WEYMOUTH and Portland has a new mayor.

Cllr Kevin Brookes was sworn in as Mayor at Weymouth & Portland Borough Council’s Mayor Making ceremony last night.

Cllr Brookes was handed the robes after Cllr Richard Kosior’s year in the post.

The Decadettes provide the soundtrack at the mayor-making ceremony at the Pavilion Ocean Room - video from Finnbarr Webster below

Born and raised in South Yorkshire, Cllr Brookes left school at 15 and joined the Army, training as a bandsman. After attending the Royal Military School of Music, he later joined the 1st Battalion Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire in Cyprus in October 1971.

Postings to Northern Ireland, Dover, West Germany and Bulford then followed.

In 1979 he transferred to the Royal Military Police and again served in Germany, Hong Kong and Catterick.

He later joined the Prison Service and worked at Ashford Remand Centre, Feltham YOI and finally at Portland YOI.

His 18 year prison service career ended after being attacked and injured while on duty in 2001 at the Portland jail.

The ward member for Upwey & Broadwey has served as a councillor for a total of 10 years.

He was first elected in 2000 for the Preston ward, in 2004 for Wey Valley ward and for the Upwey & Broadwey ward in 2014.

The Mayor’s chosen charities are:

Prostate Cancer UK – in particular the local support group that helps men who have recently been diagnosed with the condition and those receiving treatment

GO Girls Support Group – a Dorset based support group for women with gynaecological cancers.

Cllr Brookes has asked the Rev Philip Elliott to stay on as the mayor’s chaplain for the coming year.

Deputy Mayor for 2017/18 is Cllr Gill Taylor.