About the Mayor

Martin was born in Manchester of an English mother and German father. After leaving secondary school at 14 he became an apprentice with a local engineering company. After 'serving his time' for six years he became a toolroom fitter, but not long thereafter was promoted to become a draughtsman. He continued with nightschool studies, eventually achieving the status of Chartered Engineer.

Feeling the urge to get out and about, Martin took an engineering sales job with the then leading national manufacturer of overhead travelling cranes. This role caused him to move to different locations throughout the country, finishing up in southern England.  After eight years in that role, but with the UK engineering industry in general decline, Martin was keeping his eye open for other opportunities, particularly for a position possibly involving export. He applied for several jobs, but without success. Then, by way of a massive coincidence, he became aware of an export promotion opportunity with the European Components Service, within the Department of Trade. Despite meeting hardly any of the advertised criteria, he applied for the vacancy and was appointed to what he still believes to have been his most interesting job.  Sadly, before his contract expired, the then government engaged upon an 'efficiency' drive. The consequent purge of 'excess' civil servants resulted in the closure of the service despite its success in gaining substantial business for the UK.

Upon leaving the civil service, Martin obtained a position as export manager with a Basingstoke-based engineering company, thus eventually bringing him into the borough.  Four years later, restructuring of the company necessitated a further move. A number of short-term posts followed, including a spell with Berkshire County Council. After an extended period of unemployment, Martin decided to set up a small print business, which remains his principal source of income.  Both business and family home have been in Chineham from the start. 

From his late teens on, Martin had an interest in politics. He joined the youth movement of a now almost extinct political party and has been involved in politics to varying extents in the different places he has lived. This includes having been selected as a prospective parliamentary candidate for the Swindon constituency. His first elected position however was as a parish councillor in Yatton, Somerset. He has since served on Old Basing Parish Council and Chineham Parish Council, including a spell as chairman.

Martin has always had a keen interest in environmental, transport and international issues and has belonged to several bodies in those arenas. He has, however, always been particularly committed to community issues and this is thought to have played a big part in him being elected to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.

Despite being widely associated with cycling, given time, Martin would much prefer to walk and whilst doing so engage in photography. He also used to be a keen swimmer, and regrets his failure to remain active in that respect.  To his great surprise and pleasure, Martin has now been married to Chansopha for over 30 years and takes great delight in his two daughters, Fiona and Emma.

The Mayoress

Chansopha left troubled Phnom Penh, Cambodia in October 1974, hoping to finish her medical practitioner studies in England. As the UK authorities would not recognise her French-based (Baccalauréat) qualifications, she was obliged to reorientate her ambitions and opt for nurse training instead.  She had to take an entrance exam with multiple choice questions as her English had been learnt from a book and did not altogether coincide with the way people speak! 

Despite all the anxieties with her study and the news of the loss of her entire family back in Cambodia, she qualified as State Registered Nurse in 1978. She continued to work at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Swindon and in due course embarked on her study in midwifery there too. She became a State Certified Midwife in 1980 and moved to work at the then Basingstoke Hospital in September that year.

It was at dawn in November 1975 that at Victoria tube station, Chansopha checked with Martin, who was on the same platform, (having also had been on the same ferry crossing from the Continent), that the next train was the right one to Paddington Station. This was to be the start of a new journey of a very different kind.

It was a long year later when Chansopha unexpectedly received a telephone call from Martin saying that he was in the area and asked if he could visit her. The visits became more regular.

Some months after Martin started his Basingstoke job, they married and moved into their first home in Chineham.  Their first daughter, Fiona, was born in 1982 and after the birth of second daughter, Emma in 1986, Chansopha left midwifery to be a full-time mum.

In 1985, together with a French friend, she started a French playgroup, L’école Maternelle, to encourage Fiona and other children to have an affinity with foreign languages. This is still going strong with elder daughter Fiona now having joined her to extend the teaching to more languages and is now called ‘Linguatastic’.

Chansopha’s early life experiences have made her passionate about internationalism and in particular the pursuit of greater understanding through language learning coupled with the cultural understanding which tends to accompany this.

Both Fiona and Emma appear to have been infected by the internationalist and environmental bug shared by their parents and are heavily engaged in both areas both in their careers and beyond as volunteers.