Dorothy Thornhill is stepping down in May after serving as Watford’s first elected mayor - and first female elected mayor in the UK - since 2002.

Before the next mayor fills her shoes, she has shared her top moments over the years with the Watford Observer.

She remembered feeling like an outsider when she was first elected but knew the town needed a new direction.

During her 16 years she is proud to have transformed the parks and open spaces with new facilities such as the Cassiobury Pools and Big Screen on the Beach.

Her highlight every year was honouring volunteers at the Audentior Awards and seeing communities work together to make the town a more positive place.

She writes: I suppose one of the first and most obvious highlights was being elected Mayor in 2002.

I was very much the outsider. After people voted in the referendum to have a mayor, there was a sense that the town needed a new direction.

In fact, it was on the pages of this newspaper that the district auditor took the unprecedented step of appealing directly to the people of Watford to inform them of the dire state of the council’s accounts, because he felt the council was not listening.

Watford Observer:

Charles Kennedy and Dorothy on the campaign trail in Watford High Street in 2002

Following this, government inspectors marched all over the council.

Their verdict was damning.

I had got my hands on the levers of power but when I pulled them nothing happened.

We had to go back to basics – sorting out the management of the council and focusing on core services like street cleaning, refuse collection and cleaning graffiti.

Watford Observer:

Dorothy demolishing Watford Central Baths, 2007​

I’m proud that we have transformed our parks and open spaces, which had suffered from lack of investment.

Eleven of them now having the national green flag status, with the Cassiobury restoration project being the jewel in the crown.

Regarding the leisure centres, I was always clear that we wanted facilities that didn’t look and feel ‘municipal’. We had to do better than that and provide quality facilities at an affordable price.

Our wonderful Palace Theatre and Colosseum have also had major refurbishments.

Not everything has been easy and sometimes I have had to take tough decisions.

This included completing the Thomas Sawyer Way and progressing the health campus project, which created some conflict.

Building this vital road link has enabled the hospital to stay in Watford rather than move elsewhere.

We have done what we can as a council to support Watford General. We now need West Herts NHS Trust, NHS England and the Department of Health to invest in hospital facilities fit for the 21st century.

Watford Observer:

Dorothy at the construction of the Thomas Sawyer Way​

Easily one of the highlights of my 16 years as being Mayor has been meeting and celebrating some of the many fantastic volunteers who work in our community who time after time go the extra mile to make the town it is today.

We try to reward some of them at our annual Audentior Awards.

Our programme of free community events like Imagine Watford help to bring people together as a community.

Watford Observer:

Dorothy and volunteers at the opening of the Cassiobury Pools in 2017