This evening I was in the Marriott Hotel to open the Rotary Southern Wales Annual Conference. The council has had a long association with Swansea Rotary, who are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year. They are the third oldest club in Wales. It was a pleasure therefore to be able to give them a civic welcome.
This was my speech to open the conference:
Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of the Swansea Council can I welcome you to our great City.
I understand that this is the first time for many years that your conference has come to Swansea, so for those who are not regular visitors I hope that you will see how much has changed and is changing since you were last here.
Swansea remains of course a great place to live. As a City it has everything you would want if you live here, work here or want to set up a business here: friendly, welcoming people; deep-rooted communities; good sporting and cultural links, fantastic scenery; and a strong sense of identity.
Our bay, our beaches, our countryside, the Gower area of outstanding natural beauty remain second to none, whilst our two universities continue to grow from strength to strength, as evidenced by the student accommodation that is popping up all over the city.
But we have not sat back on our laurels. The council is taking advantage of the City Deal to embark on a major redevelopment that will firmly establish Swansea as a 21st Century City, with a modern shopping centre, good transport and telecommunication links, a digital arena that will be able to host conferences, concerts and other events, and a digital village on Kingsway, featuring incubation spaces and co-working areas for start-up and small businesses working in the ICT, tech and creative industry sectors.
This year is also our 50th anniversary as a City, and as Lord Mayor I have been helping to spearhead events to commemorate that birthday: inviting community groups up to the Mansion House to celebrate with us; a spectacular air show; awarding freedom of the City to Alun Wyn Jones, Catherine Zeta Jones and the 157 (Welsh) Regiment of the Royal Logistic Corps; a royal visit; and a free firework show planned for Swansea Bay on 5th November, amongst many others.
These birthday celebrations have been a reaffirmation of our pride in Swansea and its people, and everything that offers to those of us who call it home.
It is fitting therefore that as you join us, we are also celebrating a hundred years of Swansea Rotary Club, the third oldest in Wales.
It is fitting too that I pay tribute to the tremendous work you do, both in Swansea and across the Southern Wales Council area, in raising money for charity through your race nights, fashion shows, curry evenings, musical and of course Swansea’s two big Boules tournaments.
And of course, our Council has a long association with Swansea Rotary, for example through the High Fives awards, which I attended this year as Lord Mayor, and which rewards the many inspirational young people in all our local communities.
Rotary Clubs are one of those organisations, which if they did not exist, we would have to invent them.
But they are nothing without the hard-working and dedicated individuals who offer many hours of their time, freely and without hesitation, to keep them running - tirelessly raising money for good causes, quietly offering support and encouragement to the many talented individuals in all our communities who have so much to offer, and carrying out all the organising work behind the scenes that make events like this possible.
I offer my thanks to each and every one of you for all that you do as part of this amazing organisation and I am pleased and proud to be continuing the association between Swansea Council and Rotary by opening your conference this evening.
Can I wish you an enjoyable and successful event and hope that you have a fruitful time in our lovely City?
No comments:
Post a Comment