The City of Bath welcomed its first mayor of Indian heritage at a history-making ceremony in Bath Abbey on Saturday, 7th June.
Mayor of Bath Dr Bharat Pankhania with Deputy Mayor Ian Halsall | Photo © Paul Gillis / paulgillisphoto.com
Dr Bharat Pankhania was unanimously elected as Mayor of Bath by the city’s charter trustees.
The role dates back to 1189 when the city was first given a charter to have a mayor, and he is the 798th in the unbroken list of names which stretches back to the first recorded Mayor of Bath in 1230, John de Porta.
The Combe Down councillor told the about 300 people at the ceremony in Bath Abbey: “It is with immense pride, deep humility, and a profound sense of responsibility that I stand before you today as the newly appointed Mayor of the City of Bath.
“Our beautiful city is a city which wears its heritage with grace and carries its future with confidence. To serve as mayor of this rare double-inscribed World Heritage Site is one of the greatest honours of my life.”
In a speech defiant against rising anti-immigrant rhetoric, Mr Pankhania said: “Despite what some under-educated politicians may want us to think, diversity is our strength — and equality and inclusivity. I am your DEI example.”
In another first, Dr Pankhania is the first Mayor of Bath to choose a non-religious person to serve as the mayor’s chaplain.
Bath-based humanist Isabel Russo, who will take on the role, said: “I look forward to taking an inclusive approach, working with those of all religions and beliefs, including the non-religious, to foster a more tolerant city that embraces its diversity.”
Dr Pankhania grew up in Kenya and later Leicester, where he said it was the city’s public libraries which allowed him to educate himself.
He said: “I would not be here if it were not for those libraries in Leicester. It is without a doubt: I am here because education has been my liberation.”
Now a senior consultant in communicable disease control and senior lecturer at the University of Exeter, Dr Pankhanisa said the theme of his year as mayor would be: “Education is empowerment”.
He said he had already started work strengthening ties between educational institutions and local communities.
He said: “My education opened the doors, it has created opportunities for me, it has given me the confidence to contribute to society, as an individual, a clinician, and an academic.
“It has given me the confidence to speak up for both for myself and on behalf of others.”
Mr Pankhania has been a Liberal Democrat councillor for Combe Down on Bath & North East Somerset Council since 2019. His wife, Alison Pankhania is the city’s new Mayoress.
Ian Halsall, who was elected as a Liberal Democrat councillor for Oldfield Park in 2023, was elected as the Deputy Mayor of Bath. His husband James Fox is the Deputy Mayor’s Consort.
The mayor-making ceremony is officially the annual meeting of the city’s charter trustees, of which the mayor is the chair.
The Mayor of Bath was previously the chair of Bath City Council, but this was abolished in 1996 and replaced with Bath & North East Somerset Council. The charter trustees are a wholly ceremonial body, made up of the councillors on Bath & North East Somerset Council who represent wards in Bath, to keep the charter which makes Bath a city active and its ancient civic traditions alive.
The city’s ceremonial sword and two maces were carried in a civic procession from the Guildhall to Bath Abbey for the ceremony, which also included the outgoing Mayor of Bath, Michelle O’Doherty, dignitaries, visiting mayors, and the Bath’s charter trustees and honorary aldermen in ceremonial robes.
The procession was led by the 93 (City of Bath) Squadron RAF Marching Band, and the Avon Fire and Rescue Service Ceremonial Drill Squad formed a guard of honour.
Bath Philharmonia and its Harmony Rising choir of 11-14-year-olds performed at the ceremony while the mayor’s robes and regalia were exchanged.
The new mayor and civic procession departed the Abbey to Philharmonia, performing an orchestral version of Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Bath-based band Tears for Fears.
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
