Mayor and Mayoress have a ball for charity
Date published: 10 February 2012
2 of our Members (Jim and Jane Gartside) recently attended the Mayor's Annual Ball. (Next Year it will be their turn to host this event as Jim will be the next Mayor of Rochdale)
Over one hundred people joined together at the Rochdale Town Hall on Friday night for the Mayor’s Charity Ball.
The lavish function was held to raise money for the chosen charities of the Mayor and Mayoress of Rochdale, Councillor Alan Godson and Gillian Brown.
This year, these are Middleton Heartline, Springhill Hospice, the MaD Theatre Company and Demesne Digital Mammography Fund.
Guests, including the mayors of Greater Manchester, charity representatives and business leaders, enjoyed a drinks reception followed by a three course dinner.
Music and entertainment was provided by Johnny Sax, who has played with some of the world’s best swing, soul and jazz bands.
The Mayor, Councillor Alan Godson, said: “The aim tonight is to raise money – that is what we are here for.
“We are getting to the end of the track now and now we are trying to raise some money. We have spent most of the year establishing ourselves as Mayor and Mayoress and now it is about getting the money in.
“We have got three big dos, this one, the charity concert in Middleton on 24 February and the golf event in April.
“Those three will make up for a bit of lost time because we have been so busy, we haven’t had chance to raise much money.”
Mayor Godson said he hasn’t set a fundraising target for the evening: “If we raise £100 that is £100 the charities didn’t have before. We will get whatever we can and we will be happy with that.”
“He added: “The number of Mayors that have attended tonight is great and they love it here.
“We have had some great raffle prizes donated from businesses.
“We have had so much support all the way through. It has been brilliant.”
Speaking about his year as Mayor, he said: “The highlight for me happens every week, there is always something interesting – I want another year.”
The Mayoress of Rochdale, Gillian Brown, said the night marked the “beginning of the end” for their time in the Mayoral role.
She said: “I really want to thank people for letting me be Mayoress, I have really enjoyed it. We have made so many friends and I hope we stay in touch.
“The highlight for me has been meeting so many different people and getting chance to go to places that you wouldn’t normally. It’s been brilliant and I have loved every minute of it.”