With only days to go before his term of office came to an end on May 8th, outgoing Mayor of Douglas David Ashford paid an official visit to his place of work, Scottish Widows, part of the Lloyds Banking Group.
The occasion provided the retiring Mayoress, his mother, Mrs Sylvia Ashford, the opportunity to see for the first time where her son worked and to meet 'his boss', managing director Juan Clarke and a number of his colleagues, many of whom are regular volunteers for joint initiatives with Douglas Borough Council, notably the Summer Reading Challenge, in association with the Henry Bloom Noble Library.
During his visit Councillor Ashford was invited to draw the tickets in a raffle in aid of the Lloyds Banking Group's charity of the year, the Alzheimer's Society.
With matched funding from the group the raffle raised ?500.
Scottish Widows has also provided support for Douglas in Bloom and, more recently, the Council's primary schools' daffodil-growing competition. Mr Clarke said: 'There can be few, if any, branches of the Lloyds Banking Group that can count a mayor of the borough as one of its colleagues. We have been delighted to welcome our colleague, in his official mayoral capacity, back to his place of work. It is yet another demonstration of the enduring links between Scottish Widows and Douglas Borough Council.'
Photo - Back to the desk job: Retiring Mayor of Douglas Councillor David Ashford at his work station with outgoing Mayoress Syvlia Ashford. They are pictured with Scottish Widows managing director Juan Clarke. Picture Andrew Barton.
