymns were sung and prayers were said for The Mayor and Councillors as they embarked on their new year in office.
After a parade back through the lined streets of Chesterfield the Mayor took the salute on the steps of the Town Hall.
A short ceremony in the Mayor's Chambers followed to unveil the chosen Charities for this year’s Mayoral Appeal.
It was announced that they are to be Ashgate Hospice and the Chesterfield Cancer Drop In Centre.
Representatives from both charities were present at the service and gave short speeches.
Kathy Hollyer from Ashgate Hospice told the guests they were honoured to have been chosen to be one of the charities and why it was so important to them. She began by congratulating the Mayor and Mayoress and thanked them for inviting her to the service. She then added, "As many know, Ashgate Hospice provides care for people with Life Limiting illnesses and their families and has been open for 23 years."
She then revealed some surprising figures, "In that first year we needed £400,000 to operate; today we need £4.7 million. This reflects our service through the years and how people near death are cared for."
She went on to describe how that money provides vital services, "175 people employed and we have 330 volunteers. Our services are varied - community care, where approximately 1,000 patients are helped by us every year, and 360 patients helped by us in our In patients care.
"Half our patients go home where we carry on caring for them, and we have a day centre, lymphodema team, family support team and Chaplain, so it's easy to spend £4.7 million pounds.
"We do receive 45% from the NHS, but are worried about the future and I will talk to Toby later! Events raise the rest - £4.7 million only covers running costs, so we are extremely grateful as the appeal will help us to replace equipment."
She finished by reading a quote form the Mayor which she said summed up what they're about, "So many individuals and families benefit from the care at Ashgate Hospice that it seems that they have touched the lives of everyone in Chesterfield. We have personally experienced the unconditional level of care provided by Ashgate Hospice and we want it to continue to be available to all those people who need their care in times of deep distress". She added that statement had almost brought her to tears.
In an emotional speech Barbara Wallis, founder of the Chesterfield Cancer Drop in Centre, told how the charity began, "It's very close to my heart because it was set up in memory of my daughter. We went to Weston Park and on our days when we were between appointments we'd go to a centre at the back - a lovely centre where you could go and have a chat and get things off your chest. One day coming home Helen decided Chesterfield needed one of these and said 'come on mum we can do it' ".
There was work to do over the next few months, "We had a look round for premises - Claire Cunningham was fantastic at pointing them out - and eventually we found Market Hall, we opened the Cancer Drop in Centre - the other name for it is 'Nenna Kind'.
"It does what it says, people can come in, have a chat and get things off their chest. We're not open every day, but we do therapies for people who need it and a benefits advice service. Everything is free but anyone can use it, even if they're tired and just want to have a sit down."
Barabara added that it had been a hard slog raising funds, "We are self-funding totally; we started a year last January and opened in October. In that time we have raised £20,000 through lots of things - bike rides, market stalls and coffee mornings. We are really grateful to the Mayor for asking us to be part of the appeal this year."
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