Eleanor Burnham is a
Welsh Liberal Democrat politician who was a
Member of the Welsh Assembly
A member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; ; , plural: ) is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd constituencies, and twenty to represe ...
(AM) for
North Wales
North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...
from 2001 until 2011.
Background
Burnham was born in
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...
and brought up in Gwnodl Fawr, Cynwyd. Her early career was in social services management. She was previously a Wrexham Magistrate and a member of
Denbigh Hospital Mental Health Tribunal. She has worked as a fundraiser for St. Kentigern Hospice, St. Asaph.
[ A fluent Welsh speaker, Burnham is a qualified aromatherapist and her hobbies include gardening, cycling and swimming.
Burnham is an amateur singer who won a prize in the Soprano category at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod and is a former member of Mid Wales Opera.]
Politics
Burnham succeeded as Liberal Democrat AM for North Wales on 22 March 2001 after Christine Humphreys had resigned because of ill-health. Burnham was the Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly spokesperson on Culture, Welsh Language and Sport. Her political interests lie in full devolution
Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territori ...
for Wales, social inclusion and lifelong-learning. In this role she repeatedly challenged the Culture Minister, Alun Pugh, "to prove whether or not he can be the champion for the Welsh language".
After losing her seat in 2011, Burnham received a "resettlement grant" of £32,000, but commented that she did not think it was "morally correct" for AMs to receive the grants if they had other jobs to go to. She retrained as a teacher.
References
External links
Eleanor Burnham AM
official biography at the Welsh Assembly website
Eleanor Burnham AM
profile at the site of Welsh Liberal Democrats
Offices held
Liberal Democrat members of the Senedd
Wales AMs 1999–2003
Wales AMs 2003–2007
Wales AMs 2007–2011
Female members of the Senedd
Living people
20th-century British women politicians
Welsh-speaking politicians
Year of birth missing (living people)
People from Wrexham
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