I never thought that this shy little girl from a village would end up being the first ever Asian Lady Mayoress in Great Britain. I never imagined it at all! I was born in Khanyara Sharif. You know there's the town of Mirpur, well Dadyal's the village bit further along from Mirpur and my village is near that. I’m nearly 57 now. I was married at a very young age and I came to England as a young bride when I was just 16. That was 1969. I’d heard really good things about England then. Everybody that went back from England seemed to be well dressed and nicely turned out like gentlemen and everybody was curious to see England for themselves. I wasn't that keen to come here though you know because my entire family, my brothers and sisters, my parents, they were all in my village. It was heart breaking leaving them behind. But my husband was here so I had no choice, I had to come.

You may not believe this but when I first arrived in 1969, for an entire year it felt as though I had been locked up. My husband was working for a housing association then so he’d be out of the door early every morning. We had some family here then but I had to spend the whole day in this big house. I was scared stiff! I felt anxious. And the weather was atrocious – I’d seen nothing like it before – fog, rain and more fog. It was awful. I never went shopping for groceries. I just didn't go out on my own. I preferred to go with my husband who had a better understanding of what was halal, what wasn’t. I would cook whatever he brought home. I just thought everything about this country was strange – the streets, the houses, the weather.