Allerdale's Mayor
The Mayor is first citizen of the Borough and is elected from
the 56 members every year at the Annual Meeting of the Council. The
Mayor chairs meetings of the Council during his/her term of office,
and presides at civic and other ceremonial events held in the
Borough.
The Mayor of Allerdale, Councillor Joe Holliday
Councillor Holliday was born in Barepot, near Workington on 12
March 1944. He attended Northside Primary School and,
later Newlands Secondary Modern. After leaving school
in 1959 he found employment with Cumberland County Council
Highways Department working from their Cockermouth Depot. He
served a six year apprenticeship and attended West Cumbria
College of Further Education. In 1967 he was promoted to the
position of Reinstatements Inspector for the Cockermouth Area.
When Local Government reorganisation came
about in April 1974 the Highways in Workington and Maryport were
transferred to the new Cumbria County Council and he was
appointed Highways Foreman based at Workington and covering both
these areas. In 1995 he was promoted to Resource Manager
covering the whole of the Allerdale Area. Four years later he took
early retirement after 40 years with the same company.
Before his retirement in
1999, he had taken up employment with Broughton Parish
Council and later Distington Parish Council. He still works for
Distington. In September of this year Councillor Holliday will
have achieved 52 years continuous paid employment in local
government.
In 2001 he stood for election to Cumbria
County Council winning in the Harrington, Clifton and Stainburn
Wards. He served these Wards for four years until
2005. Councillor Holliday was re-elected to Cumbria
County Council in October 2006 in a by-election for the St Johns
Ward and again retaining the seat in 2009. He was elected to
serve for St Johns Ward on Allerdale Borough Council in 2007 and he
retained the seat in the recent elections, with the highest number
of votes in any seat in the whole of the Allerdale Borough.
Married in November 1965 to Dorothy he moved
to Great Broughton to live but after only a short while they moved
back to Workington. They have lived in the same house in the St
John’s Ward since 1968. As a pastime he keeps records of
professional Rugby League and has already published two books on
the subject, in 1996 and 2007, and is in the process of producing
another when time permits him.
During his year in office Councillor Holliday
is supporting 5 local charities. These are:
Workington Town Community Development Foundation; The Stroke
Association; Meningitis Trust; The Anaphylaxis Campaign &
Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Deputy Mayor of Allerdale, Councillor Carole Armstrong
Councillor Armstrong has been a town councillor for 9 years and a
Allerdale Councillor for 5 year. She was born at
Salterbeck and her roots are firmly there as her
family have just become a fifth generation on the
estate.
Cllr Armstrong was in
the army for 3 years rising to the dizzy heights of corporal
before coming home. She was married for 10 years but this
ended in divorce. She went on to bring up three children on my
own.
Councillor Armstrong worked at the
Howgill Family Centre in Whitehaven, working with young mums who
had difficulties. From this evolved a women's group for
disadvantaged mothers that she found funding for and ran over 12
years.
Councillor Armstrong is very
much a community person and was part of the group that set up, and
finally got, a new community centre for the Salterbeck
estate. She is also a director of Salterbeck ACE who own
the Oval Centre on Salterbeck.
Councillor Armstrong has
worked previously for MIND in West Cumbria but she is
now retired.
She has three children, seven
grandchildren and a very new great grandson who was born on 6th
April 2011.