Minutes:
Councillor S Mallender, Mayor of Rushcliffe 2020/22, explained that the Council had been unable to thank Councillor Mrs Jeffreys properly for her service to the Borough as Mayor during 2019/20 at the close of her Mayoral year due to the impact of the pandemic. She commended Councillor Mrs Jeffreys for the service she had given to the Borough and acknowledged the challenging period in which she had been Mayor and the impact that Covid-19 had had.
Councillor Mrs Jeffreys said that she was thrilled to receive such honour and recognition. She highlighted her admiration for the Borough of Rushcliffe and how humbled she had been when asked to be Mayor. It had been a great honour for her and she had met many people throughout Rushcliffe, who had been so welcoming. She commended Councillor colleagues and officers who had supported her in the Mayoral role.
Councillor S Mallender thanked everyone who had supported her during her two years as Mayor in 2020/22, in particular the Chief Executive; members of the Council; her Chaplain, the Reverend Dr Jonathan Mole; the Monitoring Officer; the Deputy Mayor; the Democratic Services Team; and the Media and IT teams.
Councillor S Mallender referred to the many engagements that she had been fortunate to attend and the wonderful people she had met. She added that although the number of events she had attended had been less than for previous Mayors due to the impact of the pandemic, there had been many Borough Council organised events, including the Multi-faith Civic Service; Civic Dinner, with an environmental theme; Proms in the Park; The Rushcliffe Community Awards; The Christmas Lights Switch-on and the Carol Service. She highlighted that her first event, opening the Lady Bay Open Front Gardens in July 2020, had been particularly special, as had her last event at Ash Lea Special School in Cotgrave, attended earlier that day, which had been a marvellous finale to her time as Mayor. She referred to her three charities, Music Works; Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and the Trent District Community First Response and the important work that they each carried out. She added that she had not been able to hold the fundraising events she had hoped to due to the impact of the pandemic and thanked Councillor Moore and his wife, and also Councillor Gray for their support in organising events to raise funds for the charities as well as everyone that had donated to the fund raising. She highlighted that in 2021, she had walked around the Borough boundary, a distance of over 100 miles, accompanied by her husband and consort Councillor R Mallender and her daughter. Councillor S Mallender highlighted that her term as Mayor had been conducted zero waste and carbon neutral, traveling by foot, bike, and public transport. She thanked her husband and consort, Councillor Richard Mallender, for his support over the last two years.
Councillor S Mallender highlighted that she had started a ‘moment of reflection’ at the start of Council meetings during her time as Mayor and speakers had included Humanist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhism and Christian.