The Mayor of Preston's May blog
2 June 2023
![Councillor Neil Darby handing Mayor of Preston baton to Councillor Yakub Patel Councillor Neil Darby handing Mayor of Preston baton to Councillor Yakub Patel](https://preston.gov.uk/image/14263/Councillor-Neil-Darby-handing-Mayor-of-Preston-baton-to-Councillor-Yakub-Patel/related.jpg?m=1685710323907)
![Councillor Neil Darby handing Mayor of Preston baton to Councillor Yakub Patel](https://preston.gov.uk/image/14263/Councillor-Neil-Darby-handing-Mayor-of-Preston-baton-to-Councillor-Yakub-Patel/gi-responsive__100.jpg?m=1685710323907)
Well finally, the year is over. It went so quickly! Before I hand over to your new Mayor, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone I met during the course of my tenure. Here are some of my highlights:
Honouring the service and life of Queen Elizabeth
Representing the city through historic times - from the Jubilee to the Coronation. It was an honour to play my part as Preston honoured the service and the life of Queen Elizabeth and celebrated the start of a new era in true British fashion.
Meeting the future of our city
Having the chance to meet so many young Prestonians. From visiting schools and scouts, to giving tours of the Council Chamber, I got a glimpse of the future of our city - and it is in safe hands! We have so many incredible young people in Preston and we owe it to them to be the best examples for them and to leave them a better world.
Fundraising for charity
Raising money for charities. My two mayoral charities - the Intact Centre and the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity - do outstanding work and I was lucky enough to see more of this throughout my year. The generosity of the people of Preston is incredible and we raised thousands of pounds to support their hard work. I also got to raise money for the Preston Caribbean Carnival, walking the Infinity Bridge at Honister Pass!
Amazing volunteers
So many amazing volunteers! There are so, so many incredible people across Preston who give their time to helps others. From the Scouts, to our community centres, food banks, and so much more - it has been an absolute pleasure to meet so many of them over the past year. Thank you for everything that you do for the people of Preston and thank you for taking the time to make me feel welcome and tell me about your work when I visited you.
Welcoming the new Mayor of Preston
And it is now my pleasure to hand the baton to the 695th Mayor, Councillor Patel, who has served in local government since 1995.
His nominated charities are Rosemere Cancer Foundation, Preston Domestic Violence Services and Emmaus and I'm sure you will be supporting these vital good causes throughout the next year.
Yakub will be highlighting all his engagements in the next Mayor's Blog, so I hope you continue to follow the Mayor of Preston's social media channels:
Once again, heartfelt thanks for all your support.
Neil.