Eric Highton – Obituary

Eric Highton, whose Life can be found on the Unexamined Lives website at  “All the World’s a Stage – Eric Highton”  has died after a long illness at the Royal Derby Hospital on Tuesday 9th August 2016. He was aged 91 years.

His obituary appeared in the Derby Telegraph 30th August, 2016.

Friends pay tribute to political stalwart and campaigner who ‘never retired’

FRIENDS paid tribute to a staple of local politics who “never really retired”, after he died, aged 91.

Eric Highton had many roles including as councillor for Ockbrook Parish Council, a primary school governor – and even a member of pressure group Borrowash Against Gravel.

A funeral will take place at the Methodist Church in Borrowash next Monday at 12pm, followed by the burial at Ockbrook and Borrowash Cemetery.

Mid Derbyshire Labour branch secretary and former MP Helen Clark said she knew the former Rolls-Royce worker well through their Labour membership.

She said: “He was very much a local man. He had very strong links to the village but there were lots of people who had nothing to do with politics who would say that they knew him and say something favourable. “

Mrs Clark gave credit to Mr Highton for his suggestion to create a historical project which was later funded by a grant. She said: “Eric suggested the Unexamined Lives project and that turned into a £34,000 project funded by the lottery.

“Had Eric not suggested it to me then I wouldn’t have done it.”One of Mr Highton’s preoccupations was that Ockbrook received a lot of attention unlike his home of Borrowash, Mrs Clark said.

She added: “He was one of the few from Borrowash who managed to get elected to Erewash Borough Council and I think it’s fair to say that Erewash is not overly Labour – which goes to show how popular he was.”

Eric was first elected to the body that set up Erewash Borough in 1973, representing the Ockbrook and Borrowash Ward, and was a founding member of Erewash Borough Council in 1974.

He was elected to the Ockbrook and Borrowash ward several times and represented the Stanley ward from 1995 to 1999.

Ockbrook ·Parish Council chairman Mike Wallis said he had only met Mr Highton on two brief occasions but he wished to pay his respects to his services to the council.

He said: “We talked a couple of times on various issues about allotments. They weren’t particularly long meetings so I didn’t get a chance to talk very much.

“We have a parish council meeting coming up and, as a matter of respect to him, we will be holding a moment’s silence to thank him for all the work he has done.”

This obituary also appears on the Derby Telegraph website – click here.