Cllr Jaswant Singh Birdi today became the new Lord Mayor of the City of Coventry.
Cllr Birdi, who has served as Deputy Lord Mayor for the past 12 months, was presented with the Chains of Office at the Annual General Meeting at Coventry Cathedral. He succeeds Cllr Kevin Maton in the role.
Cllr Mal Mutton was named as the Deputy Lord Mayor for the coming year.
Cllr Birdi has spent 17 years as a councillor in the city, representing Bablake Ward for the past nine years, following two terms of office in the 1990s in the Hillfields Ward.
His wife Krishna is Lady Mayoress.
Cllr Birdi was born in a village in the Panjab in the North of India and spent some time as a child in Lahore in Pakistan, and Calcutta in West Bengal, as his family travelled for employment.
In the mid-1950s he emigrated with his parents to Kenya in East Africa, where he had his primary and secondary education, and emigrated to the UK in the ‘60s to carry on with his further education.
Apart from being a councillor, he has been actively involved in setting up religious, social, and community projects in the city.
He becomes the first Lord Mayor of Coventry to wear a turban.
He said: “I am so proud to become Lord Mayor of my adopted home city. It has given so much to myself and my family over the years and I will be honoured to show why I love it so much and to promote the city and the wonderful people who live here.
“As a Sikh, it also means so much that I will be wearing the Chains of Office and the turban. It will help show what a happy multicultural city we have and maybe inspire others as well."
He has named his chosen charities for the year as the Muscular Dystrophy charity, the Coventry Resource Centre for the Blind, and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Charity.
Donations to his chosen charities can be made by sending a cheque payable to ‘Lord Mayor’s Charity Appeal’ to The Lord Mayor’s Office, Council House, Earl Street, Coventry CV1 5RR or donating online via www.coventry.gov.uk/donate