Sunday 13th May 2012

Hundreds of people lined the streets of Chesterfield yesterday to see the 372nd Mayor of the town, His Worship Cllr Donald Parsons, parade from the Town Hall to the Crooked Spire during his civic Service (below).



Dignitaries, including MP Natascha Engel, The Leader of Derbyshire County Council, Cllr George Wharmby, Leader of the Council John Burrows and Chief Executive Huw Bowen, were also at the service which was officiated by The Reverend Canon Michael Knight and The Mayor's Chaplain for 2012/2013 Reverend Richard Harris.

During the service hymns including Jerusalem and The Old Rugged Cross were sung and a reading (Matthew 25 14-28) given by former Mayor, Cllr Keith Morgan. Prayers were said for The Queen, and the community and an address was give by the Mayor's Chaplain.



After parading back to the Town Hall where the salute was taken on the steps (below), guests attended a Civic Reception where the Mayoral Charities for the year were formally announced.



Deputy Mayoress, Mrs Barbara Wallace who will be Chair of the Mayor's Appeal Committee, revealed the worthy causes which would be supported by the Mayor's Appeal and explained why they are so important to the Mayor and Mayoress.

The first charity is The Afghan Shoebox Appeal - started by Peter Lawrence four years ago as a result of a conversation with serving soldiers who told him what conditions were like on the front line.

Four years later and over 4,000 shoeboxes have been dispatched to serving soldiers - containing gels, sweets and many more essentials which we take for granted. The charity has supported a long list of Regiments to enable them to have home comforts whilst serving Queen and Country a long way from home.

The second charity is Armed Forces Day, in both Chesterfield and Staveley which will raise funds for Armed Forces and the work they do in supporting families and promoting the work of the Armed Forces in the community.

Staveley Armed Forces Day will take place on 7th and 8th July at Poolsbrook Park and Chesterfield's will take place a week before and will feature an exhibiton and a parade through the town on 30th June.

The Mayor's Appeal will also support the Nenna Kind Cancer Support Centre, which is a relatively new support group, which helps cancer patients and their families and friends. Based just above Dents Chemist, it is totally self-funded and aims to help family and friends through a difficult time.

Mrs Wallace said that she wished to thank Don and Diane for nominating these charities and that, as Chair of the Appeal she "hoped for a good year."

His Worship, Mayor of Chesterfield, Cllr Donald Parsons said, "Today is a start of a wonderful year for Diane and I. I never thought I would have the honour of being Mayor and we are both very much looking forward to our year in office - we want to talk to as many of you as we can."

RECENT STORIES

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