バーミンガムの市長さん2008年

LORD MAYOR

Councillor Randal Brew OBE was born in Birmingham on 29th June 1943. He is the eldest of three sons. He attended King Edward School and Kings Norton Grammar School for Boys. On leaving school he took articles with a Birmingham firm of chartered accountants and qualified in 1968.

He was anxious to see business outside a professional office and spent three and a half years working for The Birmingham Post and Mail Limited as their company assistant accountant before returning to a professional practice. Over a period of time the firm he joined went through a series of mergers and in 1992 he took the decision to branch out on his own. “Randal Brew & Co.” has been very happily practising from the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham since then.

In 1974 Randal was introduced to politics by the late Councillor Neil Scrimshaw and his wife, Margaret. Neil invited him to join a local committee and spoke the immortal words “it doesn’t involve much” - within a very short time Randal was hooked! He spent many years helping as a volunteer in various senior capacities before being elected to serve as a Longbridge Ward Councillor in 1987. He confesses that his victory was a bigger shock to him than to his opponents as he unseated a sitting Councillor. The “shock” was repeated in 1991 when he was re-elected with a massive sixteen vote majority. Unfortunately, because of business commitments, he was unable to complete the hat trick four years later but eventually returned to the Council in 2004 as a representative for Northfield Ward. To allow him time for his Council duties he retired as a magistrate after 23 years of service.

Her Majesty the Queen honoured Randal with the award of an OBE in 1991 for political and public service.

During his earlier time on the Council he served as a member of the Economic Development and Finance and Management Committees and was spokesman on the old General Purposes Committee. He also served as his Group Deputy Leader. He was privileged to serve for ten years as a director of Birmingham Heartlands Urban Development Corporation.

Since returning to the Council in 2004 he has served on the Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee and led a review of the Council’s operating properties. He suggested, and was instrumental, in setting up a Youth Forum in Northfield, in an attempt to give young people a voice in mapping out their future. He served as chairman of the Northfield Constituency, the MG Rover Community Support Board and Community Network South West.

Randal is proud to be a governor of Colmers Farm School and Sports College and the University of Central England.

Randal is a Brummie through and through and says there can be no greater honour than having the opportunity to promote Birmingham, its people, industry and culture as Lord Mayor.