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Ethel Bostock (née Wilkins) was Alderman Chapman's Mayoress from 1972 to 1973. When Alf Roberts, Chapman's replacement, chose Annie Walker as his Mayoress, Ethel called at the Rovers to meet and advise her. Annie's first sight of Ethel was of a woman mucking in with the decoration of the Rovers living room, having arrived at the pub while Annie was away shopping and found Bet Lynch and Betty Turpin slaving away at the job. As she had just put in an advertisement for a temporary cleaner, Annie assumed that she had arrived for an interview. Though Annie was mortified when she learned the truth, Ethel laughed off the misunderstand and let her know that she had actually worked as a cleaner before.

To Annie's surprise, Ethel was not the woman of pretension she'd expected, but a down-to-Earth working class woman who had grown up in an ordinary terraced house in Bradshaw Street, near the glue works. When they actually got down to discussing Annie's upcoming role, Ethel advised her not to get delusions of grandeur from the job and put down the women who did - earning her the disdain of the incoming Mayoress who very much sought the role for the glamour and prestige. After Ethel had left, when speaking to Alf Annie put down Ethel and was shamefaced when Alf told her that Ethel had done more in her year as Mayoress than any other in recent memory.

Ethel met Annie again when the Mayoral chains were handed over at the official ceremony and at a reception afterwards. Ethel upset Annie's sense of decorum then when she talked about getting home, getting her corsets off and having a good scratch! She also did herself no favours when she said that people really wanted to see the Mayor at official functions and not his Mayoress. Nevertheless, she attended the party that Annie held in the Rovers afterwards.

Ethel was also an old friend of Minnie Caldwell's from the Over 60's Club.

List of appearances[]

1973[]

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