Page 1077 - Reading Mercury

th
Thur 5 Feb
WOMAN NEXT MAYOR
Since Wokingham’s first mayor took office in 1885 the tendency has been for men
to wear the chain of office, but this year, for only the fifth time, a woman will hold the
honour. The choice of the Mayoral Selection Committee fell on Mrs. Margaret Busst,
aged 55, of Mill Close, Wokingham, who has been a town councillor for more than
eight years, and the town council accepted the recommendation last week.
The new Mayor, who begins her term of office in May, was born in Birmingham in
1960. She has been a widow for just over two years, and her daughter, Mrs. Anne
Giddings who lives in Wokingham with her husband and three children, will be the
new Mayoress.
An insatiable interest in politics drew Mrs. Busst to Conservative Association
meetings in the early 1960s and, from the very beginning planning was her particular
niche.
Mrs. Busst .is Chairman of the Town Council’s Planning Committee, a member of
.the Finance and General Purposes Committee and is also on the Planning Committee
of Wokingham District Council.
Her local interests are the Wokingham and District Association for the elderly, of
which she is a committee member, and the Friends of Little Court. She is also on the
Board of Managers at Walter County Infants’ School and on the Board of Governors
at Holt School.
Mrs. Busst is a senior Accounts Clerk with Ridat Engineering Co. Ltd; of Fishponds
Road, Wokingham.

th
Thur 12 Feb
MR. SMITH IS NEW LORD LIEUTENANT FOR BERKSHIRE
Mr. John Smith C.B.E., of Shottesbrooke Park, has become the new Lord Lieutenant
for Berkshire. The announcement that the Queen had been graciously pleased to
approve his appointment came at mid-day on Tuesday in joint announcements from
the Prime Minister’s office, and the Lord Lieutenant’s office at Shire Hall, Reading.
Mr. Smith (52) formerly an M.P. and High Steward of Maidenhead, is closely
involved in environmental projects through the National Trust and the Manifold and
Landmark Trusts, which he and his wife, Christian, founded.
He succeeds the Hon. David Smith (to whom he is not related) who retired on health
grounds last December.
Mr. Smith, who inherited Shottesbrooke Park from his cousin, Miss Nancy Oswald
Smith, was High Steward of Maidenhead for nine years and last year was made the
first Freeman of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
From 1956 to 1974 he was President of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and
Oxfordshire Non-County Boroughs Association. He is also President of the
Maidenhead Civic Society, the Regatta and other local bodies, and of the Reading
branch of the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust. He is a Fellow of Eton College.
He has been a member of the staff, and then a director, of Coutts and Co. for the
past 27 years, He was a member of Parliament for the Cities of London and
Westminster for five years up to 1970, a member of the Executive of the 1922
Committee and on the Public Account Committee, and was one of the sponsors of the
Civic Amenities Act and on the Committee for the Countryside Act.
He was educated at Eton and New College, Oxford, for which he rowed and served
in the Fleet Air Arm for four years during the war as a Lieutenant R.N.V.R, in the
Mediterranean, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

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