Sandwell In Staffordshire!

On Saturday we had a pleasant afternoon at the invitation of the Mayor of Sandwell at Ingestre Hall which is located at Stafford.We were joined by other civic heads from across the County and the Mayor of Stafford.

It was a very pleasing lunch hosted by the Mayor Councillor Bill Archer and the Mayoress Cllr Costigan. The setting was the fabulous Ingestre Hall the ancestral home of the Earls of Shrewsbury that has been in the ownership of Sandwell from 1966.

All the Mayor's of the West Midlands County were invited, as were some of the Leader's of the Metropolitan Councils. David Shaw Assistant Chief Constable John Brown from the West Midlands Fire Service, and others were also in attendance.

It was a lovely lunch followed by a tour of the Hall and the recently refurbished Church that house the tombs of the Shrewsbury's. I was asked to respond on behalf of the guest's to the Mayor's official speech. I felt honoured and warmed to the task!

Councillor Archer is renown for his ability to burst into song...this is usually followed by the Mayoress of Dudley who like a cooing dove quickly joins him in song!

I am confident that Cllr Archer is the only Mayor on the Local Government circuit that has his own CD! I informed the luncheon that when I want to inflict pain on my companions I will secretly place the CD into the player and force who ever is in the car with me to listen to Bill's singing!

This was the case on our recent trip to Wales!

Here are some photo's of this most impressive Hall.