Remarkable story of Telford's new mayor Leon Murray

Jamaica born and bred, the weekend he arrived in Wellington in 1961, he literally bumped into a man who recognised him because he'd known Leon's father from his own Jamaica days.

So all these years on, we ought not to be too surprised that Leon is the new Mayor of Telford & Wrekin yet was only elected to the council in 2011.

It is an amazing vote of confidence to be picked out for the top job in so short a time. But when you know Leon Murray, you also know why.

He is a remarkable man with a remarkable story.

His father was half Scottish, half Jamaican and his mother was Indian.

At his Hadley home Leon recalls: "My Scottish grandfather went to Jamaica and my father was born and brought up there. He worked in Cuba for a while then came back to take over grandfather's farm in a village called Tranquillity.

"There were 10 of us, two older sisters came to London to work for the NHS and a brother came over as well. But I arrived in Wellington alone on a Friday night and on the Sunday morning, went to the Methodist church. The man who gave me a book was the same one who had taken my train ticket on the Friday.

"And as I was going up the steps to the church another man recognised me, which was amazing. He was called William Russell and had been in the British Army in Jamaica. When he retired, he went into the Colonial office in Kingston and got to know two of my uncles. He would make the 50-mile trip to our house, I was only small and didn't remember him but he saw the family in me."

Is it any surprise that Leon quickly felt at home in the county? And the county is where he has remained.

In all the years between, he married Barbara and had two daughters, Christine and Rachel, became a magistrate, worked his way through the system at GKN Sankey while still studying, is still a long time Labour supporter and most of all, Leon remained committed to the Methodism in which he was brought up.

He studied theology, has been a lay preacher for many years and in 1984, the likeable lad from Jamaica, became vice-president of British Methodism.

Leon served on the Telford Youth Bench, he is a Deputy Lieutenant of the county and has an MBE. The list goes on – a YMCA trustee and chairman of the local mental health charity MIND, for instance but also much more. He's a trustee of Youth Support Services whose Midlands area includes Shropshire, has written Being Black in Britain and takes the YSS trustee lead on diversity issues.

"The charity meets people who don't fit the 'system', face difficult challenges, closed doors and lack of opportunities, all of which YSS believes reinforce self-esteem."

The supportive Princess Royal is the patron and on June 28, she will attend a YSS forum in Wellington.

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