An Eventful Year!

Deputy Lord Mayor's Blog 21

The past year has been a highly eventful one for myself and Vivienne - and literally so! During my year as Lord Mayor which ended on the 25th of May 2010 I completed a grand total of 1032 official engagements and Vivienne took part in something like 90% of these. We had rarely seen so much of each other!

In Birmingham the tradition is that you are plunged in at the deep end as Lord Mayor and then become Deputy Lord Mayor (DLM) the following year. The reason for this unusual arrangement is that if because of diary pressures the Lord Mayor cannot undertake an engagement then at least in the form of the DLM the event organisers will at least have a civic representative with some experience.

The DLM would normally undertake around 150 - 200 engagements in the year and in carrying these out it has been a great pleasure to meet again some of the very many good and true people who contribute so much to making Birmingham such a wonderful city.

And it is because of the people as a whole that I believe, despite the difficult times, we can approach 2011 with a good measure of confidence.

May I take this opportunity to wish you personally a very happy New Year and perhaps we will meet at a civic, charitable or community event as the year progresses.