On Saturday we welcomed the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Councillor Randal Brew OBE and the Lady Mayoress Mrs Sandra Brew to the re-opening of the Reaside Community Centre on Frankley.
This hall had suffered some neglect over the years and we were asked to join the committee in order to get some things done. For instance a leaky roof had caused part of the ceiling in the foyer to collapse. This ruined the carpet and exposed some asbestos. It was the first thing people saw as they entered the hall and put them right off.
We managed to get the repairs sorted and found funding for a new carpet and a replacement kitchen. Sue dragooned all kinds of people in to clean and paint the place.
On the day we had arranged to borrow a load of Hydrangeas in pots to hide some grotty looking spots but due to a mix-up at Cofton Park Nursery they had not arrived. Sue and I got there early, put them in the backs of our cars and took them over. These plants and some bunting made the old place look really good.
We invited quite a few organisations to set up in the main hall and did a table top sale in the other. There were dog-training demonstrations, basketball training and bike coding, courtesy of Steven Trefor-Jones who has probably coded 90% of the bikes on Frankley.
Richard Burden MP and Councillor Steve Bedser put in an appearance and members of the New Frankley in Birmingham Parish Council turned out in support. Yes, on Frankley we have the only Parish Council in Birmingham and we work closely with them to improve things for the local residents. More on that another time.
As Lord Mayor Randal Brew is excellent. He is so relaxed and he and Sandra appear to really enjoy their roles. I knew Mike Sharpe would be a hard act to follow but Randal has fitted into his duties so smoothly. I think we are lucky in our recent choices of Lord Mayor.
No comments:
Post a Comment