Monday 16 February 2009

Congratulations!

So, today's my birthday, but although I'm a shocking 55 years old (I know, I don't look it) I'm still three years below the average age for a councillor in this country. Reaching this age is mere luck and no particular justification for congratulations. However, there is one person in particular this weekend who deserves our congratulations: this year's Darlington Citizen of the Year, Robin Blair.

When AC and I were plotting the downfall of the Council's plan to sell off the town hall and replace it with a Tesco hypermarket, the first thing we did was go and see Robin to persuade him to be the public figurehead of the campaign. As the Market's staunchest champion he didn't need any persuading, and was the ideal man to front up the media aspects of our campaign.

Robin is a genuinely good guy and the fiercest champion of the Indoor Market. He always has time for a chat and has a wealth of stories and anecdotes about the Market and the people who have worked there over the years. He loves this town and its traditions. The fact that the award came as a complete surprise to him is typical of the man.

5 comments:

Martin said...

Mark, just a reflection on the famous statistic of 58 years being the average age for a councillor. I suspect on local elections, that's close to the average age of the electors!

Anonymous said...

All the best people were born on 16th February, some of us more recently than others...

Have a good day :)

Anonymous said...

Congratz Mike... 55 wow! You don't look it.

Mike said...

A belated happy birthday, Mike.

(Should I mention that you're 4.5 years older than my mum?)

;)

Anonymous said...

To help you out Mike... my mum would have been 81 this year and my father would have been 85. So you're quite young really! That is relatively, as I'm just 40 :)