Another surprise in the saga of Marlborough’s new Mayoral chain was revealed when Councillor Marian Hannaford-Dobson took office last night (Friday) as the town’s 519th Mayor before an audience of civic and military dignitaries, family and friends.
With all the customary pomp and ceremony, she had been escorted out of the Town Hall’s Court Room to the Mayor’s Parlour where outgoing Mayor Guy Loosmore was due to take off his traditional crimson robe – and that splendid new chain – for Marian to return wearing full regalia.
She did so to a round of applause – and to announce that to match the magnificent new chain of office she had secretly ordered a new Mayoral robe, to replace the current one, which has been in use for almost 40 years.
She praised Michael Moore and his specialist staff of 18 at the Birmingham company of Thomas Frattorini for creating a new chain that was “a masterpiece beyond our expectations”
She recalled too that when Thomas Free, six times Mayor of Marlborough, presented the original chain to the then borough council in 1911, he also provided a new Mayoral robe, one that was subsequently replaced almost 40 years ago.
“I feel very honoured to be the first Mayor of Marlborough to be inaugurated with this fine new chain and to wear it for its first year of office,” declared Mayor Marian, and then revealed her secret.
“What I have also tried to do is follow in the traditions set by Thomas Free by deciding to commission a new Mayoral robe, which I am wearing for the very first time tonight,” she told the unsuspecting audience.
“If Thomas Free is looking down on us, I do hope he will approve.”
But what she didn’t explain is that it is not yet known whether the Town Council will foot the bill for the new robe or whether the Mayor will pay for it herself.
The new robe, made by a specialist firm, Michaels Civic Robes of Bristol, whose latest clients have included the Lord Mayor of Bristol and the Mayor of Gloucester, can cost up to £1,000.
“Having fittings for it was very exciting and I am thrilled to have had it made,” Mayor Marian told Marlborough News Online. “The robe is made of fine woollen material with fake fur and red silk lining.
“It’s fantastic, a bit of an indulgence but something that will become part of the town’s history, just like the new mayoral chain, and that will last 40 years as the last one has.”
Robert Lawton, the deputy Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, one of the civic guests, congratulated her from his seat nearby, where he was accompanied by High Sheriff of Wiltshire, Peter Addington and his wife Rosemary.
Then Major Richard Stevens, from the 4MI battalion, which Marlborough has adopted as its own, presented her with a framed photograph of the Bulford-based battalion as a “bond of friendship”.
The council’s final meeting of the civic year also elected another woman, Councillor Margaret Rose, as deputy Mayor. She has been a councillor for 11 of her 35 years living in the Marlborough area, 27 of them as a dame in several of the houses at Marlborough College.
Tributes followed to Mayor Loosmore, in particular for its efforts to bind the town council and the community as one, and he in turn presented bouquets and gifts to Mayor Marian and members of the council staff.
The ceremonial evening concluded with a feast for honoured guests, fellow councillors and a small army of members of Mayor Marian’s family in the upstairs Assembly Hall, decorated with civic red balloons hanging over all the tables.
The evening come to a close with the Mayor declaring: “Thank you all once again for making my day perfect.”
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