THE new mayor of Thornbury has taken the unprecedented step of nominating four consorts to accompany her during her year in office.

Cllr Phyllida Parsloe was elected as the town's new mayor yesterday evening and on accepting the job revealed that her consorts for the year would be students from The Castle School.

A mayor's consort is usually a spouse, partner or close friend.

Cllr Parsloe said: "I knew that the school wanted to have closer links with the town and all my family live in London.

"This way it is nice both for me to have some young people to go to events with and to improve the links between the school and the council.

"The students are a delight and we are all really pleased."

The students chosen to accompany Cllr Parlsoe are Matthew Wood, year 12, Tom Goddard, year 11, Olivia Cerullo, year 10 and Gurgeet Landa, year 9.

Tom said: "When we were offered the chance I just said yes. It is a really good opportunity for us and hopes to be very interesting."

Melanie Warnes, headteacher at The Castle School, said: "I was delighted when Phyllida Parsloe, the new Mayor, approached with this wonderful idea which has arisen through discussions about further developing our links with the town council. We are very proud to have our students involved."