Thursday 9th May 2013

Yesterday saw the 373rd Mayor of Chesterfield take office, after being sworn in at a Council Meeting in the evening.

Cllr Paul Stone took the oath of office last night at the Council's annual meeting, assisted by Mrs Barbara Wallace as Mayoress.



Councillor Donald Parsons and his wife Diane (above) have been Mayor and Mayoress of Chesterfield for the past year - a year which has taken in the Queen's Jubilee celebrations and the Olympic Torch parade through Chesterfield.

The Chesterfield Post spoke with them yesterday morning in the parlour as they carried out their final day of engagements - fittingly showing the children from their local school, Poolsbrook Primary, around the Parlour and chambers.

In an emotional interview, The Mayor expressed his gratitude and thanks to the people of Chesterfield who he says have been a privilege to serve.

A proud military man himself, he has taken particular pride in events featuring our Forces and has ensured that those serving abroad have been at the forefront of minds in Chesterfield.

Sadly one of the Mayoral duties is to write letters of condolence to families who have lost loved ones in conflict from our local Regiments, and Don knows all too well the cost of serving Queen and Country.

Poignantly, on his last day in office, His Worship took the time during our interview to record a personal video message (below) to those troops from Chesterfield currently away from home, thanking them on behalf of the people of Chesterfield for their service.

We began by asking him how does he feel on this, his last day as Mayor...
"Sad! I will miss it but Diane will miss it more. I am tired but definitely glad I've done it. I was worried about taking it on but the Civic staff, Tony, Nico and Vivien have been 100% wonderful and no Mayor should have any worries when you have staff like that to look after you. The press too have been good to me as well, so a special thanks to them."

What will you take away from this year?
"As you know, I am a Royalist, so meeting the Queen, Prince Andrew twice and William and Kate are memories that will go to my grave with me. The Olympic relay was fantastic and is a one in a lifetime memory.

"It's been a massive year for us, with the Freedom of the Town given to the 9/12th Lancers and the march-by where I inspected the 575 Royal Engineers was particularly emotional for me, as I was a member of that regiment as a Territorial, so that was a proud moment.

"Then there are the little jewels of Chesterfield - I though I knew a lot about the town but, humbly, I found out that I didn't know as much as I thought I did!"

You're a Chesterfield lad so you must have been proud and, your family must have been proud to see you as Mayor of Chesterfield?
"My family have been more than proud and my village has been too - 100% - and fundraising in my village alone has raised well over £1,000, which is wonderful for a little village like Poolsbrook and I'd like to say thank you. They've always been there to assist me.

"Family has had to be put out a little bit - but they've never complained - and we have years to come watching our grandchildren grow up. We had one grand daughter born during our Mayoral year too, Tilly, which was lovely."

Your elected charities have been, in the main, military based and you are a military man. It must have meant a lot to you to be able to give something back to them?
"It is, to know that people in Chesterfield support the Armed Forces and I will give a big thank you to Ethel Lawrence here, she runs the Shoebox Appeal and, despite a difficult time when she lost her husband Peter, has done race nights without Peter and carried on. I've been presented with certificates from them and from The Sherwood Forester's Association and from the Royal Engineers. It's all been very emotional."

His Worship went on to pay tribute to his committee who have worked tirelessly to raise money for the Mayor's Appeal...
"The Committee have done a lot of work. I told them what I needed and they got on with it and they earned me money, so a special thank you to all of the committee as every one of them has worked hard for us.

"My main charity is Nenna Kind and they will get 40% of the funds, with the others getting 20% each (Shoebox Appeal and Staveley and Chesterfield Armed Forces Day). We think we have raised about £17,000 so far, so we're very proud.

"We've made lots of friends and they will be personal friends for life. I've made friends from other political parties who have become friends, so it just shows, they're all the same as me!"

Don has worked full time throughout his year and we asked him, what next?
"Get some of my life back and my family life back - then plan a holiday!"

A very emotional Mayoress said she was extremely sad to leave office...
"I'm really the same as Don - very emotional. It's gone so quickly. We've met so many nice people and very much enjoyed and been honoured to represent Chesterfield."

As he leaves office and hands over to Cllr Stone, The mayor had these words for him...
"Good luck to you both - if you need me, I'm a phone call away!"

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