He had popped bottles of fizz to celebrate the arrival in Marlborough of the town council’s splendid new Mayoral chain and a handful of councillors sat chatting awaiting its historic arrival from Birmingham.
But for Councillor Guy Loosmore, coming to the close of his year as Marlborough’s Mayor, it was to become a distressing waiting game as the original deadline of 11.30 passed an there was no sign of it.
Then it was 12.30 , then 1.30 with no information at all as to the whereabouts of the 18 carat gold chain set with precious sapphires and garnets, en route from the celebrated jewellers Thomas Fattorini to Marlborough Town Hall yesterday (Friday).
And there was no contact either with its usually ebullient sales manager Michael Moore, who had set out at 10.15 on his mission to deliver the magnificent new chain to replace the chain stolen by daring thieves from the Mayor’s Parlour last October.
I had been there waiting to capture the unique event since 12. 45 having trudged through the rain. And at 1.45 I reluctantly departed the council chamber, umbrella in hand, dodged the High Street traffic to walk home.
And there standing on the pavement, his face almost hidden in a dripping wet raincoat hood, stood smiling Michael Moore, his madcap motorway journey finally – and safely — over.
So I guided him back to the Town Hall where only the Mayor and Mayoress were still patiently waiting, together with Town Clerk Shelley Parker, and jubilantly shouted: “I’ve found him at last!”
Minutes later, 39-year-old Michael Moore was unlocking his steel security case to reveal the sparkling mayoral chain, putting on white gloves and investing Councillor Loosmore, already robed in his crimson ceremonial gown.
A magical moment indeed.
“You always have that terrible feeling in the back of your mind that things can somehow go wrong,” the Mayor told Marlborough News Online. “But in the end the new mayoral chain is here in Marlborough and that’s the most important thing.
“Michael has delivered it before the mayor-making event tonight and I have received it on behalf of the town, if somewhat later than expected. An historic drama indeed, our new chain starting off its life in this dramatic story of its journey to get here on time.
“And it really is in sparkling gold that will impress people in all the years to come.”
Town Clerk Shelley Parker, who had been making frantic phone calls to discover the whereabouts of the unique new chain, was herself impressed.
“It really is fabulous, the jewellers have done a really brilliant job,” she declared.
But what actually happened to Michael Moore en route to Marlborough?
“I set out from Birmingham at 10.15 this morning and then hit a road closure on the A417 just after I came off the M5,” he explained in graphic detail. “But I had to get back onto the motorway somehow.
“I went south back down towards Stroud and Cirencester and the traffic wasn’t very kind to me either, making it a frustrating a journey.
“I got off at junction 11a where we were diverted into a village called Shuttleborough, or something silly like that, only to find the traffic was totally gridlocked and not moving at all.
“So in the end I had to return to where I almost started and come back to the M5 again to get here
“Then I found that my mobile was dead and couldn’t phone anybody. I had charged it up but it suddenly died technically for some unknown reason. So I had no way of telling anyone where I was and they couldn’t contact me either.”
And he added: “It was a real nightmare, absolutely, the most distressing part of the whole project of creating Marlborough’s new mayoral chain. But we made it here in the end.”
