Parade and church service welcomes in new Bolton Mayor

 Cllr Andy Morgan was sworn in as the town’s newest Mayor, taking over from Cllr Mohammed Ayub last week.

Today, a huge parade gathered at Victoria Square for a procession, made up of cadets, drummers and bagpipers accompanying Cllr Morgan to a special service at Bolton Parish Church.

Speaking after the service, Cllr Morgan said: “It was amazing, and there was such a good turnout, we really had no idea had grand it would be!

“The turnout was brilliant and what was really special was having the bagpipers in the parade, they were absolutely amazing.

“I’ve got good relations with the temple so for them to turn out like that was really very special.”

The bagpipers, known as the Shree Mukatajeevan Swamibapa Pipe Band, are Hindu temple members who perform in full Scottish regalia.

The pipe band on the march (Image: Henry Lisowski)

Community member Silpa Jesani said: “Our main Guru, Guru Muktajeevan Swamibapa, he had a Scottish band years ago before 1979.

“And when he founded that band, it brought the community together, it got people together in bands and that’s what we’ve carried on doing.”

Cllr Morgan on the parade (Image: Henry Lisowski)

She added: “It’s really gone global now, we’ve got bands in Bolton, London, Nairobi, America and Australia!”

The pipe band proceeding through Bolton (Image: Henry Lisowski)

The pipers were joined by representatives from the armed forces and cadet forces from all over Bolton, along with many of the borough’s citizenry who had turned out for the occasion.

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Bringing communities together was a theme that continued from the parade to the civic service to welcome Cllr Morgan’s term in at Bolton Parish Church.

Cllr Andy Morgan, his partner Karen Holdsworth and Deputy Lieutenant Saeed Atcha (Image: Henry Lisowski)

His term has Mayor comes after having served as a councillor since 2002, first for the Hulton Park ward and then for Heaton, Lostock and Chew Moor.

A series of prayers and speeches and blessings were held at the historic church in honour of Cllr Morgan.

He will now spend the next year supporting Bolton Hospice, Bolton FM, Bolton Wanderers in the Community, and the Darren Deady Foundation and representing the borough at civic events.