Suzanne Fletcher's Blog

Sunday September 7th

When I was Mayor one the wonderful things was being invited along to performances of the Tees Valley Youth Orchestra and Tees Valley Youth Choir.  They really lifted my spirit.  It wasn't just the excellent music that they performed, but the way they did it with not only skill and commitment, but with passion and joy. 

They are not just a group of talented youngsters performing, though, they are a real team working together and that shows through.  The sum of the parts is definitely greater than the whole.  I came across an old "Mayor of Stockton Music Prize" for the promotion of music at the Grangefield Secondary School in the archives of the Council with some money unspent in it, and it hadn't been used for around 30 years. I decided to try to get the aims of the charity changed to be widened to the Tees Valley Music Service, top that up, and give a Mayor of Stockton Music Prize.  Because of the importance of them working together, I wanted it to be for those that had made the biggest contribution to the orchestra and to the choir.

Tonight was the night to make the first presentation of what I hope will last for around 10 years.  It was a great honour to be able to do this tonight part way through a splendid concert by the orchestra - with most of the choir there in support.  I was able to say that I did hope they would continue to lift the spirits of those they performed for; enjoy making music throughout their lives, and let the world know what wonderful and talented young people we have here in the Tees Valley.

Earlier in the day we met with international visitors - the Diocese of Durham in the Church of England has links with the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of North Elbiain Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany and two representatives from their Parish of Eddelak came to visit our Parish of Egglescliffe.  Our Rector (who is my Mayor's Chaplain) invited us to a lunch at which they met some members of our congregation and ourselves.

The visitors' command of English put our few words' of German to shame, although fortunately we had with us also two German members of our congregation and another who speaks German.  Pastor Volker Thiedemann had preached at Egglescliffe Parish Church and was accompanied by Frau Christine Boehm.  Egglescliffe and Eddelak Parishes are exploring the possibility of a link.

I did enjoy meeting them, and our discussions around our Churches as well as treatment of asylum seekers.  Most interesting was the talk around reconciliation and the International Centre for reconciliation based in Coventry Cathedral and the Community of the Cross of Nails.  Much work is yet to be done, and I hope that a possible link with their Church may be a step forward.  John's blog has the picture of them with our Rector looking at diaries to do just that.