Club welcomes The Lord Mayor of Belfast

 The Club was very privileged to have as speaker Monday 15 September Honorary Member The Lord Mayor, Councillor Nichola Mallon.

The Lord Mayor thanked the Club for its contribution to the City and referred to many of the Club programmes individually. She particularly thanked the Club for the TABU programme noting that she had last week attended a Prize Giving at St Dominic's for Extra Curricular activities and was impressed by the TABU students Jennifer Devine and Aine Crossan who had put on a slideshow of photographs explaining their trip and had spoken so confidently. She pointed out that Rotary's theme 'Service Above Self' - which politicians could learn from! - was similar to her key focus areas: forgotten citizens and un-sung heroes who quietly work away in the background.

Answering questions she considered that being female had in fact opened more doors for her as the female approach was less "win-lose " and that this was the first time there had been a female Mayor and Deputy Mayor and so far the feedback had been good. She stressed her belief was that the future for communities is getting to know each other better and, recognising that integrated education may not be for all, she strongly believes in the need for shared education – not necessarily at school level but in classes being combined with other schools. She also believes in the strength of sport and music to break down barriers and finding non contentious ways of bring people together. She stressed she would follow in the footsteps of the previous Lord Mayor Máirtín O'Muilleoir and continue to do what she could for business particularly through Invest NI.

President Ronnie thanked her for her comments and for finding time to attend with her busy schedule emphasising that she is always welcome.