| Full Description: Slough Council made history by electing the country's first black female mayor in 1984.
Lydia Simmons was born in Monserrat, a tiny island in the West Indies. Her cousin, Beresford Alleyne was at one time the island's Prime Minister. She left at the age of 17 in order to join her parents in London, before moving to Slough in 1960.
She first became interested in politics when she met Councillor John Hurley, and this led her to join the Labour Party. She first stood for election in 1976, but lost narrowly. At her second attempt in 1979 she became Slough's first black woman councillor. She was re-elected in 1983, and in that year became the first black person to be elected Deputy Mayor. In January 1984 she was nominated to be Mayor, thus making the headlines both locally and nationally. Her investiture followed in May 1984 |
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| Place: Slough ; Chalvey ; Bath Road |
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| Subject: Mayors ; Councillors ; Ethnic minorities |
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| Name Subject: Lydia Emelda Simmons ; Slough Town Hall ; |
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| Content Type: Photo Black and White Digital |
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| Local Ref: SLD1 |
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| Unique ID: sl-sl-sld0001_lsimmonspainting-i-00-000.tif |
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| IPR: Slough Borough Council |
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Sir William Herschel - Astronomer
Lydia Simmons - a history of firsts!
Gas masks, plastic & disposable nappies
