Clr Brook becomes Huddersfield &apos;s 61st Mayor . a momentous year in prospect . Clr Harry France Brook became Huddersfield &apos;s sixty-first Mayor and was also elected an alderman at the annual meeting of the town council this afternoon . Ald Brook has been a liberal representative for the Birkby ward since 1944 . he is chairman of directors and founder of the firm of Messrs H F Brook and Co Ltd , woollen merchants and clothiers , St John &apos;s Road , Huddersfield . his daughter , Mrs Jean W Nicholson , is the new Mayoress . more than 1,500 flowers and potted plants , delicately arranged by the corporation parks department staff , provided a brilliant background for the town hall ceremony . Ald Day , the retiring Mayor , presided over the ceremony . he and Mrs Day are to serve as the deputy Mayor and Mayoress . Clr A J Hazelden , moving the resolution to elect Clr Brook , said : the name of Brook has for scores of years been associated with Huddersfield , and for nearly the lifetime of the county borough since its incorporation 1868 there has been a Brook a member of this council . our new Mayor will be the fifth of that name in the long history of Huddersfield , he went on . Clr Hazelden said that Brook was a good old Anglo-Saxon name - and one with two meanings . the first meaning - that of stream - was appropriate having regard to the number of Brooks who had served the council today and in the past . the second meaning - to suffer insult or injury - would , they all sincerely hoped , not be the lot of the Mayor-elect ! Clr Brook began his education in two of the local schools . as a boy and a man his interests had covered a very wide field - he ( Clr Hazelden ) understood that in the world of sport , particularly , the new Mayor had shown considerable ability as a footballer and a cricketer and , more latterly , as a bowler . his work on the council over the many years of his service had been outstanding in more than one respect . among the many committees of which he has been a member it can not be said that his sincerity and purpose have been lacking in any degree , said Clr Hazelden . Clr Hazelden went on to refer to the various committees on which Clr Brook served - including the children &apos;s committee , of which he was Chairman , the watch committee of which he was also Chairman , and the mental health sub-committee of the health committee . desire to play the game . all of us know the remarks made about the watch committee - and they are not always too kind , said Clr Hazelden . the source of law and order is not always very popular , but is still very essential , and Clr Brook , the chairman , has a knowledge of police administration not only locally but nationally , for he was a member of the police committee of the association of municipal corporations and a representative on the police training college board . Clr Brook saw to it that certain minimum standards were conformed with and no-one could deny his fairness . his views , although not accepted , are in accordance with the earnest desire - be it in the civic field of duty or on the field of sport - to play the game . the new civic year could be a momentous one for Huddersfield . it might well be that the foundations of the new Huddersfield would be laid , and never before had such tremendous innovations and plans for the future been contemplated . not only were the council there to acknowledge the new Mayor , said Clr Hazelden , but for the second time in Huddersfield &apos;s long history they were to honour their new Mayor with an aldermanic seat . Clr Hazelden recalled that in 1873 , when Clr Henry Brook was elected Mayor , he too was made an alderman at the same time . Clr Hazelden &apos;s election motion was supported by Clrs Mrs R Townsend and C C Hoyle . Clr Mrs Townsend said that people should be grateful that men of Clr Brook &apos;s calibre and business acumen gave their services to the community . severe test of stamina . Clr Hoyle said that a Mayor &apos;s life was a severe test of physical and moral stamina . the year of office was filled to capacity with deputations , speeches , receptions and many other duties - including about 700 meetings concerned with council affairs . notwithstanding this terrific strain , the Mayors impressed everyone not only by their ability but by their strength of character and sincerity of thought . Clr Brook possessed those qualities in high degree . here is someone whose friendship is a possession to be cherished , Clr Hoyle added . on his return to the council meeting attired in the mayoral robes , and after taking the oath of office , the new Mayor thanked the council for the honour they had accorded to him . he was very proud to be Mayor of his native town - a town for which he had a great affection . he was proud of Huddersfield &apos;s name in municipal government . we who serve on the town council have our critics , Clr Brook continued . while criticism of a constructive kind is good , I have little patience with he who praises with enthusiastic tone all centuries but this , and every town but his own . all members of the council , irrespective of their political views , were animated by the desire to make Huddersfield worthy of its citizens . it was true to say of everyone entering local government - not least a mayor - that he or she became a visionary . more delectable place . I have a vision of Huddersfield of the not-too-distant future when the great schemes , some already nearing completion , have come to fruition , the Mayor continued . Huddersfield will then be a more delectable place . after listing the various developments the Mayor said that all these were necessary schemes that could only be carried out at cost and some inconvenience . it was important , therefore , that they should take the public into their confidence and seek their support for these latest efforts in municipal enterprise . in many of the functions of a local authority it was not enough that a task should be done efficiently , but that it must also be done sympathetically . impersonality and coldness would alienate and repel , however impressive the achievement , and however faultless the organisation . speaking of the fact that his daughter would be undertaking the duties of Mayoress , Clr Brook stressed the point that she would seek to combine her official duties with those of having to run a home and a very young family . he hoped that the demands made on her during working hours would not be too great . he concluded : I am very conscious of the confidence you have reposed in me and I trust that when , a year hence , the time comes for me to surrender my regalia of office , I shall be able to pass it on unsullied to my successor , and you will feel that that confidence was not misplaced . put Huddersfield on the map . a vote of thanks to the retiring Mayor was proposed by Clr E L Thackray and supported by Clrs D Sisson and B M Schofield . Clr Thackray said that their warmest thanks were due to Ald and Mrs Day , who had not spared themselves in carrying out their duties . Ald Day had lost no opportunity of selling Huddersfield on official visits , and he had put Huddersfield on the map with dignity . he himself had always remained a very likeable person , and had presided efficiently over council meetings . Clr Sisson spoke of the fine co-operation Ald Day had had from his employers , Messrs Thomas Broadbent and Sons Ltd , engineers , which had enabled him to perform all his mayoral duties . Clr Schofield remarked that he had served under Ald Day &apos;s chairmanship on the markets and fairs committee all the time that he ( Clr Schofield ) had been on the council . he praised the valuable work Ald Day had done during his long association with that committee . people made us feel at home . Ald Day said in reply that he and the retiring Mayoress had had the feeling during their period of office that they were the heads of a large and united family . the people of Huddersfield , of all ages , classes , creeds and colour , have made us feel at home and welcome on all occasions . we look back with very happy memories on the year which is now passing . Ald Day recalled that twelve months ago he expressed the hope that during his mayoralty he would see much of the old property in the town demolished and derelict sites made more presentable . I venture to say that since that day there have never been more buildings pulled down and new ones put up in any one year of our lifetime , he told the council . I think it can truly be said that Huddersfield is experiencing the biggest face-lift in its history , and the boom in new buildings and road construction indicates full steam ahead for a long time to come . Ald Day paid tribute to the Mayoress for her support and also thanked the deputy Mayor and Mayoress ( Clr and Mrs F Lawton ) , the town clerk ( Mr H Bann ) , the Mayor &apos;s Secretary ( Mr W Stoney ) and other corporation officials for their assistance . disagreement over election of two aldermen . labour protest by not voting . labour councillors at this afternoon &apos;s meeting of Huddersfield town council made it clear beforehand that they would abstain from voting on the matter of the elevation to the aldermanic bench of two former members defeated at the polls in the recent municipal elections . in addition to the Mayor , the two defeated councillors at the elections - Mr Clifford Stephenson ( Lib ) and Mr F W Fielding ( Con ) - had been nominated as new aldermen to fill the places of Ald C Hickson and Ald G E Tomlinson ( retiring ) and a seat vacated by labour . Aldermen J F C Cole , J T Gee , H A Bennie Gray , N Day and Mrs M L Middlebrook Haigh were being nominated for a further term of six years . the elevation of Clr Brook creates a by-election in Birkby ward . news of labour &apos;s abstention came in a statement to the examiner by Clr Reginald Hartley , leader of the labour group on the council , before he went into the annual meeting . he and his colleagues , he said , had decided to support the majority of aldermanic proposals , but would not support the election of Messrs Stephenson and Fielding . opposed in principle . the statement read : the labour group on the council are opposed in principle to the election of persons to the office of alderman from outside the elected representatives to the council . we fully appreciate that such elections are legally admissible , and that in fact such elections have been made from time to time by all parties in various towns and cities of this country . nevertheless we feel that it is contrary to our democratic principles to elect people to the office of alderman , enabling them to have equal rights in the government of our town with those persons who have been democratically elected as councillors by the votes of the people . indeed , we had every reason to believe that this principle would be accepted by all parties on the council in view of the fact that , by signed agreement between the parties concerning the filling of aldermanic vacancies , such vacancies should be filled from the elected representatives at the time in proportion to party strength - the exception being that when , for some special reason , a nomination is made from outside elected representatives , this should only be done by agreement among all parties . we shall refrain . we therefore feel that by the nominations on this occasion both liberal and conservative parties have violated the spirit of such agreement in addition to the principle of democratic election by the people . therefore on this occasion we intend to support the election of the nominees of the liberal and conservative parties who are members at the time of election but we shall refrain from supporting the two nominees who are not members of this authority . 