Cold snap doesn't deter visitors to city

With the foreseeing temperatures in and around the city, not many people turned out for our very first Town Hall Tour of 2010. Amongst those who did however was Paul – all the way from Melbourne, Australia!

Paul was born and brought up in Evington but emigrated to Oz 15 years ago and has not visited Leicester since. It was great to meet him and hear his comments on all the new developments within the city. Paul was also pleased to find many of his favourite places still unspoiled and was clearly very much enjoying the visit to his birthplace.

Christmas in Leicester

We had official visitors from both China and Korea to the Town Hall last week.

Both groups were entranced by our Christmas tableaux in the Town Hall Square, depicting Paddington Bear and scenes from the Wind in the Willows.

Cameras were clicking away enthusiastically and pictures are likely to be featuring on Facebook or its equivalent all around the world !

Our Christmas lights are proving very popular again this year and on Wednesday December 2nd we welcome our pre Christmas tour of the Town Hall - open to all without the need to book in advance - starting at 2pm*. Then we have a huge variety of Christmas Concerts and Carol Concerts taking place over the next three weeks that I hope as many people as possible will be able to enjoy.

* For more information or to book a tour of the Town Hall, please contact Wyndham Price, Corporate Premises Manager on +44 (0)116 252 8055.

November marches on and still more visitors arrive in Leicester

The concert at the Athena last weekend starred Pacific pop icon Sarah Geronimo and attracted members of the Phillipino communities from Scotland, Ireland, London and all over the north of England.

This week we welcomed visitors from China to the Town Hall and they were very interested to learn of the role scientists at the University of Leicester had played in the discovery of genetic fingerprinting .

Later this week we are looking forward to a further visit from the Jamaican High Commissioner.

It is so encouraging to witness the growing number of visitors to our city and the work of our award winning Tourist Information Centre.

Unique art collection launched in Leicester

Visitors from all over the UK are expected to come to Leicester over the next few months to view the internationally renowned collection of early twentieth century German art at New Walk Museum and Art Gallery. This unique collection has just been augmented by a gift of a further 60 pictures from the collection of Leicester born Michael Brookes who attended the exhibition opening last weekend.

Also likely to attract musical visitors to Leicester from all over Britain is the Acoustic Avalon to be held at Leicester Racecourse on Saturday and Sunday November 14th and 15th. Sponsored by Sheehans of Leicester, who have just been awarded the Queens Award for industry, this event features acoustic guitarists from all over Europe and beyond. Featured artists include Chris Newman and Steve Lockwood, Gareth Pearson, Iain Archer, Julie Ellison and many more
For information and tickets visit www.sheehans.com

City appeals to visitors and students from overseas

Students are back in town for the new academic year and amongst them are many overseas students.

We met many of these at a reception in New Walk Museum recently and they included individuals from France, China, Japan, the United States, Nigeria, Ghana and many other countries. All seemed keen to explore Leicester and get to know the cultural and social scene.

More recently, many people from outside Leicester joined us for the Switch On of the Diwali Lights in Belgrave Road.

This week we are also entertaining a group of Dutch teachers from Rotterdam in the city, as well as another group of Bulgarian teachers from our twin city of Haskovo.

It is encouraging to find so many people from overseas visiting our city and taking a real interest in our history, our cultural diversity, our restaurants and our leisure centres.

We also encourage visitors to join our tours of the Town Hall on the first Wednesday of each month starting at the entrance to the Town Hall at 2pm. For more information or to book, please contact Wyndham Price, Corporate Premises Manager on +44 (0)116 252 8055.

Worldwide visitors enjoy city museums and festivals

Over the past 10 days I have met visitors to Leicester from Poland, Sweden, Austria and Australia - and of course we had a number of children from Chernobyl visit the city as well. Great attractions obviously include our city museums and the recent 'Seaside Special' event at the Abbey Pumping Station was hugely popular.

Thanks go to all the volunteers, many of whom got up before 7am on a Sunday morning to make the day such a success. Welcome too to our many visitors to the Navratri Festival.

A warm welcome for our visitors from Newfoundland

Had a great meeting today at the Town Hall with Don Coombs, the Mayor of Harbour Grace in Newfoundland. Don has been staying here in Leicester with his wife, family and 55 football players from Newfoundland and Labrador all enjoying training, playing and watching football in and around Leicestershire. Don was telling the Lady Mayoress and I how much they were all enjoying their stay in the city. The group liked the shopping and were full of praise for the quality of the food in various restaurants.

Now of course and in its twentieth year, we have the Castle Park Festival underway with a whole variety of events and activities on offer. I was delighted to perform the launch ceremony at Newarke Houses Museum last Friday evening and recommend a visit to the Castle Park Festival website.