This was another last-minute engagement due to the Lord Mayor being unwell.  I was invited to speak and indeed did so the minute I was through the door!

I am a great advocate of town-twinning activity and in my time so far on the council have made some great friends in Bonn, another City with which Oxford is privileged to be twinned.

The link with León in Nicaragua is different to all Oxford’s others because Nicaragua is a developing country and this Association and Trust raises funds for important projects in that country. It’s a real credit to everyone involved that the link has been alive and doing great work since 1986 – nearly 30 years. I am pleased that two of my councillor colleagues, John Tanner and Mike Rowley were able to visit León as part of the delegation back in February.

Of course fundraising should also be fun and indeed many in Oxford had great fun earlier this year swimming at Hinksey Pool, our wonderful heated outdoor pool just down the road, in the sponsored swim. It raised much needed funds for a pipeline to carry clean drinking water into a Nicaraguan community where the previous supply was contaminated with Arsenic.
I know there are plans to bring two young people from León to Oxford next year and I think that’s a really great thing to do to strengthen then link. I’ll certainly do what I can to get the City Council to support this.

I also thanked the Association for the gigantona (giant puppet woman) that was a gift from León to Oxford. I know it was used in the Cowley Road Carnival this year and provided great entertainment and delight for many people – I hope Oxford can use it much more as time goes on!

We were treated to a Skype link conversation with some volunteers actually in Nicaragua and indeed some rather delicious Nicaraguan Rum.  I also bought some fair trade coffee that had been got as part of a project running also in Léon.  There was also a raffle but I didn’t win anything!