My Visiter Column this week

In my column last week in the Visiter I promised that there would be more music and so it has proved. The Mayor's Charity Ball was held at the Floral Hall in Southport on Saturday and topping the bill was Dannielle Louise Thomas. She is one of our own- in so much as she was brought up in Crosby and attended Sacred Heart School. Her performance and her choice of music were pitch perfect. It was the high point of a successful evening. Around 200 people attended from across the borough and supporters of some of the key charities I work with came from much further afield.

Thanks are due to the volunteers on the Mayor's charity committee who did an excellent job. I shall be reporting later the local charities who will be supported by the money raised at the event.

On a glorious spring morning, I joined volunteers organised by Marine Conservation to help with a survey and litter pick on the beach at Formby. A wide range of folk including several families who were make good use of their half term break turned out. Also volunteering were employees from Merseytravel and from Churchill Retirement homes who have a new development in Formby. It was good to see how clean the beach looked but as we walked up towards Ainsdale -with Blackpool Tower and the Lakeland Hills visible on the northern horizon- it soon became apparent that there was lots of plastic in amongst the sand dunes and on the foreshore. Plastic is a real environmental problem as it takes so long to decay-let alone the damage that it does to sealife. Thanks to Andy for organising the event

Next up was my visit to Clarence High School in Formby who were supporting the Dignity in Care Campaign. I was particularly pleased to able to promote this event as I have been involved in social care services all my adult life and I know how important it is to raised the profile of this initiative. The students had planned and excellent morning with dance and poetry reading and there was a cake sale. There were more young people to be congratulated for their achievements when I attended the Duke of Edinburgh Awards evening.

There is more music and young people next week as my appointments include a trip The Atkinson for a performance by SONG the Musical Theatre Company.