New Mayor For Fylde
The new mayor of Fylde will be invested today at Lowther Pavilion in the annual mayor-making ceremony.
Cllr Susan Fazackerly was voted in unanimously by councillors and will begin her year of office next week.
Born in Lytham Hospital, the new Mayor has lived in St Annes all her life. She attended St Annes College for Girls for twelve years and was Head Girl in her final year. After school she completed a secretarial course at Lytham St Annes College of Further Education and subsequently worked for her father, a local insurance broker, for a number of years before attending Manchester University where she gained an Honours Degree in History.
In the early 1980’s the Mayor became Headmistress of her old school, St Annes College for Girls. After eight years her career changed direction and she became a civil servant working for ITSA [Information Technology Services Agency] and has worked on the Moorland Road site until her retirement in early May this year.
The Mayor has always been very involved in community life in her home town. In her teens and twenties she was the organising secretary of Lytham St Annes Youth Service of the Community [YSOC] which co-ordinated all the voluntary work undertaken by the young people of the area. This included the organisation of two weekly social clubs for the elderly and handicapped, the Crossroads Clubs, which met in Lytham and in St Annes. Many weekends were also spent decorating and gardening for elderly people and outings were organised for children from local children’s homes. Other community involvement at this time included work with the WRVS helping with Meals-on-Wheels, the luncheon clubs and the trolley service. The Mayor also served on the Old People’s Welfare Committee Executive Committee and the Relief in Sickness Charity committee. She was a governor of Lytham St Annes High School. Other commitments included a period as secretary of Lytham St Annes Council of Churches, Christian Aid organiser for St Annes and a Samaritan.
In 1987 she was invited to stand for the Conservative Party in Central Ward, was successful, and has represented Central ever since.
Her voluntary work continued during this time. She was the treasurer of the League of Friends of Clifton Hospital and treasurer of a local hospice support group, whilst continuing to be involved with weekly meetings of the St Annes Crossroads Club [for a total of 32 years!]
Having attended St Thomas’ Church since she was at school, the Mayor has been a Sunday School teacher, a Brownie Guider, secretary of the PCC, a Churchwarden and is currently a member of the choir and a lay assistant.
During her time on Fylde Borough Council, she has served on a variety of committees, including a spell as Vice-Chairman of the Tourism and Leisure Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Community Outlook Scrutiny Committee before accepting a Cabinet position in early 2007. She continues to be a member of the Licensing Committee and sits on Licensing Panels. She has been a council representative on the Community Projects Fund since its inception.
The Mayor’s Chaplain will be the Rev Peter Law-Jones of St Thomas’ Church and her main mayoral charities are to be Trinity, the Hospice in the Fylde, Marie Curie Cancer Care and Easterleigh Animal Sanctuary.
The Mayor’s Consort is her nephew, Matthew Peter Berry, her youngest sister Bridget’s son. Matthew lives in Lytham and attended Hall Park School, followed by Arnold School in Blackpool. His sister, Amy also attends the school.
Matthew is in his final year and taking A levels in Geography, Geology and Biology. He is a Senior Prefect, Head of House and hopes to attend university in the autumn to study Geography.
His school interests are rugby, having played for both the 2nd and 1st XV [was on the 2007 tour of South America], the CCF [Head of Navy], the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award and Millennium Volunteers, which has involved 100 hours of community service.
Out of school he enjoys rugby, diving, lifesaving and socializing.
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