Cllr David Greenhalgh RIP

I am shocked and horrified by the news that Councillor David Greenhalgh, leader of Bolton Council, died earlier today at the age of 53.

















I had met David several times over the last few years and both liked and respected him as one of the best leaders in local government I have ever met and one of the nicest people in politics.

In a joint statement, Bolton council's deputy leader, Coun Martyn Cox, and the council chief executive, Tony Oakman, said: "We have just learned the very sad news that Bolton Council Leader, Cllr David Greenhalgh, has passed away.

"David served as a local councillor in Bromley Cross for many years, becoming council leader in 2019.

"He was greatly respected and had many friends both in the town hall and the wider Bolton community.

"As an individual he will be greatly missed by many, and it will take some time to come to terms with our sudden loss.

"Our thoughts at this time are with those closest to him."

Councillor Nick Peel, the leader of Bolton's Labour group, paid his own tribute to Coun Greenhalgh.

He said: "Despite our political differences, David has been the leader during a very difficult period of time with the Covid pandemic, and I know that he worked long and hard hours during this time on behalf of us all, with little regard for his own need for time off.

"David was a good humoured and conscientious councillor, and I always enjoyed his good-natured company, on those occasions when we could be less formal.

"I am sure I speak for us all when I say that in the true spirit of the Labour Movement, we offer our deepest condolences and care to his family, friends and colleagues who will be feeling devastated at this time."

Coun Roger Hayes, the leader of the Liberal Democrats group on Bolton Council, said: “He was an extremely nice and kind person and irrespective of any political differences I have always found him to be straight, honest and very open.

“A very big loss to both Bolton and the Conservative group.

“It’s sad, devastating news.”

Similar tributes have been paid to David by both Conservative and Labour MPs, from neighborouing authorities and from organisations as disparate as Bolton Wanderers and Bolton Council of Mosques. You can read some of them on the Manchester Evening News site here.

Condolences thoughts and prayers to those closed to David. He was a good, kind, intelligent man who deserved the respect in which he was held on both sides of the political divide and will be greatly missed.

Rest in Peace.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria

Please note that the post below was published more than ten year ago on 21st November 2009 Nick Herbert MP, shadow cabinet member for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, was in Cumbria this morning to see the areas affected by the flooding. He writes on Conservative Home about his visit. Here is an extract. I’ve been in Cumbria today to see the areas affected by the floods. I arrived early in Keswick where I met officials from the Environment Agency. Although the river levels had fallen considerably and homes were no longer flooded, the damage to homes had been done. And the water which had got into houses wasn’t just from the river – it was foul water which had risen from the drains. I talked to fire crews who were pumping flood water back into the river, and discovered that they were from Tyne & Wear and Lancashire. They had been called in at an hours’ notice and had been working on the scene ever since, staying at a local hotel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the...
Read more

Quotes of the day 19th August 2020

Image
"Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise."  ( Cato the Elder , who lived 234 BC - 149 BC, quoted in "Lives" by Plutarch.) There is a similar saying by Germany's Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck: Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have put the same saying in a more humorous form: "Wise men profit by the mistakes of others, while fools will not learn even from their own blunders." See also this thread on the "Quote Investigator" website . Let us all be wise and learn from the events of the last few days.
Read more

Quote of the day 24th July 2020

I was moved to put the passage below forward as a quote today when I saw a horrible post on twitter from someone writing that it was "excellent" that someone who took a different view from her about Brexit had died. I won't write which way round it was so that all the Remain supporters can assume the post was from a Brexit fanatic welcoming the death of a remainer and all the Leavers can assume it was a Remainiac welcoming one less Brexiteer. There's been plenty of nasty stuff on both sides but if you catch anyone of your own viewpoint  posting something like that who might listen to you, please do call them out on it - and point out that they're giving everyone on your side of the argument a bad name. Anyway, here's the quote from John Donne.
Read more