Tributes paid to 'passionate and formidable' former Warwick councillor and mayor

Tributes have been paid to a passionate and formidable former Warwick councillor and mayor.

Elizabeth Higgins, who was Mayor of Warwick in 2012, died this week after a short illness. She leaves behind two sons and grandchildren who all live in New Zealand.

She was born in Leeds but quickly moved to Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire where she spent all her childhood. She lived there with her younger brother, Michael, and her maternal grandmother while both her parents worked hard as GPs.

Her mother set up a small maternity hospital in Melton - which may be where Elizabeth learnt the importance of community involvement.

She spent her first working years in London where she improved her dress making skills - none of the shops sold dresses or trousers which would fit a tall woman who wanted to dress smartly for the office.

After she married she moved around the country, from Southampton to Edinburgh to Ponteland.

By the time Elizabeth moved to Warwick in the 80s by the she had a husband and two small boys in tow. They lived in Myton Crescent and the boys, Gordon and Clive, went to local schools.

Her husband, Roger, was a member of the Warwick Court Leet.

In July 1991 Elizabeth gained a B.A. (Hons) in history from Warwick University. Following her degree she taught at the university on her speciality, the First World War, but she was also very knowledgeable about WW2.

She organised annual educational trips around the French battlefields and lectured widely on the subject. And would engage everyone about their opinion on, for instance, the Treaty of Versaille.

On one recent trip on holiday to Crete she showed her detailed knowledge of the military campaigns in the Mediterranean.

Her interest in the local Warwick community affairs was sparked by the death of a school child, a classmate of her son, one morning walking to school.

She joined the campaign to get a pedestrian bridge built to make the journey safer. Later she joined further traffic campaigns

Members of the community and many former fellow councillors of Elizabeth have paid tribute to her and her work and role in the town.

Cllr Neale Murphy, Mayor of Warwick, said: "On behalf of myself and all of councillors and staff at Warwick town council, please could we send our deepest condolences, thoughts to all the family and friends of Elizabeth at this very sad time."

Cllr Moira-Ann Grainger, who serves the All Saints and Woodloes ward, leader of Warwick Town Council and deputy leader of Warwick District Council, said: "Elizabeth and I were elected to the district and town councils at the same time, May 2007 and quickly became good friends and political buddies.

"Not obvious allies, but as keen new councillors, we were both eager to learn and we would travel together each year to the Annual Conservative Councillors Conference putting the political world to rights en route and making sure we shared out the sometimes very tedious seminars so we covered everything on offer and then reported back to our local colleagues.

"On these car journeys I learnt a great deal about Elizabeth, her family, her love of history her obsession with the Warwick traffic and how to solve the problems, her considerable dress making skills and her rather over the top love of green and orange.

"Although not a Warwick native, Elizabeth had lived the majority of her life in the town, she had raised her two boys in the town, studied herself at Warwick University and was well known in the town long before she decided to become a councillor.

"It was her passion to see that a sensible Warwick traffic plan was bought forward, that finally motivated her to seek election.

"So much so that when Elizabeth became Mayor in 2012 and the Courier headline read ‘Championing heritage and solving the traffic problem - new Mayors vision for Warwick'.

"She was also by then the Heritage Champion for the whole District and tried to find solutions to bring a scheme forward to restore the Leper Hospital, sadly she did not succeed.

"If you were to ask most people to describe Elizabeth, I think their first reaction might be 'formidable', then maybe 'out spoken', 'eccentric even' and yes she was all these things but she was a good friend, generous with her time, generous in financial support of many local charities and groups, she told some very funny and extremely racy stories, loved to dress up, loved to join us after a meeting for a few drinks - she was just fun.

"When she choose to leave the council we all missed her strong convictions, her depth of knowledge, her mischievousness and now sadly the town has lost one its true characters."

Maureen Hooper, former councillor and past mayor, said: "I knew Elizabeth Higgins as a fellow Councillor, she cared deeply about our town, her constituents and preservation of our many notable buildings.

"She supported maintaining our historical ceremonial activity and was an active and supportive member of the Twinning Association.

"She could be a formidable opponent, forthright and feisty.

"She will be remembered for her work on traffic management being the instigator of a resident led overturning of council plans for the town centre."

Cllr Martyn Ashford, who serves the Aylesford ward and is Chairman of Warwick District Council, said: "It is with great sadness that I have to write of the passing of former district councillor, town councillor and Mayor of Warwick Cllr Elizabeth Higgins.

"I have known Elizabeth for many years and during her time on the district and town and as mayor of Warwick she served with distinction.

"She was passionate about all things relating to Warwick and would fight tooth and nail for everything from planning issues road adoptions on chase meadow to stopping a proposed traveller site being sited at severn trent by Chase Meadow.

"Elizabeth served Warwick West and later Aylesford Ward following boundary changes for many years and when she stood down as a councillor the one big issue she had got her teeth into was road adoption for Chase Meadow and when I succeeded her stressed to me that these roads need to be adopted soon, something that is still ongoing to this day.

"Elizabeth was a unique commodity of a Cllr that always put people first and would fight for their rights and in most cases would win.

"As we go about our daily lives in Warwick I know that she will be watching over us and reminding us to do the right thing for Warwick. RIP Elizabeth."

Berkley Williams, former Mayor's Chauffeur, said: "As chauffeur at the time at Warwick town council, I had the privilege of driving and accompanying Elizabeth during her mayoral year.

"She was a stalwart supporter of the council, the town and a lover of local history.

"Being close to her I knew she so enjoyed her time as mayor.

"I remember one Sunday civic service on a cold winter's morning I went to pick her up - she was due to be fully robed and chained.

"I arrived at her house but the night before it had snowed heavily - a thick carpet of fresh snow lay on the ground - but I managed to get there and park on a slope near the mayor's house.

"After robing we came out, walked to the car and it was snowed in.

"After several attempts and wheel spins is simply wouldn't move, the mayor was not happy, she rolled her eyes, tutted and and snapped loudly in the fresh crisp air 'this simply isn't good enough'...what could I do?

"And that was Elizabeth, simply Elizabeth, just brilliant. God bless her."

Anne Claydon, former town councillor and past mayor, said: "Elizabeth was an avid champion for Warwick.

"When she was first elected, people were unsure of her, but subsequently became to realise she was a fighter.

"She was a person of two halves. Councillor mode, and funny, kind and generous mode. She excelled in a challenge and fought to the bitter end.

"A well educated woman, who knew an awful amount of history and exciting facts that came to light when she was there with you.

"To cut a long story short, she was an exceptional person."

George Illingworth, former Kenilworth councillor and former Kenilworth mayor, said: "Elizabeth was Mayor of Warwick the year that I was Mayor of Kenilworth so it was a memorable time.

"Had she had her way when on the Licensing Committee all the taxis in Warwick District would have been painted purple by now.

"She was quite a character."

A spokesperson from Warwick Community Band said: "We are extremely saddened to hear of the passing of Elizabeth Higgins.

"Elizabeth was a long-standing supporter of the Warwick community band through her role of band president whilst Mayor of Warwick and subsequently band vice president until 2019.

"A role she took on conscientiously by attending numerous band engagements, trips and monthly band rehearsals.

"Her support will be deeply missed.

"Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this sad time."

Michael Kinson, a former councillor, said he remembered Elizabeth as 'a campaigning councillor very proud to represent Warwick and serve as mayor'.

He said: "She was always willing to fight for the town and its traditions and of course the people of Warwick.

"As a fellow member of Warwick District Council I was able to witness this on many occasions, especially on the planning committee."

There will be a private cremation but a memorial service is to be held for Elizabeth at a later date.