South Gloucestershire Council appoints new Chairman

Cllr Janet Biggin

The new Chairman of South Gloucestershire Council has been appointed during lat Wednesday’s (19th May) meeting of full Council.

Cllr Janet Biggin (Conservative), who represents the Downend ward, was sworn in during an official ceremony at Kingswood Civic Centre and named Frenchay After Burns Children’s Club as her official charity for the year.

Cllr Biggin will be joined by Cllr Sheila Mead as Vice Chairman and takes over the role of chair from Cllr Shirley Holloway, who said: “I can’t believe a whole year had passed already. It has been the most amazing and the busiest year of my life.”

Shirley, a former PE teacher, attended around 200 engagements over the year including awards ceremonies, church services and special events such as a parade in Kingswood to commemorate Armed Forces Day, Badminton horse trials and Fairford air show.

And she also welcomed around 200 new citizens to South Gloucestershire during her favourite type of civic engagements, carrying out the Citizenship Ceremonies.

Cllr Holloway added: “One of the greatest aspects about the role of the chairman is being able to say thank you to residents for all the tireless voluntary work they do and the chair’s annual community awards is a great opportunity to do this. It’s something I really enjoyed because I got to hear about and meet so many wonderful people who give up their free time to help out in their communities.“

Two charities benefited from her time in office – the Alzheimer’s Society and BRACE – which will share the £4,500 raised.

Mark Poarch, chief executive from BRACE, a charity specialising in medical research into dementia and conditions of the elderly, was at the meeting to accept a cheque. He said: “Cllr Holloway didn’t just choose us [as a charity], she really got stuck in and made a difference and really impressed our volunteers.”

He said the money would be used for a medical research project based at the University of the West of England.

He was joined by Andy Richardson form the Alzheimer’s Society who said the money would also be staying in South Gloucestershire. He added: “It will be used to help fund carer support services in South Gloucestershire and hopefully new ones for the future.”

Source: South Gloucestershire Council

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