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Rosemary was raised in the Rhymney Valley and attended St Julian's High School after her family moved to Newport. Married to an artist/designer, she has two daughters and four grandchildren and has lived in Caerleon, part of the Newport West Constituency, for many years. Rosemary joined the Labour Party in 1971 and two years later she was elected Labour councillor for Caerleon on Newport Borough Council, a position she held continuously until 1999. While on the Council, she served as Chair of the Leisure Services Committee for twelve years, Deputy Leader and Mayor of Newport (1989/1990). She was elected as Newport West’s first Member of the National Assembly for Wales in May 1999 and re-elected in each subsequent Assembly election. Rosemary was appointed to the first National Assembly cabinet as Minister for pre-16 Education and Children and during the Assembly’s second term she chaired the Culture, Welsh Language and Sport Committee and was the Assembly’s Representative on the European Union’s Committee of the Regions. In May 2007, at the start of the present term, Rosemary was elected to the position of Deputy Presiding Officer by a unanimous vote of Assembly Members. In addition she represents the Assembly on the British Irish Parliamentary Association and CALRE (Speakers of Legislative Bodies in the European Union) and is Vice President of the Wales Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. She is Chair of the Assembly’s Legislation Committee that scrutinises all backbench proposals to introduce legal measures and the British Council cross party group. She is also the originator of the annual Members Photographic Exhibition. She is an Honorary Citizen of Kutaisi, Newport’s twin city in Georgia. Apart from her family, her other interests range from museums and art galleries, concerts and opera, foreign travel and family history.
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Among her many interests, Rosemary is: |