A FORMER Solihull Mayor and council leader has been recognised for his years of service with an honorary title.
Ken Meeson was invested as an Honorary Alderman of the borough at a special meeting of Solihull Council.
The Dorridge resident was first elected in 1984 and has always represented his local community.
During the past 40 years he was leader of council for 10 years, Mayor three times and served as chair of various committees including social services, education, health and wellbeing board, adult care and children’s services.
He also spent many years on the Children and Young People and Employment Boards of the Local Government Association and was a founding member of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership.
He also represented the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire sub-region on the Management Board of West Midlands Employers (WME), which he chaired for more than 10 years.
WME provides services to 32 councils and a number of other public service bodies and to mark his retirement Ken was presented with a specially commissioned piece of glass artwork based on the company logo.
Ken said: “The management team knew that I had a favourite piece of glass artwork from the Lake District and they secretly tracked down the artist, worked with her on the design and her husband then drove all the way from Keswick to Birmingham so that it arrived safely.
“It was a wonderful surprise and it was quite emotional to realise they had gone to so much trouble to make the day so memorable.”
