Minutes:
The Mayor welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced the new Director of Law and Governance, Jeremy Chambers.
1. Tributes to Former Councillors
The Mayor paid tribute and offered condolences to the families of Councillor Turgut Esendagli and John Boast, Freeman of the Borough and former councillor who had both recently passed away.
Councillor Taylor paid tribute to Turgut Esendagli, a man he had known well who had been taken far too young. He knew that if he had been in better health he would have done much more, but not withstanding this, he had been a respected, dedicated and hard-working ward councillor for Enfield Highway. He had also had a passion for football working for, amongst others, Crawley Borough, Essex Town as chair, and as coach for the Turkish national team.
Councillor Taylor also paid tribute to John Boast whom he had known longer and who had been on the Council intermittently since 1964, when it was first formed. He had last seen him earlier this summer when his cancer had seemed to be in remission.
John Boast had lately served as the ward councillor for Turkey Street and had been very active on the Licensing Committee and as Chairman of the North London Waste Authority. He was hard-working, dedicated and methodical – meticulously even planning his own funeral – a councillor for whom Councillor Taylor had had great respect. Councillor Taylor expressed his condolences to John Boast’s friends and family for their deep loss.
Councillor Laban paid tribute to John Boast who had been a family friend and also a friend to many in the local conservative party. John Boast, who had been involved in Enfield since the Council was first established, had given his life to making Enfield a better place and lots of time to the Enfield Conservative Group. She expressed thanks for the work that he had done.
Councillor Celebi offered her condolences to John Boast’s family and friends. She also paid tribute to Turgut Esendagli whom she had known for many years, mainly because of his activities with the large Turkish football community, with which her own husband had also been involved. Turgut had given much of his life to the benefit of footballers. Waltham Forest Football Club had lost a great mentor. He would be much missed by the community and she offered her condolences to his wife and young family.
One minutes silence was held in honour of both men.
2. Engagements since the last Council meeting
The Mayor reported that she had been very busy since the last meeting, attending over 44 engagements in November alone. She thanked her deputy Councillor Doris Jiagge for her continued to support in covering engagements on her behalf. She felt that without her deputy, the Mayoral office would not have been able to accept so many engagements.
The main events since the last meeting included:
· Citizenship ceremonies at which she was honoured to be present.
· Enfield Vision Focus Day – the Mayor had been pleased to support this group.
· Mayor’s Fun Run, Tea party and trophies for horticulture – the Mayor thanked everyone who had taken part.
· Poem-A-Thon Event at the Dugdale Centre – showing the great variety of talent in the borough.
· Ruth Winston Health and Wellbeing Day – the Mayor said it was always a pleasure to be part of the Ruth Winston family.
· Animal Charter Awards – a first in Enfield.
· Guest Speaker at the Enfield Racial Equality Council celebrating diversity event.
· Fashion Show at the Nightingale Cancer Support – one of the Enfield Cares chosen tragedies.
· Welcoming more than 60 children from St Michael’s School to the council chamber during their outrageous advocacy week. The Mayor said that during their debate the children had asked some extremely intelligent questions and were thrilled to visit us. She had encouraged them to continue their political awareness by explaining how the council meetings operate. She thought that some of them might be budding politicians for the future.
· Welcoming 14 children from St Andrew’s School. The Mayor thanked Councillor Rye for organising this trip. The children had thoroughly enjoyed the visit, to both the mayor’s parlour and the council chamber and had asked some very intelligent questions for their age. She had been very impressed.
· Culture Bid/Private View by Patrick Samuel which had been truly inspiring. The Mayor had bought a lovely painting for the Mayor’s Parlour.
· Remembrance Weekend – the Deputy Mayor had attended the Broomfield Park ceremony whilst the Mayor had been at the Greater London Authority service. The Deputy Mayor had attended the Outward Procession on 11 November 2017 to see the inauguration of the new Lord Mayor of London. On Sunday 12 November 2017, the Deputy Mayor had attended the Southgate ceremony, while the Mayor attended the ceremony in Edmonton. Everyone had then met at the Enfield War Memorial at lunchtime. It was a touching day, in remembrance of all those who had lost their lives through war. It had been good to see so many young people attending, walking with the parades.
3. Mayor’s Charity
The Mayor said that her charity was progressing. She thanked all those who had attended the very successful Macmillan Coffee Morning on the 29 September 2017 in the Mayor’s Parlour, and the Blues Night at the Chickenshed theatre - a great evening. The Mayor thanked the Chickenshed for putting on the event, a great fund raiser for her charity. She was very grateful. She also thanked Hayes Rees (the Macmillan support representative) for his dedication to the work he was undertaking for her charity.
4. Future Events
Future events included:
· The Enfield Cares Music Festival at the Millfield Theatre (27 January 2018)
· The Mayoral Ball (17 February 2018) at the Penridge Suite, Arnos Grove. Invitations had been sent out in the post. Members were asked to respond quickly to secure their places.
5. Congratulations to Enfield Town Football Club
The Mayor congratulated Enfield Town Football Club on the official launch of their 3G pitch, which was taking place this week. She said it would be an honour to be there and she wished them every success in the future, as Britain’s first football club owned solely by their supporters. She encouraged all Enfield residents to attend games, to support their local club. If they did, she was sure that they would not be disappointed as the standard of play was superb.
6. Personnel Today - Human Resources Award
The Council’s Human Resources team had had a very successful evening, the night before the Council meeting, as they had won the Personnel Today Award for Innovation in Recruitment – a great achievement. The team would be attending January’s Council meeting to be presented with the award.