A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER has begun her fourth spell as Mayor of Great Aycliffe.

Councillor Mary Dalton was appointed last week and selected the renal unit at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough as her charity of the year.

Cllr Dalton, 89, is originally from Holland and met her late husband, Reginald Dalton, when he helped liberate her hometown at the end of the Second World War.

The couple settled in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, and moved to Newton Aycliffe in 1999.

Cllr Dalton, a great-grandmother of three with two sons and two grandsons, was elected as a Labour town councillor in 2003 and has already served as mayor three times.

The former dinner lady praised her predecessor, Councillor Wendy Hillary, for doing a “marvellous job” and vowed to continue her good work.

Commenting on her chosen charity, she said: “A lot of people in Aycliffe with kidney failure will go to James Cook for dialysis. The staff are wonderful.”

Councillor Jed Hillary was appointed deputy mayor of Great Aycliffe at the same meeting of Great Aycliffe Town Council at the council offices in School Aycliffe Lane, Newton Aycliffe, on Wednesday, May 13.