New Mayor Mike Holt thanks retiring councillors

Published: 15 May 2020

At the beginning of this month, the end of the 2019 / 2020 civic year there were two Councillors who have retired from Pateley Bridge Town Council. Having between them over 50 years of service to the Council and the local community the Council wants to express their thanks and best wishes to Councillor Chris Hawkesworth FRGS and Councillor Christine Skaife.

Chris Skaife has in her time on the Council held the position of Mayor on three occasions and has initiated many new and innovative schemes which have raised the profile of the Council and improved the understanding of the Councils role in the town. Chris has instigated monthly Town Councillors Surgeries at the Nidderdale Plus hub and also coffee mornings in the Memorial Hall for all the volunteers who collectively make our town so unique and special. Chris’s high profile within the town will not diminish as she will continue to be involved in so many different aspects of the community including work on the Memorial Hall committee and the friends of St. Marys Cemetery on Old Church Lane.

Chris Hawkesworth has been on the Council since 1979 and has served continuously since then, serving as elected Mayor on five occasions! He has throughout that time been involved with many Council sponsored projects, including the swimming pool, Glasshouses playing fields and the Millennium Green, Chris was also the Chair of the Joint Resilience Committee with Bewerley Parish Council, which oversees any problems such as storms and potential flooding within the Parish, a role he excelled in which was proven this year during the storms that hit the country in February. I believe though that a lasting legacy is Chris’s idea to have a second river bridge into the Millennium Green, the project looked financially impossible but with great tenacity it was finally achieved and is of benefit to the town on a daily basis.

I would personally like to thank them both for the great service they have given to the town, I, and the whole Council wish them all the very best for the future, and success in the new projects we are sure they will be getting involved with.

Mike Holt