This afternoon at St Mary the Virgin Church in Gosport, along with the other Harbour Mayors, we attended this annual Carol Service.
It circulates within the different Boroughs and Cities across Hampshire. We have members from the Havant and Emsworth branch, who were also at the service.
This morning in Waterlooville library we opened Santa’s Grotto. Got a cuddle from Santa too.
Lots of elves around, pretty miniature houses and children waiting to visit Father Christmas himself. I’m sure they’ll have a great time.
Thank you very much for my floral arrangement, very Christmassy.
What a wonderful production of Oliver we have seen tonight. Performed by the talented young people of Park Community School in Leigh Park. We thought you couldn’t do better than your production of Grease, but you did.
Congratulations to you all, both teachers and students.
This mornng Andy and I with HBC Officers met the Warner’s Lakeside Entertainments and Catering Team to put the final touches to the arrangements for the Charity Ball on Tuesday 22/12/15.
Lakeside is already looking very festive and we are sure we will all have a lovely evening. We have discussed the show that will be put on and the Grand Draw. Finishing touches only to be done now.
In the company of our good friends The Mayor and Consort of Winchester, we were pleased to attend the Christingle event at Berewood in Waterlooville. This development is on land owned by both HBC and WCC so we were delighted for us all to be there to hear the lovely carols sung by local children.
This morning at 7.30am, we visited the very busy Royal Mail Delivery Office in Waterlooville. We were told that yesterday 90,000 items of mail were delivered from the office. Up from the usual 65,000 on a normal Wednesday.
The office was buzzing, none of the staff seemed to walk around, they were nearly running from area to area. It was fascinating to see the process by which our mail is sorted and delivered and we were impressed by the hard work and happy atmosphere in the centre.
This evening I chaired our December Full Council meeting. We had two important motions on the agenda. Both of these were debated fully with good humour by members. When I read of meetings in other Councils, I am very pleased that those at Havant always take place without any rudeness or shouting by any political party. All four political parties reached a broad agreement on the issues raised.
After the meeting, Members and Officers joined Andy and I in The Parlour for the traditional glass of wine and mince pie.
This mornng at the Tesco Extra Store in Havant, we were delighted to meet Alan and Anna Morgan the parents of Sarah. Sarah lost her life earlier this year from a cardiac arrest, Sarah was only 17.
Alan and Anna have been fundraising for Defibrillators to be made accessible in public places to try and help prevent the instances of this happening when professional help is not quickly available.
One of the defibrillators they have provided will be kept alongside the security post in the store.We were pleased to join Sarah’s parents for the unveiling and to raise awareness.
It is a tradition that the three Harbour Mayors of Havant, Fareham and Gosport visit the fourth The Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, at the Guildhall for the annual Schools Carol Concert.
Thousands of children filled Guildhall Square as we sung Carols and Christmas songs. A lovely evening with excited children and a visit from Santa.
Tonight we much enjoyed a performance of Christmas at Sea at The Spring in Havant. Sung by The Havant Light Opera, a talented group of singers. The first half took place on an Ocean Liner, the second half encouraged the audience to join in with the Christmas Carols.
A fellow Councillor Paul Buckley was once again in fine voice.
This afternoon we opened the Christmas Fair at the Church of the Sacred Heart and St Peter the Apostle in Waterlooville.
With stalls and tombolas, home made cakes and toys, it was a lovely place to wander round.
I was given a posy by a pretty girl in a Frozen costume.
We were delighted to pick the winning raffle tickets for the Prize Draw in Mengham, Hayling Island today.
There were 27 prizes all donated by local businesses, lots of lovely things to eat, drink and keep.
We were also happy to call into some of the local shops to chat to the owners.
Due to the generosity of Hayley and her customers, we unveiled a public access defibrillator outside The Lifeboat Inn at Eastoke Corner this morning.
After instruction on it’s use by the Hayling 1st Responders in the pub, we went outside to unveil it on the wall.
Hopefully having these dotted around Hayling Island will save the lives of it’s residents over the next few years.
Our second visit of the evening was to the North East Hayling Residents Association Winter Meeting. Along with other Councillors and our MP, we had a pleasant evening talking to the Northney residents about local issues.
We much appreciated the company and of course the lovely buffet and glass of wine.
This evening Andy and I had the pleasure of turning on the Christmas Tree Lights in Mengham on Hayling Island. The Tree is sponsored by The Lions Club of Hayling supported by Havant Borough Council.
Congratulations must go to the Mengham Traders Group led by Tina Heath. The village was packed with stalls and a funfair, with lots of excited children and their parents.There was a lovely atmosphere throughout the village, with children from the local schools singing carols.
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