Crawley mayor Jilly Hart to serve second straight term

Mrs Hart (Lab, Ifield) donned the chains of office again during a meeting of the council on Friday (May 26).

She is only the third person to have served two consecutive terms of office, with Alf Pegler being the first between 1982 and 1984 and Sally Blake being the second between 2006 and 2008.

Mrs Hart spoke of her amazing year, which included the Platinum Jubilee – and her ‘gate-crashing’ of five street parties – the death of the Queen and the coronation of the King.

She described reading the proclamation of the accession of the King from the balcony of the old town hall as ‘the highlight of my mayoral year’, adding: “Thank you Crawley Borough Council and councillors for putting your faith in me. I hope I’ve done you and Crawley proud.”

Mrs Hart was born in London but her family moved to Ifield when she was a baby.

She went on to attend St Francis and St Wilfrid’s schools.

Now retired, two of her children and one of her grandchildren will serve as consorts for her mayoral year.

She was nominated by Julian Charatan (Lab, Ifield), who described her as ‘the very embodiment of the spirit of Crawley’.

While the choosing of the mayor went smoothly, the same could not be said for the choosing of the deputy mayor.

Kiran Khan (Lab, Broadfield) was Labour’s choice, while the Conservatives put forward Maureen Mwagale (Con, Tilgate).

This was the third time Tory leader Duncan Crow had suggested Ms Mwagale for the position, saying she would bring ‘grace and dignity to the role’ and would be about ‘people not politics’.

A recorded vote was held and Ms Khan secured the role of deputy mayor by 20 votes to 16.

Mrs Hart named The Crawley and Horsham Breakfast Club as her chosen charity for the coming year.

The club is a group for military veterans which is part of the network of Armed Forces and Veterans’ Breakfast Clubs in the UK.

It meets weekly and provides veterans of the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Marines the chance to meet face to face in a relaxed environment with support, chat and a great breakfast.