The Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane 2013/14 is Cllr Dan Putty
Mayor's biography
Dan (Danesh) was born in Mauritius and stayed on the island with his family throughout his primary, secondary and tertiary education, even helping his grandfather and uncle in their financial business from the age of nine! After leaving school he had the choice of travelling to India to undertake a degree or follow his best friend Tony to England to study nursing. His decision was to travel to England.
Dan arrived in the United Kingdom in 1970 and studied nursing in Basingstoke, qualifying as a mental health nurse. It was during this time that he met his wife to be Julie, a cadet nurse. After undertaking further training in Dorchester, Dan returned to Basingstoke where he married Julie and set up home. The couple later became proud parents to two sons Ryan and Sean.
Despite his career in nursing, Dan still managed to fill his spare time working as a volunteer driver for Hampshire social services. He also served his local community as a school governor in local primary and secondary schools and helped at Basingstoke Athletic Club - a club both his sons competed for.
Dan gave up work as a nurse after sustaining an injury. He then chose to return to his early exposure of the financial services sector and took on roles at Allied Dunbar and Scottish Amicable as a financial management consultant.
In 1987 he was appointed as a Magistrate in the petty sessional division of Basingstoke sitting in adult and family courts. He is currently serving in courts all over Hampshire including the Crown Court.
Over the years Dan has supported a number of organisations in various capacities including: Hampshire Anglo-Mauritian Society, Basingstoke Council of Community Services, the rape crisis group, The Community Health Council, the health improvement committee, Sail Panel and many others. He served as a trusteee of Kingfisher Housing Association and Sovereign Housing and is currently a trustee of Basingstoke District Sports Trust, Basingstoke Youth Action Trust, Basingstoke ITEC and a holding trustee of Hatch Warren Community Centre.
He has also worked with the Juvenile Justice Unit for more than 10 years, helping young people to be good citizens by taking them camping, motor bike scrambling, sailing and boating.
In addition to this Dan - a grandfather to six - has undertaken a large amount of charity work raising funds for St Michael's Hospice, Charlie Day Unit and for equipment for the Cardiac Group at Basingstoke Sports Centre, a group he has been involved in since undergoing a quadruple heart bypass in 1998.
Dan's interest in politics began during his early years in the UK. After joing the Conservative party he was elected as a councillor for Hatch Warren and Beggarwood in 1995 and has represented this area on the borough council until the present day.
The Mayoress
Julie was born in the village of Micheldever and went to senior school in Winchester. On leaving school at 16 she successfully applied for a two year cadet nursing course in Basingstoke. This saw her work three days a week in hospital departments and study two days at college.
At the age of 18 Julie became a nursing auxilliary and in May 1972 started a two year state enrolled nurse training course. It was just three weeks into this training that Julie met her future husband Dan, who was visiting friends in the same nurses' accommodation she was staying in.
On completing her training in November 1974, the couple married in January 1975.
Julie continued as a state enrolled nurse on the paediatric ward and it was during this period that she and Dan welcomed the arrival of their two sons Ryan and Sean. Now grown up, Sean has emigrated to New Zealand with his family and Ryan and his family live in St Helen's.
Following a full-time career in the out-patients department in paediatrics, Julie retired in 2009 and now spends her time enjoying life as a grandparent to six grandchildren.
The Deputy Mayor
The Deputy Mayor for 2013/14 is Cllr Roger Gardiner.
