Glenys Godfrey was the first Liberal member and woman to win the seat of Belmont.
Camera IconGlenys Godfrey was the first Liberal member and woman to win the seat of Belmont. Credit: Supplied/David Baylis

MP looks to positive future

Sarah Motherwell, Southern GazetteSouthern Gazette

However, it is the recent chapter of her life as the State representative for Belmont that she hopes to make everlasting change in the area in which she has lived and worked for 24 years.

In the March State election, after two previous unsuccessful attempts, Mrs Godfrey won the seat of Belmont by 330 votes, becoming the first Liberal member and the first woman to hold the position.

‘It’s amazing and I’m so appreciative of it,’ she said. ‘So many Labor people voted for me because they thought they could support me.’

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It has been a long road to Parliament for Mrs Godfrey, who along the way served 16 years on the Belmont council, six as mayor.

She has also raised four children, who made her a grandmother to 13, and cared for her husband Ron, who died after battling cancer during the recent State campaign.

‘Ron supported me the whole time I was in council,’ she said.

‘He had second thoughts about me running again as the candidate for the Liberal Party for Belmont. He thought it had cost me personally a bit of money for the two previous times I’d run.

‘When he got ill, I decided that I should look after him. I stepped down from mayor and relinquished all my responsibilities from major committees.’

Mrs Godfrey said her husband briefly recovered and they travelled together for four months with plans for her to retire. However, the cancer ‘came back with a vengeance’ and Ron died in October last year.

‘Everyone was very supportive in the lead-up to Christmas’