Mayor’s Blog 132
This week: Julia’s House, Teddy Bear’s Picnic (Carnival Princess), Weeds!
Morrisons Fundraising for Julia’s House
On Friday 11 August at 9 a.m. I had the pleasure of starting off our local Morrisons fundraising event in aid of Julia’s House. It was part of a coordinated event across the South West and all of the Morrison’s Stores were completing a challenge to walk a section of Mount Everest each.
They had a treadmill at the front of the store and bucket collections went on through the weekend to raise as much as possible through their charity partner “Together for Short Lives”. Bridport had 42.75 miles to complete for their share so I am not quite sure how high Mount Everest has become now!
I decided that, rather than make a public announcement to start the event, it might be more interesting if I took the first 15 minute slot and at a steady speed of 4mph I managed a quick 1 mile to get things going.
There were plenty of volunteers amongst the Staff to continue the walk and good news is that they managed all the miles by 2pm and raised over £600, then again on Saturday they ran a very successful tombola bringing their total to £1091 for Julia’s House.
Bridport Carnival Princess/ Teddy Bear’s Picnic
On Sunday Bridget and I joined the Teddy Bear’s Picnic on the green in front of Mountfield. I had been asked to crown the Carnival Princess and her two Attendants, a great honour. On arrival it was wonderful to see so many families already settled on the green and children having fun at the various stalls.
I had soon spent a few pound coins and even managed to win a Teddy but Bridget drew the line at face painting (for me) although the Bridport Young Players were offering plenty of encouragement!
At 12.00 the ceremony took place and I had the pleasure of crowning the Carnival Princess, Millie Frampton, and her two attendants, Ava Hook and Delilah Rayner, in front of a rather large Polar Bear and very proud parents.
I am looking forward to seeing them again at the Carnival this Saturday where I am sure they will enjoy being part of the procession.
Weeds!
I was pleased to see that Bridport Town Council took some positive action this week after numerous complaints (some from myself) over the failure of Dorset Council to control the worsening weed situation in our Town Centre and surrounding areas. Apparently Dorset Council had been let down by their appointed Contractor and, although another one had taken over the contract, they were well behind in the weed clearing program.
Bridport Town Council offered to carry out some of the work in the Town and Dorset Council agreed to pay. This meant two early 6 a.m. starts for our hard working team, unfortunately resulting in a couple of complaints about early morning noise, but they soon made a difference to the way the Town Centre looks.
Well done Bridport Town Council, prompt action as always.
I have also seen the Street Sweeper back in action in Bridport so I am hopeful this will help to improve the look of our town in general, all we need now is for people to stop throwing rubbish down (which is an offence) and put it in one of the many bins provided.
I did have a thought this week, I wonder how clean the streets would be if everyone picked up just one piece of litter a day? People don’t have to wait for an official “Litter Pick” to make a difference and I know there are quite a few people who do pick up litter on a daily basis. Worth thinking about?
Upcoming events
Saturday : The Carnival Procession
Sunday: The Torchlight Parade
Tuesday: Ukranian Independence Day celebrations at the Salthouse
Thursday: The Melplash Show
