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The Lord Mayor

Blog & Virtual Tours

View the Lord Mayors Parlour and other Council House rooms in this virtual 360 view tour

Some Interesting Facts

The Lord Mayor’s chain weighs 2kg
The robes weighs 5kg
The Lord Mayor usually undertake around 1200 appointments in a year. The Lord Mayor updates her own twitter account

Who is Birmingham’s Lord Mayor?

Birmingham has had a Mayor (and elected council) since 1838. With city status in 1889 came Birmingham’s first Lord Mayor. Each Lord Mayor takes office at the annual meeting of the City Council and holds office for a year. Lord Mayors are non-political and non-executive during their term of office and act as Chair of the Council.

As the First Citizen of Birmingham, the Lord Mayors represents not only the City but also the people of Birmingham. Each Lord Mayor completes a one year term of office and then another year as Deputy Lord Mayor of Birmingham. The new Lord Mayor is installed each May at the Annual General Meeting of the Council.The current Lord Mayor is Councillor Anita Ward.

Born in Birmingham, Councillor Anita Ward is the only daughter of Pamela and Phil Ward. She has three brothers. Anita attended Yenton School, Erdington and Castle Vale Comprehensive, later returning to Sutton Coldfield College to study Sociology and English Literature. She also undertook courses at Birmingham Polytechnic, in her twin areas of interest, Housing and Politics. The latter is still a work in progress which Anita hopes to complete once her year as Lord Mayor is complete.

On leaving school Anita worked at the Birmingham Metropole Hotel for four years before moving to Essex to start her family. Unfortunately, both of her children were born extremely prematurely and needed medical attention. This has lead to a life-long interest and commitment to the welfare of premature babies.

Upon returning to Birmingham Anita went to work for the organisation for Sickle Cell Anaemia(OSCAR).Her commitment to social welfare causes led Anita to join the Labour Group in 1984 and ultimately to begin her political career when she started working for Erdington’s former MP, now Lord Corbett of Castle Vale in 1986. This was a job she thoroughly enjoyed. Anita has worked for the two subsequent MP’s, giving up the job this year to become Birmingham’s Lord Mayor.

Anita has been supported in pursuing her varied political career which has included such posts as Labour Group Chief Whip, Labour Group Secretary and Shadow Cabinet Member; by her husband, Mick.

Having raised two children, Anita and Mick, are now the proud grandparents of Ryan, Jamie and Jessica and love nothing more than spending time with them and supporting Aston Villa. Although married, Anita has retained her maiden name for political purposes.

Anita is delighted to become the first citizen of Birmingham and sees the role of Lord Mayor as a great honour. The Lord Mayor has chosen four local charities to support throughout her term in office. She hopes to raise as much funds and the profiles of her chosen charities by hosting several charity fundraising events. You can find more information about Birmingham City Council and the Lord Mayor by visiting BCC website.