The Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane for 2008/2009 is Cllr George Hood
Mayor’s biography
Born in Peterhead, a fishing port in the North East of Scotland, on 11 April 1936, George was the eldest of three children. Together with his parents and younger brother and sister, he lived with his grandparents in their large three storey house in the centre of town close to the harbour. He spent most of his spare time on the beach or watching the fishing fleet land their catch.
George attended the Peterhead Academy until the age of 16, when he left school to start a six year apprenticeship as an agricultural engineer. On completion of this apprenticeship, he joined a local company, which was part of General Motors and produced transmissions for earth moving machinery, as a quality control inspector.
Most of his freetime was taken up with the Sea Cadets, which he joined at the age of 12. He taught the cadets sailing, rowing and swimming, as well as the other requirements of the cadet corps, and progressed through the ranks to become Chief Petty Officer.
In January 1962 George met Davina at a local dance, getting engaged in September 1962. That October George was offered a position as an Inspector at Thornycroft in Basingstoke. He accepted and moved to Basingstoke knowing very little about the town. This soon changed when he joined the sports section of the company’s social club, where he made many new friends. He moved into a flat in town and then returned to Peterhead to marry Davina in March 1963.
George worked at Thornycroft for 30 years holding various positions of responsibility in areas including quality assurance, production, assembly and material handling until the company re-located in 1992. Between then and his retirement six years later George delivered training programmes for the unemployed on behalf of the employment service all over the south.
Since being elected as a councillor in May 1992, George has held various senior positions including that of Deputy Leader. He has also been a school governor since 1965, spent some time as Chairman of Governors at John Hunt of Everest School and is still Chairman of Governors at Merton Infant and Junior Schools.
The Mayoress
Davina Hood was born in Hawick on the borders of Scotland in 1940, moving to Ellon Aberdeenshire at the age of five following the death of her father. Educated in Scotland, she went on to work as an auxiliary nurse in a maternity hospital. Davina married George in 1963 and moved to Basingstoke, where she worked in the Shrubbery Maternity Hospital until having a family.
Davina stayed at home to care for their two children. When her mother came to live with the family in 1974 she joined the general hospital as an auxiliary nurse on the orthopaedic ward, where she worked for 28 years.
Now retired Davina enjoys gardening and crosswords and is a committee member at the Oakridge Hall for All where she helps to run a coffee morning each week.
The Deputy Mayor
The Mayor asks the Deputy Mayor to stand in if the Mayor is not available. The Deputy Mayor for 2008/2009 is Cllr Brian Gurden.