Former Conservative Councillor

February 9, 2009: Too few of Bookham's 10,000-plus souls have much idea of the debt they owe Mary Mackinnon, who died peacefully last Friday, February 6, at the age of 88. Mrs Mackinnon was a former Conservative Councillor for Bookham and Fetcham West. But she was far more complex than that label suggests.

She was more interested in the service of others than in any party tag. One who knew her well, Cllr Clare Curran, recalls her tireless work for all the people she represented. She was active in both the Central Surrey Council for Voluntary Service and the Mid Surrey Mediation Service.

Clare Curran also remembers Mrs Mackinnon's "amazing energy and persistence." She was a battler, "a fearsome warrior who didn’t take no for an answer" – and one, moreover, who was not above using her deafness as a reason not to listen to responses that didn’t advance her ideas or requests.

Mary Mackinnon became a Mole Valley District Councillor in 1988, at the age of 68, a time of life when most people start to take things easy. Later that year she won the Bookham and Fetcham West seat on Surrey County Council (SCC) at a by-election. She retired from the SCC in 1997 to make way for Cllr Jim Smith, but continued to serve on Mole Valley District Council until 2003.

Among many things about Mrs Mackinnon that made her unusual, one of the most outstanding was that she was a 'green' almost before the term was thought of, and took an environmental stance well ahead of the pack, especially in her own party.

All her life she was a tremendous advocate for green, recycling and sustainability matters, decades ahead of today's widespread scientific and political acceptance of global warming. In 2002, well into her eighties, she was chivvying Mole Valley's environmental committee to try harder to recycle cardboard, plastic and unwanted furniture. The goats she kept on Bookham Common were just one sign of her feeling for nature. In 2001 she petitioned the Mole Valley Partnership Area Transportation Committee for a margin to allow 40 or more horses near the Yehudi Menuhin School safe access to the Common.

But her many activities as a Councillor and in many other related fields did not lessen her care for her large family of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, to whom she was devoted and with whom she chose to spend her last retirement years in Shepperton.

Clare Curran said: “Mary was an exemplary Councillor and we would all do well to follow her fine example of commitment, hard work and kindness. She will be very much missed.”

A memorial service will be held at the Jubilee Centre, Manygate Lane, Shepperton, at 2pm on Wednesday, February 18. All who knew her are welcome to attend.