Roy Gladden

The Lord Mayor of Liverpool is known as the first citizen of the city and is responsible for representing the city and forging national and international links. As well as meeting with delegates from other cities, the Lord Mayor Roy Gladden has been promoting a number of vital charities.

Lord Mayor Gladden joined the army at the age of 17 serving the King’s Own Royal Border Regiment, finally being discharged in 1967. Later, at the age of 40, Lord Mayor Gladden attended Liverpool John Moores University and achieved a social work degree, enabling him to become a social worker at Liverpool City Council, working in Everton until his retirement in 2010.

Lord Mayor Gladden was elected to Liverpool City Council in Clubmoor ward in 1982 and was appointed as Chair of the Libraries and Arts Committee and was Vice Chair of Social Services, serving as a councillor until 1987. Lord Mayor Gladden returned as a Councillor for Country ward in 2010.

As a veteran himself, the Lord Mayor Gladden has supported personnel from the Armed Forces, Reservists, the Merchant Navy and their families.

In 2018, Lord Mayor Gladden was elected as the Armed Forces Champion for Liverpool City Council.

This year, the Lord Mayor Gladden has chosen to support Liverpool Veterans HQ, a charity which supports former servicemen and women who reside in the Liverpool area. This fantastic charity offers drop-in sessions at which veterans can visit and find support in areas such as employment, mental health programmes as well as volunteering programmes.

In the Lord Mayor’s words, “It is a great privilege to help and support men and women from our city who, every day, have put their lives at risk to protect or to feed us”.

One of the Lord Mayor’s key focuses is ensuring that such veterans are not simply “cast aside once their service is no longer required”.

Lord Mayor Gladden has been an active trade unionist all his working life within the GMB and Unison and was fulltime convenor and Chair of the City Council’s Joint Trade and Union Committee.

As a Councillor, Lord Mayor Gladden has chaired the Culture, Tourism and Visitor Economy Select Committee for the last three years. His experience within the Culture Committee has enabled him to act as an ambassador and represent Liverpool to many visitors, both national and international and display the city’s many great assets.