Student Sara to be youngest Mayoress
A 21-YEAR-OLD student is set to become Hyndburn’s youngest ever Mayoress.
Sara Britcliffe, daughter of incoming Mayor and veteran councillor Peter Britcliffe, will become Mayoress in 2017 after serving for 12 months as deputy.
Languages student Miss Britcliffe, from Oswaldtwistle, said she feels “nervous and excited” for the year ahead.
She said: “It’s a great opportunity and a massive responsibility and I feel that taking on this role can show that I am a responsible person. I just want to make my dad proud. It’s such a nice thing to do and have the privilege to do, but at the same time, I am only 21.
“I have university commitments so I’m a bit nervous about how I’m going to balance the time, or whether people are going to like me or not.”
Coun Britcliffe, 66, was due to be invested as Hyndburn Mayor - taking over from Coun Tim O’Kane - at the council’s annual general meeting on Thursday, May 11.
He said: “Sara is very good at balancing lots of things in her life and I’m sure she will be equally successful at juggling the duties of Mayoress with that of being a university student.”
Sandra Hayes, herself a former Mayor and Mayoress of Hyndburn, is a friend of the family.
She said: “Sara has been brought up with politics, and so I feel she is being set by her father to go into politics locally. She will make a lovely Mayoress as she is used to the press and the limelight.”
Sara grew up in Oswaldtwistle with her two older brothers, Alexander and Dominic.
She attended St Christopher’s High School and Sixth Form, where along with languages, she studied politics. She is now a student at Manchester University.