New Lord Mayor announces chosen charity
New Lord Mayor Lesley Robson will use her term of office to raise money for her chosen charity, Age UK Exeter.
“The charity provides support and opportunities to over 1,200 older people in Exeter each week, she said, “combatting loneliness, improving wellbeing and giving older people and their families the advice and information they need to navigate an ever-more complicated world.”
“Age UK Exeter is striving hard to maintain its services in a very challenging financial environment which makes it an excellent choice for my support given its vital role in the city.”
Martyn Rogers, Chief Executive at Age UK Exeter, said: “All of us at Age UK Exeter are thrilled to have been chosen as the Lord Mayor’s Charity for 2017/18. All our focus is given to helping local older people get the most from life and this recognition puts us right at the heart of the city we feel so passionate about.”
The new Lord Mayor is not unfamiliar with the role of mayoralty – she was Deputy Lord Mayor in 2015, a position her late husband Bryan also held. Her grandfather was Mayor of High Wycombe and his brother was Mayor of Hythe and Sandwich.
Brought up in the Chilterns, Lesley went to Reading University where she read Maths and Physics. She went on to work for IBM, married her husband Bryan and settled down in Maidenhead, where they began raising their three children.
Bryan’s job took the family to Greece and the Middle East, where Lesley took up teaching Maths and English a foreign language.
The family moved to Devon in 1988, where she continued her teaching career. She has served on the City Council representing the Priory ward for 11 years and was until recently Member Champion for Older People. She is also a Trustee of Wonford Community Centre, the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Age UK Exeter. Her hobbies are reading and gardening.
Joining Lesley as Deputy is Cllr Kate Hannan, who has represented the Priory ward since 2015. Born and brought up in Lancashire, Kate moved to Exeter in 2007 and is married to former Devon County Councillor Andy Hannon.
