2000 Councillor (Mrs) Barbara Chambers
2000 COUNCILLOR MRS BARBARA CHAMBERS
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The Lord Mayor was born in St Helens, Lancashire. When she was six weeks old she moved with her mother to the Medway Towns in order to be close to her father, who was serving in the Royal Navy and was based at Chatham Royal Naval Dockyard.
Educated at several schools which included Byron Road Primary School, Gillingham and Glencoe Secondary Modern School, Chatham. During her childhood, she also lived in Malta, the Isle of Man, Scotland and Yorkshire. The family finally settled in Gillingham, Kent.
On leaving school, she commenced work as a filing clerk for the firm of Wingets, concrete machinemakers, Strood, Kent. She then worked for the legal profession as a typist to a firm of solicitors and went on to be employed by a group of solicitors with a Building Society Agency in Leicester. In later years she worked as a nursing auxiliary at Bond Street Maternity Home and then at the newly-built Maternity Unit at the Leicester Royal Infirmary.
Mrs Chambers met her husband Alan, an electrical engineer, in Gillingham where he was serving as a regular soldier with the Royal Engineers. He was a native of Loughborough, Leicestershire. They were married at the Garrison Church, Old Brompton, Kent and moved to Leicester in the late 1950s. They had two sons, Stewart and David and a daughter Heather. Alan died on 13 March 2000.
Councillor Mrs Chambers joined the Conservative Party in the late 1960s and was a founder member of the Leicester Ratepayers Action Group in 1974. She was elected to the Leicester City Council in 1983 as the Conservative Councillor for the Aylestone Ward having lived in the ward for the previous 17 years. Although she lost her seat in 1995 she was successful in regaining it in 1996, and retaining the seat for the Aylestone Ward in 1999. Councillor Mrs Chambers served as a member of the Council's Committees including Estates, Social Services and Transport and Works. Her preference was for the Social Services Committee where she was a member from 1997 to 1999. During this time Councillor Mrs Chambers served on the Childrens' Sub-Committee and held the position of Shadow Chair on the Social Services Committee.
In addition to her close involvement with her family, Mrs Chambers' interests included reading, gardening, cross-stitching, crosswords, travel and meeting people.
She was appointed Deputy Lord Mayor of the City on 20 May 1999 for the year 1999/2000.
Councillor Mrs Chambers was elected to the office of Lord Mayor of the City on 18 May 2000.
She chose her daughter, Miss Heather Chambers to be her Lady Mayoress. Miss Chambers, who was born in 1962, had lived all her life in Leicester. She continued her education from a local secondary school to the Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth 1 Sixth Form College. At Southfields College, she completed a pre-nursing course before continuing on to the Charles Freer School of Nursing where she qualified as a State Enrolled Nurse. After qualifying, the Lady Mayoress worked at the Leicester Royal Infirmary for the next four years; part of that time was spent on a Paediatric Ward and proved to be most rewarding. Miss Chambers then embarked upon caring for people with learning difficulties and periods of time working within the voluntary sector.
The highlight of Councillor Mrs Chambers' Year of Office was the privilege of meeting two members of the Royal Family. The Lord Mayor was presented to Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal on 15 November 2000 when she formally opened the Baby Gear charity's new premises at 47 Clarence Street, Leicester. On 15 May 2001, the Lord Mayor met His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent when he visited MATV, Leicester's Asian television station at MPK House, Belgrave Gate.
A Service of Celebration and Thanksgiving was held at Leicester Cathedral, on 16 July 2000, for the 100th Birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The Lord Mayor attended the service and sent a message to Her Majesty conveying warm greetings on behalf of the people of Leicester.
The City's twinning links were strengthened with a number of important visits and engagements. Councillor Mrs Chambers welcomed the Mayor of Strasbourg, Roland Ries and a Civic Delegation from the French City on 27 May 2000. The guests were honoured with a Civic Dinner, in the City Rooms, to celebrate 40 years of the twinning between Strasbourg and Leicester. The following day the Lord Mayor hosted a Civic Reception for the party in the Victorian Gallery of the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery.
Councillor Mrs Chambers received the Mayor of Chongqing, Mr Boa and a delegation from the Chinese city, at the Town Hall, on 10 July 2000.
On 30 October 2000, the Lord Mayor entertained delegates from Masaya, Leicester's twin city in Nicaragua, to afternoon tea at the Town Hall.
During her Mayoralty, Councillor Mrs Chambers paid Civic visits to Krefeld in September and to Strasbourg in November 2000. In January 2001, the Lord Mayor visited Rajkot in the State of Gujarat, India at the invitation of the Mayor, Askok Dangar and the Municipal Corporation. During the Civic Visit, the Lord Mayor visited a number of temples and schools, attended meetings of the Rajkot Council and the Chamber of Commerce and was shown the Sinduriya Khin project – a new eight-lane Olympic size swimming pool.
Councillor Mrs Chambers also welcomed students from the Baxian School, Chongqing, a party from St Etienne, Strasbourg and hosted a lunch, at the Town Hall, for visitors from Krefeld on a Technical Exchange visit to Leicester.
Numerous other overseas visitors were welcomed to the City including Mr Song Zhe of the Chinese Embassy and Ms Ahuva Oren the Israeli Cultural Attaché. In addition, the Lord Mayor hosted a lunch, at the Town Hall, on 19 June 1999 for a party of Senior Housing Officials from Hong Kong. Other visitors included a group of Spanish students, the Elora Choir from Canada and, on 11 October 1999, Councillor Mrs Chambers welcomed the High Commissioner of Jamaica, the Honourable David Muirhead QC, to the Town Hall, upon his visit to Leicester.
On 7 May 2001, the Lord Mayor gave a Civic Reception, at the Town Hall, for visiting Members of Parliament from twenty Commonwealth countries.
In September 2000, the Lord Mayor paid a unique Civic Visit to the Netherlands. The invitation to The Hague, to mark the official opening of the Dutch Parliament, resulted from an historic link between Leicester and the Netherlands, in the 16th century, when Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester was made Governor of the Netherlands, by Queen Elizabeth I, for a period of three years (1586-1589). The invitation to Councillor Mrs Chambers, to attend the ceremony, was the first occasion on which a Lord Major of Leicester had been present at the gathering, which was held in the presence of Queen Beatrix.
The City's military connections were maintained with a visit, on 11 September 2000, to the 38th (City of Sheffield) Signal Regiment (Volunteers). The following day, Councillor Mrs Chambers met soldiers from 875 Signal Troop whose base was in Leicester. On 8 May 2001, the Lord Mayor hosted a Civic Dinner, in the City Rooms, in honour of Major-General J C McColl CBE, Deputy Colonel of the Royal Anglian Regiment.
On 23 October 2000, the Lord Mayor hosted a Civic Dinner, in the City Rooms, in honour of The Very Reverend Vivienne Frances Faull, the newly installed Provost of Leicester. A further Civic Dinner was given by Councillor Mrs Chambers in honour of The Right Reverend James Joseph McGuinness, Bishop Emeritus of Nottingham, at the City Rooms on 22 February 2001. Bishop McGuinness was the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nottingham from 31 October 1974 until his retirement on 8 December 2000.
During her Mayoralty, Councillor Mrs Chambers went on an informal tour of the new National Space Centre in Leicester and attended the Topping Out Ceremony on 12 June 2000.
Civic Receptions were given by the Lord Mayor to mark two notable sporting triumphs during her Year of Office. On 26 July 2000 the players and officials of the Leicester Tigers Rugby Football Club were received at the Town Hall after they had achieved the distinction of becoming the first club, in the professional era of the game, to win back-to-back Allied Dunbar Professional Titles. On 13 February 2001, Councillor Mrs Chambers received the players and officials of the Leicester Riders Basketball Club, at the Town Hall, to commemorate the club's success in winning the NTL National Final against the London Lepoards, 84-82, at the Sheffield Arena, the previous month. This was the first trophy to be lifted by British Basketball's oldest club.
The Lord Mayor visited and received children, at the Town Hall, from almost 60 of the City's Primary and Junior Schools during her Year of Office. The visits were particularly memorable as were the many and varied questions posed by the children.
One of the abiding memories for Councillor Mrs Chambers was the opportunity to visit the many churches, mosques and temples of all faiths, and a total of 56 visits was made during the Civic Year.
The Lord Mayor's Appeal was for a sum of £90,000 to provide the funding for a Macmillan Nurse for a period of three years. The Appeal raised a sum in excess of £82,000.
Councillor Mrs Chambers' Year of Office was concluded on 17 May 2001.
On 16 May 2002 she was appointed High Bailiff of the City for the year 2002/2003.