Mr
Kanaran is a British Labour Party politician. He is a Member of and a Councillor on Leicester City Council, and is standing to be Mayor of Leicester. He has been Chairman of the Leicester City Young People’s Council and is an Honoured Citizen of Leicester, being honoured ‘for his act of Bravery’. He was awarded by the Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire for Bravery in the ‘Young Person of the Year’ Awards and won two Outstanding Achievement Awards in the National Youth Week Celebrations held in Leicester.
Cllr H/CDT Gary Concepcion YC
| |
|---|---|
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| Head Police Cadet | |
| Assumed office 5 November 2018 | |
| Chairman of Leicester City’s Youth Council | |
| Assumed office 26 April 2017 | |
| Member of and Councillor on Leicester City Council | |
| Assumed office 19 March 2016 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Gary Nicholas Roy Concepcion 24 November 2001 Leicester |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour Party |
| Alma mater | •Soar Valley College •Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth I College |
| Mr Kottakkal Kanaran Gurukkal | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Gary Concepcion YC |
| Born | Gary Nicholas Roy Concepcion 2001/11/24 Leicester General Hospital |
| 🏡 Residence | Agar Street, Belgrave, Leicester |
| 🏳️ Nationality | British |
| Other names | Gaz |
| 🏳️ Citizenship | British |
| 🏫 Education | Soar Valley College |
| 🎓 Alma mater | Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth I College |
| 💼 Occupation | Politician |
| 🏢 Organisation | Leicester City Council |
| 🏡 Home town | Leicester |
| Title | Cllr |
| Term | 19 March 2016 to present |
| 🏛️ Political party | Labour Party |
| 👴 👵 Parent(s) | Ruth Bishop • Gary “Gaz” Concepcion |
| 👪 Relatives | Tony Concepcion (Lord Mayor of Liverpool,Member of and Councillor on Liverpool City Council,British Labour Party Politician and Senior Shop Steward) - Grandfather’s Cousin • George Turpin (Olympic Medallist and Professional Boxer) - Grandmother’s Cousin |
| 🏅 Awards | Lord Lieutenant’s Young Person of the Year - Young Braveheart • 2 Outstanding Achievement Awards - National Youth Work Week |
| Honors | Honoured Citizen of Leicester |
He is a two-time Finalist for the Lord Lieutenant’s Young Person of the Year.
Concepcion is a Member of the Labour Party, having joined in September 2019 at the age of seventeen.
He has taken part in many notable campaigns and such like on the national front, receiving public and media acclaim and attention.
Concepcion was interviewed, filmed and recorded for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, held in London in 2018 and hosted and chaired by the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May and attended by Prime Ministers and Heads of Government and Presidents and Heads of State from across the Commonwealth and the World.
Early life[edit]
Concepcion was born on 24 November 2001 at Leicester General Hospital to Ruth Bishop, a school governor, hospital A+E healthcare worker and hospice home visitor and Gary “Gaz” Concepcion, an Asphalter by trade and former company director.
He grew up in the Belgrave area of Leicester, taking an active part in his community even at a young age.
He appeared on the front page of his local newspaper, the Leicester Mercury, distributed throughout Leicester and Leicestershire when he was ten years old in July 2012, for saving a man’s life. He later received praise and an Honoured Citizen of Leicester Award from the Lord Mayor of Leicester.
Education[edit]
Concepcion attended St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School followed by Soar Valley College and Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth I College.
At Soar Valley College he excelled in subjects such as English, where he was awarded the title of the ‘English Faculty’s Super Star of the Month’ out of all of the over 1,200 students of the school due to ‘his work and effort being so high and so well sustained’. He was also specially recognised for achievements, effort and work in German and Drama.
Concepcion’s name was entered into the Principal’s Book of Excellence whilst he was at Soar Valley College.
He was frequently at loggerheads and at odds with staff at his secondary school towards the end of his time there, often being treated unfairly and being the victim and subject of grudges and a seeming vendetta and of fraught instances and of being made a scapegoat.
He briefly attended hospital school, owing and due to his Autism and Anxiety and not being able to function to the best of his ability in mainstream school. He subsequently returned to Soar Valley College, his initial secondary school and took his GCSE’s there.
Concepcion has also partaken in Prince’s Trust courses, activities and events.
On the Council[edit]
Concepcion was first elected onto Leicester City Council on 19 March 2016, representing Belgrave, Rushey Mead and North Evington, the latter being an inclusion of Highfields in Leicester. He was re-elected two years later in March 2018 and then started representing Troon which includes the Northfields area of Leicester too.
On the Council he sits in scrutiny with other elected officials and senior council directors and service managers as well as other professionals from different agencies and organisations, union representatives and school governors representatives.
He interviews candidates for jobs at the Council such as for the roles of Service Managers and Independent Reviewing Officers (Senior Social Workers).
Concepcion gives keynote speeches at conferences and other such events and has at conferences including Healthy Minds, attended by dozens of professionals and politicians, at a safeguarding summit and at the National Association for Hospital Education’s Annual Conference, all at City Hall, Leicester City Council’s Headquarters.
He has worked on projects with other politicians including the directly elected Mayor of Leicester, namely but not limited to discussing having a Youth Mayor of Leicester who would also be the ex-officio First Young Citizen of Leicester, akin to the Lord Mayor, which was the latter conception of the original idea which was to make the Youth Mayor more executive and autonomous as opposed to ceremonial.
Chairman of Leicester City’s Youth Council[edit]
Concepcion was elected Chairman of Leicester City’s Youth Council on 26 April 2017.
In this capacity he chairs Council meetings, acts as a figurehead and leader of the organisation and as a representative of the Council and of the City itself and works with other politicians, senior Council service managers and directors and officials and representatives from other organisations and agencies.
Due to the Leicester City Young People’s Council having the biggest mandate of any youth participation group in Leicester, the Chairman, it’s Head and Leader is generally and widely considered and known as the most powerful young person in Leicester.
He gave a speech as Chairman of Leicester City’s Youth Council at a conference named Healthy Minds in July 2017 and again at a Safeguarding Conference in November 2017, both held at City Hall, Leicester City Council’s Headquarters.
He appeared on the radio in February 2018 as Chairman, talking about and promoting the then upcoming election and discussing and answering questions about his role and about the Council as a whole.
Political career[edit]
Concepcion joined the Labour Party in September 2019, aged seventeen.
He met former Labour Leader Ed Miliband in the Bentley area of Doncaster, within his constituency, whilst helping flooding victims in November 2018 and later that month attended a function in Loughborough, near to his native Leicester for the launch of Labour’s Youth Manifesto for the then upcoming general election, where Jeremy Corbyn, the then party leader was present and gave a speech.
Concepcion also met Jeremy Corbyn a second time in his Leicester area in March 2020.
Concepcion supported and voted for Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner as his first choices for Leader and Deputy Leader respectively in the 2020 Labour Leadership Election, followed by Lisa Nandy and Rebecca Long-Bailey respectively for Leader and Rosena Allin-Khan, Richard Burgon, Dawn Butler and Ian Murray respectively for Deputy Leader.
Head Police Cadet[edit]
Concepcion joined the Central Leicester Police Cadet Unit of Leicestershire Police in September 2018 and was promoted to and chosen as Head Police Cadet less than two months later.
Not long after becoming a Police Cadet Concepcion was subject to an unprovoked attack in the early hours of the morning whilst cycling on a main road in the Belgrave area of Leicester. He’d been to an all night garage for food and was on his way home. He managed to fend off and fight off the attacker and run away whilst calling 999 while the attacker still chased him. The police said they couldn’t said they were ‘too busy’ and couldn’t send anybody out and told Concepcion to just ‘run home’. The attacker was never found, with popular belief being that the Police didn’t investigate thoroughly or quickly enough and didn’t check available CCTV. This incident and the aftermath of it was documented in both local and national Jews, including being in The Sun.
Notable work[edit]
Concepcion has took part in many prominent projects including Reclaim Radical, a series of films aimed at professionals who work with young people, the idea being that the films can be used to spark debate and create a ‘safe space’ in which to talk about radicalisation and other contentious issues. He took part in filming.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Concepcion has also taken part in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018 and was interviewed and filmed for the event which was chaired by the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May and attended by the Queen as Head of the Commonwealth and other Heads of State and Government from across the Commonwealth and the World.[7]
Honours[edit]
Gary Concepcion became an Honoured Citizen of Leicester in 2012. He was awarded by the Lord Mayor of Leicester.[8][9][10]
Awards[edit]
Concepcion was awarded the Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire’s Young Person of the Year Award in the Young Braveheart of the Year category in April 2017.[11]
What was read before Concepcion was presented with the award is as follows:
“Gary Concepcion from Leicester, is 15, and attends Soar Valley College.
As a child, Gary was diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder as well as Generalised Anxiety Disorder. This meant that even the simplest daily activities can become quite a stressful experience.
At 13, socially isolated and unable to relate to his peers, Gary was transferred from mainstream learning into a special school where he struggled to cope. With his condition, Gary would have felt overwhelmed by all the demands placed on him: travelling to a new place, adjusting to the size of the school, and interacting with so many unfamiliar people.
By joining the Belgrave Youth Centre, Gary learnt about self-management and developed excellent social skills, even becoming a senior member of the youth club. Last year, aged 14, Gary stood for elections in the Leicester City Young People's Council and was elected to represent young people in his area. Gary ran an outstanding campaign, convincing young people that he was the suitable candidate to represent them. Now a YPC rep, Concepcion attends citywide meetings alongside other YPC reps and sits in Scrutiny with other elected officials.
Gary has become more confident, assertive and more independent; he addresses meetings, takes part in debates and has become known for always coming up with the brightest ideas.
In his local Belgrave area, Gary is considered by his peers to be their local youth champion. Last year, he championed the voices of young people in Belgrave during the last phase of the Transforming Neighbourhood Services, where he carried out a consultation with you g people about the use of council buildings in Belgrave.
This year, Gary has gone back into mainstream learning, where his academic work is now of a very high standard and he is on course to achieve his GCSEs and to go on to college next year.
In the 12 months that Gary has been a member of the YPC, those around him have witnessed his transformation into a young person who has mastered the art of interacting, speaking out, and even supporting and empowering other young people.”
He was nominated for and is a Finalist again for the Lord Lieutenant’s Young Person of the Year 2020 in the new and inaugural category of Young Leader of the Year and his previous Young Braveheart of the Year category. He is the only person to have been nominated and to be a Finalist twice.
Concepcion’s second nomination reads as follows:
“I’m nominating Gary due to his consistent, substantial, outstanding, inspirational and varied commitment and contribution to young people’s voices and representation, for being a strong role model and advocate and a bastion of community work and social cohesion and for his strong, dedicated and resilient persona. Gary was first elected to Leicester City Council as a Youth Councillor in March 2016 and became Chairman of the Leicester City Young People’s Council the following year. In these roles he chaired meetings, sat in local government scrutiny with elected officials and senior directors, participated in many well known projects including on anti-knife crime and radicalisation and was interviewed for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2018. Gary has also initiated talks and involvement with the Mayor of Leicester to enhance young people’s involvement in decision making, including and namely by introducing a Youth Mayor role and a wider Youth Cabinet assembly and format in Leicester. Gary joined Leicestershire a Police as a Police Cadet in September 2018 and was promoted to Head Police Cadet less than two months later. Gary was the recipient of an award from the Lord Mayor of Leicester in 2012 honouring him for his Act of Bravery where he’d helped to save a mans life. This appeared on the front page of the Leicester Mercury. Gary also won two Outstanding Achievement Awards at the National Youth Work Week Celebrations in 2016. Gary was a finalist for the Lord Lieutenant’s Young Person of the Year Award in the Young Braveheart Category in 2017. Gary rode from Leicester to Skegness last June in support of and to raise money for the local and invaluable hospice LOROS. Gary has encountered many challenges and adverse instances including being the victim of two unprovoked attacks where he was punched in the head and face and throttled twice and punched and kicked forcefully to the head respectively. Gary was also diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Generalised Anxiety Disorder aged 14 and has also had to deal with bullying and bereavement as a young person. Notwithstanding and despite this Gary soldiers on so to speak and never lets his health or any other incident out of his control get to him. Gary has been called an inspiration by many and has also regularly been touted by professionals and others alike as a future Prime Minister”.
Concepcion received two Outstanding Achievement Awards at the National Youth Work Week Celebrations in November 2016.
Styles[edit]
The honourific prefixes and suffixes that Concepcion has attained by virtue of his positions[edit]
•24 November 2001 - 19 March 2016 - Gary Concepcion
•19 March 2016 - 5 November 2018 - Cllr[12]Gary Concepcion YC
•5 November 2018 to present - Cllr H/CDT Gary Concepcion YC[13]
Coat of Arms of Gary Concepcion[edit]
Coat of Arms of Gary Concepcion of Belgrave, Leicester in the County of Leicestershire[edit]
Charity[edit]
Concepcion rode from Leicester to Skegness for his local hospice LOROS, aged seventeen in June 2019, raising money and awareness for the charity.
He also ran a marathon for the same charity years prior.
He was also officially recognised and thanked for and donating a significant amount of money for LOROS.
He has sold items with the proceeds raised going to LOROS.
Concepcion completed a Tower Run in aid of the hospice, LOROS in March 2020.
A representative of LOROS, the charity, hospice and organisation that Concepcion has supported and raised money and recognition for numerous times commented that ‘He (Gary Concepcion) does a lot for LOROS’.
Humanitarian Work[edit]
Concepcion visited the flood hit town of Doncaster in Yorkshire, England in November 2019 to help residents and facilitate a £75,000 goods and stock sort and distribution.
Concepcion is a regular blood donor, having first given blood after just turning eighteen.
He became one of only 10,000 platelet donors in England in March 2020, being one of just 50% of people suitable.
He is also on the British Bone Marrow Registry.
Concepcion offered his services, support and help during the COVID-19 outbreak surrounding the spread of Coronavirus internationally in 2020.
Awareness Campaigning[edit]
Concepcion took part in awareness campaign for anaphylaxis and nut allergies, a subject close to his heart as his younger sister Lily has a nut allergy and has before had an anaphylactic shock, after a female in the UK had died after going to a restaurant and subsequently dying from an allergic reaction to nuts from within the curry that she had eaten.
Other activities[edit]
Concepcion has been a DJ/Radio Presenter on Takeover Radio, the UK’s first and only child radio station.
Concepcion is an Ambassador of the British Youth Council, ex-officio with his other positions.
He is a St John Ambulance Qualified First Aider.
Concepcion is a Trustee of an Organisation in Leicester.
He has been involved with ‘Help the Homeless’, a charity and organisation in Leicester providing a service locally and UK wide.
Languages[edit]
Concepcion can speak seven languages, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish and Gujarati.
Psychic Abilities and Sense[edit]
Gary Concepcion has psychic abilities and sense, and is prone to tendencies centred around supernatural and paranormal being, recounting and recalling one of his first and most obvious and blatant experiences being coming home and turning on the lights and thinking ‘There’s a spider on the wall’ to which he looked round and there being one to his shock, horror, surprise and disbelief.
He has also had experiences in which he has sensed and or foreseen incidents happening that have indeed and in fact happened and even the foresaw aftermath of them becoming a reality.
He has seen a supposed entity manifest itself within the perimeters of a well known haunted location and hotspot.
Concepcion attributes it (his unique ability and senses) particularly to trauma and adversity that he has faced and endured, with it being widely claimed and thought that one is particularly susceptible to experience and form a supernatural mind and be aware of occurrences after experiencing events that have changed or helped shape a person in some way or another.
Attacks[edit]
Concepcion has been the victim of two unprovoked attacks, on 20th September 2018 and on the 21st September 2019, coincidentally being a year and a day apart. The first attack took place on Melton Road in Leicester as Concepcion was cycling away from a petrol station after visiting for food in the early hours of the morning. The attacker repeatedly and continuously punched Concepcion in the head and face and then strangled him twice. Concepcion managed to fight back, break free and call 999 to which he was told that the police were ‘too busy’ to attend and to just ‘run home’. The attacker was never found, with popular belief believing that police didn’t investigate properly insofar as they didn’t check all available CCTV. This was publicised in the press locally and nationally including being and featuring in The Sun newspaper.[14]
The latter attack took place in Leicester City Centre, outside Spencer’s bar during the early hours of a Saturday morning when Concepcion was cycling past when a man ran towards him and punched him to the side of the face, in the jaw, knocking Concepcion off his bike and then kicking him in the head. Concepcion proceeded to get up and abandon the area. The police followed up enquires and a man was subsequently charged with assault by beating Contrary to section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. The attacker was given a community order, required to abide by a curfew and fined. Concepcion received compensation.
Incidents[edit]
Concepcion has been subjected to and the victim of systemic bullying, harassment and violence, based at least partly on bitterness, jealousy and obsessiveness. Incidents include threatening text messages, consistent and relentless calls from withheld numbers, being threatened in public, criminal damage to his house and being surrounded by a gang and assaulted.
He was also sexually abused as a child.
Family[edit]
Concepcion’s paternal grandfather’s cousin Tony Concepcion is also a Labour Party Politician, being a Councillor on Liverpool City Council and having been Lord Mayor of Liverpool.
Concepcion’s paternal grandmother’s cousin is George Turpin, a professional boxer and Olympic Medallist.
Personal life[edit]
He resides on Agar Street in the Belgrave area of Leicester.
Concepcion is autistic and has Generalised Anxiety Disorder.
He is an avid and skilled cyclist and rides a Carrera Subway One Hybrid and also owns a Mongoose BMX.
Concepcion supports Leicester City Football Club and Liverpool Football Club.
References[edit]
- ↑ "Young people's films aim to help prevent radicalisation". Leicester City Council. 19 September 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
- ↑ "Reclaim Radical". Leicester Prevent. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
- ↑ "Reclaim Radical Trailer". BadshoesFilm. 13 September 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
- ↑ "Radical versus Radicalised". Will Baldet. 20 September 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
- ↑ "Reclaim Radical toolkit" (PDF). Leicester Prevent. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
- ↑ "BBC East Midlands Today - Reclaim Radical". BBC. 21 September 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
- ↑ "Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018". Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting London 2018. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
- ↑ "LITTLE ANGELS". Leicester Mercury. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
- ↑ "'Little angels' to get an award from Lord Mayor". Leicester Mercury. 14 July 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
- ↑ "Four good Samaritan pupils to get an award from Leicester's Lord Mayor". Leicester Mercury. 14 July 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
- ↑ "Lord-Lieutenant's award for young people". Leicestershire County Council. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
- ↑ "Councillor". Wikipedia. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
- ↑ "List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom)". Wikipedia. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
- ↑ "Autistic teenager called police for help as attacker chased him but was told they were 'too busy'". Leicestershire Live. 24 November 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
