Three role model women from the Midlands were honoured for their respective achievements at a prestigious ‘Carnatic Culture’ music festival in Birmingham.
Trophies were presented to three women as part of the Birmingham Thyagaraja Festival, an annual event which brings to life the tunes and teachings of Thyagaraja, also known as the singing saint. (1) Deirdre Kelly, Professor of Paediatric Hepatology. She set up the Liver Unit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital in 1989 and developed it into an international unit. Indian-born Professor Kelly is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. (2) Ann Evelyn Lucas OBE, Coventry City Council’s first female leader. Ann is a Labour Councillor in Holbrooks and a champion of women’s rights; (3) Narinder Kaur Kooner is a Labour councillor for Handsworth Wood ward in Birmingham. The mum-of-four is an ardent campaigner on human rights and a community engagement activist.
Distinguished guests included the Lord Mayors of Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull, Walsall, Deputy Mayor of Dudley Cllr Mohammed Hanif and Mayoress Khanum, George Marsh and David Bradnock, Acting Lord Lieutenant and Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands, respectively and Kenneth Holmes, President of Coventry Rotary Club.
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