AN official portrait of former Mayor of Hamilton Lawson Mapp was unveiled at City Hall yesterday.Mr. Mapp was Mayor of Hamilton from 2000 to 2006, but served on the Corporation from 1979, starting off as a councillor and moving up the ranks to alderman in 1994.

He served two terms as Mayor of Hamilton and during this time said he enjoyed nothing more than spending time with school children who visited City Hall and his office.

“I met a lot of interesting people, but the thing I enjoyed the most was when I had school children visit me at City Hall and giving them a pep talk,” he said.

An active member of the Anglican Church, Mr. Mapp ran his own youth club from the Cathedral for many years and felt it was important to give the youth strong role models.

A self-proclaimed “Pond Dog”, Mr. Mapp grew up on Parsons Road and left school at the age of 16 to help his grandmother, who raised him.

“I went to work as a furniture maker and then worked at sanding and refinishing floors. After that I went into sign writing and attended the London College of Printing in 1961,” he said.

Mr. Mapp proudly added that he paid his own way to England and during this time was lucky enough to study drawing at the Victoria Albert Museum. “One of the chaps I used to draw with is now a big wig, Gerald Scarfe, who does caricatures of well-known politicians like Maggie Thatcher for the Sunday Times,” he said.

When he returned to Bermuda, Mr. Mapp worked as a sign writer and eventually started his own business, Mapp Signs Ltd.

“I’ve been signing up Bermuda since 1968!”

Even though he dropped out of school, Mr. Mapp said he never gave up on getting an education and after spending a day working as a carpenter, he would attend college classes — becoming an inveterate reader in the process.

“One of my bad habits is reading,” he chuckled, “and even today I still read. I buy the Daily Telegraph every week and read it from cover to cover. Nothing against The Royal Gazette, but the Daily Telegraph has not only news, but also medical news and the arts. There is so much to learn from reading it and, yes, I’m constantly learning,” he said. Since leaving office, the 70 year old remains actively involved in the sign- writing business, and said he was not ready to retire just yet.

Mr. Mapp’s oil portrait, in which he appears smiling and comfortably resting his arms on the back of a chair, was commissioned from renowned Bermudian portrait artist Diana Tetlow, whose subjects have included former US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Mr. Mapp said he was humbled and touched when told about the portrait.

“I’ll be on the wall with all those other Bermudians who came before me. Some high and mighty and me, a little insignificant man from Parsons Road will be up on the wall with all of them.

“In a way, the painting is about me, but I figured it could be an inspiration for young Bermudians to show that they can make a contribution to society using their gifts and skills the way I did to help make the community better. Whether it’s municipal or Government, just doing something to make a world a little better.”

Mayor’s portrait