Mayor2223

Outgoing Mayor of Bishop Auckland, Cllr Michael Siddle used his time as Mayor to raise £3,415.00 for Daisy Arts CIC to support their youth theatre group at Woodhouse Close. He handed over the cheque for fundraising at the Annual Parish meeting of Bishop Auckland last week.

To fundraise for Daisy Arts Cllr Siddle has hosted a number of events and activities, including his Valentines Ball at Bishop Auckland Town Hall, catered by MasterChef contestant Mike Bartley, a Meet the Mayor afternoon tea at Auckland Castle, a fun Quiz night at the Pollards Inn, as well as the ‘Steaming from the Past to the Future’ where art works were presented by talented artist Derek Siddle, and key note speakers earlier this month. All events were well attended, and local people and organisations were generous in their donations of raffle prizes which helped to raise such a great sum of money.

 

Cllr Michael Siddle said: “Being Mayor for 2022-23 has been wonderful. Bishop Auckland is a great place full of fantastic people and grass roots organisations who are all working really hard to make a difference for the people of the town. As Mayor I have been honoured to have met so many people, and attended so many events over my term of office, all of which have been really enjoyable. I was particularly honoured to have read proclamations for both HM Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee and to lead the towns tributes on her sad passing.”

“A special thank you goes to all those who supported my fundraising efforts by attending events and donating prize, especially to Derek who has put in an endless hours into preparing the paintings for the exhibition to support my fundraising. Thanks to you, we can ensure that those engaging on youth programmes offered by Daisy Arts can continue with their arts and culture journey, learning new skills, building confidences and new friendships, all so vital in providing encouragement to those attending the groups, improving their mental health and wellbeing.”

Jane Crawford, Director of Daisy Arts CIC said: “We were delighted that Michael chose to fundraise for our organisation. This additional funding means that we can cover ongoing costs and provide skilled artists to facilitate our weekly youth theatre group sessions from September through till summer 2024. Our Youth Theatre, now in its 26 year has supported hundreds of young people over the years, providing them with life skills and opportunities and we thank Cllr Siddle, the Town Council and all those that have given so generously to help a programme such as this continue.”

 

As Coronation weekend arrives, Bishop Auckland Town Council are thrilled to have supported numerous coronation activities across the town.

Mayor, Michael Siddle said “The Town Council are pleased to have supported numerous activities across the town to help the community celebrate the HM King Charles III Coronation. We decided to support a larger number of small community based activities rather than holding a central celebration in the Market Place like we did for the platinum jubilee last year. This was to fit with the national programme of events at the heart of communities. It has been great to have a mix of activities available in the town by providing the additional support to make the celebrations in the schools and care homes a little more special, as well as having a fantastic mix free to attend events for everyone over the last couple of weeks.”

The town council have supplied each primary school within the town council area, with a ‘Party Box’ to enable all 1500 primary age school children to have a coronation celebration in school. Each party box contained enough for every child to have a crown, a flag, crisps, raisins, cake and juice, plus bunting, commemorative flag, paper chains and ‘The New King’ Mr Men book.

All four care homes in the Town Council area have received a 12” square coronation celebration cake, baked at Longstaff’s Bakery on Newgate Street, plus a commemorative tin of short bread, flags, and union jack napkins, to help with their celebrations over the weekend.

The ‘Bishop Beefeaters’ are proudly back on guard in the market place kindly loaned to the town Council by King James WI.

The town council have also grant funded five community based celebration events:

• 22nd April – Wear Valley Community Action had a great free event which was very well attended.
• 5th May – St Johns School held a free community coffee morning.
• 5th May – Aclet Close Nursery have had a celebration with their children and families.
• 8th May – Girls Friendly Society, Henknowle are having a free community celebration at Henknowle Community Centre from 1230 with litter pick, and flowerbed planning plus picnic.
• 8th May – Auckland Youth and Community Centre, on Woodhouse Close, have a free family event from 1230, with 8th May disco, art and crafts, face painting, games and afternoon tea.

The activity has supported by the Town Council Coronation Budget and by Durham County Council (DCC) Councillor Andy Jackson’s coronation budget.

The ‘Steaming From Past to Future’ event, presented by the Mayor of Bishop Auckland, Councillor Michael Siddle is to be held in Bishop Auckland Town Hall on Friday 5th May 2023 from 6pm.

Join the Mayor for an evening to celebrate Bishop Auckland’s rich railway heritage and plans for the future, with presentations and talks by local railway organisations; Bishop Auckland Peoples Museum, Weardale Railway and Stockton & Darlington Railway and artwork by Derek Siddle.

Artwork will be unveiled and exhibited before heading to No. Three Fine Art where prints and the original works will be available for sale.

This event is in support of Daisy Arts and the charity provides act activities and opportunities for all ages, backgrounds and abilities.

To book your tickets for this event, visit the Baccanalia website.