A former mayor of Dover has died.

Margaret Sansum was Dover's First Citizen at the turn of the Millennium.

She passed away from cancer at the William Harvey Hospital on Saturday, three days after her 91st birthday.

One of her children Keith told Kent Online: "She was always hardworking polite, friendly and helpful.

"She was always a fighter, always tried and had a great can-do attitude.

"She loved her children so much and stood by us, no matter what."

Mrs Sansum was Mayor of Dover during 1999/2000 and also for the latter part of 1998/99 following the resignation of her predecessor, Paul Sheldrake.

.Mrs Sansum, of Alandale Residential Home in Whitfield, was a Labour district councillor for 12 years.

She first took the safe Conservative Castle ward in 1995 by just 20 votes.

In the following two elections she represented Tower Hamlets.

In the mid-1990s she was a Labour district councillor with two her sons, Keith and Tony.

Tony was a member for Eythorne during the 1980s and 1990s but died of cancer aged 63 in 2015.

Keith, 62, was in Dover politics from the 1980s to the 2010s at town, district and county level.

He is currently chairman of Clarendon and Westbury Community Association.

Mrs Sansum was also a Dover town councillor for the Priory ward, and then the expanded Maxton, Elms Vale and Priory ward.

She became a member when the authority was formed, in 1996, until 2006.

A spokesman for Dover Town Council said: "We were very sad to hear of the death recently of former Mayor Mrs Margaret Sansum.

" Margaret earned the respect of her fellow councillors with her quiet but firm manner.

"She was a shrewd judge of character and could be relied on to exercise clear judgment in difficult and complex situations but always with a kind and compassionate heart for those in need.

"Margaret undertook all her many public duties as mayor with dignity and was well liked and popular with everyone she met.

"However, she often preferred to work behind the scenes to find new ways for the council to help and support ordinary people in Dover.

"Both as mayor and as a councillor she guided the council through its early years with her long experience of living, working and bringing up a family in the town.

"Our condolences go to Margaret’s family and friends at this sad time."

Margaret Sansum came to Britain from Ireland when she was 16 and was a nurse at Buckland Hospital and the former Royal Victoria Hospital in Dover High Street.

Her husband David died in 1985 and the couple had three other children including Oliver, 66, and Peter, 58.

Their youngest, Sean, died in 1965 aged just four days.

The funeral service is at 11am at on Tuesday, February 16, at St Paul's RC Church in Maison Dieu Road, Dover,

Mrs Sansum will be buried at noon at the town's St Mary's Cemetery with David and Sean.

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