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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 and Lady Mayoress usually undertake around 1200 appointments in a year.

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. The current Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress are Cllr Len Gregory and Mrs Gill Gregory.

Born to George and Lilian Gregory on 8th May 1943 in Weoley Castle, Len was the third of three Sons followed by a younger Sister. He attended Princethorpe Road Infant and Junior School before moving to Kings Norton Grammar School where he acquired his life-long love of Mathematics and Sport.

At 16 Len joined the then GPO as a trainee Telephone Engineer. During the following 7 years he studied Telecommunications obtaining City and Guilds and High National Certificates in the process. Later he continued his studies by combining work and family life with a Degree Course gaining a BSc in Electrical Engineering specialising in Telecommunications and Computing.

Having met Gill at the Bournville Festival in June 1960, Len joined her in the life of the Church of the Ascension, the Parish Church of Stirchley, a deep commitment that continues to the present day. They married on 4th July 1964 and went onto have two children, Diane and Michael. There have been further happy additions to the family with three Grand-daughters and a Grandson.

Len and Gill moved from their first home in Stirchley to Kings Heath where they still live. This was when Len developed his keen interest in politics having been encouraged by Gill to “do something, rather than just moan about what they – the then Council – were doing”. In the early 1970’s he became active at Ward level, holding various offices in the Brandwood Ward structure. A vacancy in the Ward in 1980 saw Len elected to the Council for the first time. During the following eight years, he served on a variety of Committees - Housing, Social Services, Personnel and Catering along with Technical Services where he was Opposition Spokesman.

In May 2000 Len was elected Councillor for the Billesley Ward, a position he still retains. In 2003, he was elected his group’s Deputy Leader and in the same year became Chairman of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Following a change in the City’s Administration he was appointed as the Cabinet Member of Transportation and Street Services, a role he held for almost six years, up to his appointment as Lord Mayor.

As Cabinet Member, Len piloted the multi-million pound Highway Improvements Scheme through its various stages to fruition in early 2010. This Private Finance Initiative (PFI) should ensure dramatic improvements to the state of Birmingham’s Highways and Street Lighting over the coming Decades. Additionally, he initiated the biggest change in the City’s Waste Management and Cleaning operations for many, many years which culminated in Birmingham winning the “Cleanest place in the Country” Award.