Bradley Stoke Mayor Ben Walker has raised £10,005 for his chosen charity, St Peter’s Hospice, during his year in office which came to an end last night at the Annual General Meeting of the Town Council.
A cheque for the record amount, raised throughout the year at a number of events, including the Community Festival and Fireworks Display, was presented to Wenda Hillier, one of the charity’s Community Fundraisers.
Cllr Walker said:
“It has been an honour to serve as Mayor this last twelve months and it is an even greater honour to present such a large cheque to this very worthy cause. I’m very grateful to everyone who has donated and supported our events throughout the last year.
Wenda Hillier of St Peter’s Hospice replied:
“We’d like to thank Ben for choosing St Peter’s Hospice as his charity of the year, as well as the people of Bradley Stoke for taking on his challenge to raise vital funds for us.”
“The cost of providing our unique and specialised service free of charge to the people of Bristol is over £6 million per year, so every penny raised by the people of Bradley Stoke will make a huge difference to people with terminal illness.”
The formal business of the meeting saw eight new Town Councillors sworn in following their election on Thursday 5th May. For the first time in the town’s history, all 15 members of the Council are Conservatives.
Notable new members include Tom Aditya (Manor Farm ward), said to be the first person of Asian origin elected to the Town Council, and 23-year-old student Charlotte Walker (Lakeside ward), reckoned to be the town’s youngest-ever Councillor.
Cllr Ben Walker was re-elected for a second term as Mayor, breaking the recent practice of changing the post holder annually. A press release put out by the Town Council explained that “no clear successor was apparent” after last year’s Deputy Mayor Morgan Baynham had “retired from Council”.
Newly-elected Cllr Charlotte Walker, now officially revealed as the Mayor’s younger sister, was a surprising choice as Vice Chair (Deputy Mayor).
Press Spokesperson Cllr Robert Jones insisted that the Deputy Mayor had been chosen on merit, adding: “she’s got a great future ahead of her”.
The public question session heard local resident John Miller say it was a “good thing” that eleven of the fifteen Council members are residents of the town. Prior to the May election, a majority (eight) of the Councillors had come from beyond the town’s boundaries.
Photo shows new Councillors (L-R): Charlotte Walker, Tony Griffiths, Keir Gravil, Elaine Hardwick, Ed Rose and Kim Harris.
The Bristol Evening Post also has this story: Siblings to lead council forward
Interesting to read that the holder of next year’s Mayorship seems to have already been determined:
“With no obvious replacement Mr Walker was re-elected for another year until his sister, Charlotte, is ready to take over.”
Councillor Ben Walker (Town Mayor) and Councillor Charlotte Walker (Vice-Chair) will be interviewed on BBC Radio Bristol this evening shortly before 6pm.
I thought the coalition government were trying to do away with nepotism or is that only the Liberal part of it?