Tributes to 'dedicated' Eastwood councillor

TRIBUTES have been paid to a "committed and dedicated" councillor who has died after serving Eastwood for the last decade.

Coun Jim Kenny passed away in hospital on Saturday after a short battle with bone cancer.

Coun Kenny, 68, had been a Broxtowe borough councillor for Eastwood South ward since 1999 and also served as the Mayor of Broxtowe in 2003/04.

Coun Milan Radulovic, who represented Eastwood South ward alongside Coun Kenny, said: "Jim was very much committed and dedicated to the Labour and trade union movement and was very proud of the fact that he was the elected representative of the Eastwood people.

"Jim was a very loyal person. Eastwood has lost a very loyal and true friend and a very, very good local representative who always put the needs of others first."

Coun Kenny grew up in Glasgow, before he and his family moved to Langley Mill in 1959.

His first job in the area was at the Vic Hallams factory, before he joined Midland General buses as a conductor in 1960.

After passing a welding course at Heanor Technical College, Coun Kenny moved into engineering and worked at Bonsers Mining Equipment at Giltbrook, J F Watsons, and British Coal at Moorgreen.

His final job was at Birnams Engineering at New Eastwood, where he worked for 10 years before retiring in 2000.

Coun Kenny was also instrumental in creating the well-known Thursday Night Committee at the Langley Mill Working Men's Club in the 1960s.

The club attracted the likes of The Tremeloes, The Kinks and The Foundations. In 1964 he became the youngest member of the club's management committee, aged 23.

Coun Kenny was also a member of the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union (AMICUS MSF).

Coun Radulovic, who had known Coun Kenny for around 30 years, said: "Jim was always one for being involved in organising things – I think that's what made him such a good councillor."

Beeston Rylands borough councillor Steve Barber said: "Jim had not been well for a number of months but still carried out his duties.

"As Mayor, I particularly remember Jim leading the silence in Beeston Square shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attack. He was clearly very shaken and upset by this atrocity as he saw it as an attack on his fellow human beings.

"That's just the sort of bloke he was, always thinking of others."

Coun Kenny is survived by his wife Helen, whom he married in 1972.

The couple have two daughters, a son, five grandchildren and four great-granddaughters.

A funeral service for Coun Kenny was due to take place at the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Nottingham Road, Hill Top, Eastwood, today at 2pm followed by interment at Eastwood Cemetery.

Flowers or donations to Breathe Easy (Nottingham West) may be sent to Eastwood and District Funeral Service, 154 Nottingham Road, Eastwood, Nottingham NG16 3GG.

bryan.henesey@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk