Barbara Olwyn Ronson (16 December 1942 – 28 October 2018) was a

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

politician from

Horwich Horwich ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Prior to 1974 in the historic county of Lancashire. It is southeast of Chorley, northwest of Bolton and northwest of Manchester. It l ...

in the

Metropolitan Borough of Bolton '')'' , image_skyline =Bolton Town Hall.jpg , imagesize = 250px , image_caption = Bolton Town Hall, the seat of Bolton Council , image_blank_emblem = Coat of arms of Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council.png , blank_emblem_type = Coat of Arms of ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

.Barbara Olwyn Ronson
''Links in a chain''. accessed 11 January 2009.

Early life

Born as Barbara Olwyn Gettins in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

, she was educated at Pikes Lane School, Bolton;

Bolton School Bolton School is an independent day school in Bolton, Greater Manchester. It comprises a co-educational nursery, co-educational infant school (ages 3–7), single sex junior schools (ages 7–11) and single sex senior schools including sixth fo ...

(Girls Division); Manchester College of Commerce (now

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

); and Bolton Institute of Higher Education (now the

University of Bolton , established = 2004 – gained University Status 1982 – Bolton Institute of Higher Education , type = Public , endowment = £160,000 (2009) , administrative_staff = 700+ , chancellor ...

). In 1964, she married Robert Ronson at Saviour's Church in Bolton.

Political career

Barbara Ronson was elected as a Councillor to Bolton Borough Council in 1986; at first representing the Horwich ward and then, through name and slight boundary changes in 2004, the Horwich North East ward.Councillors / Officers
. ''Horwich Town Council''. accessed 11 January 2009. She was also elected as a Councillor to

Horwich Town Council Horwich Town Council is a local authority with limited powers and covers the town and civil parish of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is made up of fourteen elected Town Councillors, representing eigh ...

in 1987. Her husband, Robert Ronson, was also a town and Borough Councillor. In the

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and 2001 General Elections, she was an unsuccessful candidate in the Bolton West Constituency. During her political career, she was Mayor of Horwich 1996–1997,

Leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

Bolton Council Bolton Council, also called Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. It is a Metropolitan Borough Council, one of ten in Greater Manchester and one of 36 in t ...

2004–2006, and

Mayor of Bolton This is a list of the Mayors in England, Mayors of Bolton in the north west of England. The office of Mayor is a ceremonial, non-political post. As the Borough's First Citizen, the Mayor serves as the civic representative at a wide range of functi ...

2007–2008. Both Barbara and Robert Ronson stood down as town and Borough Councillors in 2011.

Death

Barbara Ronson died in hospital on 28 October 2018, aged 75 years. In the same year, her son Mike died on 13 June 2018, aged 51 years, and her husband Robert (Bob) died on 3 December 2018, aged 83 years.

References

External links

Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Barbara Ronson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ronson, Barbara 1942 births 2018 deaths People from Bolton People from Horwich People educated at Bolton School Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Women mayors of places in England Mayors of Bolton Liberal Democrats (UK) mayors Councillors in Bolton Leaders of local authorities of England Women councillors in England