WELLINGTON’S new mayor Cllr Janet Lloyd will take office at the town council’s annual meeting on Wednesday (May 1) and one of her first duties will be to pitch a baseball.

The town’s Khaki Sox baseball team has invited the mayor to attend its first home game of the season on May 12 to meet the players and throw the first pitch.

Club spokesman Martin James said: “Not many people are aware of the successes of the team, but with regular match reports and photos appearing in the Wellington Weekly, more and more locals are hearing about the sport and attending training.

“We are back-to-back league champions and going into the new season with confidence.”

It will be the third time Cllr Lloyd has been mayor, after holding office in 2015-16 and again from 2019 to 2021, during which the town was subject to the national Covid-19 lockdown.

Cllr Lloyd said it was a privilege and honour for a councillor to be elected mayor and represent the community at events far and wide.

She said: “We are in challenging times with the devolution of services and assets from Somerset Council for which the town council will now have to take responsibility and meet the costs.

“But I look forward with relish to taking on the challenge and working with our officers and councillors to make the best of it for the community we represent.

“We can hopefully improve the town by delivering services better and with more value for money and together make Wellington and even better place in which to live and work.”

Cllr Lloyd said she would be pleased to take up the baseball invitation from the Khaki Sox team.

However, she said: “What do I know about baseball? Absolutely nothing.

“I played rounders at school until I was 11, but that was a long time ago.

“I have seen some baseball on television but I will have to quickly try to learn more about the sport.”

During her first term as mayor, Cllr Lloyd bowled the traditional first wood of the new season for Wellington Bowling Club.