City welcomes new mayor and sheriff

Councillor Ashley Bowkett has been named as the new mayor and takes over from Councillor Lorraine Campbell.

Fellow councillor, Linda Castle takes on the role of sheriff and Deputy Mayor of Gloucester from Councillor Pam Tracey.

The mayor is the first citizen of the city and acts as Chair of the Council.

They represent the council and the city at civic, ceremonial and community events both inside the city boundaries and elsewhere.

Cllr Bowkett was first elected to the city council in 2019 and has lived in the city with his family since 2011.

He has spent almost two decades working in international television production and broadcasting before moving into artificial intelligence engineering.

He believes strongly in sharing his skills and experience with the next generation and that every young person has something valuable to contribute to our world, given the chance.

Councillor Bowkett said: “For our city to truly flourish we must all continue to play our part in supporting people of all ages to find their feet in a fast-changing society.”

The city’s new sheriff was born in Longlevens and was first elected as a city councillor in 2021.

Cllr Castle worked at Nuclear Electric before moving to the NHS, with roles in NHS Complaints, the Blood services and Clinical Systems.

Since retiring she has taken up a number of hobbies including dog training and dog agility.

She says that her personal message is that ‘anything is possible, but you have it enjoy what you are doing.  Believe in yourself, everyone has a strength of some kind.’