NEW town mayors have been appointed for Winsford and Middlewich.

Both town councils held their annual mayor making ceremonies yesterday where new mayors were formally appointed for each town.

Cllr Pam Farrell was appointed as the new Middlewich mayor and Cllr Steve Smith was appointed as mayor of Winsford.

Cllr Farrell said: “This is my second term of being Mayor of Middlewich and I am very honoured.

“I will be working at promoting Middlewich, making hopefully everyone feel included and working with the town councillors to get the best for Middlewich.

“My chosen charities are the paediatric Epilepsy ward at Leighton, the local stroke ward who helped my husband when he suffered a stroke earlier this year, and I will also be supporting all the youth organisations in Middlewich.”

New Winsford mayor Cllr Steve Smith chose Winsford Sensations and Bandedge Resurrected as his charities for the forthcoming year and announced that a new event would be introduced in the town.

Cllr Smith said: “Last time I packed a lot into my mayoral year but I felt I still had a lot left to do.

“This year there will be several themes to my year – events, unemployment and transport. There will be a new event this year as well as the Salt Fair so watch this space. I’m also hoping to work with a lot of people to positively drive discussions forward to improve our transport links.”

Retiring Middlewich mayor Cllr Ken Kingston identified last May’s war memorial weekend, the town crier competition and Middlewich Oscars as some of his highlights, and wished Cllr Farrell well in the role.

He said: “You think you know everything that goes on in the town, but as mayor you realise the community spirit you already knew existed is much greater than you originally thought.”

Cllr Ailsa Gaskill-Jones was described as a ‘fantastic mayor’ by members of the town council and announced that she had raised more than £5,000 for her charities, Salvation Army and Cotswold House.

Cllr Gaskill-Jones said: “I have attended about 100 mayoral engagements in the last 12 months, the events which have meant the most to me have been those which have celebrated Winsford, its history, its present and its potential for the future. The salt fair and regatta goes from strength to strength and I am sure this year’s event will continue this pattern.”