Minutes:
Ann Cable MBE, Deputy Lieutenant
On May 6th, 2023, His Majesty King Charles III became the oldest British king to be crowned, however, that has meant he’s been well-prepared for the role of Sovereign having been heir to the throne for some seventy years.
Over these last seven decades, our world has changed significantly with scientific and technological advances and changes in culture. We have learnt much about our new monarch from those years – his childhood was different; he was the first heir apparent to attend school and later University and he served in both the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. As Prince of Wales, he set up many charitable initiatives benefitting thousands of lives, focused on the needs of young people, education, and the arts as well as such matters as sustainability and the environment. Indeed, well known for championing the importance of protecting our planet, His Majesty stated that climate change has become the great threat of our times.
King Charles talks of how much he has learnt from the people he has met. The diversity of the Commonwealth inspires him, and he sees its great potential as a force for good, urging its peoples to unite and be bold. A man of deep faith, he has also reflected that British society had now evolved into “one of many cultures and many faiths” but with shared values, that diversity making us stronger.
His Majesty brings a change of style, but he has vowed to carry on his mother’s lifelong service albeit with his own modernising stamp. He has clearly demonstrated this in the arrangements for the coronation, by the fact that over 800 community champions were invited to be in the congregation and that the days following had a community bias towards sharing, volunteering, caring for one another.
We are reminded again of the value of service to others, of the steadfast service of her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by His Majesty King Charles’ pledge to continue that lifelong service. From fighting for the environment and the well-being of people here and across the Commonwealth, King Charles promises to lead as his mother did saying, “wherever you may live in the United Kingdom or in the realms and territories across the world and whatever may be your background or beliefs, I shall endeavour to serve you with loyalty, respect, and love as I have throughout my life.”
With that reassurance of constancy, concern for the environment and the well-being of people, of serving and valuing service to the community, whether we be public servants or simply good neighbours, we should take inspiration and hope, and all play our part in this new Carolean era.
We wish King Charles III all strength, wisdom, and grace in his reign. God Save The King!
Cllr Suna Hurman, Mayor of Enfield
The coronation of a new monarch is a unique moment for our country and indeed our borough. We pay tribute to and honour the King, Charles III. The Coronation will bless his accession to the throne, where the teachings and faultless practices of his late mother, the Queen Elizabeth II, will continue in her honour. May he be guided, protected, and find wisdom as he is officially crowned King Charles III and Monarch of the United Kingdom.
It has been wonderful to see the people come together to celebrate and welcome His Majesty to the throne as we mark this important day in our nation’s long history. Wishing the new King many years of happiness and health, peace, and magnificence.
I have the honour to be His Majesty’s most humble and obedient servant. God Save The King.
Cllr Doris Jiagge, Former Mayor of Enfield
On behalf of Enfield Council, its staff, and residents, I send our best wishes to our new King of England, Charles III. I pledge unwavering support and allegiance to you and the Royal Family in the years ahead as His Majesty’s loyal subjects and look forward to the further advancement of this great city with you as our King.
Your unswerving devotion and solemn pledge to uphold the constitutional principles, together with the precious traditions, freedoms and responsibilities of our unique history and our respected system of parliamentary government lay at the heart of our nation, keeping us ever stronger.
I have the honour to be His Majesty’s most humble and obedient servant.
Cllr Nesil Caliskan, Leader of the Council
The coronation of His Majesty King Charles III and Queen Camilla provided a unique opportunity for communities and neighbourhoods across the borough to come together. That is why Enfield Council worked with local residents, groups, and organisations so that the momentous occasion could be marked in lots of different ways, from family get-togethers to larger scale community events.
And what a success and spectacle it was! Enfield residents joined the rest of the country in celebrating, hosting street parties and activities across our borough and creating memories that will last for years to come.
This brochure provides a small memento of the Coronation Weekend in which our wonderful and vibrant communities in Enfield came together in celebration. You can see photos of the fabulous street parties, decorated homes and businesses, and many of the activities and events that took part in our bunting-clad town centres and community buildings. It is wonderful that we have also been able to reproduce some of the creative writing and painting produced by our young people to mark the occasion.
I was also particularly pleased that, together with many of our Friends of Parks groups, Enfield Council created a more lasting legacy through activities such as the planting of King Oak trees in parks across our borough.
I am sure you will join me in wishing King Charles III and Queen Camilla a long and happy future.
Cllr Alessandro Georgiou, Leader of the Opposition
Today we come together to celebrate the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III. As one Enfield we rejoice on occasion and congratulate their Majesties King Charles and Queen Camila. Despite us living in challenging times it is welcome that we can come together and celebrate our new Sovereign’s reign.
As we embark on this new Carolean Age we must look forward as a borough and a nation through these trying moments with the knowledge that we have a royal family, headed by His Majesty, that is above political squabbles and are one of few constants we have as a country.
We must also remember His Majesty’s role not only as King of the United Kingdom’s of Great Britain and Northern Ireland but also as Head of the Commonwealth. There are 56 countries within the Commonwealth which represents 2.5 billion people across the world and it now His Majesty’s role to keep us united in this important union.
As a Christian, I also recognise the King’s role as Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England. We know that His Majesty has inherited his Christian values from his mother, her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, which provides welcome and continued spiritual continuity. I pray, and I hope all Christians pray, that our King and Queen have a long and blessed reign.
On behalf of the Opposition of Enfield Council, I renew our commitment as loyal subjects of his Majesty, King Charles III. God Save The King.
Cllr Ergin Erbil, Deputy Leader of the Council
We've come together to celebrate and witness the beginning of a new chapter in our shared history.
Decorations covering our town centres, our high streets, street
parties across the borough, and indeed, celebrations in our
community centres.
Enfield came together to
celebrate this momentous occasion and I'm especially proud of the
fact that we planted king oak trees in Enfield's parks and green
spaces to celebrate the coronation.
We are fortunate to have an environmentalist leader like King
Charles at the helm during these challenging times brought about by
the climate emergency. His experience, advocacy and leadership will
be invaluable as we navigate the challenges ahead and build a
greener future for our borough, our country and indeed, across the
world.
King Charles has dedicated his life to protecting our environment
and serving the people of our country, and I have no doubt that
he'll continue to do so with the same dedication and passion as our
new monarch.
The coronation was not just
about the future, it was also a celebration of our past, our
ceremonies, and our traditions, such as the ones we've witnessed
over the weekend. These traditions glue our nation together and we
are indeed across the world for them.
As we witnessed the coronation of our new monarch, we were reminded
of the strength and resilience of our nation and despite ongoing
serious challenges across the country, we continue to emerge
stronger and hopefully more united in this new era.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our service
personnel, UK forces, volunteers and those who invested their time
and efforts throughout the weekend. I’d especially like to
thank my resident and friend Tom who serves our Navy and who was a
part of the ceremonies.
May King Charles' reign be long and prosperous, and may he continue
to inspire and lead our nation. God Save The King.
Cllr Emma Supple
Firstly, I’d like to
join my fellow councillors to say a huge thank you to everyone
across the Borough of Enfield who came together to celebrate
the
coronation this weekend. It has been fabulous.
The bunting in the streets, the street parties galore, the Big
Lunch and the volunteer days - it's been wonderful.
Thanks especially to the community police officers who visited each and every street party. They visited our street party and declared it to be the best - I'm fairly certain they said that to everybody, but it was very pleasing to see them.
The coronation was quite
splendid and huge congratulations to resident Emma Rigby, who was
there representing Enfield for her work over COVID and her British
Empire Medal. We were hugely proud of her.
Last June, I took my Brownies to the Tower of London to see the
Crown Jewels and we learned all about the fascinating history of
these astonishing treasures. It was wonderful to watch them being
in use. They're not museum pieces, they play a vital role in our
islands’ history.
It was a huge delight to see our very own Lord Syed Kamall of
Edmonton, on behalf of the Muslim faith, present to King Charles
the Armill part of the Crown Jewels - that was very special indeed.
As Lord Kamall said himself, “it was unthinkable at the last
coronation that could even have happened. How
far we have come.”
Our new king has declared his role in the service of celebrating
and supporting all communities and all faiths. In this, as local
councillors, we can also recommit to the service for the people of
Enfield.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are leading the way in all manner of
challenges of our time, and not least, in the challenges for our
natural world with their dedication to good organic farming and the
environment.
So as we celebrate this changing of the monarch, we recommit
ourselves to King, Country and Commonwealth. God Save The
King.
Cllr Chinelo Anyanwu, Cabinet Member for Public Spaces, Culture & Local Economy
As the Cabinet Member for Culture, I was very honoured to chair the King’s coronation working group and I’d like start by thanking all who contributed to the successful coronation celebration in Enfield including our great officers who done great work.
Alongside all the bunting in our town centres with a whole host of activities - I'll try and sum them all up.
We had coronation themes, competitions for young people, adults, and businesses, and I very much look forward to seeing a showcase of creative stories, drawings and seeing the best decorated homes and businesses via our council website and through our comms channels.
On the day of the coronation, despite the weather, at the Millfield Theatre, we saw a staggering 1,200 people really come together and celebrate the coronation.
The next day at the Big Lunch, there was sixty small grants that were given out to residents to have a street party and if you missed the Big Lunch in Enfield Town then you really missed out because it was a momentous occasion. We had the volunteers who came together with local organisations who had a community tea, cakes, live music, crafts, and activities.
We then had the Big Help Out where we had all the volunteers and community groups come together which was fantastic and friends of Forty Hall who did a wonderful job of planting in our ward gardens.
Something really special which has been mentioned, we have 15 English oak trees that were planted to commemorate the coronation throughout our borough. It’s a special contribution to our manifesto commitment to plant a million trees over the next four years.
And something that's very close to my heart that is just a wonderful contribution is that for every child in Enfield that was born on the coronation day, the parents would be offered a chance to have a tree planted in their memory which is really momentous for a special birthday, so I'm very happy that that's happening. God Save The King.
Cllr Julian Sampson
I wanted to echo thanks to the officers who made the events of last weekend possible. Not just the officers in the Civic Centre here at Silver Street but the Tree Planting Team, Forty Hall staff, staff in libraries who were making crowns, staff who were helping children make pictures in the Dugdale Centre and of course the many volunteers who made the weekend the success it was.
If anybody was in any doubt of the enduring strength of
constitutional monarchy and its appeal in this borough, they only
have to look at the pictures that have been referred to already in
the brochure that we have in front of us today. There were many
crowds at the Millfield Theatre, in the marketplace, the crown
making in libraries and decorating houses and shops.
On a personal note, I watched the coronation from start to finish
and I was moved. I was moved by the inclusion of other faiths, and
I loved the Ascension Choir. It was that sense of inclusion and
community, not just community with each other, but community with
our past that makes us the nation that we are today and that you,
Madam Mayor, embody in your own life story and journey to this
place today.
I know that a lot of people worked very hard to make the events of the last weekend successfully work, but I'm sure that they don't want to repeat those events in the near future, so I'll close by saying not God Save The King, but Long live the King.
Cllr Joanne Laban
His Majesty The King said at
the start of the coronation that “I come not to be served but
to serve” but that was a rededication as His Majesty, the
King has served the country, the realms and the Commonwealth all
his life.
As we heard from the Deputy Lieutenant, he served in the armed
forces both in the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy where he was
asked to become the honorary Colonel-in-Chief for the Parachute
Regiment. He put himself through the training programme so if he
became Colonel-in-Chief, he could do what the actual soldiers could
do. His Majesty started a charity, The Prince’s Trust with
his Navy severance pay of just £7,000 in 1976. The charity
has now supported more than one million young people, showing his
commitment to serving young people.
We heard lots of stories about His Majesty over the weekend and I
was watching, and David Lammy popped up. He told his story about
why he was so supportive of His Majesty the King. He told the story
of the riots in North London that happened in both Tottenham and
Enfield Town in 2011, and he said that during that time David
Cameron had phoned him, Ed Miliband had phoned him, and Nick Clegg
had phoned him. They came down once, but they never came back - he
was criticising all the parties. On day he got a phone call, and it
was the Prince of Wales' Private Secretary and they said,
“Would you mind speaking to the Prince of Wales?” and
he said, “I'd really like to help out. I want to come and
visit”
Cllr Andrew Thorp
On Saturday, I was honoured to go to the coronation of King Charles
III at Westminster Abbey.
It was a day that will live long in my memory. It was a day full of
energy, excitement, and joy - the true moment of history for our
great country. The
only thing damp was the weather because the doubters were proved
wrong.
People came across the world and were treated to a spectacle that
we haven't seen for 70 years. The crowds that lined the streets and
the parties across Enfield showed the enduring support for the
monarchy.
At the heart of the
coronation with the theme of service will serve as a beacon of
light to communities across the UK. King Charles pledged to carry
on the work of Queen Elizabeth II and her legacy of service to our
country having served a lifelong apprenticeship under her.
On Monday, the Big Help Out had more than six million people
volunteering communities across the country and many from across
this chamber joined this effort. Now let me reassure you that with
the Prince of Wales and Prince George coming next, the monarchy is
in extremely safe hands.
They joined me at a Scout Hut on Monday to do some redevelopment
and decorating. Prince George is excellent at driving a
digger,
Princess Charlotte can paint
a mean door and Prince Louis is certainly an expert with a
wheelbarrow.
This Royal Family are a family that are not scared to get their
hands dirty. They want to take on the causes that matter to our
country with King Charles III leading the way.
If they can do it, we all should do it. We should grab the nettle
and we should do more to support our groups across Enfield because
they all need our time and support.
I suggest we all join King Charles III’s mission for service
and volunteer across our community and I look forward to hopefully
welcoming the King to Enfield. God Save The King.