Margaret Wilkinson elected as West Norfolk mayor for 2023 – with Paul Bland as deputy

Borough councillor Margaret Wilkinson has been elected as West Norfolk’s mayor for the coming year.

She took an oath at yesterday’s annual council meeting, with Cllr Paul Bland sworn in as her deputy.

Cllr Wilkinson replaces Lesley Bambridge, who completed 305 engagements during her time as mayor throughout the past year.

Outgoing borough council leader Stuart Dark officially nominated Cllr Wilkinson at Lynn’s town hall yesterday, describing her as “the right person” for the role.

For her chosen charities, the new mayor selected the Pandora Project and the Norfolk and Waveney Mind organisations to support.

Amani Habaibeh and Dawn Leigh have been selected as the mayor’s consorts.

Born in Edmonton, North London, Cllr Wilkinson survived the ravages of wartime bombing before losing both her parents when she was just nine years old.

She left school aged 15 and worked in London for Aquascutum, the luxury clothing retailer, before a stint at Burberry. In December 1958, she married her late husband Peter, who was in the Merchant Navy – and they went on to have a daughter and son.

Cllr Wilkinson then joined the NHS and worked for Tottenham Hotspur FC’s doctor in the mid 1960s. In 1967 she and Peter visited friends who had moved to Lynn, and liked the area so much that they opted to move here.

She worked in the first doctor’s surgery on the Fairstead Estate, when it was situated in a house, and was first elected as a borough councillor for the Fairstead ward in 1983.

Her 40 years of service make her one of the longest serving councillors, with her previous roles including a stint as chair of the environment committee.

In 1990, while working full-time and serving on the council, Margaret was approached to stand as a Justice of the Peace - a role which she continued for 20 years. She has also been an active member of the Unite trade union for more than 30 years.

Margaret was deputy mayor for two years from 2019 and took on that position again in 2022.

Cllr Bland, the new deputy mayor, was described as “a true Linnet” yesterday, having been born in Lynn and lived in West Norfolk for his entire life.

He moved to South Wootton in 1970 after marrying his wife Marion. The pair had had three children who attended local schools.

Marion will be the new deputy mayoress.

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