New Crawley Mayor is both '˜honoured and humbled'

Councillor Castro was elected at the Annual Crawley Borough Council meeting last week.

Carlos Castro was elected to represent Tilgate ward in 2016.

He was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1975 and moved to the UK in 2009, first to Cardiff and then to Crawley in 2013.

He worked as a manager for Superdrug in Wales and in Horsham until 2015, before leaving to work for Santander in Queens Square.

Carlos, who lives in Tilgate, enjoys taking walks with his wife, listening to all sorts of music and playing with his children and granddaughter.

Carlos sat on the Tilgate Community Forum until being elected as a councillor.

He represents the Black Tie Portuguese Group, which aims to promote diversity, inclusion and Portuguese culture in Crawley.

The Mayor’s charity for 2018/19 is Crawley Forget-Me-Not Club, which supports carers of someone with dementia.

Mayor of Crawley, Councillor Carlos Portal Castro, said: “I am truly honoured and humbled to have been nominated and made it this far. Never did I think I could make my family this proud when I decided to move to the UK.

“I feel this is a huge responsibility but also a wonderful opportunity to be able to represent a town that is diverse and rich in culture.”

Councillor Tahira Rana was elected Deputy Mayor at the Annual Council meeting.

For more details on the Forget-Me-Not Club visit www.forgetmenotclub.org