Mayor welcomes women's charity for 'fantastic' civic building tour

Staff and families from YWCA Yorkshire were welcomed by Cllr Sheila Cowen and civic officer Ian Atkinson on a tour of the building where they heard about the history of Rotherham's evolution into a metropolitan borough council as well as how meetings are run at the local authority.

They were also shown the outfits the Mayors have worn over the years and got the opportunity to hold the civic chain of office.

The visit came about after Cllr Cowen attended the 20th anniversary celebration event at Fleming Gardens – a ten-house residential service on a cul-de-sac in Flanderwell which supports some of the borough's most vulnerable young women, children and families – earlier this year.

The Mayor was a special guest speaker at the event in June where she called Fleming Gardens “an amazing place.”

YWCA project worker Toria Atkinson said: “We accompanied one of our young mums, Shae Duffy and her daughter Denny on the tour.

“Shae said she really enjoyed the visit and it was interesting hearing about the history of the town hall and all the mayors.

“I also found the visit very informative as I learned lots of facts I never knew about the town I've worked in for ten years!

“Many thanks to Cllr Cowen for this fantastic opportunity.

“We look forward to sharing more events together in the future.”