Meet the Mayor

The Office of Mayor of Winchester is the second oldest mayoralty in England, dating back to the 12th century. 

The current Mayor is Cllr Barry Lipscomb, who was installed as the 812th Mayor of Winchester on 18th May 2011 and will serve for one year. Barry was elected to Winchester City Council in 2002 and represents Wonston & Micheldever Ward.

Born in London in 1943 and brought up on the Suffolk coast, Barry spent his career in the UK Immigration Service (now UK Border Agency), serving at many of the UK’s major ports, culminating with regional management responsibility for a large sector of the UK, area based on Heathrow Airport.

In 1971, Barry met and married Christine Rickman a history teacher from Lymington; thus began a long association with Hampshire, which Barry regards as his home county by adoption. The couple have three grown up children and two young granddaughters.

Since moving to Winchester in 1995, Barry has been involved in public and voluntary service in a number of ways. They have included appointment to the former Winchester & Central Hampshire Community Health Council; Non-Executive Director of the former Hampshire & Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority, Independent Police Custody Visitor and Parish Councillor. He is presently a Trustee of the City of Winchester Trust and, since 2008, he has been Chairman and Trustee of the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance charity.

Barry’s wife, Christine, will be Mayoress during his year in office. “My wife and I are acutely conscious of the honour which has been bestowed upon us and greatly look forward to serving the people of Winchester to the very best of our ability. By a happy chance this year coincides with our 40th wedding anniversary, so making 2011 extremely special for us as a family.”

Find out more about the Civic role of the Mayor of Winchester, please click here.