It was not a surprise to hear today that my fellow councillor Graham Tucker who represented St John's Ward died last night, he was suffering from a serious terminal illness, but it was bitterly, bitterly sad.
Graham was elected in 1988 to Rushmoor, and represented St John's Ward in Farnborough, making him one of the longest serving councillors with 19 years service to his credit. Because of Graham's popularity amongst fellow councillors, I and other councillors took time out from our own campaigns last May to go and help in his successful and well deserved re-election campaign. This new 4 year term would have given Graham well over 20 outstanding years of public service.
I was really fond of Graham. He was very much "his own man" and a dedicated Rushmoor Councillor. He was personally supportive of me, despite it being unpopular at times and bringing him grief, which showed a real strength of character. He had a wonderful sense of humour, and duty which ideally suited him to public life. He was also very knowledgeable and understood local Government with all its complications and idiosyncrasies. It is no surprise he served in many senior positions, the latest being Cabinet member for safety and Regulation. He never got to serve as Mayor and I think he was the best mayor we never had
He will be greatly missed and is a great loss to Rushmoor which he loved. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife Joan and his family of which he was immensly proud.
It was a pleasure to have rubbed shoulders all too briefly with such a nice man.
The funeral will be held at Aldershot Crematorium, Thursday January 10th at 12.30pm and afterwards at the Old Courthouse, Cove.
1 comment:
I have only just heard this news.
Graham was my agent when I stood for election as a councillor in 2002, and I have kept in occasional touch with him since. I hadn't spoken to him for a while however and wasn't even aware of his illness.
Despite the fact that Graham was standing for election himself back in 2002 he was very dedicated to helping out all the other candidates and I believed that was a major reason why he only secured a one year term for himself. I had moved away from the area by the time of his relection, but made a point of travelling to Rushmoor for a day during that campaign to demonstrate my support for him.
I always found Graham a friendly and helpful person who was obviously committed to the welfare of the people of Rushmoor, and the borough will certainly miss him.
Keith Jenner
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