THE FUNERAL of a much-loved city councillor and former Lord Mayor will take place on Saturday (10 January).
Cllr Manjula Sood MBE, who was a city councillor for 25 years and the country’s first Asian female Lord Mayor, passed away on Christmas Eve at the age of 80.
Her funeral cortège will depart from the family home on Roundhill Road in Leicester at 8am on Saturday, pausing briefly on Evington Road (between Draper Street and Cromer Street) at 8.10am to allow some of the many people who knew and loved her to pay their respects.
At 8.15am, the cortège will move on from Evington Road, making its way to Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre via London Road, St Georges Way and Belgrave Road.
The cortège will pause outside the neighbourhood centre on Rothley Street at 8.35am, where many more people are expected to pay their respects, before continuing to the Freemasons’ Hall on London Road – via Belgrave Road and St Georges Way – where the funeral procession will pause briefly at 8.55am.
Parking restrictions will be in place at all three stopping points – on Evington Road, at Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre and at the Freemasons’ Hall – from the early hours of Saturday morning.
Members of the public are invited to pay their respects to Cllr Sood at any point along the cortège route.
The funeral service itself will be a private affair for family and invited guests only. The service will be broadcast via a weblink that will be shared by Cllr Sood’s family after the funeral.
Those wishing to make a donation in Manjula’s memory are invited to support two of her favourite charities: Healing Little Hearts and the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust. A donation box has also been placed at the Jalaram Mandir on Narborough Road.
People who would like to share their memories of Cllr Sood can sign an online book of condolence on the city council’s website or can add their tributes to a book of condolence that has been opened at the Jalaram Mandir.
ENDS
Photo credit: BBC