"Great honour" to be chairman, says councillor

From the Amesbury Journal, first published Thursday 22nd May 2003.

LAVERSTOCK councillor Frank Bissington is the new chairman of Salisbury district council.

He was elected to the office, in succession to Cllr Margaret Peach, at Monday night's annual meeting of the council.

Like Mrs Peach, Mr Bissington is a Conservative, and he was first elected to the council in 1991.

He lost his Laverstock seat when the Tories were routed by the Liberal Democrats at the polls in May 1995 but regained it in a by-election seven months later.

Now 70 and retired, Mr Bissington served 35 years in the army and later worked for the military as a civil servant for 11 years at Upavon.

He and his wife Norma have three children and nine grandchildren, who all live locally.

"It is a great honour to be chairman of the council and I'm very much looking forward to my year of office," he said.

Mrs Peach, who attended some 100 different functions during her year of office, including the visit to Salisbury for the Queen's golden jubilee celebrations by the Earl and Countess of Wessex, said she had been proud to serve the district.

And she won the praises of her own party and opposition groups for the "fair and good-spirited" way she had conducted the business of the council.

Tory leader of the council Kevin Wren told her: "You have brought grace and elegance to the role of chairman."

Archive Home