A DAUGHTER of York has been elected first citizen of a Surrey town.
Mrs Maureen Nyazai, who was born and educated in the city, has been made the 164th Mayor of Godalming.
She was born Mary Maloney and first lived in Poppleton Road, York, before she moved to Oliver House residential home in Priory Street, Bishophill, where her mother was matron for several years.
Her late father worked as a tutor at Bootham Park Hospital and was later deputy matron at The Retreat psychiatric hospital, in Heslington Road, York.
She was educated at English Martyrs' School and then at The Bar Convent Grammar School.
She studied Spanish and English at London University and trained as a teacher at Reading University, teaching in Kent for a number of years before moving to Godalming in 1975.
Mrs Nyazai, who has five children and two step-children, has been a campaigning town councillor since 1991.
She said: "To be mayor in the Millennium year is very exciting."
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