I am delighted and honoured to have been chosen as this year’s Lord Mayor of York. It is a great opportunity to promote and serve a city which has been my home for the last 40 years. 

I hope that I will meet many of you over the year and that you will contact the Civic Office if you feel that I can help in any way. The Civic Party will be delighted to attend your event, however large or small, if we possibly can.

I will be updating this site regularly with news and photos from the many events I will be attending throughout the year so please do keep checking back.

£45,000 was the magnificent sum raised for Our Celebration and British Heart Foundation during my year as Lord Mayor.  I would like to thank everyone who helped in any way to achieve this sum which is remarkable given the current economic climate.  The Committee did really well to have events and prices which would appeal to all age groups and incomes.  So, as a final sign off, thank you.

Well this was the figure raised at the pre-opening Barbican concert with party band HUGE. The money will be split between my charities – Our Celebration and the British Heart Foundation – and with York Against Cancer. A final figure for fundraising for my two charities and cheque presentation will take place in July.

And now, as I sit back and reflect on the year before handing over the Chains of Office to the next Lord Mayor, I would like to thank everyone who has made this year possible and who I have met during the course of attending over 500 engagements this year.  It has been a hectic but enjoyable year and one which I will not forget.  I think we have been to most corners of York and visited all organisations who asked us to do so.  Without fail I and the rest of the civic party have enjoyed the events and have been met with courtesy and hospitality in abundance.

In my opening speech last May I promised to do as much as I could to promote the city; to ensure its economic success; and to ensure that it remained a diverse and friendly city.  Time will tell whether or not these objectives were accomplished but one promise I did make was that I would go no further than Filey – and indeed have turned down visits to Canada, China and India but I do hope to get to Filey later this year!.

I will now be taking a gap year and catching up on all those things that have been on hold for the last few years and who knows what the future will bring.  I remain optimistic for the city which has become much more cosmopolitan over the last few years and, whilst there are dangers and challenges on the horizon,  I will always love York.

Thank you and best wishes to all the readers of this diary.

Susan Galloway

The Sheriff and I visited Derwenthorpe to break new ground for David Wilson Homes who have, at long last, started on this development of 540 homes which has been in the planning process for over 10 years.  It is sad that protest after protest has held up the provision of much needed housing for people and it is hoped that the new residents of these homes will be made to feel welcome in the area.  We then had a look around one of the prototype new homes which will be sustainable and “green”!

Late afternoon saw a presentation of a book of photographs by the Guild of Building which will be a superb record of some of the events we have attended over the year.

A last fundraising event with a beauty evening by Clarins at Browns – a very nice end to the year.

Although the final figure has not yet been announced as money is still coming in, it looks as though over £40000 will have been raised this year for the Lord Mayor and Sheriff’s Charities – the British Heart Foundation Mending Broken Hearts Appeal and Our Celebration.  I would like to thank everyone who has not only been involved on the committee, ably led by Roger Taylor, but also everyone who has supported the events or sent in donations.  I am proud to say that the money raised has come from individuals with few large corporate donations.

This morning the Sheriff and I went to start the charity walk in aid of Crohns and Colitis.  This national charity estimates that there are 250000 people in the Uk suffering from this disease and about 380 in York alone.

Then, in the evening, the Sheriff went to the open evening for York Cemetery and I went to judge the Miss York final competition – a very long day indeed as this did not end until nearly midnight.!

Tonight the Sheriff and I attended the performance of Mahler in the Minster by the Guildhall Orchestra.  This was a superb performance and well attended.

This morning the Sheriff and I went to York Knavesmire to support Andy McMenemy who has run 66 ultra marathons in 66 cities in 66 days and will enter the Guiness book of records.  He has done this to raise money and awareness for the Soldiers Charity – ABF.

This afternoon I went to Betty’s for tea and a visit behind the scenes and then in the evening the Sheriff and I went to the get together for volunteers at Oaken Grove Community Centre.

This afternoon I went to inspect the gardening skills of pupils from Westfield Primary school and York High who had designed and planted flower beds on Acomb Green as part of their contribution to York in Bloom.