Second Term for Jamaican Born Lord Mayor

Jamaican born Councillor, Des Wilson, is the Lord Mayor of Nottingham for a second time.
Councillor Wilson recorded a first four years ago when he became the first Black Lord Mayor in the city’s more than 700-year history. He was Lord Mayor from 2002 to 2003.
At his installation ceremony on Sunday (May 14), he acknowledged his Jamaican roots by announcing that one of the charities during his term of office would be the Greenland United Church Basic School Appeal in his hometown of Lucea in Hanover.
“I am proud to be elected to the office of Lord Mayor again. May there be one Nottingham, one community. And I will be seeking to call on all parties to work towards stamping out hate crime,” he said, adding that a conference to launch this campaign would he held in July.
Councillor Wilson said he hoped that his journey from a teenaged immigrant to holding the highest office of a major British city had been an inspiration, not only for the Afro Caribbean community in the UK, but also to young people in his homeland of Jamaica.
The Lord Mayor, whose full name is Desmond Orr Wilson, moved to Nottingham as a 17 year-old in 1957 and has been active in community affairs, including the Jamaica Diaspora UK Movement, the trade unions and politics for many years. He has been a Councillor since 1991.
Councillor Wilson is also involved in several community organisations, including the African Caribbean National Artistic Centre and was, until his retirement earlier this year, the Managing Director of PATRA, the Positive Action Training organization, aimed on getting young people from ethnic minority communities involved in housing management.
The Lord Mayor hopes to be in Jamaica for this year’s conference of the Jamaican Diaspora in Kingston in June.