Agenda item

Official announcements (Agenda item 6)

Minutes:

The Worshipful the Mayor congratulated the Royal Air Force Museum on behalf of the Council on being granted a Royal Charter by Her Majesty the Queen on the advice of Her Privy Council.This instrument of incorporation confers a new prestige on the Museum and implies confidence in the stability, permanence and pre-eminence of the Museum among its peers.

 

On behalf of the Council, the Worshipful the Mayor sent the Mayor of Pokhara in Nepal a get-well message, as he had recently been unwell. Pokhara is the most recent town to be twinned with Barnet.

 

The Worshipful the Mayor also sent heart-felt thoughts and condolences, on behalf of the Council, to the residents of Kreis Siegen in Germany, who had recently experienced flooding. Although the flooding had not been as catastrophic as in the neighbouring regions, the community had been affected by the tragic loss of life.

 

The Worshipful the Mayor had the sad task of informing the Council that Mr Charalambous Pittas, former Mayor of the Municipality of Morphu in Cyprus, passed away in May. Councillor Caroline Stock was Mayor at the time of his death and kindly sent a letter of condolence to his family on behalf of the Council.

 

Mr Pittas served as a Councillor for 25 years and was the longest serving Mayor of Morphou from 2001 to 2016. He was a great friend of the London Borough of Barnet and was passionately dedicated to the cause of a united Cyprus.

 

In 2008, Mr Pittas, together with the then Mayor of Barnet, Councillor John Marshall, and the Chairman of the Friends of Morphu, planted three trees at the opening of the newly named Morphou Road in Mill Hill. On each of his following visits he went to see how the trees were growing, whilst continuing to rally support in the United Kingdom and bring awareness about the plight of the people wanting to return to their ancestral homes in Morphou.

 

Many Councillors met him over the years either on his many visits to the Borough or on their visits to Morphu to support the Annual Rally.  The Worshipful the Mayor expressed the great loss he will be to his beloved family, the Municipality of Morphou and the much wider Cypriot community.

 

Councillor Rutter, Councillor Moore and Councillor Richard Cornelius said a few words in memory of Mr CharalambousPittas.

 

The Worshipful the Mayor informed Council that a letter of condolence had been sent to the family of Mrs Una O’Brien, nee Burns, who recently passed away. Una grew up in North Finchley and was Head Girl at St Michael’s Convent in Nether Street (now St Michael’s Roman Catholic School).

 

Her family were high achievers and her brother Kevin became Her Majesty’s Ambassador to several countries before retiring to Mill Hill.

After university, Una worked for the National Coal Board in a variety of management roles and it was here that she met, and subsequently married, Patrick O’Brien who had joined the company after completing his National Service. In her spare time, Una added her fine soprano voice to a number of local choral societies. She was a great support to Paddy in his Territorial Army service, particularly in his role as Squadron Commander in Barnet, and during Major O’Brien’s decade of service as the Representative Deputy Lieutenant for Barnet.

 

Una was a member of the ‘Barnet Ladies’, a group which organised coffee mornings to raise funds for the Mayor of Barnet’s Charities. Many Councillors met Una over the years and will remember her lovely smile and gentle sense of humour. She and her husband were residents of Totteridge Ward. Una was a strong Roman Catholic and her faith sustained her through the three years after Paddy’s death and through her own final illness.  She died on 2 June and is buried with her husband, Paddy, in Hendon Cemetery.

 

The Worshipful the Mayor asked Council to join her in observing a minute’s silence in memory of Charalambous Pittas and Una O’Brien.