Council. He served for nine years as a councillor before he was elected Mayor of Christchurch in 1971. Upon his election as mayor he resigned his job at Atlas Rubber to be Mayor full-time which he saw the role of as bringing the people closer to the council. As one of his first acts as mayor he reinstituted the wearing of full mayoral robes and regalia, which many saw as a contradiction to his status as a Labour mayor. His time as mayor was marked by stormy debates among councillors and disagreements with officials where Pickering's style of leadership drew contrary descriptions; some describing him as a vigorous and decisive leader with keen political acumen, others saw him as arrogant. Pickering's time as mayor was not helped by the fact he was leading a largely inexperienced council. Aside from himself only two Labour council members (Durham Dowell and Robert Macfarlane) had any previous local-body experience. This became especially difficult when it came to appointing committee chairmanships which were allocated largely according to party strength and thusly several more experienced Citizens' candidates were passed over. In 1972, Pickering boycotted an Anzac Day wreath-laying at Cathedral Square, protesting against the Returned Services' Association's restrictions on who could lay wreaths. The dominant issue during Pickering's time as mayor was Christchurch's hosting of the 1974 British Commonwealth Games. He fulfilled an election pledge to leave Hagley Park untouched and build a purpose built facility for the games athletic events, which resulted in the construction of Queen Elizabeth II Park. Pickering insisted on the construction of a permanent facility for the city to have after the games' completion. This caused some concern by the games organising committee, who worried that the facilities might not be built to meet the deadlines and/or quality standards, though they were both met comfortably. In recognition to his contribution to the games, Pickering was given the honorary title of "President of the Tenth Commonwealth Games". In 1974 he was defeated for the mayoralty by Hamish Hay. It was a closely fought election with a large turnout. Pickering actually increased his vote share, but overall the increased voter turnout favoured Hay leading The Press to state the result was out of increased interest rather than a swing of public opinion. Having lost the mayoralty, his wife insisted on moving back to Wellington. There, in early 1975, he was appointed by the