Howard Henshaw Mayor of Fylde 2011-2012

On Monday I chaired the first Full Council Meeting, with Fylde’s new chief executive,Allan Oldfield.

After a nervous start, Allan soon got into his stride and together with the Council’s legal officer,Ian Curtis, they supplied me with the necessary backup to control several quite controversial proposals,including the transfer of Fylde Borough Council assets to Kirkham Town Council.

On Tuesday, I attended the executive committee meeting of the Old Arnoldians, where Jim Armfield gave us an update of the state of the merger between Arnold and King Edward & Queen Mary Schools.

On Wednesday, I was glad for a day off in which I could complete Karen’s income tax return, before the deadline on 31st.January.

Today, I attended the Holocaust Memorial Day Service at the Preston Minster, where several moving speeches were made by St.Anne’s Rabbi Braunold, a gay policeman,Vijanti Chauhan ,representing the hindu community,Gulab Singh MBE for the Sikh community,Melanie Close representing the disabled and the Muslim Chaplain from UCLAN.

The service was led by the very capable Dean,Father Timothy Lipscomb and attended by the Mayor of Preston,Bobby Cartwright supported by several other Mayors from around the county.

Finally,tomorrow, Friday,the Mayoress and I have been invited to a wine and canapes evening at the home of the Bishop of Blackburn,the Right Reverend Nicholas Reade.
(The attached photo was taken at the first Lytham Rotary luncheon of the year with from left:Rob Dunn,Sue Jukhoop,myself guest speaker,Chan Jukhoop,President,the Mayoress,Jim Hudson,secretary and Ian Paterson,vice-president)

The past week I attended the 74th,Charter Anniversary Dinner of the Kirkham and Rural Fylde Rotary Club at Blackpool Football Club, where my host was the club president,David Kirby.

Having attended this function for the past 5 years, I know that it is the best attended function of all the Fylde Rotary clubs, attracting around 150 rotarians and guests each year.

This year was no exception with an excellent speakers and good food and fellowship.

The following evening I met David again at the Annual Lytham Farmers Ball at The Grand Hotel in St.Annes. This time we were joined by our wives, Karen and Sylvia, whilst our hosts for the evening were the Farmers president, John Rawcliffe and his wife Barbara.

As the evening was principally, a ball for the young farmers and their partners, speeches were restricted to a minimum with John proposing the toast to the guests and myself responding on their behalf.

About one hundred members and guests enjoyed a first class meal and the dancing was still in full swing when we left at around 12.30pm.

There was however a disappointing end to the week, when I attended Fylde Rugby Club’s home clash with Blaydon. Sadly Fylde went down to a 34-10 defeat in what was generally considered to be their poorest performance of the season. It also meant they dropped from 2nd.to 4th.position in the league, which could severely dent the club’s promotion prospects.

On Wednesday, I attended the monthly meeting of the Lancashire County Council Development Control Committee where the most controversial item was the proposed demolition of the present Charles Saer School on Grange Road,Fleetwood to be replaced by a newly constructed school, on the same site, with modern, up to date facilities.

My main concerns were over the loss of a large area of the present playing fields, despite the fact that the new school would be partly two storey as opposed to the present single storey construction.

As President of Blackpool Wyre and Fylde Athletic Club, I argued that the same playing areas could be retained, if the new school was redesigned to be largely two storey.

Several other councillors voiced similar misgivings and the decision was therefore deferred for a site visit and further discussions with the applicant, in an effort to accommodate our concerns.

This week we attended the annual dinner of the Lytham St.Annes Choral Society at the Glendower Hotel where Karen was the guest speaker.

Having been guest speaker myself at a Lytham Rotary Club lunch the previous week, I was quite happy to delegate this speech to Karen, particularly as her knowledge of choral singing and music, in general, is far greater than mine.

Karen managed to keep the attention of her audience for a full half hour with a commentary of her musical exploits in South East Asia,the Middle East and Africa during the 25 years we both spent working overseas.

They were particularly interested in her two stints, as a presenter/producer, with Singapore Television and her time as the cantor at Ndola Cathedral in Zambia, where the congregation relied on Karen to lead the singing, in the absence of an organist.

The attached photo shows Karen and myself with the Chairman of the choral society,Alva Marsden and his wife,Barbara.

The loss of a young man and three small children in a house fire at Freckleton on Sunday is indeed a great tragedy.

As Mayor of the Borough, I extend my heartfelt sympathy,together with all the people of Fylde, to their mother,Michelle Smith and all the remaining members of her family.

I would also like to add my tribute to the very brave,19 year old, Reece Smith, who died at the scene,trying to save his three younger siblings,four year old twins Holly and Ella Smith and brother Jordan, who was just two years old.

Congratulations to Molly Betmead and George Robinson, representing Blackpool Wyre and Fylde Athletic Club,who both became Lancashire Cross Country champions,yesterday, at the County Championships staged at Witton Park,Blackburn. Both Molly and George won the races for their respective age groups, the under 15 girls and under 11 boys,in windy and muddy conditions, although the weather was generally considered mild for this time of the year.

As President and a former club captain ,I am especially proud of these youngsters achievements, because Molly attends my old school, Arnold and George is my great nephew, my grandfather being George’s great great grandfather. Makes me feel quite ancient, when you consider that I knew George’s great great grandfather very well, as he used to take me to Arnold school IN HIS CAR- a rare commodity in 1947!

Today Karen and I attended our first Mayoral Engagement of the New Year, which is traditionally to address Lytham Rotary Club at their first luncheon of the year at The Clifton Hotel.

I gave them a “my job” talk, tracing my career in banking from a junior clerk at Barclays Bank in Preston in 1957 to my retirement as an Overseas Director of Standard Chartered Bank in East Africa in 1994.

When I sat down, I was surprised when the Rotary Club President,Chan Jukhoop presented me with the Award of a Paul Harris Fellowship “in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world”.

As this award is the highest award granted by Rotary International, I feel deeply honoured to have been chosen but am conscious of being fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve Rotary in many parts of the world, by way of my career in International Banking.

Our next engagement is the Showmans Guild Annual Luncheon,tomorrow at Ewood Park,Blackburn

The photograph above shows Chan handing me the certificate, accompanied by my Mayoress,Karen and Chan’s charming wife,Sue.

The council owned depot on St.David’s Road North, opposite the shops, has recently been sold to a developer, after being on the market for several months and affordable housing is now planned for this site to complement the adjoining town houses in St.Davids Grove.

As the longest serving councillor in St.Leonard’s ward, I have been campaigning for many years for affordable housing to be built on this site as well as on the old abatoir site and Fairways Garage sites at the corner of St.David’s Road North and Heeley Road.

As planning approval was granted for the Heeley Road sites, over five years ago, pressure should now be exerted on the developers to tidy up and start work on these remaining sites. Such action would enhance this whole section of St.David’s Road North for the benefit of the longsuffering householders who overlook these eyesores and the many young families who are waiting patiently for their first affordable home.

As Mayor of Fylde,I was asked to pen a Christmas article for our local weekly newspaper, the “Lytham St.Annes Express”. Unfortunately they omitted the final word of Tiny Tim’s blessing ! Here goes.

“With the arrival of Christmas, it is perhaps fitting to reflect on the life of one of my heroes,Charles Dickens, who is reported to be the second most influential figure in the celebration of Christmas and whose bicentenary occurs on February 7th.2012.

Many people will be unaware that, in Dickens early career as a radical political journalist, he supported the difficult passage of the Great Reform Act in 1832. This legislation gave the growing industrial towns of the North of England, representation in the House of Commons for the first time and paved the way for International Suffrage throughout the western world.

The Bill was eventually passed, to Dickens delight, by Charles Grey, who famously gave his name to Earl Grey Tea and was the Whig Prime Minister from 1830-1834, following 60 years of Tory dominance in the House of Commons.

At a very early age, Charles Dickens became interested in the subject of social reform and started contributing articles to the “Morning Chronicle”. He used the pen name “Boz” under which he wrote the Pickwick Papers, followed by Oliver Twist in 1837, when Dickens was still only 25 years of age. After becoming firmly established as the nation’s most successful novelist,he visited America in 1842, when he upset the White House with his condemnation of Slavery and back home, he continued to highlight his concerns on social issues of the day, in many of his later novels. These included, Hard Times, which he wrote in 1854 and some would say, is already overdue for a sequal.

Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol in 1843, at the ripe old age of 31 and continued to write prolifically until his death in 1870.

In conclusion, I would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and Prosperous New Year and in the words of Tiny Tim- “God Bless Us Everyone”.

On Christmas Eve I ran in the Rudolph 5 Mile Race from the Blackpool Zoo Car Park, which turned out to be a muddy trail race round the back of the De Vere Hotel between the two golf courses. The less said about my performance, the better – but I enjoyed welcome sustenance in the Fire Station canteen, on North Park Drive, after the race.

Sunday lunch I visited the Dunes Hotel on Lytham Road as usual with my old friends, Jim McElwee and Harry Pickup. On leaving the pub, Jim and Ann Armfield pulled up to wish us all the best for Christmas, on their way to their son’ s home in Poulton, following which we enjoyed a fantastic lunch at Harry’s sons place – Dahlia’s Kitchen at the Garden Centre on Cropper Road.

On Boxing Day, after visiting my sister-in-law,Isabel, in Bispham in the morning- it was back to Lytham St.Annes to watch my old school, Arnold Old Boys beat the Old Lidunian’s 21-5 at Fylde Rugby Club where I commiserated with Bill Beaumont for losing out, on the top IRB job in Los Angeles, by the narrowest of margins, to Frenchman,Lapasset. He agreed with me that Rugby elections can be worse than politics,at times !

Tomorrow, Karen and I go over to Clitheroe for the Ribble Valley 10Km. Road Race – traditionally, the last major race of the year, in the North West – followed by the usual partry at Doug and Dorothy Brown’s at Hurst Green, on the way back- fantastic hospitality which the Brown’s have now extended for many years to members of the running and climbing communities.