September has proved to be a whirlwind of a month with lots of sunshine and lots of pleasant times and again meeting some amazing individuals from different areas of the county! Here are some excerpts beginning with a whistle stop tour of six Residential Homes to the South of Leicestershire.
Residential Homes in the South of Leicestershire
We certainly learnt a lot that day! One being that hard work makes you live a longer life! One of the 4 residents over 100 years of age residing in Conifer Lodge, Wigston enlightened us on this fact. The resident pictured below recently celebrated her 104th birthday and told her story of how hard she worked as a landlady of a pub which is situated on Abbey Lane. Sadly this pub now stands empty and boarded up however she remains happy, alert, very smartly dressed and looking forward to reaching 105! A very memorable day where we enjoyed many cups of tea and many interesting tales! We are looking forward to visiting residential homes North, East and West of the County during the coming months!
Rainbow’s Children’s Hospice
We can all admire the work done by volunteers everywhere so as you can imagine we were most privileged to host a volunteers’ lunch to celebrate Rainbow’s Children’s Hospice 20th birthday celebrations. This was at the beautiful setting of Beaumanor Hall. It wasn’t the sunniest day but it was certainly uplifting to meet the vast amount of volunteers who support one of Leicestershire’s favourite charities. It was fascinating to listen to the volunteers sharing their experiences in the different areas of work either fundraising or working at the Hospice. We eventually ate the lovely celebration cake although it was a pity to cut into it!
Beating Retreat
“Beating Retreat” took place on another beautiful evening of this month which is proving to be an Indian summer! The event which takes place annually in Oak ham was very well turned out and event organisers were thrilled the weather was so good as we were told of the difficulties experienced in previous years when the band have been attempting to march and play in the rain! A great evening had by all watching the Band of the Parachute Regiment and followed by a superb finale at Oakham castle.
Later on the same week we had a good old sing song including our old favourite “It’s a long way to Tipperary………” at the Braunstone Civic Centre. Great sounds from the Hathern Band and a well organised event by Roy Sherwin. He was assisted by his colleagues who included the lovely Pauline Hurd. My wife and Consort immediately said “snap” to Pauline who was wearing the exact same dress!
Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurdwara
An interesting visit to the Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurdwara in Leicester included being invited to wear a turban for the event. Five metres of cloth was used on this occasion however I was informed that some turbans use many metres more! I was presented with a picture of the Golden Temple which now is located in the Chairman’s room in County Hall.
Civic and County Services
I am writing this on the evening of the Mayor of Oadby and Wigston’s Civic Service in Oadby followed by the Leicestershire County Service this afternoon. The Wigston Methodist Church was filled with beautiful flowers and full to capacity with the entire congregation in good voice!
After a most enjoyable and hectic day I am going to finish……until the next time.
leicestershirechairman 