TWO men who have played a vital role in improving community relations in Huddersfield are retiring.
Stanley Inniss MBE, 70, of Birkby, has been chairman of the Huddersfield Ethnic Minority Police Community Liaison Committee since it was set up 29 years ago in 1975.
Kartar Singh Kathuria OBE, 66, of Springwood, is the vice-chairman and has also been a member of the group for 29 years.
The organisation was set up to defuse any potential problems, relating to ethnic communities and the police.
Mr Inniss said: "Huddersfield has the longest-standing police minorities liaison committee in England and Wales.
"We got the go-ahead to form the committee in 1975. The whole idea behind it was to work with the police and nip anything in the bud that we thought could be a potential problem, before it became a major issue.
"Our aim was to achieve peace and happiness in the community."
Insp Mark Broadhead, of Huddersfield Police Community Safety Department, said: "I would like to express my congratulations to Stanley Inniss and Kartar Singh Kathuria for their excellent efforts during the past 29 years.
"Bobbies who started on the beat back in the mid 1970s are coming up to retirement soon.
"Mr Inniss and Mr Kathuria have provided that same length of service, spanning a full police career, to the people of Huddersfield."
He added: "This is a real achievement. I cannot pay enough praise for the work that has been done."
Mr Innis, a former worker at David Brown Gears, Lockwood, and Mr Kathuria, a former teacher at Fartown High School, received certificates of merit and engraved pens and paperweights in recognition of their services.
Mr Inniss will be succeeded by Michael Lyn, 38, of Dalton.
Mr Kathuria will be replaced by Mr Jas Sohanpal, 51, of Golcar.
