Marlborough UK welcomed Marlboro US when Fred and Jill Elsass from Marlboro Township in Stark County, Ohio paid a visit to the Town Hall.
Marlboro is a Marlborough of which most people in this town are unaware, but we should now be better acquainted as the Mayor, Cllr Alexander Kirk Wilson was treated to a history of the township and given a guide which had been prepared in 2004 to mark its 200th anniversary. In return the Mayor gave Fred and Jill an inscribed paperweight, a history of our Marlborough, and a copy of the photo book ‘Marlborough and the Kennet.’
Fred, a retired Master Sergeant in the USAF, knows this area well having served at RAF Fairford and later at RAF Greenham Common when the cruise missiles were introduced. During that time he met Jill – his ‘English rose’ – when she was working in Swindon.
A passionate historian, Fred hopes to restore the missing ‘…ugh’ to Marlboro which disappeared during the 19th century, and to raise local awareness of the Marlborough/Churchill link to this area. The high school (American!) football team is called the Dukes and has a cavalry sabre on its crest, so a start has been made.
The Elsasses were shown the secrets of the Town Hall and the civic maces and chains, by David Sherratt, the Mayor’s Ceremonial Officer, before taking tea and scones with the Mayor and some of the councillors.