Meet the Mayor

The Mayor of Weston-super-Mare Councillor Ciaran Cronnelly with his wife Katherine the Mayoress. Councillor John Crockford-Hawley acts as deputy.

The Mayor’s office is in Grove House, situated in the historic Grove Park. The 17th Century building houses portraits of previous Town Mayors. The Mayor’s Parlour is a working office with insignia to be used during civic events.

The office of  Mayor is steeped in tradition and ceremony. The insignia of the mace, robes, and chains of office, connects the present day with history and acts as a symbol of continuity. The modern visionary Mayor has a central role in representing the Council and the people, as the Town’s First Citizen.  The Mayor can come from any class, gender or ethnic background. This diversity reflects the more open and democratic society we now live in.

Mayor’s Diary Events

The role is strictly non-political and representative of every section of the community. It is particularly focused on cultivating the positive image of the Town and enhancing the well-being of its citizens.

The many engagements are undertaken by the Mayor act as a link between the various groups and organisations in the town. The Mayor takes the Council’s message out into the community and works towards achieving the 5 pillars of the Town Council Strategy 2020-2030. Equally, the Mayor can share the views and concerns of the community with the Council. In line with the Town Motto, Weston-super-Mare Mayoralty is ‘Ever Forward’. 

You can view the Mayor’s diary online and if you would like the Town Mayor to support, open or attend your event, please phone or email the Town Mayor’s Civic Officer rebecca.saunders@wsm-tc.gov.uk

Follow the Mayor’s Facebook page to keep up to date with his news and events.

Mayor Councillor Ciaran Cronnelly with his wife Katherine the Mayoress.

Councillor Ciaran Cronnelly with his wife Katherine the Mayoress

I’ve lived in Weston-super-Mare for 7 years with my wife Katherine (the Mayoress) having relocated here when Katherine got a job at a local charity. Since then we’ve never looked back and we consider Weston to be our home!

My background is entirely working in the charity sector at charities that provide front-line advice to people in difficult situations. Katherine and I actually met at one of these charities! For the last 8 years I’ve worked at a national advice charity as their Head of Services where I’m responsible for delivering services that provide debt advice to over 100,000 people a year.

I first became a councillor in 2019 when I was elected to represent the ward of Winterstoke on both North Somerset Council and Weston Town Council. I decided to seek election because I lived in Weston Village and was frustrated by some of the lack of progress and felt I’d be able to represent the area strongly.

I’m passionate about the role of Weston Town Council which is in a unique position to meet residents’ needs and passions because it’s closely connected with the local community and can use its position to facilitate important initiatives on behalf of residents. For example Weston Town Council owns the Museum, the Blakehay Theatre, the Water Park, has purchased the Mercury building, took on responsibility for Ellenborough Park West and has facilitated initiatives like Weston Wallz and the local COVID response. This is just a snapshot of some of the great work the town council has done and we have plans to do a lot more.

Weston is an incredibly family friendly place, a great seafront, great attractions, lots of history, and exciting events happening regularly.

I see the opportunity as Mayor to showcase what’s brilliant about Weston – and how the people here are brilliant too. That’s going to be one of my key priorities and the Town Council is involved in lots of these brilliant things too so there’s plenty to showcase.

A further focus for me as Mayor will be to use this platform to recognise the incredible work of our community who are supporting our residents through challenging times. My role as the Mayor will be to find these organisations, recognise them and amplify their excellent work.

Please follow the Mayor’s Facebook page to find out more www.facebook.com/mayorofwestonsupermare.

Deputy Mayor Councillor John Crockford-Hawley

Deputy Mayor Councillor John Crockford-Hawley

In 1976 I was the District’s youngest councillor and Head of Geography at Wyvern School (now Hans Price Academy). Nearly half-a-century later I am by no means the youngest local politician but, blessed with excellent health and hearty energy, remain actively committed to working in the best interests of my home town – its people and prosperity; its distinctive heritage and challenging future.

Elected to both Weston Town Council and North Somerset District Council, where I’ve been Mayor (1984-5) and Chairman (2016-7), I’ve specialised in work related to heritage, arts and culture; planning, transport and regeneration.

Community engagement has always been crucial to me and that means being actively involved in the organisations I support. When appalling planning decisions were being made in the 1970s I co-founded Weston Civic Society. As President of Axe District Scouts I’m working to further enhance relationships with our twin town of Hildesheim in Germany, for the safe future of humanity demands we encourage young people to foster healthy relationships between nations and between peoples.

Everyone in Weston supports the RNLI and I’ve done my bit by researching and writing the official history of Weston’s lifeboat service and am looking forward to seeing them back where they belong – on Birnbeck. As Patron of Harmonia Sacra I continue to promote the cultural life of our town. Despite being so-called ‘retired’ I much enjoy preparing and delivering the many talks I’m invited to give to local organisations where interest in the Weston story grows ever stronger.

During this municipal year I’ll be ‘in reserve’ as deputy mayor, quietly and happily helping Ciaran and Katherine carry out their many mayoral tasks.

The Mayor’s Charitable Organisation 2023/24: Weston-super-Mare Food Bank 

‘Foodbank’ has become a regular term used in the media, but if you’ve never needed one, you might not know much about them. And more importantly, they need you! Frederique Wigmore explains what a food bank is, how you can help and what the future holds. The link to the app mentioned is – https://bankthefood.org/App

The food back website: https://westonsupermare.foodbank.org.uk