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Market trader to Mayor?
Tuesday 02 March 2010
Source; Nuneaton News
Date; 1 March 2010
A MAN whose family has been in business in Nuneaton for three generations has taken a major step towards receiving the highest honour in the borough.
Market trader Jeff Clarke has been elected as Deputy Mayor of Nuneaton and Bedworth and will take over the chain of office in May.
Cllr Clarke admitted he is flattered: "It is a real honour for me to know that my peers feel I have done sufficient to warrant recognition in such a manner," he said.
The Conservatives have a slender majority at the Town Hall and will have to retain control through the next two elections to make sure he becomes mayor.
He said: "We do have to stay in power and I will take it one step at a time by supporting the next mayor Clive Stringer during his 12 months in office."
If he does become leading citizen he will follow in the footsteps of his grandfather Alderman Bob Chamberlain, who was Labour Mayor of Nuneaton in the 1950s:
"He was my maternal grandfather and I believe he was the last mayor to do two terms of office," he said.
Cllr Clarke, who is 53, has been involved in the family fruit and vegetable business since he left school.
His grandfather, George Clarke, founded the business in the early 1900s, his father Jim Clarke took it over and he and his brother Brian now run the same stall in the Market Place: "It is the same stall we have always had," he said.
Cllr Clarke was first elected to the borough council in St Nicolas Ward in 2000 and was re-elected to represent Weddington two years later.
He has been deputy leader at the Town Hall under Marcus Jones and was cabinet member for health and the environment.
His Conservative colleague Gerald Smith, who nominated him for deputy mayor, said: "Jeff Clarke is a well liked, well known and well established fruit and vegetable market trader."
Cllr Smith, who also represents Weddington, added: "For the past ten years he has been an active and conscientious member of this council."
