AS towns across the district welcomed in the mayors for this year, Newton Abbot Town Council elected Cllr Liz Roberts to do the honours.

The Conservative councillor thanked her colleagues for electing her and said she would try her best to make the town a better place.

She also said she wants the town to work and live in harmony.

‘This is a town to be proud of,’ she said.

Cllr Roberts was born in Kitwe, Zambia, Central Africa, and was educated in Scotland and England before moving to Newton Abbot in 1994.

The new mayor has chosen the Memory Cafe and the Newton Abbot Community Transport Association as her chosen charities for her mayoral year.

Wolverhampton-born Liberal Democrat Cllr Ann Jones was later voted in as the deputy mayor.

Sally Henley, the town centre development manager, thanked the out-going mayor, Cllr Mike Ryan, for all he has done and presented him with a photo frame full of photos that Mid-Devon Advertiser series exchange student Juri Auel took of the mayor and mayoress.