THE Michaelmas Assize is the most significant of Altrincham Court Leet’s three assizes.

It is the assize where the Freemen of Altrincham choose their new Provost.

The ceremony of tapping the new Provost, who is in effect the Mayor of Altrincham, has been continuing since 1452.

At Altrincham Town Hall on Saturday, Burgess Kenneth Garrity received that tap and will be the Provost for the next year.

Immediate Past Provost, Peter Garde was made an Alderman.

The Mayor and Mayoress of Trafford, Councillor Tom Ross and Councillor Anne Duffield, were present along with Town Crier, Peter Powell.

Guests from further afield included Colonel Sir John Goodenough, a Freeman of the City of London and James and Lynette Ross, Lord Mayor and Consort of Hale, near Liverpool.

A certificate presented to the latest new Freeman of Altrincham contained the name Janet Makin Kershner.

Janet said that most people knew her as Janet Makin but, in 2015, she married Sydney Kershner and wanted his name to be included.

At the suggestion of her mother-in-law, Janet and her then husband Roger, opened the Elite Dress Agency in August 1964.

It started in Kingsway where customers willingly carried suitcases of clothes up two flights of stairs. After several moves, the business ended up in Market Street, its current home.

In 2004, she handed over the reigns to her niece Nicola and retired in 2006.

She was President of Altrincham and Sale Chamber of Commerce between 2000 and 2002.

Over the past two years, she has raised more than £1,200 at two Macmillan Coffee mornings.

The new Provost, Burgess Ken Garrity, a travel agent for 50 years, and Rotary Club officer said: “I felt elated when I got the tap on the shoulder.

“I want to make sure that the Court Leet becomes better known.”