IT’S BEEN A VERY FULFILLING MONTH FOR THE LORD MAYOR OF LIVERPOOL AND HER TEAM

June 2025 saw the first full month of activity for the new Lord Mayor of Liverpool Cllr Barbara Murray in promoting her ‘skills acquisition’-themed fundraising campaign called #ChainReaction in aid of the city’s young people.

I couldn’t possibly do justice to the tireless work that the Lord Mayor is doing given her huge schedule of civic and campaigning duties.

However, I’ve endeavoured to highlight just some of the many inspirational and influential connections and events she’s been networking with and at to make a difference to so many Liverpool communities.

The aim of the campaign is to maximise the potential of young people by helping them gain the skills and confidence that comes with that to get better jobs and the best jobs, alleviating poverty in the process.

In addition, the Lord Mayor has been driving the theme of ‘literacy’ and its importance within the skillset required for young people to perform at their best in their chosen career.

A shining example of the engagement developed by the Lord Mayor’s fundraising campaign was the visit of the Harmonize Academy in Fairfield to the Town Hall recently, led by Marie McConville.

The students shared their passion in line with the Lord Mayor’s plea for more youth services vocalising how “they offer opportunities to learn, learn about others, ourselves and the world we live in.”

They added: “Vital youth services can give us the confidence to grow and find ourselves. Now is the time to invest in us and believe in us.”

It was a very powerful session and fitted seamlessly with what the Lord Mayor is looking to spread awareness of especially amongst the private sector.

Her fundraising team driven by Natalie Reeves Billing Alex Cousins, Sue Cronin plus many more are appealing to hundreds of businesses over the Summer months in support of the Lord Mayor’s ambitions.

Many fundraising events are on the horizon with the Lord Mayor’s campaign, co-chaired by Anita Marsland being supported by the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool and Downtown in Business this Autumn too.

The Lord Mayor has also been pioneering in her role becoming the first in the UK to have her own podcast, made possible by the expertise and generosity of Roy Basnett and Clare Campbell O’Herlihy from Podcafe.

The Town Hall has provided an enticing networking platform for meetings with, for example, Professional Liverpool CEO Phil Adams, enabled by Committee co-chair Gary Millar and James Quinn, director at The HE Academy of Sport and Liverpool Business College.

A visit to the Wellness in the City Liverpool Expo provided an opportunity to meet its founder Clare Ellis Generative Minds and university students highlighting awareness around AI.

The Lord Mayor has been further strengthening partnerships within education and business, with for example, a visit to Liverpool Hope University’s Childwall campus. This was to address an event driven by the South Liverpool Business Forum engineered by Mark Ord, STEC and Stuart Fitzgerald and network with guests sharing her #ChainReaction Fundraising Campaign’s ambitions.

Finally, and as head of comms for the Lord Mayor’s campaign this year, I was in my element mixing with Liverpool poet Joseph Roberts and chief of staff ‘Rollo’ as they put on a magnificent show at the Exhibition Centre.

Joseph, founder of All Ears Poetry alongside Rollo, devised the UK’s first ever Poetry Expo attracting huge numbers of guests, many of whom were drawn from the city’s schools. These included St Frances De Sales Catholic Junior Primary School of which formidable military man, Tony Sandle is school governor.

You could see the Lord Mayor was thrilled to be there too as the event captured the very essence of her literacy drive which she has championed for many years.

As a Liverpool PR agency, the Ubiquity Collective is very grateful to the Lord Mayor, given all the public relations firms and pr agencies in Liverpool, to have been chosen to represent her and the campaign. Equally, thank you to Roy Basnett and Clare Campbell of Podcafe fame for their ongoing daily support for the comms aspects of the campaign.

Details of how you can support the campaign can be found here https://donate.giveasyoulive.com/…/lord-mayor-of-liverpool