Cllr John Stanley

Former Mayor, Councillor John Stanley, died suddenly on Saturday after a short illness. He was active to the end and was still involved in a number of projects. He had every intention of standing again for the Trinity Ward of Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council which he represented for 8 years alongside Councillor David Cope.

He joined the Army at the age of 15 and served for 12 years as a Sergeant the with the Royal Corps of Signals seeing service in Singapore and Malaysia. Only last week he received the Pingat Jasa medal from the Malaysian Government "in recognition to his contribution to peace keeping."

He worked for 32 years at GEC having a widespread range of duties including the installation of a major telephone exchange in Gibraltar. John was involved in a number of projects including promotion of the Fiesta and Statesmen marching bands and more recently the Festival Committee which runs a number of events including the Hinckley Carnival. He was a volunteer driver for Dial-a-Ride for 8 years and raised £18,000 for the charity during his year as Mayor in 2003/4.

John was highly regarded by all members of the Council,often being called upon to handle sensitive personnel matters. After his year in office ended he took pride in being invited to become a Honorary Vice- President of Hinckley United Football Club. He had the satisfaction of seeing the Marston Stadium project through to a successful conclusion and thereafter often wore his Hinckley United scarf to official functions. He was diligent with his public work and always followed up requests for help in the Hollycroft, Wykin and other areas for which he had responsibility.

He never stopped working and was still selling tickets last week to the Matt Gadsby memorial event which takes place this Saturday.

"I will always be grateful to John for agreeing to stand and for working so conscientiously for the people of Trinity Ward and the wider community. We will miss him."

John was married to Jenny for 44 years. He leaves four children, Nigel,Wendy,Alison and Jacqui and seven grandchildren, Shaun,Chloe,Kirsty,Abigail ,Christopher,Sophie and Lucy.

Cllr David Bill

Liberal Democrat Group Leader