THE new Mayor of Southend, Judith McMahon, has been inaugurated as the 96th first citizen of the Borough, saying that art and culture will form a big part of her Mayoral year.

In her acceptance speech at the annual Mayor Making ceremony earlier today Councillor McMahon said that she was honoured to become the new Mayor and looked forward to what promised to be a ‘special year.’

The outgoing Mayor, Andrew Moring also looked backed on a very successful year which saw every primary school in the Borough visit Porters, the official Mayor’s residence, and a host of charity and business events held that raised the profile of Southend.

He revealed that £45,000 had been raised for the Southend Samaritans and the Southend Community Fund.

The Mayor’s charity for the 2016/17 municipal year will be the Southend YMCA.

Councillor Fay Evans was also made Deputy Mayor for the remainder of the 2016/17 municipal year.