Young Mayor 2008 -Contest was closely fought

(Date of issue: 13th October 2008)

Community spirit, recycling, access for everyone, cycle lanes and more entertainment such as theatres and concert halls are the hot topics for the 2008 Young Mayor candidates.

This year’s candidates, who took part in Carlisle City Council’s event, all wanted to make Carlisle a better place to live by focusing on array of issues such as: Hardwicke Circus underpass, litter and traffic speeds.

Four primary schools took part in this closely fought election race and each had chosen their candidate to represent them.

The four contenders were:

• Carly Donaldson – Inglewood Junior School
• Charlotte Hattrell – Hayton Primary School
• Georgina Powley – Brook Street Primary School
• Alex Lexa – Stanwix Primary School

Chaired by the Mayor Cllr Jacquelyne Geddes, the candidates presented to an audience of classmates, family, councillors and staff their manifestos gave their reasons why they would like to be Young Mayor and why they would make a good Young Mayor.

After each presentation, a question and answer session took place and then it was down to an important vote, which in true election style had voting slips, a polling booth and ballot boxes.

The winning candidate was announced by the Mayor as Young Mayor 2008. The winner was Georgina Powley from Brook Street Primary School.

Cllr Jacquelyne Geddes said:

"This is a special event as the young people taking part have taken the time to think about what it is like to live in their communities and go to school. They have looked around and found out what is important to them, their classmates and families. This is a day for each candidate to feel proud of their achievement to show that democracy is part of their everyday life."

This is the eighth year that Carlisle City Council has supported Local Democracy Week (13-19 October), the national campaign which aims to get people involved in decision making and to take part in democracy.