Alderman honour for former mayors
JON MACPHERSON
TWO former mayors and long-serving councillors have been rewarded for their ‘excellent service’ with the title of Honorary Alderman.
Marlene Haworth - dubbed ‘The Mighty M’ - and Janet Storey were selected by Hyndburn council for the prestigious award following 24 years of combined service.
Conservative Mrs Haworth served Oswaldtwistle as St Oswald’s ward councillor for 12 years between 2004 and 2016 and was Mayor in 2015/16 - her final year.
Mrs Storey, who has lived in Clayton-le-Moors for 27 years, represented the area between 1998 and 2002 and again between 2003 and 2011, also as a Conservative.
Both received their titles at the full council meeting on September 21 from current Hyndburn Mayor Peter Britcliffe.
Coun Britcliffe told the meeting: “These are two people who gave very distinguished and very excellent service to this council over many, many years.”
Conservative group leader councillor Tony Dobson said: “Both ladies have a fantastic record of service, not only to this council but also to the communities of Claytonle-Moors and Oswaldtwistle that they represented.
“Janet and Marlene are deserving recipients of this award. My sincere thanks to you both and many congratulations.”
Council leader Miles Parkinson also praised the pair for their ‘extremely great service to the people of this borough’.
He told the meeting: “Marlene is a name we all know and listen to because she won’t let us get away without listening.
“Janet once coined the phrase of ‘Mr Switzerland’ on me many years ago.
“Now due to the rise of where I am now unfortunately I can’t be Mr Switzerland any more, as the public record will show. Someone has to make a decision and some people are happy and some people will be upset.
“Both of you are former mayors and did that with aplomb and raised a lot of money for good causes.”
Mrs Haworth, of Cranbrook Avenue, told the meeting: “Thank you very much for the honour, and it is an honour.”
Mrs Storey added: “It’s an honour to serve on the council. I remember being asked by Peter ‘can you stand in Clayton because we will never get in’, but I think he’s said that to every Conservative councillor that ever stood there. For all the ups and downs we did have a good time.”