Agenda item

Communications

[To receive the Mayor’s announcements.]

Minutes:

1.    Dutch War Graves

The Mayor reported that Wolverhampton would pay its respects to the brigade of Dutch soldiers who were stationed at Wrottesley Park during the Second World War. The Mayor would lay a wreath at the annual Dutch War Graves Service of Remembrance at Jeffcock Road Cemetery on Saturday 10 November 2018. The poignant service, organised by the City of Wolverhampton Central Branch of the Royal British Legion, would remember the 23 soldiers from the Princess Irene Brigade who were buried at the cemetery. The Remembrance service would take place at 10am and would be preceded by a short parade which would form up at 9.40am. The Mayor encouraged as many Councillors as possible to attend.

 

2.    Remembrance Sunday

The Mayor reported that the Remembrance Sunday service this year would also commemorate 100 years since the end of the First World War in the City of Wolverhampton and remember those who died and fought in World War One. The Outdoor Drumhead Service would begin at 10.58am, followed by a second service in St. Peter’s Church at approximately 11.25am.  The Mayor encouraged as many Councillors as possible to attend.

 

3.    Wednesfield in Bloom 2018

The Mayor was delighted to congratulate all those who were involved in the 2018 Wednesfield in Bloom entry in the Britain in Bloom contest. Wednesfield had been awarded a gold award for the ‘urban community category’ and also a judges’ discretionary award for ‘community achievement’. The Discretionary Community Achievement award was very rare and was the result of lots of hard work by an army of dedicated volunteers ages ranging from 4 to 84.

 

The Mayor added a number of people led by ‘Hands on Wednesfield’, helped to win a Gold award for the second year running including a number of schools and nurseries, St Thomas’s Church, the Staffordshire Regimental Association, The Local Scout groups (that built a Viking Longboat in Bentley Bridge), local business’s, Council Departments and Public Services along with Wednesfield Councillors, helped to raise almost £3,000. 

 

4.    Carols in the City/Victorian Christmas Market

The Mayor was also delighted to report that the three-day Victorian Christmas Market was set to return for a second year and would be the largest festive market the City had held. The three-day market would take place on Friday, 14 December (11am-9pm), Saturday 15 December (10am-9pm) and Sunday 16 December (10am-5pm) in Wolverhampton City Centre at Queen Square, Dudley Street and Lichfield Street.

 

The Market would be joined by the City of Wolverhampton Carols in the City event hosted by the Mayor and Mayoress who would formally open the Victorian Market on Friday 14 December at 4pm. The Carols in the City were due to take place from 5pm with choirs from local schools and the City choir. This would be located on the main stage area at Queen Square. 

 

5.Touchstone Awards

The Mayor was delighted to introduce Noel Hunter OBE, the Chair of the British Hallmarking Council to present the prestigious annual Touchstone award to Councillor Steve Evans, Cabinet Member for City Environment, and the Council’s Trading Standards team. The team had won the award in recognition of its outstanding information and educational activity to prevent fraud in relation to gold, silver and other precious metals. The project that led to the award was a cutting-edge campaign to educate Wolverhampton residents and businesses about hallmarking and how to spot un-hallmarked jewellery, reinvigorating enforcement in one of the oldest consumer protection regimes in the world.

 

The Mayor added the team had issued educational resource packs to jewellers across the City to raise standards for all. To educate consumers, the team developed hallmarking activity packs which had been distributed to schools, public libraries and places of worship. Multi lingual officers engaged with ‘often overlooked communities’ where many were not native English speakers. Within these groups there could also be a different cultural approach to buying jewellery, and an ignorance of hallmarking requirements leaving consumers vulnerable to being cheated. Posters in English, Guajarati, Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi were widely distributed, and the campaign also targeted younger residents with children’s activity packs.

 

Noel Hunter OBE presented the award to Paul Dosanjh, Service Lead for Trading Standards. Councillor Steve Evans, Cabinet Member for City Environment, congratulated the Trading Standards team and extended thanks for their hard work.

 

6.    LGiU & CCLA’s Councillor Achievement Awards 2018

?The Mayor was also delighted to congratulate the Leader of the Council, Councillor Roger Lawrence, who had been named Leader of the Year at the LGiU & CCLA’s Councillor Achievement Awards. These were the only awards to celebrate the work of Councillors and elected members. 

 

The Mayor also congratulated Councillor Celia Hibbert and Councillor Beverley Momenabadi who had been shortlisted in the Community Champion and Young Councillor of the Year categories respectively.