'Emotional day' for outgoing Mayor of Oldham

Outgoing Mayor of Oldham, Councillor Ginny Alexander, has said it has been "a very sad and emotional day".

Councillor Alexander said she wishes new Mayor Councillor Jenny Harrison and her consorts well on their journey, after handing over the Mayoral chains and duties. She served an extended term of two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

At annual council on Wednesday (19 May), council leader elect Councillor Arooj Shah thanked retiring Mayor Councillor Alexander and her husband and consort Adrian for their two years in office. She says they were a shining light for the borough during dark times for all of us.

Cllr Alexander said: "My husband Adrian and I want to thank all of you for your support and kindness and your generosity. It has been an honour and a privilege being your Mayor. I will cherish this journey forever.

"We wanted to take you on our journey right from day one, so we put our heads together with Karen Jakeman and Joe Wheeler who then set up the Mayor of Oldham Facebook page to keep you informed of where we had visited and what we had done on that day. 

"This was to highlight and promote everything that we have in Oldham. The Facebook page has gone from strength to strength, it has been viewed over 1.5 million times in over 50 countries worldwide.

“Thank you Karen and Joe for your support and time that you have given to us to let people know the role of Mayor and Consort, with attention to detail and the brilliant photos. 

"Your input has been invaluable, we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for everything you have done for us.

"We would like to thank everyone for the lovely comments made on the posts, and for following us on our journey." 

'We are very proud and honoured to have served you - the people of Oldham'

Councillor Alexander went on: "In our first year we visited so many amazing places, we met so many wonderful people. I didn’t realise we had so many wonderful organisations so many fantastic charities, businesses and so many gifted children and people, Oldham is truly amazing, simply the best.

“Never did we imagine that the Covid-19 pandemic would come and stop us all in our tracks, in such a cruel and rapid way. Events postponed, holidays cancelled, not being able to see loved ones and restrictions put in place. It truly has been an awful time for us all.

"Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to those who have lost loved ones during this pandemic.

“We were asked to continue for another year as we should have finished in May 2020, it made sense as the new mayor would not be able to do her civic duties.

“So, we continued and had to think of what we could do to cheer people up, so we started sending out bouquets of flowers and cards to people celebrating a special birthday, or anniversary.

“We put their stories on our Mayor's Facebook page so that everyone could join in the celebration on their special day.

“We would like to thank the Parks Team and Dale Robinson at Bloomingdales for over 50 beautiful Bouquets that were made, to send to people who were celebrating.

“We also started to give out the monies raised through the Mayors Appeal Fund and we wanted you to know where all donations had been made.

“The money was desperately needed now that everything was closed, charities could not go out and do the usual fund raising that they normally  would all year round, food banks needed to buy food for those in need and it was good to see people coming together to help each other.

“The organisations, businesses and charities were outstanding. I was so proud to be able to donate to over 34 charities - each so deserving of our support.

“We also decided to give out the Mayors Appreciation Award which is given to people and groups that had gone above and beyond to help the good people of Oldham. I gave out 27 Mayors Awards and two Civic Appreciation Awards. I am so proud of each and every one of you.

“It has been a pleasure working with the Youth Mayor Samah Kahlil. We wish her all the very best for the future.

“We would also like to thank Nicola and Kimberley from the Mayor’s office for all their hard work. They have looked after us every step of the way. 

“They did an excellent job in organising the Mayors Ball, which was a huge success, and of course we mustn’t forget our attendants Konrad, Tony Paolo and Colin for making sure we were safe and sound at every event.

“Also, a very big thank you to the Mayoral Appeal Committee for their help with fund raising at various events and their support. Thank you to all the Deputy Lieutenants of Greater Manchester who stood by me at the Citizenship Ceremonies, especially Darren Clarke  for his kindness and support.

“Thank you to Sir Norman Stoller, the Duchy of Lancaster, and former High Sheriff of Greater Manchester Mark Addlestone for supporting me and donating to my Mayoral fund.

"We are very proud and honoured to have served you - the people of Oldham. We sincerely hope that you also have enjoyed the journey with us it has been truly amazing.

“There are too many good people to mention so I will just say a very big THANK YOU to all the volunteers, those who have supported us and donated to the Mayors Appeal Fund over these past two years. May god bless you all and keep you safe.

“Hope we will meet again some time in the future. All our love and best wishes to each and every one of you. Now in the beautiful words of Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman... it’s time to say goodbye." 

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