Birmingham is the home of the balti so it is fitting that the city’s next Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress go together like Rice and Curry.
Councillor Carl Rice will be appointed Birmingham’s First Citizen in a glittering ceremony on Tuesday. May 24.
And by his side will be his wife of 32 years Deed, whose maiden name was Curry.
“Pepole have always said we were made for each other,” said Carl. Their marriage in 1984 became a national news story. “We got a bit of attention, even Frank Bough commented on it on breakfast television.”
Carl, who has just retired as chief executive of Walsall Citizen’s Advice Bureau and Deed a nursing assistant at the QE Hospital, have two children, Joseph, 29 and Julia, 25, who will be attending the mayor making ceremony.
At a time when Birmingham is forging closer political links with its neighbours in the Black Country and Coventry, Carl claims to be a complete Midlander.
“I was born in Worcestershire, support Wolverhampton Wanderers, went to Polytechnic in Coventry, University in Warwick, work in Walsall and live in Birmingham,” he said.
Watch Below: What a great year for Birmingham's current Lord Mayor Ray Hassall
With a masters degree in industrial relations, a popular qualification among Labour politicians, Carl spent much of his working life with the West Midlands Low Pay Unit leading on research and campaigns to get a better deal for local workers. He then went to Walsall CAB where he has been working for the last 20 years.
Carl has been councillor for Ladywood since 1987 and, although the son of a communist trade unionist bricklayer and a committed socialist himself has proved a popular and well-liked figure on all sides of the Council Chamber.
He has often taken the view that his rivals and opponents also want to do the right thing, their motives are good, but they disagree on how to do it. “I don’t believe in forcing my politics on people, I hope they know where I stand through my actions,” he said.
In his spare time he is a keen mountain walker and a Munro Bagger - one of those people who is trying to climb all 282 of the Munro Mountains of Scotland. He is 71 short, but has set a target of achieving the milestone by the time he is 65.
In the meantime he is focussing on his year as Lord Mayor. “I’m looking forward to seeing the best of Birmingham and its peopleand hope we can shine a light on some of the organisations and agencies who are doing great work in the city.”
He will officially take over from the current Lord Mayor councillor Ray Hassall at the city council's annual meeting on Tuesday.
