Guest 648- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 258
I attended the memorial service for Marie yesterday.It was held in St Marys.Marie was a legend of the Labour Party and was a well respected councillor.I did not work with her as she left the year I became a councillor.I did know her though through her work with Age Concern the reason I was at the service.The congregation enjoyed singing "Onward Christian Solidiers"A peoples person.Marie along with Kathleen Goodfellow and Edith Hadden were very strong on Housing Issuies.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Hi Sue thanks for that. I myself dont know who Marie Hart was but she seems to have been a well known local figure. And along with the two other ladies names mentioned probably all together helped pioneer the way for women in local politics and gave them a louder voice.
For your info PaulB and anyone else who may not have known - (I have copied this out of the Mercury from when she died last year). I kept it because she was one of Dover's characters and should be remembered.
Former Mayor of Dover Marie Hart has died.
A trade union organiser in Yorkshire in the 1930s, she successfully campaigned for an increase in wages for women working in the clothing industry.
When she first came to Dover on holiday from her home in Yorkshire in 1938 Marie said she was struck by the cleanliness of the town.
She returned in 1946 and was then impressed by the defiance the town had shown during the Second World War and the spirit that still existed.
She later recalled: "I was walking down Snargate Street and, as if in defiance of it all, someone was playing a piano in the old Hippodrome. The strains of White Cliffs of Dover were wafting down the street."
In 1947, Marie met Fred Hart, who had worked on the cross-Channel ferries.
They married in 1958 and lived in Dover's Dour Street. Mrs Hart became much involved in the life of the town, and was elected to the Dover Borough Council and then Dover District Council as a Labour councillor.
She served on the district council from its inception in 1973 to 1987.
Mrs Hart was chosen as mayor in 1979, becoming Dover's fourth woman mayor. At the mayor-making in June she called on Dovorians to polish up their town in readiness for the Installation of the Queen Mother as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports that year.
She was elected mayor again in 1983. She was an enthusiastic supporter of many local organisations, including Dover Operatic and Dramatic Society.
Mr Hart died in 2006, and Mrs Hart moved back to Leeds last year to be near her family.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
I remember Marie very well, particularly during the 1983/7 period when we were on opposite sides serving on DDC. She certainly loved Dover and was one of our great characters. We are a lot poorer without her.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Many thanks for that info Dovorian, I didnt realise we were talking about a former Mayor..I know none of that so am grateful for your info and Im sure many will aprreciate it.
I love that little gem about walking down Snargate St to the sounds of the tinkling piano...
Thanks also to BarryW who's political embattlements go back longer than I realised.
Guest 656- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,262
I loved the piece that you sent in Dovorian, reading it made me feel proud that a woman like Marie Hart managed to do so much, it gives the next upcoming generation of women a role model to emulate, an inspiration to all women everywhere.
Guest 654- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 169
I came across Maria in my very early days, she\ was a real fighter
She called a spade a spade and whether you agreed or not she would fight her corner
She was well respected by allparties and a sad loss to the labour party and the wider Dover community
She deicated her life to the labour party and local community