Female first after 150 years as Llewela appointed Press Club chairman
BIRMINGHAM Press Club has appointed its first female chairman in the group’s 150-year history.
Former ITV Central News presenter Llewela Bailey will succeed Heart breakfast show broadcaster Ed James who is stepping down after four years.
Ms Bailey, who previously presented alongside the club’s president Bob Warman at ITV, said: “Having been involved with the press club as a member of the board for a number of years, I am absolutely thrilled at becoming the club’s first woman chairman.”
She now hosts BBC Radio WM’s Sunday Breakfast show and lectures part-time for Staffordshire University’s journalism department.
Ms Bailey said her aims would include strengthening links with academia and promoting events which will appeal to the next generation of journalists and broadcasters.
She has been a member of the press club for 20 years and a board member for the past 11.
Marc Reeves, editor-in-chief of BPM Media which publishes the Birmingham Post and Mail, has also been appointed to the board.
Mr James, who has been a director of Birmingham Press Club for ten years, said: “The club is part of the fabric of the city and is held in very high regard, both in Birmingham and across the UK.
“We are officially the oldest press club in the world but today we are probably more relevant and important than we’ve ever been, both for the industry and the wider city.
“Birmingham is booming and the press club is ideally placed to drive the agenda and really capitalise on the energy and investment happening in our city at the moment.”