It seems ages since I sat here and updated my Blog. I have been away on a family holiday; we all managed to have a fun, relaxing time in the sun. We tried to bring some sun home with us but unfortunately Toby couldn’t get it in his suit case!

In the week leading up to my holiday I was lucky to meet lots of different people and have an insight into their activities.

I opened and joined in with Sandylands summer fete and sports day; met with connexions and the young consorts to chat about their interests and how I can include them in the mayoral role; received the fantastic painting from the young people at Kirkbie Kendal school – many year 8 and 9 pupils have painted a 2inch by 2inch square with the theme “ What Kendal means to me” the result is quite amazing, you could spend hours looking at all the different squares, from family, views, sport to a piece of cheese! It is going into the Town Council chamber after the 23rd August, you must try to go along and enjoy it.

I travelled to London for the day and learnt about parliamentary select committees and managed to sit in for one – very interesting to see how ministers and officers in various government departments can be scrutinised.

I managed to get along to Ghyllside Primary school and see their wonderful new children’s garden and meet some of their reception class who enjoyed trying on the mayor’s chain, maybe lots of budding councillors in the making? You never know! At Dean Gibson I awarded the Kendal-in-Bloom certificate for the schools summer challenge painting competition and Heron Hill I awarded the certificate for the plants in a pot competition. At all three schools I was welcomed enthusiastically by the young people, I really enjoyed my visits.

I returned from my holiday at the beginning of August and almost immediately – two days later- Sasha and I flew off to Rinteln, Kendal’s twin town in Germany.

We had never been to Germany before so was not quite sure what to expect.

We arrived in the middle of the night and taken in the dark to a family home in the old part of Rinteln near to the Town centre.

Our hosts were Ursula and Walter Schlame, We couldn’t have had a nicer couple taking care of us, and they really made us feel at home, well looked after and spoilt. They showed us around the local area, and even took us along to see Hameln, the buildings are quite amazing to see, the detail on the fronts very carefully decorated and inscribed from the 16th century, lucky to be preserved as they are built from wood.

The pied piper didn’t manage to lure Sasha away, and we had fun spotting the rats painted around the place.

The reason for our visit was to attend the Rinteln Altstadfest, an annual festival in the Town Centre with musical groups from brass bands to local popular groups, craft stands and lots of good traditional German sausage sellers!

This year Kendal’s twinning committee was very kindly given a stand in order to promote Kendal to the local population. We took along lots and lots of tourist information to give away, we induced people into the stand with the offer of a free cup of English tea, a taster of a scone with jam and cream and of course a little Kendal mint cake.

The Kendal Creperie went along and served French crêpes, Kendal style. Using fresh local eggs. The two stands were together and were really quite an attraction, drawing people in to find out a little more about who and where we are.

The festival started on Friday evening at 8pm – I helped open it alongside the Rinteln Mayor and their Polish Twin town representative, my attempt at German went down well and received a round of applause.- and finished on Sunday evening around midnight. So as you can see the Twinning committee worked very hard had lots of fun but will be in need of a well deserved rest.

I would highly recommend a visit to Rinteln, the Town itself has lots to offer and see the immaculate streets with typical German architecture, its river but above all its people. Warm; welcoming; friendly; enthusiastic and genuinely interested in getting to know our communities better. If you are a group or just an individual who would like to learn more about Rinteln contact me and I can pass on your details to the Twinning committee.

Back to Kendal now, and to my washing and ironing piles I have accumulated over the past month!

This week see the Kendal-in-Bloom annual awards ceremony in the Town Hall on Thursday evening. I look forward to meeting all those who have helped, taken part in and sponsored to make our Town a Blooming marvellous one!