Minutes:
· The Chairman announced that this week, he had been honoured to attend the British Memorial to the Missing of the Battle of the Somme at Thiépval and to unveil the memorial to the Durham Pals.
On 1st July 2016, 100 years to the day since the start of the battle, 100 pupils from the County took part in the national commemorations at the same site.
The County had been officially linked to the Somme since 1980 and last week he had signed a new memorandum of understanding with the French Education Ministry to further enhance privileged links between the two areas.
On behalf of the Council he thanked each of the 100 pupils and their teachers from the schools for their magnificent contribution to such a prestigious event which had again helped place Durham County on the world map.
· The Chairman announced that the following areas had been successful in the Northumbria in Bloom Awards for 2016:-
Middleton in Teesdale who won Best Village;
Chester-le-Street who won Best Large Town;
Belmont who won Best Urban Community;
Stanley who took ‘Silver’ in the town category; and
Durham City who won the ‘Bob Wooley award’ following a closely fought contest with Moorsholm, Warkwarth, Sedgefield and Morpeth.
In addition to this, Peter Lee, Clean and Green Open Space Development and Project Coordinator had won a special award for an ‘Outstanding Salaried Contribution’ employee to the competition.
The results of the RHS Britain in Bloomwere expected on 14 October 2016 where Durham City was also a contender in the ‘Champion of Champions’ category for the national title.
· The Chairman was pleased to announce that he had presented the Chairman’s Medal to 16 year old Olympic Rio 2016 gymnast Amy Tinkler at a civic reception earlier this month following an open top bus parade through Bishop Auckland and Spennymoor. The medal was for her stunning performance in Rio and Amy was a role model to countless gymnasts, not only here in County Durham but across Great Britain.
The Chairman’s Medal was also awarded to her mentors and coaches Nicola Preston and Rachael Wright.
· The Chairman announced the retirement of Jon-Lewis Dickinson, a boxer of note from Edmondsley, who he had also presented the Chairman’s medal to.
· The Chairman congratulated Jessica Eddie from Durham for her success in the rowing in the Olympics and also congratulated all the Paralympians from the North East.