The Mayor, the Rabbi and the Vicar

by Mones Farah

I have recently had the chance to meet the Mayor of Aberystwyth for a coffee and chat, in one of the locally-owned cafés in town, where I put to him a couple of questions to get to know him better.

Who is Talat Chaudhri?

A British Punjabi born and raised in Essex, whose father was born in British India and who came to Britain not long after the formation of Pakistan. The family settled in Essex, where my mother is from, and where I grew up and lived during the 80s and 90s. Being of mixed ethnicity, I encountered significant racism in this era, being made to feel neither completely within the Pakistani community nor part of the culture of my English friends and neighbours. Racist incidents and comments had lessened, in my experience, during the late 90s, and have worryingly re-emerged following the Brexit referendum.

Why Wales and Aberystwyth?

During the 20 years that I have been here, Wales has become my home. I believe that the diversity of Aberystwyth benefits both the Welsh culture that I have become a part of and the incomers, enriching both, and I think that I have been able to bring my different perspective and cultural experience to the town. I have always found a warm welcome within this community. In particular, I have given a great part of my adult life to teaching and supporting the Welsh language and its culture. After completing a degree in History at Oxford, I came to Aberystwyth to do an MA and then a PhD in the Welsh Department, and I have stayed ever since.

At the end of this summer I will have been living in Aberystwyth for 20 years, and it is a source of pride that I have become Mayor this year. I am determined to represent the town well and speak up for its interests and for all of its people. I first got involved in local politics by being co-opted as a result of a mid-term vacancy in Penparcau Ward. Last year I was elected for North Ward. This has led to being involved with a wide range of local voluntary groups and activities. Having gained in experience as a councillor, I was elected as Mayor for 2018/19 by the other town councillors. I am very aware of the effects of cuts to the funding of local government coming from Westminster via Cardiff Bay, which in turn are passed to county councils. As a town and community council, we are increasingly having to take on more services that the county council cannot afford, for example children’s play areas, allotments, flowers and so on, and perhaps larger services in future too.

So what does a mayor do, and what do you hope to achieve within your term?

The main duties of the mayor are to convene and chair meetings; represent the town and visit and champion local groups and activities; and work together with other council members and local stakeholders to help raise the role and profile of Aberystwyth locally and beyond. We try to make the town as attractive as possible as a place to live and work.

I would like to be a mayor who reminds Aberystwyth to celebrate its diversity and recognise all the benefits that this brings. In particular at this time, building a stronger relationship with the university and the hospital is crucial to both the economy and cultural diversity of our town.

Coming from a Muslim background, it was important to me to have a chaplain from another faith, and when I asked Dan Cohn Sherbock, a Jewish Rabbi, I was delighted that he agreed to be my chaplain this year. Religions have been seen too often as a major cause of conflict, but I have found from my studies in History that this has not always been true. In particular, Christianity, Judaism and Islam co-existed peacefully in the Middle East for centuries until the early 20th century, and were together the source of learning, science and cultural growth that has greatly benefitted modern society across the world. Peace and prosperity depend on these great world religions coming together once again for the benefit of all, and not giving in to extremism, violence and division.

Rabbi Dan could not be present at the Mayor-making ceremony because he was speaking at a conference, promoting peace and constructive relations between the Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions, so I was delighted to ask Mones Farah to stand in for him. Together, we were able to show our shared commitment to friendship between people of all religions and no religion, giving a strong message of support for diversity and the potential positive contribution that it brings.