LONDON, England — For many Jamaicans, Nottingham in the United Kingdom (UK) conjures up tales of the legendary folk hero Robin Hood. But the city, which is home to one of the oldest Jamaican and Afro Caribbean communities in the UK, now has a Jamaican, Desmond “Des” Wilson, as its first citizen and the 761st Lord Mayor.

Councillor Wilson is a son of Hanover in western Jamaica.

“If anyone had told me when I first came here all those years ago that a black man could be Lord Mayor or that I would be Lord Mayor I would not have believed them,” Councillor Wilson told JIS News in an interview.

The Nottingham of 2002 is very different from the city where Councillor Wilson arrived as a young man in November 1957.

“When I came here in 1957, coloured people faced a lot of discrimination. Many landlords would not rent you a house,” he said.

Nottingham was the scene of one of the early race riots in Britain. The riots, in 1958, led to the Home Office calling in two industrial relations officers from the British Caribbean Welfare Service to investigate. One of the two was David Muirhead, who is now Jamaica’s outgoing high commissioner to the UK.

Councillor Wilson has spent much of his life in Nottingham fighting for equity and improved education and housing conditions for ethnic minorities. He said while there had been many changes in terms of equity for ethnic minorities, there was the need for improvement in many areas.

The new Lord Mayor (installed in May) who literally moved up the ranks, started his life in that city as a coal miner. He also worked on the buses as a conductor and a driver and in the 1970s opened up his own café, which he operated for nine years.

The café, popularly known as Des’ Café, quickly became a meeting point for Jamaicans and other minority groups in the city. It became a place where people went for advice, assistance and support on a range of issues confronting them. It was also there that Councillor Wilson’s political ambitions developed.

He has been actively involved in several projects aimed at improving the education and social services for Nottingham’s minority community. He was a founding member of many community action groups, including the Afro-Caribbean National Artistic Centre (ACNA) and the Joint Indian, Pakistani, Afro-Caribbean Project (JIPAC).

The lord mayor has been a long-standing member of the British Labour party and has been councillor of the St Ann’s Ward since 1991.

“As lord mayor, I have been inspired by the support of so many people and I realise that I have inspired many people by my achievement and I realise that I play a role in unifying the community,” he said.

Councillor Wilson, who had hoped to end his political career when his term as lord mayor expires next year, said he would continue for “a while longer” before retiring and returning to Jamaica.

“When I entered the arena of civic life, I entered with the view that I would end my career next year when the term of lord mayor ends. But I have been talked out of retiring and I have been named for re-selection so I will give it a few more years,” he said. — JIS News