My First Charity Cheque!



Cllr Sunger's family  and myself with my first charity cheque.



Cllr Darshan Sunger of the Conservative Group and his family visited me in the Parlour today where I was presented with my first charity cheque. A big thank you to Cllr Sunger! In addition to the cheque, Cllr Sunger's niece, Kiran Sunger, presented me with a gift of some deliciously decorated fairy cakes.  As many of you may know, I am participating in a 'Pounds4Pounds' weight loss programme so, sadly, I had to refrain from eating these!  However, I donated the cakes to the Council's Servery and all sale proceeds will go to my charity fund. 

Citizenship Ceremonies

It was an absolute pleasure for me to attend my first citizenship ceremony as a Mayor this morning.  I was joined by Cllr Asim Mahmood, Junior Cabinet Member for Human Resources and Organisational Development.   Becoming a British citizen is a public celebration and I am always pleased to share in this joyous occasion.  All new citizens at Waltham Forest are encouraged to feel a sense of belonging to the wider community. My role is to give an opening speech.

Me and Cllr Mahmood

  

After the citizens make their Oath or Affirmation of Allegiance to the Crown where they promise to be a good citizen, I present each citizen with a certificate.  Afterwards there is the opportunity for photos to be taken with me.  I look forward to attending many more of these ceremonies during my Mayoral year! 

New Mayor For Waltham Forest

It is a great honour to be elected Mayor for the London Borough of Waltham Forest last night at the Annual Council Meeting. I served the last year as the Deputy Mayor and had many wonderful experiences. I also had the privilege of attending many exciting events. I can only imagine this will increase now that I am taking on the role of Mayor. I've seen how quickly the Mayor’s diary can fill up with events and want to get to as many as possible, all over the Borough – please get in touch!

What a tremendous evening the Mayor Making was. It was so great to have all my friends and family attend and show their support, along with the council members and guests. Also, I would like to mention that Hazoor Muffakir-e-Islam will be my spiritual guide throughout my year as Mayor. I would like to thank Cllr Clare Coghill for her very kind nomination and Cllr Khevyn Limbajee for seconding Cllr Coghill’s nomination.

As Mayor, I hope to represent all of our residents and be a worthy first citizen of our borough. I want to do you all proud & work to the best of my ability.

I have also announced a sponsorship scheme called 'Pounds4Pounds'. I will be encouraging people to sponsor me for every pound I lose. If you wish to sponsor me, please e-mail mayor@walthamforest.gov.uk and request a 'Pounds4Pounds' sponsorship form. A website is currently under way to allow you to make online donations and I will let you know as soon as it is up and running. If anyone wishes to join me in this process of losing weight, please feel free to do so – and let me know! 

My name has been added to the list of Mayors in Council Chamber

The money raised from the ‘Pounds4Pounds’ scheme will then be donated to two amazing causes; firstly, the Young People’s Programme at the William Morris Gallery and secondly, Gastroenterology and Respiratory Unit at Whipps Cross Hospital.

During my year as Mayor, to support me I have assigned the role of Mayoress to my beautiful wife, Mrs Saika Ali. I have also appointed my brothers, Mr Hather Ali & Mr Umar Ali as my Consorts.

As well as this blog, there will be regular up-dates on mine and the borough’s progress throughout the year published on Twitter @LBWFDemocracy.

I'm very pleased to be elected as the youngest Mayor to serve a full term in this great borough. I hope to follow in the steps of the outgoing Mayor, Cllr Richard Sweden. He has done a brilliant job this last year and has been a huge success. I know I have big boots to fill, but I hope to do so.

Becoming the Mayor

Hi everyone! It has been an incredible night for me and I want to tell you more about it, but I'm still waiting for some photos to get e-mailed. Until then, this is the speech I gave tonight when I was honoured by my fellow councillors with the Mayoralty of Waltham Forest 2013/14:

Deputy Lieutenant, fellow councillors, Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani, distinguished guests, friends.

Thank you for your warm welcome and kind words concerning my nomination and election to this position.

And a particularly special thank you to our out-going Mayor, Cllr Richard Sweden, who has served the Borough magnificently over the past 12 months and inspired me to aim for the same high standards.

Just as Richard has been the Mayor for everyone in Waltham Forest, it is my sincere wish to continue in similar vein, particularly in light of what happened yesterday and what the Leader was saying earlier.

As Deputy Mayor, I have had the privilege of attending numerous events – many in this very chamber – that have celebrated the rich diversity that makes Waltham Forest the unique and vibrant place that it is.

On all of these occasions we have encouraged communities to share their culture and heritage with us so that we may learn from the differences and, importantly, celebrate the similarities.

And I believe that this inclusive, open-minded approach makes us a resilient, cohesive single community.  As Mayor, I see it as one of my prime duties to do all I can to ensure that this continues to be the case.

I want to represent all of our residents and be a worthy first citizen of our borough.

To help me do this, I am delighted to announce that my Mayoress will be my wife, Mrs Saika Ali.  I would like to ask her to step forward now to be presented with the Mayoress’s chain.

I should also like to appoint, Mr Hather Ali and Mr Umar Ali as my Consorts. I am sorry but I do not have chains for you.

Additionally, it gives me great pleasure to announce that Hazoor Muffakir-e-Islam will be my spiritual guide throughout my year as Mayor.  Hazoor Muffakir-e-Islam is a renowned Muslim scholar who has followers in 85 different countries and has a following of thousands of people.

He is a master in Islamic normative sciences such as Ilmal Tafsir, Uthool Al Tafsir, philosophy, etymology, syntax, grammar, eloquence and belief, and history.

He has a great command of Arabic, English, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi and Urdu languages.

He teaches orthodox Islam and the true teachings of Allah and the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) and it is a great honour that you are here with me this evening.  I know that you had already booked a flight to Pakistan but you cancelled it to be with me for my Mayor-Making Ceremony.

I really, sincerely thank you for coming here to make this a very blissful evening.

For my charity activity, I shall be raising funds for two very good causes:

The first is the Young People’s Programme at the William Morris Gallery.  This will provide a range of IT and audio visual equipment and support to help young visitors get even more out of the fantastic gallery and its collections, and develop new skills in the process.  Having done some youth engagement work before I became a Councillor, I know how important it is to give our young people every opportunity to learn and to develop a thirst for knowledge.  I hope that supporting this project will make a contribution to that process.

Secondly, I will be supporting the Gastroenterology and Respiratory Medicine Unit at Whipps Cross Hospital.  My recently departed grandmother required specialist respiratory equipment when she was in hospital and had to be moved elsewhere as none was available when it was needed.

I should like to be able to purchase this equipment so that people receive the right treatment as quickly as possible.

I know that in these difficult financial times, it is not easy to encourage people to give their hard-earned cash to charity.

However, successive mayors of Waltham Forest have proved year-on-year that the people of this borough are extremely generous, either with their time or money or both.

I hope that I shall be able to call on that generosity to help me achieve my aims.

And to encourage this, I should like to announce a sponsorship scheme called ‘#pounds4pounds’.

During my Mayoralty, I will follow a safe, medically supervised weight-loss and activity regime.  I shall be encouraging people to sponsor me for every pound I lose.

Equally, if anyone wishes to join me in losing weight and improving fitness, I should be only too pleased.  Already, the entire Democratic Services team has pledged to get involved, and I thank them for that and also for their hard work and fantastic support they have given me in the past year – Holly Adams, Sue Yamansef, Mariam Ifzal, Steve Myhill, Kevin Madden and Ian Piggott, I look forward to working with you in the coming year.

Going back to pounds4pounds, I hope that I can also use this scheme to draw attention to the on-going regeneration of our borough’s leisure and recreation facilities and also to our new public health duties – in particular, supporting people to be more active in their daily lives. What better way to keep the Olympic flame alive?

And since I am a 21st Century Mayor, there will be regular up-dates on progress throughout the year, published on my blog and on Twitter @LBWFDemocracy.

I am looking forward to the pounds4pounds challenge, even though two of my early engagements involve judging cakes.

Ladies and gentlemen, it goes without saying that I feel extremely proud and honoured to have been elected as the youngest Mayor to serve a full term in this great borough.

I have been very lucky to already have had some incredible experiences as Deputy Mayor (including picking up an award at the Achievements Awards Ceremony), as well as wonderful support from so many who I must mention and record my gratitude.

First, I must thank Allah and his Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) and Hazoor Ghawthul Azam Pirad De Per Syed Abdul Qadir Jillani (RA).  I must also thank both my mother and father (Cllr Liaquat Ali and noble mother) who are both here this evening.  I would like them to know that I am very proud to be their son and that I love and cherish them both.  They are to me the best parents in the world.

I must also thank my noble uncle Ch Shokat Ali who has always supported me in any way he could – clearly, the best uncle in the world.

At this joyous moment I must remember my noble grandparents who recently passed away and I would like it known that they were very close to me and were my role models.  I miss them greatly and I am sure they are looking down and sending blessings from heaven.

I also thank my brothers and sisters and, of course, my wife.  I thank you all for your support so far, and hope you will be able to put up with me for the next 12 months.

I also want to thank all of my guests for coming this evening, especially those who have travelled from the United States and Pakistan to be here.

Lastly, the Council itself.  You have all shown great confidence in me.  I pledge to do my very best so that in 12 months’ time you, my fellow councillors, family and friends will feel proud of the way I have carried out my duties.  Thank you.