Meet Kenilworth's first 'virtual mayor'!

Cllr Richard Dickson has taken on many roles in Kenilworth over the years - but now he can add 'the town's first virtual mayor' to that list!

Cllr Dickson was voted in as mayor of the town during the first ever online mayormaking in Kenilworth this month.

He is therefore, in the words of Kenilworth Town Council, "Kenilworth’s first ‘virtual mayor’, but he is also very real nonetheless!".

Cllr Dickson said there’s much work to do in Kenilworth this year getting through the COVID-19 crisis and moving on to a ‘new normal’, adding: "It’s work that we’ll do together."

Richard lives with his wife Kate (and cat Luna) in the heart of the town in Barrow Road.

Born in Warwickshire in the 1960s, Richard and his family were welcomed to live in Kenilworth in 1991 when his employer at that time was also moving many staff from London to work close to Warwick University.

In nearly 30 years Richard has been involved in many parts of community life in the town. This has included being chair

of governors at St John’s Primary School, active with Kenilworth Round Table, a churchwarden at St John’s church, treasurer of the Family and Friends drug helpline, member of the Kenilworth Fairtrade group and a trustee at both Waverley Day Centre and theKenilworthCentre.

Most years he can also be seen with several thousand other local residents ‘taking part’ in the Two Castles run.

Richard said: "I regret not having had the advantage of being educated in the town, but I am very proud that each of my three daughters attended St John’s Primary school and Kenilworth School and Sixth Form."

Workwise Richard has worked in the business world, the not-for-profit sector and, most recently, in higher education at Coventry University.

These jobs involved him in visits to Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and south-east Asia.

With his mayoral year starting during the COVID-19 crisis and as local people seek to find a ‘new normal’ Richard has pledged that there’ll be no new mayoral pet initiatives in 2020/21.

Instead, Richard said that his passion for community, creativity and culture is reflected in his choice of mayoral charities.

Half of the money he manages to raise will go towards projects that reduce social isolation in the town with a bespoke fund for this purpose at theKenilworthCentre, and the other half will be given to the 41 year old Kenilworth Uyogo Friendship Link group so that it can help enable girls in Uyogo, Tanzania to use bikes to get safely to school rather than them having to walk several dangerous miles from nearby villages.

Richard is not the first Cllr Dickson to be mayor of Kenilworth. His wife Kate was mayor in 2017/18.