Over 100 guests joined Councillor Pam Minshall, Mayor of Crewe, for the Towns Annual Civic Service on Sunday 5th October 2014.
The Service was held at All Saints Church, Stewart Street, and was led by Reverend Steve Clapham who gave a thought provoking address extoling the virtue or Civic Pride and the community spirit in Crewe. The congregation included civic leaders from around the county, representatives from the Police and Fire Authorities, Royal British Legion, local voluntary organisations and community groups.
Musical accompaniment to the service was kindly provided by the All Saints’ Church Organist, Maggie Shaw, the Co-operative Funeralcare Band North West and pupils from Ruskin Community High School.
The collection received will go to the Mayors Charities of the Year –
- Churches Together in Crewe Night Shelter,
- Central Cheshire Buddies Scheme and
- MRI Appeal at Leighton Hospital.
Councillor Pam Minshall said ‘It was an honour and privilege to welcome so many to the Civic Service. As someone who has for lived most of my life in Crewe, it was something I could never have even dreamed about. It was made doubly special to share this with my Grandson, Councillor Benn Minshall, who is the Deputy Mayor.’
‘Crewe is a great place to live and I look forward to supporting my charities and other organisations in Crewe during the rest of my Mayoral Year.’
‘Could I thank all those who supported the event and especially my Chaplain Reverend Clapham and his team at All Saints’.’
A copy of the Mayor’s Address is set out below:
CIVIC SERVICE ADDRESS
Welcome to All Saints Church, my local church , and to Crewe, my town I was born and have lived most of my life. We did not really intend to stay but I can’t regret it. I am proud of the town and its history – the greatest locomotive works in the world, the Merlin engine, Rolls Royce and now Bentley cars, and going back many years, to the time when this was a remote area of small farms, Mornflake who put breakfast on so many tables, as well as other important firms and industries in our industrial and business parks, and I know that we can grow and regenerate, building on our heritage and, as Crewe has always done from its foundation in the 1840s, absorbing incomers from wherever they arrive.
I am so proud and pleased to have been asked to act as Crewe Town Mayor for this year – something made even more memorable because my grandson Benn agreed to be Deputy Mayor. I am also thoroughly enjoying the role. I think this is because we are meeting so many wonderful people who are doing so much for our community, without expecting any praise or recognition, but just because they have seen a need and decided to do something about it. The three charities we chose for the Mayor’s Charity this year give evidence of this as you will see later. They are just a tiny part of the work done by local people helping the disadvantaged, the sick, the elderly, looking after the environment, joining organisations, choirs, bands, craft groups, reading and creative writing groups – all the things which help to create a cohesive and purposeful community.
It is also very rewarding to visit our local schools and see the work that is going on in them to ensure that our children get the best possible start in life, to understand the efforts made to develop those things that matter just as much as academic achievement, the self-confidence, the aspirations, the opening of young minds to ideas and understanding.
Before I close, I would like to read a translation of the Slovenian National Anthem – I visited Lake Bled a few years ago and we used an ancient printing press to print out a copy as a momento:
God’s blessing on all nations
Who long and work for that bright day,
When o’er earth’s habitations
No war, no strife shall hold its sway;
Who long to see that all men free
No more shall foes, but neighbours be.
