Kyle Robinson with his family at the Kidsgrove Mayor Making.

On Thursday 16^th May I was elected Mayor of Kidsgrove for 2013/2014 at Kidsgrove Town Councils Mayor making ceremony.  I am hugely honoured to accept the position and will do my very best. 

My incoming Mayor’s address:

I am hugely honoured in accepting the position of Kidsgrove Town Mayor for a second term.  I have been overwhelmed by the amount of support I have received from the people of Kidsgrove over the last few years. A great deal of what I do wouldn’t have been possible without them.  We have a very special Town and when our community joins together as one, we become a force to be reckoned with. 

I would like to thank Gill Burnett for her valuable contribution to the Town in her year as Mayor.  Gill did a great job in ensuring that Kidsgrove’s Jubilee celebrations, organised for the benefit and enjoyment of people from many different backgrounds, ran smoothly and without complication.  Her fundraising endeavours for the Alzheimer’s disease charity have inspired those more fortunate to do a little bit more for those who are in need.  Thank you Gill.

Things have changed significantly over the past twelve months at the Town Council.  Together we have pushed forward our modernisation programme.  This has made us more accessible to the public.  We have integrated into the Kidsgrove Customer Service Centre making services more easily accessible.  Our new state of the art office offers a wide range of customer service facilities that we could have only dreamt of in the past.  We are putting Kidsgrove first!

Kidsgrove’s Youth Parliament has gone from strength to strength.  The parliament was officially opened by Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow back in 2012.  The young people have now put together a project to fund new flower beds at the junction of Liverpool road and Gloucester Road for the enjoyment of everyone in the town.  We have so many passionate young people in our community and we should be really proud of them.  I’m looking forward to co-ordinating and working with the youth parliament with the aim of maintaining its continued success. 

I will now discuss what I would like achieve in the year ahead, for both the town and the people of Kidsgrove.  I have put together some pledges that I believe are achievable for Kidsgrove over the next 12 months. 

Firstly, I pledge to obtain a defibrillator, through sponsorship, for every primary and secondary school in Kidsgrove.  I recently unveiled a Defibrillator at a Kidsgrove Lads and Dads event with Julie Bostock.  Julie’s son Liam Wood died on the football pitch after celebrating a goal and suffering from a severe seizure.  His memory lives on through all of the fundraising we will do over this year.  These life saving pieces of equipment should be in every School building to avoid unnecessary fatalities of both children and adults.  Now that I have been appointed Mayor, I intend to meet with representatives of national campaign groups to lobby the government to introduce and implement legislation to make it mandatory for all schools to have a defibrillator on site.  We must never allow finance to take priority over someone’s life. 

Secondly I am launching a Town Council campaign to crack down on dog fouling in all our wards.  Working collaboratively with officers of Newcastle Borough Council, together we are creating a project that will encourage dog owners to take responsibility for cleaning up after their pets.  We will be going door to door to ask dog owners to sign up to the project and promise to work with us to make our streets cleaner.  More will be revealed in the coming months but we are positive the Town Council can make a difference on important issues that matter to local people.

Finally I turn to my charity of the year. As Deputy Mayor, earlier this year, I was invited to attend a moving memorial service where I was given the opportunity to speak with parents who had lost their children in child birth.  How these people cope in these difficult circumstances is beyond comprehension. However, there are dedicated charities and caring, peer support networks out there that can help.  Therefore my charity for the year will be Staffordshire Sands.  Working with the charity, members of the Town Council and the wider community we are aiming to raise thousands of pounds for this worthy and woefully underfunded cause, to make counselling and support easier to access for bereaved parents.  I would like to read a short quote from the charity: “An angel in the book of life wrote down a baby’s birth.  She then whispered as she closed the book “too beautiful for the earth”. 

To finish I want you to know that I firmly believe Kidsgrove is the Jewel in the crown of the Borough. 

That includes Newchapel, Ravenscliffe, Butt Lane, Talke and Talke Pits. 

Let’s make our town more inclusive for the young and old.  Let’s bang the drums and shout out loud we are here and we have so much to offer. 

Thank you