Lord Provost Bill Campbell Blog #10

Hello, and welcome to my End of Month Blog #10 as the Lord Provost of Dundee.

During March, it was the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Commonwealth Charter.

I took part in a ceremony to mark this occasion and show our commitment to the values of the Charter which included the raising of the Commonwealth of Nations’ Flag of Peace above City Square.

It has become increasingly important that we take the time to display and reaffirm our commitments to peace, given recent events in the wider international community.

Activities over the past month included:

• On the first of March, I attended the unveiling of the Commando Memorial Trail Plaque at Abertay University;
• On Friday 3^rd, Council Leader John Alexander and I attended the Al-Maktoum College’s 20^th Anniversary Dinner marking its history of education, research and diversity since its inception;
• I attended the final Curling Bonspiel of the season on Tuesday 7^th at the Dundee Ice Arena. I gave a small speech and presented Curlers with their end of season trophies;
• In the same week, I was present at Grove Academy for the Broughty Ferry Fairtrade Pancake Breakfast event;
• In the morning of Monday 13^th, the ceremony to mark the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Commonwealth Charter took place. As part of the proceedings, the Commonwealth of Nations Flag of Peace was raised above City Square, and the Lord Lyon Dr Joe Morrow and the Very Reverend Elizabeth Thomson took part in the ceremony which had trumpet and bagpipe accompaniment from young musicians;
• On Wednesday 15^th, I presented Professor Jason Swedlow with an OBE medal in a ceremony on the civic floor;
• In the evening of Friday 17^th, I attended a contemporary dance event at the Dundee Rep where I met with Joan Clevillé, the Artistic Director of Scottish Dance Theatre;
• I attended a presentation by the Armed Forces charity SSAFA in the evening of Tuesday 21^st at the Scottish Parliament building;
• I provided a civic reception on Wednesday 22^nd for ESA (support learning) pupils from Craigie High School who won a major UK and Ireland Safety Award for a film they created on manual handling;
• Later on Wednesday 22^nd I attended the second evening of the Dundee Schools Spring Concerts 2023 at the Caird Hall to hear some of the outstanding musical talent encouraged across the city’s schools;
• On Thursday 23^rd, I attended the Barnhill Primary School P7 production ‘Let the Games Begin’ at the Gardyne Theatre, with many undoubted signing, dancing and acting skills on show;
• I was present at an Inform Scotland ‘Supporting and Enabling Veterans’ event in Edinburgh City Chambers on Friday 24^th which highlighted the Armed Forces Covenant and how it might be delivered;
• In the evening of Friday 24^th, I was present at the Hammermen’s Dinner at the Woodlands Hotel in Broughty Ferry where I delivered a speech;
• In the morning of Wednesday 29^th, I attended the annual Scottish Lord-Lieutenants meeting in Edinburgh with the King’s other official representatives from across the country;
• Later on Wednesday 29^th, I attended the Dundee Scout Gang Show 2023 at the Whitehall Theatre which had a great mixture of entertainment from talented young people from our city;
• On Thursday 30^th, I was in attendance for the opening of the V&A Dundee’s impressive new exhibition of ‘Tartan’.

For updates as they occur, the latest Lord Provost news and activities are available 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 across April.

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