My first week as mayor

Having been the mayor for the last eight days, it has certainly been an interesting week, even though I've had a relatively small number of engagements. Getting used to, as well, the various protocols of being mayor has also taken some getting used too.

Since I last blogged, I have undertaken a further three engagements. On Saturday, I attended a CIA basketball event at Canons(and no it's not the American CIA, but a christian organisation), this was a large festival bringing young people together with a christian ethos. I saw plenty of slam dunking, and various other maneuvers. It also involved going into the middle of the court and addressing the crowd.

Sunday, saw a visit to Charlton Park House in Greenwich for an event organised by the outgoing Mayor of Greenwich. The house itself it one of the oldest examples of Jacobean architecture in London, along with having some absolutely beautiful gardens. It also afforded me my first opportunity to meet other newly-elected mayors' and to share experiences; over the next year meeting other mayors will be a regular occurrence. Although I don't know who all the newly-elected mayors in London, I was by far the youngest mayor at the event, I am certainly not your stereotypical mayor!

This morning, I launched the Stand up for Bullying campaign in the Merton Council chamber. The event involved a number of children from across Merton coming together as part of a nationwide campaign against bullying. At the event itself, the children all joined hands and said 'say no to bullying'. Initiatives like these raise awareness of these issues as bullying is unacceptable, and in many circumstances make children's lives very unhappy, along with causing great emotional stress. At the end of the event, I had my photo taken with various children from around Merton.

My next event is at Merton Adult tomorrow, and will involve presenting Certificate of Achievement awards. This morning I must have signed dozens of certificates for the event and I am looking forward to attending the event, as education has the ability to transform lives and adult education contributes to that along with allowing people to learn new skills.