GRANVILLE BALDWINFormer Exeter mayor Granville Baldwin, who died on 27 June, 2009, aged 78, after a long and brave battle with cancer.He was made Mayor of Exeter in 2001 and, before the end of his year in office, the Queen bestowed the honour of Lord Mayor on the city to mark her golden jubilee in 2002.Mr Baldwin, who represented the Priory ward on the city council, revealed he had cancer on the day he became Mayor in May 2001.He took office and announced the Mayor’s Charity for that year would be Hospiscare, while he fought his own personal battle against prostate cancer. He eventually raised £24,000.Councillor Peter Edwards, current leader of the council’s Labour group, said: “Granville was a true socialist of the old school. He spent all his working life helping workers in the garment industry.“He will be sorely missed by everyone, not just for the great work he did while a councillor and Lord Mayor but also because he was such a wonderful character. All our sympathy goes to his family.”Lord Mayor of Exeter Councillor John Winterbottom was a long-standing friend of Mr Baldwin. He said: “I knew Granville a long time before I joined the council as we were both members of the Parent-Teacher Association at Priory High School. We spent a lot of good times together painting classrooms and corridors.“He was a charismatic figure, with a wonderful sense of humour and had a special way of putting things over at council meetings. He was a fantastic fighter because many people did not think he would survive his year in office. He was just a really nice guy.”Mr Baldwin made his mark on the city’s political scene when he won a landslide victory to represent the Countess Wear ward in May 1995, defeating Tory and former Mayor, Bill Rowe.Mr Baldwin’s profile was raised even further when he became the city’s Deputy Mayor in 1998. He represented the Priory ward from 2000.The retired tailor lived in Countess Wear for nearly 30 years. He had been working for Burton’s clothing company in Bolton, Lancashire, for 31 years, and became heavily involved in the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers. With the demise of clothing manufacturing in the 1970s, he and his family moved to Exeter and he took a job as a trade union officer.Once arriving in the city, Cllr Baldwin and his wife Dilys became involved in the community, running youth clubs. The couple, who have two children, also helped schools in Countess Wear and St Leonard’s as governors and members of parent teacher associations.
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