Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge town councillors have this week paid tribute to former town Mayor Dennis Hewings, who has died.
A minute’s silence was held before Monday night’s town council meeting in memory of Mr Hewings, pictured, who was a member of the council for several years and town Mayor from 1984 to 1985.
He passed away peacefully in his sleep at Burnham Lodge Nursing Home last week and his funeral will be held in the town this Friday (October 5th).
Burnham’s current Deputy Mayor Neville Jones called him a “sound and conscientious councillor for the people of Highbridge.”
He told fellow councillors on Monday evening: “He was an employee of Wilsher and Quick, a trade union member, and I think I can say, a member of the old Labour Party and proud of it too.”
“Dennis was very much his own man and no party directive could make him do or vote for something in which he did not believe.”
“I will remember the annual meeting of Sedgemoor District Council at the Priory in Bridgwater in 1983 when there was a very tight contest as to the Chairmanship for the next year.”
“On the face of it, an independent who had the support of the Labour Group was ‘home and dry’ by one vote. Well, that was at the morning’s meeting but in the afternoon, when the actual voting took place, Dennis was not to be seen.”
“He’d caught the bus back to Highbridge and his work. Mrs Cartwright was elected and Dennis told me ‘she was the best person for the job and it didn’t matter to me she was a Conservative.’ Mrs Cartwright later told me that he wrote in her visitor’s book: ‘Dennis ‘Back To Work’ Hewings’.”
“After he retired, he became a devoted carer for his wife during the closing stages of her illness. He took a great interest in many facets of community life in Highbridge and for many years worked tirelessly to restore the Jubiliee Gardens which had been truncated when Sedgemoor had to drive a road through it to open the land for new housing on the old river bed, which the former Burnham Urban District Council had bought for one pound.”
“For this and other community work, Dennis was awarded a Civic Award in 1993 and incidentally has been the only Mayor to be given such a badge of honour.”
“Following a severe operation on his throat and the removal of voice organs, Dennis mastered the apparatus he was given with determination to enable him to talk.”
“Although his speech was difficult, he never let this stop him working for various causes including the Burnham Area Youth Centre where was a well respected member of the committee.”
“Dennis, who understood the work that the former Burnham Urban District Council had done in Highbridge, particularly in the field of housing, could see no future in the movement that sprang up by the so-called ‘Gang of Four’ to separate Highbridge from Burnham, and viewed their activities with grave suspicion.”
“He was proud to have been a Mayor of Burnham and Highbridge, and his friends were proud of the service he gave to the two towns.”
Picture courtesy of Mike Lang
