New Junior and Young Lord Mayors sworn in

Liverpool youngsters are set to play a part in civic life when they were sworn in as Junior and Young Lord Mayors recently.

24 new Junior and Young Lord Mayors took their places at Liverpool Town Hall at a special ceremony in the presence of Lord Mayor, Cllr Gary Millar.

Cllr Gary Millar said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our young people to take part in all aspects of life in and around the Town Hall and I am delighted that so many pupils have taken such an interest in civic life.

“This will be an interesting year for all of them. I know they will all grow in confidence and I am sure they will all enjoy their time as Junior and Young Lord Mayors as much as I enjoy being Lord Mayor!

“I aim to show them as many aspects of my life as possible.

“I wish them every success for the next 12 months, I am sure they will all do a fantastic job of representing their city.”

Jeff Dunn, director of Liverpool Schools’ Parliament said: “Almost 80 students stood for election. They showed great confidence when delivering speeches of the highest quality and all of them would have been worthy of representing the city.

“Those voting had a difficult task in deciding upon the fortunate 24.

In October 2009 Liverpool became the first authority in the UK to actively involve its children and young people in the civic process on a regular basis when 12 primary school children and 12 secondary school pupils were sworn in at Liverpool Town Hall as the city’s first Junior and Young Lord Mayors.

Each child takes part in civic life by shadowing the Lord Mayor for one month. This involves them accompanying the Lord Mayor to a number of civic and community event, ranging from services in one of the city’s magnificent cathedrals to judging a fancy dress competition.