HISTORY was made recently at Wellington Town Council - but nobody noticed!

Cllr Janet Lloyd, who will have served for 20 years by the time of the next elections in 2027, has become the town’s longest-serving and most often elected mayor.

She was re-elected by councillors as mayor for a fifth time at the annual meeting on May 7, a position only 23 people have ever held in the 50 years of the council.

A council spokesperson said: “We should have made a bit more fanfare on the night, as we have since dug into the archives and confirmed that Cllr Lloyd is now Wellington’s longest-serving mayor.”

Cricket fan Cllr Loyd first became a town councillor in 2007, joining because she ‘wanted to help the local community and its residents’.

She served her first year as mayor in 2015, and was then appointed again in 2019, 2020, and 2024, and again for this year.

The spokesperson said: “As soon as she entered her fifth year, she cemented herself as the longest-serving mayor or chair the town council has ever had.

“The position of mayor was first created in 2008 to raise the profile of the town and the first Mayor of Wellington was Peter Critchard.

“Prior to this, the leader of the council was referred to as the ‘chairman’.”

Previous long-serving mayors or chairmen were:

Cllr Lloyd is also chairman of the parish council in Sampford Arundel, the village in which she and her husband Ian live and which is within the three-mile qualifying radius in which a Wellington councillor has to be resident.

More information about the role of Wellington’s mayor and a full list of previous post holders can be found on the council’s website.