Issue - meetings

The Mayor made an acceptance speech:

Good Evening and Welcome

The Mayor began by wishing everyone good evening, thanking them for coming and then welcoming particularly Alma Nichoigligh, First Secretary of the Irish Embassy and the family of former Council Leader Jeff Rodin.

The Mayor said that she was proud to be part of the Enfield Community and that her year as Deputy Mayor had taught her so much about the extent of the giving and caring for others that exists around us in Enfield.

Looking round the room she said that she could see so many people with whom she had worked.  All of whom had something to contribute to Enfield and wanted the best for the borough.  

History of the Past

The Mayor said that she stood before the Council, as the daughter of Irish immigrants who had arrived in the country in the late 1940s.  She had been born and grown up mostly in Forty Hill.  She had good memories of Forty Hall, Hillyfields and other parks where she played when young, apart from the memory of when her older brother and sister had dropped her in the river by the Victorian ponds at Forty Hall. 

The Mayor said that she was truly honoured to be the Mayor of Enfield.  She owed a great debt to her wonderful parents, Pauline and Liam, who worked tirelessly for others in the borough and ensured that we never ignored anyone that needed help. 

The Mayor had been a French graduate and spent a year in the Sorbonne in Paris studying art history and in particular the Impressionists. 

While a student she had met her husband, Andrew to whom she had been married for over 30 years.  He was with her that evening as her consort along with her son Edward, also her consort. 

As the Mayor, she promised to bring a multiplicity of perspectives to the role, like the crest above her: the Enfieldian, with its head of a fox, chest of a hound, body of a lion, hindquarters and tail of a wolf and the talons of an eagle.  Whether it was accepted as the amalgam of animals on the old royal hunting ground of Enfield Chase or as the family crest of the O’Kelly’s in Ireland for over 1,000 years, she could identify with both. 

The Mayor’s perspective on Enfield was similarly varied.  She had been born in Enfield, attended local schools, commuted into Central London, had been a parent with a son at Enfield schools and a parishioner of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St George on the London Road.  Her parents had helped raised money for the construction of the church: the predecessor had been destroyed in the war.

The Mayor had also been an officer at the Council, run her own business teaching French at local nursery schools and also taught in several local primary schools. 

The Mayor had first been elected as a councillor in 1998, taking breaks since then, one  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6