Mayor of Swindon
Councillor Barbara Parry's biography
Barbara, a former Dorcan School pupil, was first elected as a Councillor in 2016 and has served on the Children's Health, Social Care and Education Overview & Scrutiny Committee (the last four years as Chair), the Corporate Parenting Board, the Members Development Advisory Board, SACRE and the Equalities Advisory Forum.
She has created positive change for young people in terms of child exploitation, mental health and Young Carers.
Going further back, as a Parent Governor Representative for Children's O&S, she led an Anti-Bullying review, for which she personally carried out extensive research and brought together many multi-agency partners, not only from Swindon and Wiltshire but nationwide.
This led to the implementation of Swindon's first Anti-Bullying vision and to more schools that hadn't already, signing up to the Healthy Schools Award and creating their own Anti-Bullying policies.
Married to fellow Councillor and former Mayor, Kevin Parry with two adored children, alongside paid employment which has spanned various industries, Barbara has voluntarily dedicated many hours over the past 20 years to public service, most of which has been in support of young people.
Through this she has gained an extensive skill set which she believes will serve her well for her term as Mayor. Cllrs Parry have made history in Swindon for being the first married couple to have served as Mayor.
Barbara is proud that a number of her family members have served in the Armed Forces, including two grandfathers who fought in the Army and Royal Navy during World War II.
In line with her passion to help and support young people, Barbara's chosen charities are:
- BEST - Be a better you
- Young Carers - Swindon Carers Centre
Barbara's focus for the year ahead will be:
- to spread love and happiness
- to raise the profile of charities, organisations and community groups that support those less fortunate, particularly including children's mental health and our Young Carers
- to provide children (and other interested parties) with a greater understanding of the role of the Mayor, the history of our town and of our Town Twinning
- to explore additional partnership opportunities through our Town Twinning
- to improve and strengthen links between the business community and schools to support opportunities for our young people and our local Labour Market