Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Michael Wilkes

and

Deputy Lady Mayoress of Birmingham, Mrs. Vivienne Wilkes

Vivienne Wilkes has for many years been one of the team of organisers of the annual and highly popular Middle-earth Weekend.

This year Vivienne Wilkes visited the weekend in her role as Lady Mayoress of Birmingham, together with Michael Wilkes, the Lord Mayor of Birmingham.  This honour means they have something in common with Sam, who you will recall was elected  Mayor of the Shire.  He was appointed Mayor for 7 times until stepping down aged 96.  The Lord Mayor of Birmingham is appointed for one year only.  This ended for Michael and Vivienne on the 25th May 2010 when they then took on the supporting role of Deputy Lord Mayor and Deputy Lady Mayoress.

Michael Wilkes has been a City Councillor since 1984 for Hall Green and they live about a mile from Sarehole Mill, (the mill in Hobbiton) and the house on Wake Green Rd which was the childhood home of J.R.R. Tolkien.  Vivienne has been a fan of Tolkien's books since first reading 'The Lord of the Rings' in California in 1969 and was the adaptor and director of a charity performance of 'The Hobbit' at Sarehole in 1989 for the centenary of Birmingham becoming a city, long before the films were a twinkle in anyone's eyes.

You can read more about Vivienne and Michael's year on Michael's blog:

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