SHE has danced for Morcambe and Wise, appeared on TV with Michael Crawford and been proposed to by Paul Daniels.

Meet Cllr Carolyn Parry, the Tory candidate almost certain to be the next Lord Mayor of Canterbury, a role into which she is sure to inject some glamour.

For Carolyn spent a decade in the limelight of stage and screen. Her CV reads like Who’s Who of TV greats from the 1980s.

All the big names are there - Leslie Crowther, Derek Batey, Jim Davidson, Lenny Henry, Paul Daniels, Little and Large and Ted Rogers.

That life is a million miles from the role she could be playing later this year as the district’s first citizen when Canterbury hosts the Lambeth Conference, the meeting of Anglican clergymen from across the globe, later this year.

But she looks back on her years in entertainment with immense fondness.

"It was like living a dream," she said. "I came straight out of school, studied at Arts Educational School and then suddenly I’m doing all these amazing things."

She appeared first in pantomimes and then went on tour with the Mike Yarwood Show dancing with a group called the Trendsetters.

Carolyn later joined the dance group Foxy Feeling and appeared with them at a Royal Command Performance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in 1980.

It was here that she met Prince Charles. "I thought he was gorgeous, charming and he spoke to you in a way that you knew he had time to listen to.

"Variety was huge in those days and the shows were watched by millions of people on TV."

She is less sympathetic about Paul Daniels, whom she describes as "silly", but says he and the other big stars like Jim Davidson were treated like gods.

Carolyn recalls: "Paul Daniels was a silly man. Before he married Debbie McGee, he was always asking me to marry him.

"He even bought me a fur coat which I didn’t accept - on cold nights now, I wish I had accepted it."

Her one regret came from a time she went to Fulham to do an audition for a group being put together.

"I had to sing this really silly song," she said. "Afterwards, they said that I would be brilliant for the group.

"They said I would have to dye my hair blonde so I turned down the offer. That group was Bucks Fizz which went on to win the Eurovison Song Contest while I had missed the boat."

But instead of ruing the past Carolyn is looking forward the opportunities being Lord Mayor could afford her.

The mother-of-four represents the Tories for Marshside and lives at Chislet with husband Stephen.

She was re-elected to the council last year having served on the authority for four years before stepping down in 2003 to raise her family.

She said: "As a councillor, being Lord Mayor is something you aspire to but never think will happen. I am so excited and hope to bring a whole new slant to the job."

The new Lord Mayor will be elected in May.