Girl power is coming to Harwich.

Ann Evander becomes the town's mayor on Thursday and she has chosen friend and former town councillor Val Collins as her mayoress and the Rev Gillian Greenslade as her chaplain - the first woman chaplain to the mayor.

"It's going to be a year of firsts," said Ann.

As a Swedish national, she was the first non-British councillor to be elected in this country - just months after the law changed in 1996 to allow European Union citizens to stand in EU local elections.

So it probably follows that she is also the first non-Brit mayor.

"I'll also be the first mayor of the new millennium," she points out.

Despite maintaining her Swedish citizenship, Ann has lived in England since she was four - ironically it was the town she landed in back in 1955.

"My father was always an Anglophile," she explained.

"He did a scholarship at Cambridge in 1947 and became hooked - he always wanted to come back."

And so the family of five did. They left the town of Karlskrona - a small naval town which has seen its naval base and shipping industry decline.

"So Harwich is a home-from-home from that point of view, and it's on the very windy east coast."

Ann's father became the rector of the Swedish church in London and she had a very Swedish upbringing.

"Any ex-pat community is brought up in its own traditions, it preserves its culture. I went to English schools and so lived an English life there but a Swedish life at home."

Most of her family are still in Britain - her brother lives in London and her parents have retired to the south coast.

He sister works in Paris but they will all be in Harwich on Thursday.

"My father, who is 83, will actually be taking part in the mayor-making ceremony as he will be saying some prayers at the church."

After leaving school, Ann worked in old people's homes and as a home help which she found challenging and showed her all sides of life in the community.

She then went on to study economics and business studies at Brighton Polytechnic before starting work with a Swedish government organisation involved in student exchanges.

She first came to the public's attention in 1996 when she won a by-election to become the West Central ward's Labour town and district councillor.

But her interest in politics started years before, at the tender age of 13.

As a councillor, social justice is the key to her beliefs and she wants to promote more open government and involve people more in what is going on.

"People feel very remote from the whole procedure of planning, for instance, and hopefully in the future they will have the opportunity to speak at meetings."

For her year as mayor, Ann is looking to follow in her predecessors' footsteps and 'flag up Harwich', particularly in terms of economic development.

"I shall concentrate on the community - people should be proud of Harwich. We take it so much for granted."

Ann already has one community project in the bag - when she was made deputy mayor she used her Scandinavian connections to resurrect the tradition of having a Christmas tree outside Harwich Hospital by having one sent over.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.