Marlborough’s new Mayor takes office in an evening of civic splendour at the Town Hall tomorrow (Friday), an event delayed to await the arrival of the new 18 carat gold mayoral chain to replace the one stolen by daring thieves last October.
That alone will make it a moment of history for Councillor Marian Hannaford-Dobson as she is installed as the first Mayor to wear the new chain for a full forthcoming year in office as Marlborough’s first citizen.
And a poignant moment too for love and marriage as the combined families of her second husband, Councillor Stewart Dobson, and herself as they watch the ceremony take place and attend a civic banquet afterwards.
For the first time Marian saw Stewart was when she was invited to his Mayor-making ceremony in 1999 at the Town Hall, invited by Stewart’s mother, who lived in the same road as her.
Marian and her late husband, David Hanniford, sales director of Thorn EMI, had come to live in Marlborough in 1981, their children attracted to the town by its Christmas lights they saw when driving through en route to Portsmouth, where Marian’s parents lived.
And Marian, who had worked in banking after leaving school and spent six years in a Signals Unit of the Territorial Army, subsequently worked for two building societies, in Marlborough and Pewsey, before making a career change and setting up her own nursery school for 60 children.
In 2000 she was persuaded by veteran campaigner Harry Beckhough, now a centenarian and the oldest member of the current Conservative Party nationally, to stand for election to the Town Council, her success there resulting in her also becoming a member of the now defunct Kennet District Council and Wiltshire County Council.
“After the death of my husband in 2003, like many bereaved people, I found refuge in hard work,” Marian told Marlborough News Online. “At that time I was representing the people of Marlborough at all three tiers of local government at the same time, a challenge I really enjoyed.”
One, too, that resulted in her finding new married joy with Stewart Dobson, himself a widower, then living in Manton, whom she married in 2005.
“We sat opposite each other in the council chamber – and we fell in love,” she said, the Dobson family significantly dating back four generations in Marlborough’s history.
“We now have seven children between us and with all their partners there will be a combined family party of 13 at the ceremony plus two of my sisters and a brother who are coming.
“Our children have produced five beautiful grandchildren in the first four years of our marriage and two of our daughters-in-law are expecting babies this year.
So becoming Mayor will be truly be a special occasion.”
Marian’s entry into politics came as something of a surprise for her parents, Labour supporters living in Portsmouth, but her devoted career as a Conservative councillor has now won her reaching the mayoralty.
It will be an opportunity for her see the installation of CCTV in the High Street, for which she has campaigned for 12 years, to promote her plans for the Town Council’s offices to move into the Town Hall basement, and to revamp the town’s youth services.
And as a keen gardener at her home in Cross Lane, Marlborough, to play a role in town’s debut this year’s South West small town section of the Britain in Bloom competition.
“Becoming Mayor of Marlborough is a great honour, a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, and one to always to remember,” she declared.
