2004 COUNCILLOR PIARA SINGH CLAIR
(MANUFACTURING TECHNICIAN)
(546)
The Lord Mayor was born in Punjab, India on 6 March 1951. He was educated at Khalsa College, Amritsa and at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, where he achieved a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Agricultural Sciences.
During his time as a student, he was the University’s best athlete for three years. As well as representing the Punjab State in long distance running, he became a team member of the All Indian University Athletics Team. He captained his university athletics team and was awarded the tribute of being placed on his University Roll of Honour in 1976.
He arrived in Leicester in June 1977 and lived in the Charnwood area continuously until 2001 when he moved, with his family to reside in East Hamilton.
Councillor Clair worked for Walkers Snack Foods Ltd. from 1980 onwards and was proud of the relationship he forged there which included being a local shop steward, for many years, for the Transport and Workers’ Union.
He married Miss Jasbinder Kaur Nagra in 1977. Mrs Clair was also born in the Punjab and came to Leicester in 1966. They had two daughters, Sandeep Kaur Clair who was a Probation Officer and Kirandeep Kaur Klair who was reading medicine at the Queen’s Medical College, University of London and a son, Pawandeep Singh Clair who was studying law at De Montfort University, Leicester.
Councillor Clair was elected to Leicester City Council in 1991 as a Labour Party Councillor for Charnwood Ward which, in 2003, became Coleman Ward following boundary changes. Throughout this thirteen year period the Lord Mayor served on numerous committees, one of the most notable being the Arts and Leisure and Culture Committee on which he served as Chairman and Vice-Chairman.
He also retained an interest in serving on governing bodies in local schools in Leicester. In addition, the Lord Mayor was actively involved in a number of working parties and panels which included serving as Vice-Chairman of the Planning Committee.
In the community, he served as a member of the Guru Nanak Gurdwarda Sikh Temple Committee and, at the time he became Lord Mayor, he had been the Chairman of the G.N.G. Sports Festival Committee for over seventeen years.
His hobbies and interests include gardening, running, keep-fit and wine tasting. He had travelled to different parts of the world and enjoyed spending time with his family and undertaking community work.
Councillor Clair was elected to the office of Lord Mayor of the City on 20 May 2004.
He chose his wife Jasbinder as his Lady Mayoress. Mrs Clair was educated at the Mundella Girls School in Leicester. In addition to parenting, she worked in the food manufacturing industry and was involved in a variety of activities at work, over the years, including internal auditing and quality control.
Since the early 1990s she had helped her husband with his election campaigns and had been ever present at social functions. Her hobbies and interests included cooking, keep-fit, reading and travelling.
The Lord Mayor was privileged to meet several members of the Royal Family during his Year of Office. On 2 June 2004, he met His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent when he formally opened the Leicestershire Constabulary Custody Suite at Euston Street, Freeman’s Common.
On 13 October 2004, Councillor Clair met His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester when he came to Leicester to open a video studio at the Queen’s Building, De Montfort University followed by a visit to the Guildhall for the commencement of the 150th Anniversary celebrations of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society.
Finally, the Lord Mayor was presented to His Royal Highness The Duke of York at a dinner at the Athena, Queen Street, where His Royal Highness presented the Passport to Export East Midlands Business Awards.
Councillor Clair’s Year of Office enabled him to strengthen the City’s twinning links. In July 2004, he hosted a Civic Reception, at the Town Hall for Mansukh Chavda, the Mayor of Rajkot. During September 2004, the Lord Mayor welcomed Mr N Suresh, a Municipal Councillor from Rajkot to the city and two weeks later he received a group of artists from the Indian city, at a reception at the Town Hall. In addition he gave a Civic Reception for visiting Gujarat Ministers.
In May 2005, Councillor Clair paid a three day Civic Visit to Krefeld.
The Lord Mayor also welcomed visitors from China, India, Spain, Russia and the Ukraine to the Town Hall.
On 26 July 2004, Councillor Clair gave a Civic Reception in honour of General Anthony Zinni the former Commander in Chief of the US Central Command and General Jehanger Karawat the former Chief of the Pakistan Army Staff.
The Lord Mayor welcomed Dr Michael Foule, the British born astronaut, who held the record for the most amount of time spent in space by a US citizen, having logged 374 days in space. The astronaut came to Leicester to open the refurbished National Space Centre Rocket Life on 19 October 2004.
Other visitors included David Buckingham, Agent-General to the State of Victoria, Australia and the Indian High Commissioner, Kamalesh Sharma. Councillor Clair also received the Governors from the Turkish Ministry of the Interior, and a party of Japanese University Professors.
The City’s developing links with Haskovo, Bulgaria were extended with a visit by His Excellency Valentine Dobrev, Ambassador for Bulgaria for whom the Lord Mayor hosted a Civic Lunch in his honour. In June 2004, Georgi Ivanov, the Mayor of Haskovo and a delegation from the Bulgarian city paid a visit to Leicester and were given a Civic Dinner hosted by Councillor Clair. Three months later, the Lord Mayor made a four day visit to Haskovo.
One unforgettable overseas visit was made by the Lord Mayor to his native Punjab, from 17 to 30 March 2005, accompanied by representatives of the Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce and Industry, members from Leicestershire Constabulary and the University of Leicester. A memorandum of understanding was signed between Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana and the University of Leicester for a future exchange programme in Post Graduate studies which was designed to develop business links, education and cultural links.
Two important artefacts, connected with previous conferments of the Honorary Freedom of the City of Leicester, were presented to the City during Councillor Clair’s Mayoralty. On 5 April 2005, the family of the late Alderman John Parson, who received the Honorary Freedom in 1940, presented his silver casket and scroll to the Lord Mayor. The following day, Councillor Clair received a brass tobacco jar, from the family of the late Alderman Amos Sherriff, which was presented by Douglas Haig (Earl Haig of Bemersyde) (Field Marshal) to a member of the Sherriff family when he received the Honorary Freedom in 1922.
The City’s important military connections were enhanced when the Lord Mayor hosted a Civic Dinner in honour of Major General John Sutherell, Colonel of the Royal Anglian Regiment, the most senior officer in the British Land Army, on 7 April 2005.
An important sporting achievement was marked during Councillor Clair’s Year of Office when the Leicestershire Foxes won the final of Cricket’s Twenty 20 Cup by defeating the holders Surrey in the final at Edgbaston, Birmingham on 7 August 2004. The Lord Mayor hosted a Civic Reception for the team and officials, at the Town Hall, on 20 September 2004.
The 60th Anniversary of D Day, the Allied Forces invasion of Europe on 6 June 1944, was marked by a commemorative service in Leicester Cathedral which was attended by Councillor Clair. The Lord Mayor also met the veterans of the United Stated 82nd Airborne Division who he was delighted to welcome to the Town Hall. The veterans, as young men, were stationed in Leicestershire and parachuted into Normandy, with their British comrades at the commencement of the invasion.
Councillor Clair considered it to be a great honour to have been the First Citizen of Leicester. In visiting so many community functions he felt that he had made countless good friends and these experiences, together with the opportunities to meet people from all over the world, had enabled him to feel that he belonged to a new and wider family and instilled in him the confidence to be a good citizen.
The Lord Mayor’s Appeal was in support of people suffering with kidney disease. The Kidney Care Appeal was launched to raise funds for specialised exercise equipment as well as a portable ultra-sound scanner, to ensure that patients spent as little time in hospital as possible, for the renal unit of Leicester General Hospital.
The Kidney Care Appeal raised the sum of £140,000.
Councillor Clair’s Year of Office was concluded on 19 May 2005 whereupon he was appointed High Bailiff for the Year 2005/2006.
Councillor Clair was awarded the Order of Member of the British Empire in the Queen's New Year Honours in January 2007, for his services to the community in Leicester.
