Councillor Jamie Day elected as new Mayor of the City and District of St Albans
Councillor Jamie Day has been elected the new Mayor of the City and District of St Albans and has chosen his charity for the year.
He was made Mayor for 2024/25 at the Annual Meeting of the Council on Wednesday 22 May with Councillor Jenni Murray becoming Deputy Mayor.
Mayor Day, who succeeds Cllr Anthony Rowlands, will raise money for St Albans Fund for the Future during his civic year.
The Fund, managed by Hertfordshire Community Foundation, distributes grants to smaller charities and community groups within the District.
Mayor Day has been a District Councillor since 2006 and represents Hill End ward. He is the City’s 480th Mayor with the first having been appointed in 1553.
He will chair Full Council meetings and represent the City at a variety of events, often involving voluntary and charity groups.
Mayor Day said:
I am honoured to have been elected to this historic position and look forward to an exciting year ahead.
I will be seeking, like my predecessor, to raise money for the Fund for the Future which supports so many important causes across the District.
I’ll also be seeking to promote sustainability in any way I can as it is a cause dear to me and one of the biggest issues facing us all.
Mayor Jamie Day
Jamie has held numerous Council posts and was previously in charge of the planning portfolio. For the past two years, he was chair of the Planning (Development Management) Committee.
He was born in Portsmouth - where his great uncle was Lord Mayor in 1956 – and brought up in the Hampshire village of Hambledon.
Although his family were involved in construction, he took an interest in farming from an early age and gained a degree in agriculture from Reading University.
He met his wife Liz while working at a Cambridge farm and in 1984 they settled in St Albans where Jamie taught at the Hertfordshire College of Agriculture and Horticulture. It later merged with other institutions to become Oaklands College.
In 1990, he began work for the British Pig Association before taking a job at a larger agricultural trade body based in Whitehall, lobbying politicians in both Westminster and Brussels.
Moving into agricultural journalism in 2000, he edited a specialist magazine before setting up his own publishing company.
Outside of work, Jamie pursued an interest in local issues by first becoming a Colney Heath Parish Councillor before standing for the District Council.
Jamie is a member of the South Herts branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, and helped organize the first St Albans Beer Festival in 1996, working at every one since.
He and Liz, the new Mayoress, have two sons who went to Verulam School and now have families of their own.
Deputy Mayor Jenni Murray
Jenni Murray has been a District Councillor for Batchwood Ward since 2022 and has served on the Planning Committee and the City Neighbourhoods Committee.
Born and brought up in St Albans, she was educated at Aboyne Lodge, Garden Fields and Townsend Schools as well as the former St Albans College of Further Education.
She works as a Student Support Officer in a local school having held various roles in Hertfordshire schools for over 20 years.
Married in St Albans in 1991, she has six children, who were all educated at local schools, and six grandchildren.
She is a member of St Albans Museum Black History Research Group and St Albans Faith and Cultural Enterprise (FACE).
Passionate about Caribbean genealogy, she traced her family tree with her late father Cyril Roper who died in 2020 after suffering from prostate cancer.
Jenni and her family fundraise in her father’s memory for prostate cancer charities and work to raise awareness of the disease.
She is currently a trustee for an Alms House in St Albans and enjoys supporting St Albans Community Pantry. She has been a member of the Royston Social Club for over 20 years and has served as a committee member.
Jenni is also an active member of St Albans New Testament Church of God where her mother is the minister.
Pictures: top, the Mayor, Cllr Jamie Day; bottom, the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Jenni Murray.
Contact for the Mayor’s office: Alison Orde, the Mayor’s Civic Officer, 01727 819544, mayoralty@stalbans.gov.uk.
Contact for the media: John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer, 01727-819533, john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.