Welcome back to re-elected Southend Youth Mayor

September 17, 2015 by Southend Borough Council

Welcome back to re-elected Southend Youth Mayor

Friday 18th September 2015

Triumphant Sarah-Jane Glew has been re-elected to serve a second six-month term as Southend Youth Mayor. The Southend 17-year-old retains this prestigious role after topping the polls at Southend Youth Council.

At the same meeting, Youth Council members also elected Maise Riley, 14, of Westcliff-on-Sea as their new Deputy Youth Mayor. The pair gained the most votes after each candidate delivered their campaign speeches. They were then each ceremonially presented with their chains of office by the Worshipful the Mayor of Southend, Cllr Andrew Moring.

Sarah-Jane pledged to host a conference on mental health to try and erase the stigma and educate young people on issues that affect one in four every year in Britain.

She added: “My next aim is to have a lesson on sign language. Communication is key for young people and I hope to make it easier by teaching as many young people basic sign language as I can.

“I'm delighted to have been re-elected as Southend Youth mayor for my second term of office and hopefully these next six months will be as successful as the last.

“In my last term I raised £500 for charity and sent young people’s ideas to c2c on how to improve the service and make Southend East Station more accessible.

“I can’t wait to make these six months successful and get young people’s views heard.”

Meanwhile, central to Maise’s campaign was to support local charities by planning fundraising events as well as raising awareness of local charities and the good that they do locally.

Executive Councillor for Children and Learning, Cllrr Anne Jones said: “Congratulations to Sarah-Jane on her re-election and to Maise for her new role.

“Southend Youth Mayor and Deputy are both very significant positions to hold, as they represent the borough’s young people at many important events.

“We are extremely proud of our thriving Youth Council and hope it continues to go from strength to strength.”