Meet new Mayor Mike Holt
Published: 21 May 2020
I have been associated with Nidderdale all my life through my father’s work, and I myself started work in the Dale in 1976 and bought our house in Glasshouses in 1986. For 30 years I ran my vehicle accident repair centre in Ilkley up until my retirement at the end of 2018. I have from an early age been involved with charity work, including time on the National Council of the Round Table, and was involved with the ‘Great Milk (stout) Ride’ for 21 years, chairing the event for 13 of those years and raising £480,000 for Macmillan Cancer Relief during that time.
I was co-opted onto Pateley Bridge Town Council in June 2012, and was re-elected onto the Council at the elections in 2016 and 2018. During that time I have been Deputy Mayor on four occasions, and it was a privilege to be Mayor for the 2014/2015 Civic year. I am a Council representative on the Nidderdale Strategic Partnership, the Yorkshire Local Councils Association, Glasshouses Village Association and Glasshouses Allotment Society. I am also part of the Councils Finance Working Group, and a Trustee of the Raikes Foundation and Lupton Trust funds. Independently I am a Trustee of ‘Nidderdale Visual Arts’, which runs the No: 6 Studio Gallery and education centre.
It was a great privilege and pleasure to represent the Town previously, and I was thoroughly looking forward to having the opportunity to do it again although nobody could have foreseen what circumstances we would be under. So as such, the Annual Council Meeting which took place on the 5th May, when I officially took over the role, was the first time a Mayor of Pateley Bridge has virtually taken office, in fact it was the Council’s first virtual meeting, which worked surprisingly well!
Pateley Bridge has a fantastic reputation for its beauty, its great shops and friendly people and is a brilliant base for exploring further afield. The current crisis has changed people’s lives. I have been so impressed by the organisers of our local volunteer force, Reverend Darryl, the team at Nidderdale Plus, the Churches in the Dale and all our shop owners and staff and the dozens of volunteers who have gone the extra mile to help all those people self isolating or vulnerable. We personally are helping three families with shopping and it is wonderful to be able to do our little bit. Hopefully when all this settles down people will continue to help others which will make this wonderful area of ours even better.