After describing the severe air raids on Norwich in 1942, this book then introduces the new Lord Mayor who took up office on the 9th November, and then chronicles his day to day activities and events and happenings in the city throughout the next twelve months - to the end of his mayoral year on 8th November 1943.
 
Dr. Arthur Cleveland was one of the few Lord Mayors of Norwich who was not a member of the City Council.  He was a well known citizen in Norwich not only as an eminent physician but also through his work as Chairman of the Board of Management of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.
 
His Mayoral year was a busy one. The honour meant he was Chairman of Norwich City Council for a year, the Police Court, and other non-council organisations, and President of the Norwich War Savings Committee. Finding money for the war effort was a big part of Norwich life during that year, and people of all ages and local businesses raised thousands and thousands of pounds.
 
The Lord Mayor welcomed important visitors to the city, opened exhibitions, toured schools and factories and took part in municipal events. He strived to make sure American personnel then arriving in the county were made welcomed in the city and looked after through various amenities. 
 
Dr. Cleveland’s scrapbooks and photograph albums have survived and much material drawn from these and his own writings tell the story of this Lord Mayor’s year in the middle of the 1939-45 war.