Long-serving councillor is new mayor

Coun Paul Kane, who represents the Dewsbury East ward, officially took on the role at a special ceremony at Huddersfield Town Hall on Wednesday afternoon.

Coun Kane, 58, succeeds fellow Labour councillor Ken Smith who has come to the end of his one-year tenure.

His long-term partner Susan Bedford will serve as Mayoress, while his deputy will be Coun Jim Dodds.

Pupils from Eastborough Junior and Infant School and St John’s C of E Infant School attended the ceremony to formally welcome him into his new post.

A proud Dewsbury man and councillor for more than two decades, Coun Kane was born in Chickenley as the youngest of 11 children and has lived in the area all of his life.

In his opening speech as mayor at the ceremony he said: “I have had some hard times in my life but have never forgotten my upbringing and the need to be the voice of these very same people, people who have depended on me for the past 20 years.

“It is a source of pride for me and my family and the town where I was born to be recognised with this fantastic honour.”

Father of two Coun Kane will spend much of his time during the next year fundraising for his chosen charity, Diabetes UK.

Explaining his choice, the new mayor said that the illness is “spreading like an epidemic” in Kirklees.

He said: “Diabetes costs the NHS £10billion annually and is a scourge and causes tremendous problems in families, careers and lifestyles,” he said.

“But it can be prevented in 95 per cent of cases by good diet and exercise.”

The mace he will use, traditionally carried into Kirklees Council meetings, will be from Dewsbury, as will the chaplain, Kathy Robertson, appointed to help him in of his new post.

Coun Kane assured members of the public that money raised by events in Kirklees would stay in the area and that 10 per cent of all donations collected from the year would go to local health support groups.

For more on his chosen charity see page 33.