From Knight to Mayor!

Cllr Sydney Knight

Cllr Asma Rathore

From Knight to Mayor!

Cllr Syd Knight became the 139th Mayor of Luton when he was officially appointed as the new Mayor of Luton at the Full Council Meeting on Tuesday 15 May.

A jack of all trades and master of many, his professional careers include being a civil servant, engineer and even a tailor, with his claim to fame including making clothes for the American actor Robert Mitchum and working on the royal train. He finally settled on a career in social work in 1988 in Luton and qualified as a social worker in 1992. Cllr Knight went on to complete his Masters in Mental Health at the University of Hertfordshire in 2008.

Cllr Knight and his wife Rose have lived in Luton since 1973, they have three children and three grandchildren.

He was elected to Luton Borough Council for the first time in 1991 and was executive member for a number of years where he oversaw the opening of the Noah Training Centre in High Town by Her Majesty the Queen and was joint founder of the Mary Seacole project.

When Luton became a unitary authority in 1997 taking on the responsibilities of social services and education from Bedfordshire County Council, he moved to work in the County Council as a social worker to avoid any conflict of interest.

Cllr Knight took early retirement in 2003 to fight the local elections but lost his seat in Sundon Park, he did however regain it eight years later in the last local elections in 2011.

Cllr Knight said: “It is a privilege and honour to serve the people of Luton as Mayor of the town. I am look forward to meeting as many residents and community groups as possible and will do my utmost to promote all that is good about the town wherever I go.”

The Mayor will support four charities during his year in office: Mary Seacole which provided support and hostel accommodation for young, single homeless people; Mercy Worldwide, a faith based organisation committed to maximizing efforts to provide relief and care to those in need with a special focus on youth, Age Concern and the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID) in memory of his daughter Karen, who died as the result of sudden infant death syndrome, and would have been 14 years old on 23 June 2012.

Cllr Asma Rathore was appointed as Deputy Mayor. She was elected to the Council in 2011 representing Saints Ward.

Cllrs Knight and Rathore will wear their mayoral robes for the first time at a special ‘Mayor making’ ceremony at the Town Hall on Wednesday 23 May.