Jeremy Hooke named as new Lord Mayor

10.18.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 27th Feb 2008

Jeremy Hooke

Norwich's new Lord Mayor was last night named as Lib Dem Jeremy Hooke. He will take over the position form the current Lord Mayor in May.

Norwich City Council released the following report:

New Lord Mayor of Norwich is one of the youngest ever

Norwich is to welcome in one of its youngest ever Lord Mayors after Cllr Jeremy Hooke was chosen to fulfil the historic and prestigious civic role.

The 39-year-old Liberal Democrat councillor was nominated and selected as the Lord Mayor of Norwich for 2008/09 at a special meeting of Norwich City Council last night (Tuesday 26 February).

His term in office will begin in May and accompanying him as Lady Mayoress will be his sister, Mrs Leanne Annison. The new Sheriff of Norwich will be chosen by councillors in March.

Cllr Hooke will be one of the most youthful Lord Mayors of Norwich, the youngest in recent times being 35-year-old David Fullman in 1989.

"I am elated and very honoured that the rest of the council thought me fit for the role of Lord Mayor and I am looking forward to it very much," he said. "I have lots of ideas, many of which I will be announcing in May."

Cllr Hooke joined the city council as a Liberal Democrat councillor for Thorpe Hamlet in May 2006 and was re-elected for a four-year term in May 2007.

He is vice-chairman of the council's licensing committee, a member of the twinning and central area diversity board, and sits on the executive of the Norwich and Norfolk Racial Equality Council at County Hall.

Music has played a major part in his life. From the age of six, he studied percussion and theory of music and his ambition was to become a professional musician.

He performed in orchestras including the Norwich Philharmonic, joined the Musicians' Union at 14, and has sung as a tenor with a variety of choirs. For three years he worked in a recording studio as a producer before taking a complete change of direction - the world of finance.

Joining the Prudential, he began studying for his financial services qualifications and degree. He spent 10 years with the firm before becoming an independent financial advisor.

Cllr Hooke presents a financial services programme for BBC radio reaching five counties and has also covered the Eurovision Song Contest for regional BBC for the past 14 years.

He is also chairman of Coast to Coast Hospital Radio, the North Norfolk charity he helped to establish at the age of 18.

Mrs Annison left City College to become a private nanny. She went on to manage an after school club and holiday crèche before joining the team at her local pre-school group. She is married to Steven and they have three children, Eva, Tom and Mae.