Liverpool youngsters sworn in as Lord Mayors

Young people across the region have begun to get a taste of civic life as they were officially sworn in as Junior and Young Lord Mayors today.

At a special ceremony at the Town Hall, 25 young people were honoured and given their prestigious titles. The 25 young people involved are made up of 12 Young Lord Mayors, representing secondary schools and 13 Junior Lord Mayors, representing primary schools. Schools involved in the programme include Calderstones secondary school, Hunts Cross, North Liverpool Academy and St Teresa’s.

Lord Mayor, Councillor Erica Kemp said: “This is a great opportunity for our young people to become involved in civic events and find out what is happening in their city.

“I am delighted that so many of our young people have shown an interest in civic life and it will be fantastic to have them assisting me at events during my next few months as Lord Mayor. I am sure they will do a great job representing the young people of Liverpool over the coming year.”

Liverpool City Council were the first to introduce a Schools’ Parliament in 2001 to give young people the opportunity to voice their opinions. Since then it has grown from strength to strength, with the Schools’ Parliament leading many causes such as recycling in schools, introducing free passes for leisure centres and swimming pools and voicing their concerns over high public transport costs for young people in Liverpool.

Children aged between 7-19 years make up the Parliament and will meet regularly in the Council Chamber of Liverpool Town Hall to discuss and raise awareness of the issues affecting Liverpool’s young people.

Daisy Carey, aged 8 from Florence Melly Primary School was one of the young people sworn in to Parliament today and can’t wait to begin her role, saying: “I’m most looking forward to all the events I’ll attend and also wearing the gold chain.”

The Young and Junior Lord Mayors will shadow the Lord Mayor at events across the city, helping her to represent Liverpool and support many different local charities and community groups.

The Young and Junior Lord Mayors are voted in by the Schools Parliament and they are:

Young Lord Mayor’s:

Yam Al-Aloosi – Academy of St Francis of Assisi
Kofi Barret-Wilkie – Calderstones
James Bretherton – Broadgreen
Michael Grimes – North Liverpool Academy
Eksha Gupta – Alder Hey Hospital Youth Forum/Bluecoat
Amina Hossein – CICC/Childwall
Zach Kelly – Everton Free School
Jonathan Kenda – West Derby
Jayne Massey – St Vincent’s
Sibongi Mubika – Sandfield Park
Connor O’Neale – Clarence High School
Viktoria Sebkova – North Liverpool Academy

Junior Lord Mayor’s:

Emily Alcock – Rice Lane Juniors
Sam Carder – St Paul’s
Daisy Carey – Florence Melly
Evie Collier – St Christopher’s
Yasmin Davies – Childwall CE
Lucy Hannon – St Teresa’s
Greta Kelly – Greenbank
Billy Moran – The Beacon
James Murphy – St Paschal Baylon
Laila Scott – Wellesbourne
Jamie Sellers-Webster – Alder Hey Hospital Youth Forum/St Margaret Mary
Lucy Stewart – Hunts Cross
Denny Thomas – Sacred Heart