Minutes:
Moved by Councillor Cank, seconded by the City Mayor and carried:
Cllr Byrne was elected as Lord Mayor on 16 May 2019 and has unusually held office for nearly two years, as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. During her term, she has carried out around 340 engagements, most of which took place during 2019/20, with a very limited number taking place since the Covid-19 lockdown of March 2020.
She has supported two charities – The PDSA and The Air Ambulance Service and has raised around £13,000 which will be shared by the charities. She held a Ghost Walk through the city centre to raise funds for the charities, which was well attended (in more ways than one) and had planned a charity ball, which regrettably was cancelled due to the pandemic.
She has attended a wide range of events, reaching across many areas of the community, including support to young people, the armed forces, faith and community groups and local businesses.
Cllr Byrne has enjoyed hosting pupils from city schools to the Town Hall, where they have an opportunity to learn about democracy, she has visited a number of schools, including Rowlatts Mead Primary Academy, who had created some amazing artwork to the walls of the school corridors. International Erasmus partners from Finland and France joined Mayflower Primary to find out more about Leicester and teachers from Nepal were also welcomed to the Council Chamber.
She has also supported local groups including Leicester Scouts for the presentation of awards to Beavers, Cubs and Scouts at the Town Hall and welcomed students from our twinned cities of Krefeld and Strasbourg.
The Gild of Freeman have continued to support the Civic Office and joined the Lord Mayor at a number of key civic events, including a Hereditary Freemen Ceremony where 15 people took their oath to gain freedom of the city. The Lord Mayor also attended their annual banquet and service, as well as their Common Hall Meeting.
She has represented the city at a number of events supporting the Armed Forces; beginning with Armed Forces Flag Raising at the Town Hall and the Armed Forces Service and Parade in the city centre. She also attended Royal Tigers Day, the 79th and 80th anniversaries of the Battle of Britain and the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019. 2020 saw the 75th anniversaries of both VE Day in June and VJ Day in August – both events were marked virtually, with opportunities to maximise public support.
She has supported a vast range of events including the Christmas Lights Switch On, Navrati and Diwali celebrations, the Caribbean Carnival and Chanukah’s Lighting of the Menorah. As well as Holocaust Memorial Day, Workers Memorial Day and a number of commemorative services at Leicester Cathedral.
Cllr Byrne welcomed the High Commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda to celebrate the Inner City World Cup, she hosted the annual HMS Renown Reunion and presented five Honoured Citizen Awards to local people for their valuable contributions to the community, including the founders of Unity Boxing Club.
The Lord Mayor announced the results for Leicester at the General Election in December 2019 at the Morningside Arena.
As Lord Mayor, Cllr Byrne joined key representatives across the city and county at the Remembrance Service and Parade in 2019, but as it wasn’t possible to go ahead in 2020, wreaths were laid at the Memorial and together with key elements of remembrance, were filmed to create a video, which was shared on social media.
The appointment of nine Honorary Alderman took place at a special meeting of council early in 2020, honouring the work of former councillors.
One of the highlights of her term was an introduction to HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, when they visited Leicester Market in February 2020. The visit allowed them to chat to a number of local traders and concluded with a wonderful performance by local children as part of the Sparks Arts Children’s Festival.
During the last twelve months, Cllr Byrne has had to find new ways to support the city and local communities and has become a confident user of MS Teams and Zoom. She has attended a number of virtual events, including the launch of a new business network, has provided pre-recorded goodwill messages and has called on her baking skills to make luxury cakes in exchange for donations to her charities – to date, she has raised over £1000.
She is the first Lord Mayor to have an animated Christmas E-Card – creatively put together by the Leicestershire Schools Music Service and featuring local school children and to our knowledge is the only Lord Mayor to have held an extended term of office due to a pandemic.
She has been supported by her Lady Mayoress, Tara, and Consort, Cllr Sue Hunter.
As she concludes her term, we have witnessed the nation mourning the loss of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh and she attended a service of thanksgiving at Leicester Cathedral and has had a surprising busy last week in office, completing outstanding engagements.