Lord Provost Bill Campbell Blog #16

Hello, and welcome to my End of Month Blog #16 as the Lord Provost of Dundee.

September was another active month which presented lots of opportunities to represent the city and to promote Dundee far and wide.

Activities over the past month have included:

• On Sunday 3rd, I attended the Annual Hindu Festival of Raksha Bandhan in the city’s West End where I was invited to say a few words and had the pleasure to meet so many friendly people;
• It was a joy for me to give a Civic Reception for the Dundee Alexandria Twinning Association for their 30th anniversary. This gave me the opportunity to thank them for the hard work they put in;
• At the end of the first full week of the month, the Lady Provost and I travelled to Würzburg to give support to the 47 Dundee school pupils performing at the renowned Stramu Festival and to meet and discuss ideas of mutual benefit with Mayor Martin Heilig;
  • As part of my role in Würzburg, I took part in the opening ceremony;
  • Also during my time in our twinned city of Würzburg, I made many connections with the local Mayors and City Councillors discussing a number of ideas in which are intended to be looked into further;
• The Depute Lord Provost Kevin Cordell attended a service at the Dundee International Submarine Memorial on Saturday 9th September;
• On Sunday 10th, the Depute Lord Provost was not only on civic duty at the Dundee Cyclathon 2023 but was also on cycling duty as he took part alongside many participants who were on their bikes raising money for charity on the Dundee Green Circular route;
• On the evening of Thursday 14th, I had the pleasure to congratulate the Dundee Orléans Twinning Association at a Civic Reception marking their 30th anniversary. It was also very good that Deputy French Consul Mme Françoise Sid Ahmed was able to journey through from Edinburgh to attend;
• I gave a Civic Reception on Monday 18th for a party of Swedish Rotarians from a Rotarian District that covers Stockholm in which the four Dundee Rotary Clubs were also in attendance;
• On the morning of Tuesday 19th, I had the honour and privilege of presenting former Dundee Citizen of the Year Norma McGovern with the Dundee Citizen of the Year certificate and medal;
• I also met on the same date with the Governor and a delegation from one of the main provinces in South Korea who were visiting Dundee to learn more about the Waterfront City Regeneration. It was a pleasure to meet with them and show the delegation around the City Chambers;
• On the evening of Tuesday 19th, I gave a Civic Reception for a delegation from Kortrijk in Belgium who finally got to visit our city after their original trip for 2020 was postponed;
• On Friday 20th, I attended the Festival de Loire in Orléans, France – one of Dundee’s five Twin cities;
• On Thursday 28th, I gave a Civic Reception to simulated patient volunteers at the University of Dundee’s School of Medicine which helps to give medical students important lifelike examples in exams to apply their theoretical knowledge in a practical setting;
• This month I also had the opportunity to pay another visit to Carolina House Trust, this time on their Open Day, to discuss with staff the invaluable work that they carry out;
• On Friday 29th, I attended and spoke at the 30th anniversary dinner of the Dundee Alexandria Twinning Association (DATA). My thanks go out to DATA Chair Brian McLeod for his kind invite to an excellent evening;
• I attended Scotland’s Fair Trade Campaigner Conference on the morning of Saturday 30th at the Glasite Hall in Dundee where I visited various stalls before making a welcome speech and officially opening the event;
• Later on Saturday 30th, I attended the Scottish Bee Convention 2023 at Baldragon Academy. My thanks to Headteacher Hugh McAninch, his staff and pupils for another fascinating and informative visit to the school.
  
  

For updates as they occur, you can find the latest Lord Provost news and activities on both Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you for taking the time to read my Blog and I hope to update you further on my civic responsibilities in the next edition which will summarise my activity in October.