The Mayor and Mayoress have strengthened links with Ballymoney, the Country Antrim town with which Douglas has been twinned since November 2006, after visitng Belfast City Council and attending the Armoy Road Races.
During their visit they met with the recently elected Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Nuala McAllister, (pictured below), at 28, one of the youngest councillors to become the city's first citizen and only the fourth woman to hold the post.
Their programme also included a meeting with the Mayor of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council - the local authority of which Ballymoney now forms part - Councillor Joan Baird OBE, and another with Alderman John Finlay, former mayor of Ballymoney and a long-time supporter of the twinning agreement with Douglas.
The Mayor with Councillor Joan Baird OBE, Mayor of Causeway, Coast and Glens Borough Council
With Alderman John Finlay
An invitation from Bill Kennedy, chairman of the Armoy Motorcycle Road Racing Club and the final mayor of Ballymoney, saw the Mayor and Mayoress attend the ninth anniversary Armoy Road Races in Ballymoney, where they met competitor Michael Dunlop, rising motorcycling star Joe Loughlin and Miss Armoy 2017, Emma McGarrity.
Michael Dunlop
Joe Loughlin
Miss Armoy 2017, Emma McGarrity
The visit also provided an opportunity to visit the Joey and Robert Dunlop Memorial Gardens in Ballymoney, established in memory of motorcycling stars Joey Dunlop who died in 2000 and his brother Robert, who lost his life in 2008.
