Press Release

Mayors Christmas Message 2007

Christmas is a very special time for all of us all. It’s an occasion to spend time with family and friends and to reflect on the year that has passed and the New Year that is approaching. The past six months has been a tremendous experience for me. I have been deeply honoured to represent the people of this city and feel very proud to be the Mayor.

I have had the pleasure of meeting so many interesting people and attended a wide range of functions and events during the first stage of my tenure. I have been amazed at the warm welcome I have received from the public and delighted to have had the opportunity to attend functions and events across the city. People have been so friendly and welcoming and I want to extend a big thank you to all of them.

As many of you will be aware, I originate from the Drumahoe area of the city and have been actively involved in the community and voluntary sector of the city for many years. I have been an elected member of the Council since 2005. Over the past six months I have worked to provide strong leadership for the city and remain committed to campaigning for a better and more prosperous city. Its been a busy six months but an enjoyable one and I look forward to continue my work at representing every member of the local community so that we can all be proud of Londonderry/Derry as a great place to live, work and socialise in.

On a personal note, I am very much looking forward to spending time with my family. I will be visiting my elderly mother in Daleview Nursing Home on Christmas morning and Im looking forward to spending the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying spending time with the family.

It’s important that we all enjoy the festive period in a happy safe and peaceful manner and that 2008 will provide is with new opportunities to build on the good work that has been done to date. I look forward to continue working with all communities to promote inclusiveness, reconciliation and healing and promoting our city and region. We have a lot to be proud of and it’s important that we are acknowledged for our achievements.

There were some excellent events during 2007 and I was delighted to be part of them. One of the highlights has to be the 10,001 Santas - what a phenomenal sight it was to see 13,000 or so Santas in Guildhall Square and on the City Walls. It really was an excellent event, I don’t think it could have been successful in any other city - this city and its people are unique and they showed it that day. I was also delighted that the city secured the £1.2m for the Connect 2 campaign and enjoyed being part of the Christmas festival and the Halloween celebrations. Other events which stand out for me are the tea dances and the way in which older people from across the city come together once a month in the Guildhall to enjoy a dance, a chat and a laugh with friends and neighbours.

The recent Mayoral Christmas Festival has been a great success with the beautiful choral performances at the Guildhall and the Ice Rink, which proved a big hit with the young people in particular. I had been approached last year while I was deputy mayor by a number of young people who thought there was a need for fun activities for young people and I was delighted that the idea was able to come to fruition and hope it can become a regular feature of the festive celebrations in the city.

I’ve also been delighted to attend the opening of new office space and businesses and welcomed job announcements and hope that 2008 will see new investment opportunities for the city and region. I have also had the pleasure of attending a series of events involving young people in our city. Our young people are something we should be proud of and we should be doing all we can to nurture them, encourage them and of course praise them for the sterling good work that they doing. Far too often they get a lot of bad press but I honestly think the majority of our young people are responsible young adults who are great ambassadors for our city.

While the city enjoyed many successes and reasons to celebrate this year there were many occasions of sadness, most notably the increasing number of young people who so sadly took their own lives. Christmas will be a painful and sad time for their families and I would hope their family and friends would rally round them at this time and provide them with the help and support that they need. I remain committed to working with the statutory agencies towards creating more awareness of suicide and its implications in this city and ways of addressing the problems faced by young people in today's society.

My Mayoral year will be most remembered for the fact that we have also entered a new era in Northern Ireland politics. While a lot of hurt and mistrust still exists, I am confident that concrete steps are being taken forward and good work is being done, so that we can build a positive future.

I am very much conscious of the fact that our city is becoming a more inclusive multi cultural environment. There are many immigrants living and working in our city and I think it’s important that we extend the hand of friendship to them as many of them are far away from family and friends this festive season.

I would like to take this opportunity to commend the work being done by the various statutory agencies and bodies in the city, as well as the voluntary and community sectors, for the important role they all play in developing the city. They carry out important work in embracing and supporting development projects in our city.

During 2008 the Council will continue to play an important role in the business development and regeneration of the city and the wider North West region. I along with my Council colleagues and officials will work with agencies to attract new industry and investment in an effort to boost the economic climate of the city and region and assist us in further enhancing the city’s reputation as a good place to do business. I am delighted to say that the city continues to attract increasing number of tourists and ongoing investment and new national routes at the City of Derry Airport continues to play a vital part in enhancing the area’s tourism potential. I am confident that with a co-ordinated and joint approach, this city has an exciting and bright future for 2008.

Christmas is a time for giving and receiving, a time for sharing and for caring for each other. It’s a time for reaching out the hand of friendship and reconciliation and to making sure all members of our society are included.

Being Mayor of the historic city has been a great honour for me. I have met so many people and I have been touched by the great warmth and generosity of spirit, which the city represents. I have been particularly impressed by the amount of good work that is going on in our city by the statutory bodies, community and voluntary sectors. I have been delighted to attend so many launches and events over the past six months and amazed at the amount of hard work and organising that has gone into getting these projects off the ground.

There are so many unsung heroes in our city, people who work tirelessly for the benefit of others. I would like to extend a warm thanks to everyone I have met during my first six months in office and thank you all for the warm and friendly welcomes I have received.

As we all join together with our loved ones this Christmas let us all take time out to think of those less fortunate than ourselves and to remember what Christmas is really about. With that in mind I as First Citizen would like to take this opportunity to wish all the citizens of this city and region a very peaceful, holy and safe Christmas.

Ends

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