Slough Borough Council in Berkshire has appointed a Sikh mayor and a Sikh deputy mayor – and there’s also a Sikh in the mayor’s chair at neighbouring south of England authority, Newbury Town Council.

Councillor Joginder Singh Bal (on the right in our main picture) is the fifth Sikh mayor of Slough, with Councillor Jagjit Singh Grewal (left) as his number two.

At Newbury Councillor Kuldip Singh Kang has been sworn in as the town’s first ethnic minority mayor.

Formerly deputy mayor, Joginder Singh Bal has served on Slough council since 2001. After being sworn in, the taxi driver and father of four said he “got into politics to serve people” and would promote Slough wherever he went.

Kuldip Singh Kang has lived in Newbury for around 20 years, running a store and post office in the town. Elected to the council two years ago, he has three children and four grandchildren, all of whom were at the mayor-making ceremony, along with his wife of 29 years, his parents and his sister and two brothers.

A practicing Sikh, he will nonetheless maintain the mayoral tradition of having a church chaplain and the swearing-in ceremony was followed by a civic service in St Nicholas Church.

The mayor’s charitable objectives in the year ahead will include helping another local church, St George’s, in its attempt to become carbon neutral.

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Sikhs Online would be interested in profiling any other Sikh mayors in the UK, or Sikhs in other prominent political positions on local and regional authorities.  Send us a brief biography and picture and we will publish it in our Community section.

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