A year to remember for Prad Bains, the grassroots goalkeeper breaking down the barriers during his year as Havant mayor

For sure, he is a mayor with a difference. And Prad Bains’ year in office has turned out to be nothing like the one enjoyed by any of his 46 predecessors since the role - his official title is ‘The Worshipful the Mayor of Havant’ - was created in the mid-1970s.

But he’s liking it that way. He is glad to be different, proud to have introduced a ‘different dynamic’, and while the pandemic has created a whole host of problems, Bains - also a keen cricketer, having played for Hambledon and Portsmouth - is delighted he’s been able to bring a 21st century approach to his mayoralty of Havant Borough Council

An approach very much in line with a society that he hopes will continue to become more inclusive and more equal, one which celebrates diversity.

Bains’ vision is of a society desperate to shed the racism that remains and offers people from all backgrounds - irrespective of age, religion and colour of skin - the same opportunities in life.

He believes he is ‘privileged’ to be offered the chance to play a meaningful part in changing attitudes in a Borough of around 130,000 residents.

Asked to describe your stereotypical Mayor, most would envisage a white, middle-aged (or older) person who is generally seen out and about wearing chains of office while officially opening fetes in the summer months and laying a wreath on Remembrance Sunday.

Bains, though, has not been able to sit back with his feet up and wait for the invites to pour in asking him to attend village fetes, dog shows and other minutiae of community life. Many of those events did not take place in 2020.

As the goalkeeper for Hampshire Premier League club Denmead, he is used to boxes - his six-yard box, the penalty box - but, due to coronavirus, he has been forced to ‘think outside’ one to maximise the impact of his year in office.

‘Normally this (the Mayor’s role) would be a full-time job, taking up most of each day,’ he said. ‘But I’ve needed different skills and a different approach as events have not been taking place.

‘I have had to create an awful lot, I’ve reached out to a lot of people - businesses, charities, schools.’

As soon as the first lockdown was announced almost a year ago, Bains - a ward councillor for the Hart Plain ward of Havant Borough Council - sprang into action, setting up the Waterlooville Helping Hands support group.

‘Within 24 hours we had around 100 amazing volunteers who wanted to help the most vulnerable members of our community - picking up food, prescriptions, being call buddies,’ he recalled.

‘We helped over 120 people.

‘It was led by me, it was outside of any Mayor duties, and it’s the proudest thing I’ve done so far.

‘For a while it took up most of my day, every day. I was on the phone at 8 in the morning and I’d go through until about 10 at night. It was a really challenging time.

‘The volunteers were inspirational - they were ordinary people delivering extraordinary outcomes.

‘There are so many unsung heroes out there, and I have felt hugely privileged all the time to meet them.

Bains was also the brains behind last year’s Think Pink week which saw school children from across the Havant area wear the colour.

All monies raised went to the Mayor’s chosen charity, Hannah’s Holiday Homes - set up in memory of Hannah Westbrook who sadly passed away in 2004 from Hodgkin’s disease. She was just 10 years old and had gone to the same Waterlooville school as Bains.