Coun Davies, 53, took over from Coun Spencer Harrison at a mayor-making ceremony at Kenilworth Castle this month.

He married his wife, Erica, in 1982 and the couple have two children, Rebecca and Matthew.

He said: "I have lived in the town since 1959, but not in continual residence as I have lived in Qatar for three years, London for two years, Stratford for two years and Saudi Arabia for two years."

This is the first time that Coun Davies has been Mayor and feels it will be a "steep learning curve" for him.

Ahead of his year in office, one of his first mayoral duties is to address the town by writing a piece for the Weekly News. It reads:

"The Chinese have a curse, I am told, which translates as "may you live in interesting times".

As our town and country struggle with a terrible recession, we might all agree that these are interesting times.

The regeneration of central Kenilworth has slowed and, worse still, we see friends and neighbours losing their jobs.

An interesting time to take over as mayor.

In the last recession I lost my job and was unemployed for nearly a year. I know exactly how it feels and I deeply sympathise with any Kenilworthians suffering this blow.

We will eventually come out of this maelstrom but, at the moment, the important thing is that we all do whatever we can to help our local businesses survive in the months ahead, and help any people we know who are finding out how cruel life can be.

In my year in office I have plans to engage in projects which will encourage people to get involved with the life of the town.

You can all help me, if you wish.

Many of you belong to clubs and societies in the town. Ask people to join in - ask others to help. Many people are too shy to volunteer; some people require a gentle push to get them involved.

The town council supports community projects like the Kenilworth Festival, because it knows that such events and activities enhance our lives by increasing our sense of belonging.

Kenilworth flourishes best when our sense of our place in the town, our belonging to it, are strongest.

It is my belief that a sense of belonging is born within each of us when we do something for the town.

Our mayoral charities for the coming year are Macmillan and The Parochial Hall Appeal.

Your mayoress, Erica, will hit the ground running on these in the Two Castles race and we have a team of 12 friends who are running with her.

Perhaps predictably, we have called our team the Chain Gang and we hope that you will support us with sponsorship and with cheers of support on June 7.

Erica and I are very honoured by the decision of the town council to give us this great responsibility and we look forward to the coming year and the opportunity it affords us to learn even more about our lovely town and its wonderful people.