Deputy Mayor of High Peak

The Deputy Mayor for 2025 is Councillor Barbara Hastings-Asatourian who represents Whitfield Ward in Glossop.

Councillor Barbara Hastings-Asatourian moved to Glossop in 1977 and is a retired NHS nurse. Her consort, Khachik is also retired and looking forward to joining Barbara at events.

Barbara has a passion for nursing, being in the NHS, higher education, teaching public health to nurses at Salford Uni and later specialising in sexual health. She set up and became director of the CIC Contraception Education with Salford University, a role which resulted in lots of international work, translations into French, Spanish and Portuguese  travel and several awards (British Female Inventor Finalist in  2002 and  2004,  Exceptional Exporter Award from UK Trade and Investment in 2006 and a Gold Award in  Research and Development in Education from EU Women Inventors 2017) .

Barbara retired from higher education at 60 but returned to a full time hands on nursing role during COVID at 67 for 18 months.   

Having stood for council three times in last 20 years Barbara was elected councillor for Whitfield in 2023.

Halfway through this term  Barbara found a great deal of joy and new energy in using all her early nursing skills, communicating and helping individuals with council issues,  working with local activists, residents  and community groups,  and becoming even more active in the community,  as  part of local groups like  Friends of Whitfield Rec and Green Spaces, Whitfield Womblers,  and Whitfield Together,  who are currently purchasing and  reviving  the most precious community asset - Whitfield Community Centre and a trustee of Glossop Arts Project   

Family life - she has one adult son and daughter with 2 children each and 2 adult stepdaughters.    Barbara is full-time carer for three of those family members and has the best of times with her 4 grandchildren when they are all together having fun.

Her other interests when there's time  - are practising and teaching yoga, meditation, art, crafts, singing and listening to the Blues