96-year-old hopes to become UK’S oldest councillor
A FORMER headmistress could become the UK’S oldest councillor tomorrow if she wins a seat – at the age of 96.
Conservative candidate Florence Kirkby is hoping to be elected in the newly created Manor Park ward in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Born in 1921, when David Lloyd George was Prime Minister, Ms Kirkby says her outlook on the world was influenced by the outbreak of the Second World War when she was 18.
She said: “It wasn’t until after I retired that I became involved in politics, but those memories have influenced my beliefs.”
Ms Kirkby was headmistress at a number of schools and served on the ruling body of Newcastle University. If elected, her main areas of interest are health and education.
She said: “Being involved in politics at my age I feel has absolutely kept me young and kept my mind stimulated.”
The UK’S oldest councillor is thought to have been Bernard “Claude” Miller MBE, a former Lord Mayor of Plymouth, who retired aged 95 in 2010.