Wokingham

Cllr Barrie Patman has been elected Mayor of Wokingham Borough.

Cllr Patman received the chain of Wokingham office from outgoing mayor, Cllr Pauline Helliar-Symons, at the annual meeting of the council on Thursday May 14. Cllr Dianne King was elected deputy mayor at the meeting.

Cllr Patman has been involved in local government since 1979 and was elected to the then Wokingham District Council in 1994. He was Wokingham Borough Council’s executive member for community safety from 2002 to 2008, when he was elected deputy mayor. Cllr Patman is also a senior member of the Thames Valley Police Authority.

Wokingham Cllr Patman’s career started in the air transport industry, before he moved into telecommunications and computing and was a founder member of the Operations Management Specialist Group and an active member of the British Computer Society. Within computing he has worked for the BOC group, Oracle Corporation and Cable and Wireless before becoming an independent consultant.

Outside of work and politics Cllr Patman has a keen interest in sports, including sailing and fencing, at which he captained Middlesex, the South East England and Southern England teams.

Cllr Patman said: “The Wokingham borough is a wonderful place to live and I am honoured to have been elected its mayor. As deputy mayor I have already seen many of the fine community projects and events that are taking place in the borough and I am looking forward to seeing even more in the year ahead.”

The Wokingham mayor is the ‘first citizen’ of the borough and has the civic role of representing the council and the people of the borough as well as presiding over borough council meetings.

It is traditional for mayors to choose a charity to raise money and awareness for during their year of office and Cllr Patman has chosen the Stroke Association to benefit from his efforts. The Stroke Association provides rehabilitation, information and support to people who have had a stroke as well as funding research into strokes and campaigning for better services and increased awareness.

Cllr Patman said: “The range of work carried out by the Stroke Association is phenomenal and I will be delighted if my year as mayor of Wokingham borough can help this important charity raise funds and increase awareness locally.”

Cllr King is a former Wokingham Town Council mayor and has been executive member for community development from 2002 to 2009 and also been chairman of the Wokingham Borough Strategic Partnership for the same period.

Cllr King said: “I am looking forward to supporting Barrie during his year of office and building up relationships with local people and partner organisations on behalf of the council.”

Wokingham Borough Council