At its Annual Council meeting on Tuesday 20 May, Waverley Borough Council elected Cllr Penny Rivers, previously the Deputy Mayor, as the new Mayor of Waverley. Councillor David Munro was appointed Deputy Mayor.
Cllr Rivers, who represents the Godalming Farncombe & Catteshall ward and was previously Deputy Mayor, will serve as Mayor for the 2025–2026 civic year. In this role, she will attend a wide variety of engagements, act as an ambassador for the council, chair council meetings, and raise funds for her nominated charities, Skillway and The Meath.
The Mayor said:
"It is an honour to represent Waverley as Mayor and I look forward to sharing community celebrations and supporting volunteers and organisations in the Borough who care for others.
“The two charities that I will champion this year are The Meath – who care for and support those who live with complex epilepsy – and Skillway, which teaches and trains young people in crafts and life-skills, both of which carry out such amazing work in the borough."
Penny, who was born in Kingston, Jamaica and came to live in England in 1974, has lived in Farncombe since 2002, after previously residing in Godalming. She was elected to Godalming Town Council in 1995 and served on five administrations by 2023, four times as Town Mayor. She was elected to Waverley Borough Council in 2019 and will serve as Waverley Mayor for 2025/2026.
Councillor David Munro, who represents the Western Commons ward, was elected as Deputy Mayor of Waverley. David was elected as a Waverley councillor in a by-election in May 2022. He has lived in the ward for over 30 years and has had a long career as a local councillor in Farnham, culminating in a spell as Chairman of Surrey County Council 2013-15. He was Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner 2016-2021.
Leader of the council, Paul Follows, welcomed Cllr Rivers into the Mayoral chair and paid tribute to Cllr Ward who he said “has been a fantastic representative for the borough over the last year.”