Afrasiab Anwar column | An honour to watch the Clarets make history

A huge thank you to the Chairman for this very kind gesture, providing my wife and I with the opportunity to be a part of what turned out to be a fabulous night for the Clarets and one that will go down in Burnley folklore.

Sealing the championship at Ewood Park and watching the team celebrate in front of our fans was poetic justice, especially with the debacle surrounding ticket allocations. A game of this magnitude deserves to be played in front of a packed stadium not half empty stands, hopefully lessons have been learned by our neighbours down the road.

I would like to congratulate everyone at Burnley Football Club for this amazing achievement. When Burnley Football Club does well, there is a feel-good factor across the whole town.

It is only right that we look to celebrate the success of the team in a fitting way therefore, I am delighted that we will be honouring the team with a civic reception followed by an open-top bus parade through the town centre.

This will take place on Tuesday 9th May and will be an opportunity for the whole town to come together and celebrate our champions.

On the night we were celebrating the achievements of Burnley FC, the Bishop of Burnley, The Rt Revd Philip North was being Confirmed at York Minster as the Bishop of Blackburn. Bishop Philip has been a great supporter of Burnley FC and ambassador for Burnley and all our communities, irrespective of faith or background. I'm sure you will all join me in wishing Bishop Philip all the best in his new role. This is probably the only transfer to Blackburn that we can all approve of, and we know Bishop Philip will always be a Claret.

We are also fast approaching the coronation of King Charles III. The coronation will take place on Saturday 6th May at Westminster Abbey, and I know many of you are looking forward to this historic occasion which will kickstart a weekend of celebrations across the country.

Burnley Council has offered grants to community organisations and residents to organise street parties and it is great to see so many have taken up this offer. This is the first coronation in living memory for many of us and we want to use it to help bring our communities together, encouraging friendship and fun.

In partnership with the CVS, we will be supporting the 'Big Help Out' to encourage a culture of volunteering in our neighbourhoods that will hopefully leave a legacy of volunteering to benefit all our communities. Volunteering opportunities are being made available through an app which can be downloaded online.

However you decide to celebrate the promotion or coronation, I hope you have a wonderful time with your families and friends. Most importantly let's hope the weather will play its part over the bank holiday weekends.