Mayoralty and Town twinning

The Right Worshipful the Mayor of St Albans City and District, Councillor Jamie Day

Cllr Day was confirmed as Mayor at the Council meeting on 22 May 2024. 

Councillor Jamie Day has been elected the new Mayor of the City and District of St Albans and has chosen his charity for the year.

He was made Mayor for 2024/25 at the Annual Meeting of the Council on Wednesday 22 May with Councillor Jenni Murray becoming Deputy Mayor.

Mayor Day, who succeeds Cllr Anthony Rowlands, will raise money for St Albans Fund for the Future during his civic year.

The Fund, managed by Hertfordshire Community Foundation, distributes grants to smaller charities and community groups within the District. 

Mayor Day has been a District Councillor since 2006 and represents Hill End ward. He is the City’s 480th Mayor with the first having been appointed in 1553.

He will chair Full Council meetings and represent the City at a variety of events, often involving voluntary and charity groups. 

Mayor Day said: “I am honoured to have been elected to this historic position and look forward to an exciting year ahead.

“I will be seeking, like my predecessor, to raise money for the Fund for the Future which supports so many important causes across the District.

“I’ll also be seeking to promote sustainability in any way I can as it is a cause dear to me and one of the biggest issues facing us all.”

Mayor Jamie Day

Jamie has held numerous Council posts and was previously in charge of the planning portfolio. For the past two years, he was chair of the Planning (Development Management) Committee.

He was born in Portsmouth - where his great uncle was Lord Mayor in 1956 – and   brought up in the Hampshire village of Hambledon.

Although his family were involved in construction, he took an interest in farming from an early age and gained a degree in agriculture from Reading University.

He met his wife Liz while working at a Cambridge farm and in 1984 they settled in St Albans where Jamie taught at the Hertfordshire College of Agriculture and Horticulture. It later merged with other institutions to become Oaklands College.

In 1990, he began work for the British Pig Association before taking a job at a larger agricultural trade body based in Whitehall, lobbying politicians in both Westminster and Brussels.

Moving into agricultural journalism in 2000, he edited a specialist magazine before setting up his own publishing company.

Outside of work, Jamie pursued an interest in local issues by first becoming a Colney Heath Parish Councillor before standing for the District Council.

Jamie is a member of the South Herts branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, and helped organize the first St Albans Beer Festival in 1996, working at every one since.

He and Liz, the new Mayoress, have two sons who went to Verulam School and now have families of their own. 

The Deputy Mayor of St Albans City and District, Councillor Jenni Murray 

Cllr Murray was confirmed as Deputy Mayor at the Council meeting on 22 May 2024.

Jenni Murray has been a District Councillor for Batchwood Ward since 2022 and has served on the Planning Committee and the City Neighbourhoods Committee.

Born and brought up in St Albans, she was educated at Aboyne Lodge, Garden Fields and Townsend Schools as well as the former St Albans College of Further Education.

She works as a Student Support Officer in a local school having held various roles in Hertfordshire schools for over 20 years.

Married in St Albans in 1991, she has six children, who were all educated at local schools, and six grandchildren.

She is a member of St Albans Museum Black History Research Group and St Albans Faith and Cultural Enterprise (FACE). 

Passionate about Caribbean genealogy, she traced her family tree with her late father Cyril Roper who died in 2020 after suffering from prostate cancer.

Jenni and her family fundraise in her father’s memory for prostate cancer charities and work to raise awareness of the disease. 

She is currently a trustee for an Alms House in St Albans and enjoys supporting St Albans Community Pantry. She has been a member of the Royston Social Club for over 20 years and has served as a committee member.

Jenni is also an active member of St Albans New Testament Church of God where her mother is the minister.

We maintain a diary of public events and appointments that have been attended by the Mayor. If you would like to invite the Mayor to an event you are managing, please use our contact form to make your request. Please note that the diary below is no guarantee of the Mayor's availability in the future. 

If you would like to invite the Mayor to a function or event, please contact:

The Mayor’s Parlour
District Council Offices
St Peter’s Street
St Albans
Herts.
AL1 3JE

Email: mayoralty@stalbans.gov.uk
Tel: 01727 819544

Please download an invite form or use an eForm

• Invitation to the Mayor form - Cloned ( pdf - 10.84 KB )

The intergenerational Mayoral theme we have been developing is All Ages Together aimed at encouraging local organisations to identify ways of working which enable the generations to support each other to tackle isolation and loneliness. We have already connected with a large number of local organisations already active across the generations or planning to do so.

The charity for the year is St Albans Fund for the Future. The Fund was established by John Peters who served as Mayor in 2001-2002.  John's aim in establishing the Fund was to provide an opportunity by which smaller local charities and community organisations could be awarded multi-year unrestricted grants thereby enabling them to plan ahead. Thanks to John's efforts, the fund has grown steadily ever since.

Awards have been made to organisations working with people who are excluded or disadvantaged by low income, rural or social isolation, age, health, disability, race, sexuality or gender.   This was a far sighted and hugely practical approach and very much mirrors John's dedication to the long-term well-being of everyone living in our City and District.

There are obvious links between our Mayoral theme and the vision which underpins the St Albans Fund for the Future.  Working with Hertfordshire Community Foundation, which administers and manages the Fund, we have now committed to raising money for the Fund. 

Going forward it will be open to local organisations initiating intergenerational work to bid for one off grants with the hope that, later, they will plan further ahead and apply for multi-year grants.

Major fundraising events are planned for the late Autumn and Spring.  We will also be appealing to local people across the City and District to commit to regular monthly/quarterly/annual giving by Standing Order pledges. 

https://hertfordshirecommunityfoundation.enthuse.com/cf/st-albans-fund-for-the-future

We intend also to identify ways of continuing to build the Fund further over future years. Please support the Fund.

The Crest may be taken as allusion to the meeting of the barons in St Albans Abbey prior to Magna Carta. The crest shows a demi figure of a knight armed according to the period concerned and in his left hand he holds a document which has been sealed about Magna Carta. The crest arises from a mural crown – frequently employed to indicate municipal entities of real importance such as Cities.

The Supporters refer to the Abbey by way of having an Abbot in liturgical vestments – with his crozier pointing inwards as is correct for abbatial jurisdiction and wearing a plain mitre as is the custom of Abbots. The other Supporter may be taken as allusion of John the Printer dressed as for the period and holding in his hand an ink-ball – an instrument used in printing. Both supporters stand on a compartment which is divided up in the centre and which has to the left a ploughed field as a reference to the agricultural area contained within the District, and on the other side a cobbled street in reference to the mediaeval City and so the foundations, as it were, of the present City – the compartment is a play on the rural and the metropolitan.

There have been 472 Mayors. These are recorded on vellum rolls and are displayed outside the Council Chamber at the Council Offices in the Civic Centre. Our most recent mayors are detailed below.

Mayoral Roll 1552-2024 

Current Honorary Aldermen:

Alderman Annie Brewster
Alderman Peter Burrows
Alderman Sheila Burton
Alderman Alec Campbell
Alderman Susan Carr (Cowan)
Alderman John Chambers 
Alderman Daniel Chichester-Miles
Alderman Geoff Churchard
Alderman Janet Churchard
Alderman Gill Clark
Alderman Tom Clegg
Alderman David Coe
Alderman Margret Corley
Alderman Maxine Crawley
Alderman Julian Daly
Alderman Sue Featherstone
Alderman Chris Flynn
Alderman Paul Foster
Alderman Martin Frearson
Alderman Katherine Gardener
Alderman Salih Gaygusuz
Alderman Brian Gibbard
Alderman Dreda Gordon
Alderman Eileen Harris
Alderman Portia Harris
Alderman Geoff Harrison
Alderman Martin Leach
Alderman Aislinn Lee
Alderman Frances Leonard
Alderman Joyce Lusby 
Alderman Malcolm  Macmillan
Alderman David McManus
Alderman Roma Mills
Alderman Michael Morrell
Alderman Kate Morris
Alderman Rodney Moss
Alderman Chris Oxley
Alderman Mal Pakenham
Alderman John Peters
Alderman Brian  Peyton
Alderman Kerry Pollard
Alderman Rob Prowse
Alderman Robert Ransted
Alderman Beric Read
Alderman Andrew Rose
Alderman Pat Schofield 
Alderman Janet Smith
Alderman Alison Steer
Alderman Jennifer Stroud
Alderman Melvyn Teare
Alderman Geoffrey Turner
Alderman Ron Wheeldon
Alderman Chris White
Alderman Chris Whiteside
Alderman Sandra Wood
Alderman Nigel Woodsmith
Alderman David Yates
Alderman Iqbal Zia

Alzey is the German twin town of Harpenden. It is a small bustling market town not far from Mainz in the middle of the Rheinhessen wine-producing area. A Wine Festival is held in Alzey in September each year and is very popular. The two towns have been twinned since 1963. The 25th anniversary of the twinning was marked by the planting of an oak tree in Harpenden and the placing of a bench on the Common. 

Colney Heath has been twinned with Boissy and St. Yon for several years. Boissy is about twenty miles south of Paris, in the department of Essone. The smaller village of St. Yon is very close by. Both communities are surrounded by arable land, but many of the local residents commute to work. The square in Boissy is dominated by the Maire and contains a large church and several small shops. There are many sports and social activities there, with clubs for all ages including cycling, boules, moving images, Esperanto, twinning and mushroom growing!

The French twin town of Harpenden. It is a market town about forty miles north of Nevers- St. Albans’ French twin- and it is on the same rail link from Paris. Nearby are the wine areas of Sancerre, Pouilly and the latest appellation controle in Cote de Genoux. Cosne is also the center of wine quality testing in the area. 

Harpenden has two small roads named after the area- Cosne and Loire Mews, while Cosne has a small amenity area near the center of its town called Jardin d’Harpenden. 

The link between the two towns was established in 1998. Fano has an important Roman heritage, which gives it an obvious link with the City and District of St Albans. Fano is a resort town on the east coast of Italy, close to Rimini and Ancona, which have airports for easy access. It has two beautiful beaches and is a fishing port with a colourful harbor.  A Carnival is held over several weekends in February each year, where sweets are thrown from floats to the enthusiastic crowds.

The City & District of St Albans has formed friendship links with the HMS St Albans. On 18th July 2004, the Mayor granted the Freedom of the City to the ship’s company at a special ceremony.

HMS St Albans (F83) is a Type 23 ‘Duke’ Class frigate of the Royal Navy. She was the 16th and final ship of the class and is the sixth ship to honour the Duke of St Albans. She was launched from the BAE Systems yard on the River Clyde in Glasgow, on 6th May 2000. 

The link with Nevers was established in 1974. Nevers was chosen as it is a city with physical and historical similarities with St Albans and is in the Burgundy region of France which has a long, ‘historical’, link with Hertfordshire County Council.

Nevers is in the heart of Burgundy and is a cathedral city, with a history dating back to Roman times. It is a place of pilgrimage, being the resting place of St. Bernadette. Nevers is also famous for its distinctive earthenware and glassware and is the venue for the French Grand Prix. 

A friendship link was created with Nyíregyháza in 1994, following a decision by the City and District Council to create a link with an Eastern European country following the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The link was upgraded to a full town twinning in 1996.

Nyíregyháza is situated in the north east of Hungary and is the county town of the region. It is not too far from the boarders of Romania and the Ukraine. The name of the town first appears in 1326.

Nyíregyháza is the seventh largest town in Hungary, with a population of about 120,000. It is a town with a large population of young people. The Sóstó spa is a beautiful parkland area with an outdoor country museum and a zoo and receives many visitors each year.

The twinning link between the City and District and Odense began in 1948 when representatives from Odense were invited to attend the St Albans Pageant at the suggestion of Count Scheel, a citizen of Odense who had lived in St Albans for many years. The historical connection between the two cities began when King Canute was said to have taken to Denmark an arm of Saint Alban, who was executed in AD303. There is also a church of St Alban in Odense and a large brewery producing Albani Beer.

Odense is the main town on the island of Funen and is the third largest city in Denmark, with a population of over 170,000 people. It is the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen. The city celebrated its Millennium in 1988.

There is a friendship link with the Sylhet region of Bangladesh rather than full town twinning. A friendship link is less formal and is community led. The link was established in 1988 when the District Council supported a housing project in Sylhet as part of the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless. Sylhet was chosen because it is the area of origin for the largest ethnic minority group in St Albans.

Sylhet is in the north east of Bangladesh and is the second largest economically prosperous area in the country. There are famous tea gardens connected with Asam and Darjeeling tea. The Mausoleum of Shah Jalal and Shaheed Minar are of historical significance.

Worms lies on the Rhine, south of Frankfurt, and is the oldest city in Germany. With a population now of 80,000, it has a Celtic and Roman heritage, but takes special pride in its medieval history, having been the location for much of the anonymous saga of the Nibelungen. A statue of the legendary Hagen stands on the banks of the river, the treasure held high above his head, before it is hurled into the river. Worms was also the location of the famous Diet in 1521 where Martin Luther defended his doctrines.