Two notable events told in photos; the new 676th Mayor of Hedon is Councillor Di Storr, and Gladys Lewis from the town is 100 years old!
676th Mayor of Hedon
The new 676th Mayor of Hedon is Councillor Di Storr.
THE HEDON PENNY THROWING event on Thursday served the role of introducing the new 676th Mayor of Hedon Councillor Di Storr to the people of the town.
The traditional Penny Throwing event, normally the first public act of the new Mayor, is a fun event, a historical parody of when Hedon was a “rotten Borough” and 19th-century votes for Hedon’s Members of Parliament were often bought for an old penny! Today new pennies are doled out to local children who scramble around to collect them from the floor outside the Town Hall. Dozens of children and their parents assembled outside the Town Hall on Thursday to take part. In a gentle start to the proceedings, the new Mayor knelt down to give some town pennies to the smallest child who was patiently waiting to collect.
Di Storr joined Hedon Town Council in 2002. However, in her Mayormaking and Reception speech responding to the formal toasts announcing her as mayor, the councillor explained how the Holderness Gazette played a part in her decision to get involved in the town council. Di Storr worked for the Gazette in the late nineties and early noughties, a part-time job that she thoroughly enjoyed. During her time covering local events and news, she discovered lots about her local communities and the people active in them. This would eventually pave the way for identifying local needs and her leading role in setting up a youth club in Hedon. Her work in following up on local police reports would later prompt her into successfully campaigning to get Hedon police station re-opened when it was closed down. She recalls the exciting experience of a fact-finding visit which involved her accompanying local police on a drugs raid. But it was her role in reporting the local Hedon Town Council meetings, where she would sit at the back and take note of the proceedings, that made her realise she had strong opinions on some of the matters being discussed. So when an opportunity to get involved came up in 2002 she went for it and took the plunge, and now she is her 21st year of being a councillor. “It’s a voluntary role and we certainly don’t get paid,” said Councillor Storr. “It’s true that being on the council provides only a small platform and opportunity to change things. And yes, we spend time helping resolve issues with dog bins and bus shelters and those other small albeit important things, but there are opportunities to make a difference and help people and that’s why we do it.”
The Mayor’s chosen good cause to fundraise for during her period in office is Hull and East Yorkshire MIND and Mrs Marie-Louise Robinson from the charity spoke to explain the work of the organisation in supporting local people with mental health problems. The other notable event at the Mayormaking was the announcement that former town councillor and servant of the town for thirty-eight years, Neil Black, had been appointed by the council as an Honorary Freeman. The title of Honorary Freeman of Hedon is only awarded to “persons of distinction” and persons who have “rendered eminent service” to the town. Neil Black is now one of only two living recipients of the title.
Gladys is 100 years old!
Gladys Lewis from Hedon is 100 years old!
IT WAS A LONG BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND of birthday celebrations for Hedon resident Gladys Lewis – but this was no ordinary celebration; it was her one-hundredth birthday! Friends, relatives and family queued up for thirty minutes to get into the Hedon British Legion Club on Monday, May 29 to mark the centenarian’s birthday. For many, it was standing room only to listen as Gladys’ former boss at BP Chemicals, Kevin Appleton, gave a glowing introduction to the birthday girl and her remarkable life. Then Gladys herself stepped forward to cut her own birthday cake.
Born Gladys Beckett on 29 May 1923, she was the second of five children growing up in Park Row Cottages in Sproatley. After school in the village, aged 14, Gladys went to a secretarial college and worked as a secretary before joining the WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force which was established in 1939) and training in Morecambe. During the war, Sergeant Gladys Beckett worked in secret for the war effort at the top-secret home of the codebreakers at Bletchley Park. Having signed the official secrets act Gladys has said very little about her time and role there until recently, and even now only responds to direct questions. Gladys worked in Hut 3 at the base where she would type up the decoded messages so that copies could be sent to those that needed them in the different theatres of war. Hut 3 and 6 were where Enigma messages sent by the German Army and Air Force were decrypted, translated and analysed for vital intelligence during the conflict. Gladys recalls that her section once received a message from Monty (Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery) thanking them for their role in conveying vital information. Gladys’ link with the armed forces continued after the war and she was active in the Women’s Section of the Royal British Legion serving as the President of the East Yorkshire branch and Chairman of the Hedon Branch. Only a couple of years ago Gladys let Hedon Museum use her WAAF uniform and service medals for a display there. She currently appears in a display there as one of Hedon’s significant women contributing to the well-being of the town and its people.
After the war, Gladys returned to Sproatley and continued working as a secretary with various employers including eighteen years spent at Bilton School and then working for many years at BP Chemicals where she worked until retirement. Gladys met her future husband Harold Lewis whilst working at BP and the newly-married couple moved to Hedon in 1970. Gladys has lived in the town ever since.
The party at the Hedon British Legion Club was not the only birthday activity taking place over the last few days. A birthday buffet was organised at St. Augustine’s Church on Sunday which coincided with a baptism also in the church. Church vicar the Reverend Sue Pulko was delighted to set up a meeting between one of the church’s oldest members of the congregation and its newest. Santiago Stuart at three years old met Gladys after his baptism and not only wished her a happy birthday but sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her from the pulpit. As well as the church and British Legion Club, Gladys’ birthday was also marked at a special function at the Hedon Pop-in on Wednesday morning.
On Monday morning on Gladys’ birthday, new Hedon Mayor Councillor Di Storr and her consort Mrs Tracy Wright met Gladys in her home to wish her all the best and present cards and flowers. Gladys who has known Di Storr for many years was happy to chat with her and Tracy about all sorts. She was pleased to show them a really special collection of birthday cards all hand-made by children at the Head On In Kids Club based at Inmans Primary School, everyone different and unique. Surrounded by cards and flowers – including a birthday card from the King – Gladys said how lucky she was to have so many friends and well-wishers. However, when the Mayor asked about things that may have changed for the worse in the last hundred years, Gladys replied without hesitation – it was mobile phones! It was the fact that everyone seems to stare at their phones these days and it kills the art of conversation. Gladys has certainly mastered the art of conversation with bucket-loads of stories, anecdotes and memories that entertain and delight all who know her. Happy 100th birthday, Gladys!
Notable about 1923… other than being the year Gladys was born:
- Distress call “Mayday – Mayday” first used
- Interpol is formed
- Founding of Walt Disney Studios
- Film The Ten Commandments is premiered
- Over 2 million Model T Fords are sold
- William Yeats wins Nobel Prize for Literature
- Women are encouraged to smoke with an advertising campaign “Torches of Freedom”
- Stanley Baldwin becomes PM
- The royal wedding of the future King George VI and Elizabeth
- Wembley Stadium opens
- Tutenkhamun’s Chamber is discovered
- Reginald Francis Cheese changes his name by deed poll to Cleese – his son John will be born 16 years later in 1939.
More on these stories in the Holderness Gazette published weekly on Thursdays.