A compassionate year for Mayor

Councillor Brian Jones received the chain of office from outgoing Mayor Tom Nutt at a town hall mayor-making ceremony on Thursday evening.

Mayor Jones pledged to dedicate himself to fundraising for Darlington charities and to be a positive ambassador for the town.

Cllr Steve York, who formally moved the motion to appoint Cllr Jones as new Mayor, praised the work he has already carried out in the community as a councillor for more than a decade.

He said: “Brian will make an excellent Mayor of Darlington and will work hard for the borough in his mayoral year as he does now.”

Mayor Jones announced that his charities for the year will be Darlington Samaritans, the 700 Club, St Teresa’s Hospice and Breathe Easy.

He said that these charities reflected his theme of Compassionate Darlington, adding: “There are so many wonderful people in Darlington who give their time to help others.”

He said: “It is a tradition of mayors to raise money for charities and this mayor will be no different.

“I have already prepared myself, mentally at least, to take part in the Boxing Day dip.”

The Lord-Lieutenant of County Durham, Mrs Sue Snowdon, congratulated Mayor Jones on his appointment and said: “I hope you have got lots of energy because I know from the year that the outgoing have had, you are going to need it!”

Council leader Bill Dixon welcomed the appointment of Mayor Jones and praised Darlington’s ‘uniqueness’ in the way it appoints time-served councillors as mayors as opposed to the role being a political decision.

The outgoing mayor Cllr Nutt, who raised around £20,000 during his time in office and launched the successful school-wide Eurovision Song Contest, thanked everybody for their support during his mayoral year.

He said: “Gill and I have enjoyed a wonderful year as mayor and mayoress, I can honestly say that we have enjoyed each and every one of our 338 engagements.”

The mayoress for the year will be Cllr Doris Jones and Cllr Jan Taylor was appointed as deputy.