Column - Boroughbridge Mayor's Diary with Coun Peter Phillips

Our new arrival Nell is keeping us on our toes!

On our return we were busy preparing for the arrival of our new border collie pup. The house has been so empty and walks seemed a little dull since we lost our old border collie Bess on Yorkshire Day.

So Nell arrived with us on Sunday. Oh dear, what have we done? We had forgotten the demands of a puppy.

It was with some sadness that I received the resignation of one of our councillors and past Mayor Graham Archer. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank him for all his hard work while serving on the council and wish him well for the future.

Being a councillor can be demanding and frustrating at times as the wheels of democracy grind slowly, but as councillors we have to follow due democratic process to ensure people have the opportunity to have their say. That said, it is an honour to represent your town and community as well as being very rewarding.

Many thanks again to Graham for all his past work .

On Thursday I met with high school and primary school representatives to keep up the momentum of increasing the schools involvement and profile within the community.

There were a number of good ideas discussed which include making both the school’s facilities more accessible to us all. The group also discussed ways in which all organisations and groups could pull together by means of a common calendar of events and activities.

A comment I hear quite often is “Not much happens in Boroughbridge” and “if we had know that was happening we would have come”.

The truth is there is lots happening, we just fail sometimes to make sure that people are aware of what’s happening. Perhaps we need to keep an eye on our noticeboards so we can support such events. This project will need some planning and good cooperation. A good project for the New Year. I will keep you updated.

On Saturday morning Coun Windass and I took the council surgery. Can I thank those who came to see us with their concerns and issues. I will report further when I have reported back to the council.