Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Councillor Ken Wood

Despite the accent the Lord Mayor is pleased to declare his Brummie credentials as he was born in Loveday Street Maternity Hospital. His dad was an engineer and former RAF technician and his mother worked at Fort Dunlop having moved down from Scotland to get married.

When his parent’s marriage broke up the Lord Mayor was taken to Scotland where he was brought up by his mother along with his grandparents in a small village near Edinburgh.

He grew up delivering milk for the local farmer and working on the farm during his school holidays and has fond memories of capers in the milking parlour and in the fields at harvest time – not to mention the witnessing of the odd ‘James Heriot’ moment when the cows were in calf.

At secondary school the councillor found an interest in performing and singing on stage and in his final year played the leading role of Nanki Pooh in the Gilbert & Sullivan Operetta, The Mikado. He also was lucky enough to be on stage as an extra when Placido Domingo appeared in Carmen at the Edinburgh Festival in 1977.

It was in Scotland that the councillor joined the Conservative Party in 1977.

Having completed his schooling he joined a heavy engineering company that manufactured heat exchangers and cooling towers for the petrochemical industry and will be forever grateful to them for throwing him in at the deep end in the commercial office where he dealt with senior officials from the likes of Shell, Esso, BP, and other large oil related companies.

At 21 he embarked on a mission to try and find his father and his older brother in Birmingham, and he came for several visits. By now his father was a technician in the engineering department at Birmingham University and his brother a psychiatric nurse at Rubery Hospital. His father also played in Oompah and Jazz bands. It was on one of these visits that the Lord Mayor met Barbara his wife, who happened to live next door to his father in Selly Oak. Their relationship blossomed and he moved to Birmingham in 1982 and subsequently ‘Ken & Barbie’ got married in 1984.

They have two children, Anthony who owns a CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) listed establishment in Cotteridge and Julia who works at Birmingham University but who in 2023 presented them with their first grandchild Darcie. In April 2024 they celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.

The Councillor’s work in Birmingham began with a materials handling equipment supplier where, for 4 years, he worked with fork-lift trucks of various sizes - firstly as their transport coordinator and then he entered the sales side of the company. However, it’s recruitment where he found his niche and he has enjoyed a career as a recruitment consultant, 30 years of which spent with a well-known Midlands based company. He now runs his own recruitment company.

The Lady Mayoress was a Councillor for Kings Norton from 2007 to 2011 whilst the Lord Mayor was Constituency Chairman of the local Conservative Association, but he followed her into the Council House as Councillor for Longbridge from 2008 – 2012.

In 2014 he was lucky enough to return to the council as the Councillor for Walmley & Minworth where he has been ever since, along with his colleague Cllr David Barrie.

The Councillor’s passion within the council is housing, and he is a staunch believer in the need for more affordable housing and social housing for rent. He was the Lead Member for Housing during his 2008 – 2012 spell and more recently was Shadow Cabinet Member for Homes and Homelessness.
As a former Chair of Governors at a Birmingham Junior and Infant school he is keen to make sure the city’s children are made aware of all the career opportunities open to them in a way that will encourage them to make the best use of their talents.

The Lord Mayor is deaf in his right ear so he jokes that if you find yourself on the right of him and he seems to be ignoring you just give him a nudge – that’s what his wife Barbara does!

The Lord Mayor's interests include:

• rugby
• football - BCFC supporter
• CAMRA member
• the performing arts

The Lord Mayor has no dietary requirements.

Page last updated: 5 June 2024