In pictures: Councillor Claire Darke: A mayoral year

A MAYORAL YEAR

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The Mayor of Wolverhampton, Councillor Claire Darke (BA Hons English and Spanish, 1992), enjoyed 12 months as the official figurehead of the city, attending hundreds of events and meeting thousands of people from the region and beyond with husband Dr Paul Darke, who was Consort. WLV Life delves into the photo album of her Mayoral year

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1. Armed Forces Week, June 2019. 2. Headstart Wolverhampton - funded through The Big Lottery Fund, Headstart is a “test and learn” programme, which aims to improve the resilience and emotional wellbeing of children and young people. July 2019. 3. Heath Town International Fun Day, celebrating Heath Town’s 50th Birthday and 100 Years of Council Housing. July 2019. 4. Open Heritage Day, September 2019. 5. Forging friendships with Nepal, September 2019. 6. An event to mark Guru Nanak and the anniversary of his birth 550 years ago. September 2019. 7. Holocaust Memorial Day, January 2020. It’s been a whirlwind of a year. Paul and I attended about 400 events until March, when all activity was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Up until that point, it had been really good to connect with a wide range of people and organisations from Wolverhampton, the region, the UK and even across the world.

We have met thousands of people and I’ve enjoyed connecting with the younger generation. We have had school children visit us in the Mayoral Suite to see some of the beautiful silverware that is part of their heritage. It was interesting to hear their perspective as they thought I’d live in a palace!

As we’re already very communityoriented, it has been important to recognise the great work that organisations and individuals are doing across the city and we’ve very much enjoyed meeting those who are making other people’s lives better.

We’ve also worked closely with the University of Wolverhampton, creating The Mayoral Scholarship to help students from the city through donations from the Mayor of Wolverhampton’s Charitable Fund, and working with it on other activities, such as suicide prevention via the city’s Suicide Prevention Forum. Working with the University matters because we want children from Wolverhampton to aspire to study at their local university and fulfil their potential.

We’ve loved promoting the city far and wide because we want people to come and live here and help to make it a prosperous place.

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