8 Jun 2008 - Deputy Mayor and Wildcats player to open Carnival

This years Carnival opening and judging of the Fancy Dress Procession will be in the hands of Councillor Heather Hudson and Adam Watene as her Consort.

Councillor Heather Hudson was first elected to the council in June 2004 to represent the newly formed Altofts and Whitwood Ward following changes to the ward boundaries and was re-elected in May 2007.

Heather has lived in the Wakefield District since 1988 when she moved to Altofts from Huddersfield where she had lived from being one year old having been born in Stanley in Perthshire.

Heather left school at age 16 having been educated at Rawthorpe Secondary School and Huddersfield Technical College working in various industries from catering, to the rag trade, electronics and for the last eight years she has been a manager with TK Maxx distribution in Whitwood.

A governor at Altofts Junior School she also serves on the board of DIVA, a committed Corporate Parent, is Chair of the Appeals Board, a member of the Health and Social Care Scrutiny panel, the council representative on the management committee at Whitwood Golf Club, a member of the U and Us panel for young children and a member of the Waste Recycling Advisory Group.

In her spare time she enjoys watching rugby, music and reading but always looks forward to a holiday on the island of Tenerife whenever she can.

Married to Clive, the current Cabinet member for Culture Tourism and Sport, she has two children,  Andrew and Jenna who have both been educated in Wakefield with Andrew completing an Engineering degree at Leeds University in 2007 and Jenna completing her Level 2 Hairdressing Apprenticeship in the same year.

Heathers consort for her year as Deputy Mayor will be Adam Watene. Adam, a native of New Zealand with Maori and Cook Island parentage has lived in Whitwood since 2005 when he came over from Australian to play for Castleford Tigers through their first stint in the National League 1 of the Rugby Football League.  Since then Adam has gone on to play prop forward for the Bradford Bulls and is currently No.8 and first choice prop with the Wakefield Wildcats.

Councillor Heather Hudson will be Deputy Mayor and Adam her consort until May 2009. They are both very proud to have been chosen as Deputy Mayor and Consort and are happy to support the Mayor and Mayoress in any way they can during their Civic Year.