A CITY’S new Mayor has finally taken the chains of office after a 12-month Covid-caused hiatus.

Councillor Arnie Simpson was installed 418th Mayor of Durham, at a Town Hall investiture ceremony.

The pandemic led to his predecessor, councillor Katie Corrigan, who became the city’s youngest Mayor, aged 27, in June 2019, performing an extra year in office as it was not possible to stage the changeover ceremony.

For her successor, it marked the culmination of 22 years’ representing Witton Gilbert, where he was born and still lives.

He was schooled in nearby Sacriston and studied motor mechanics at the Technical College in Framwellgate Moor, now New College Durham, before opening his first garage and filling station in 1976, and a second ten years later.

Having built a new showroom, at Framwellgate Moor, he became a Hyundai Motors main dealer, while still finding time to pursue his favourite sport, boxing, and also trying his hand at pro-wrestling.

Coun Simpson became a city and parish councillor in 1999, remaining a member of Durham City Council until its abolition in 2009, and became a county councillor in 2017.

He believes he is the first person living in Witton Gilbert to have “worn three hats”, having been a parish, city and county councillor, and thanked his wife, June, for her “remarkable” support in keeping those plates spinning.

His chosen good cause he will support during his year in office is the NHS Charities Together, while his deputy in his year in office will be councillor David Freeman, from Ushaw Moor.

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