Wednesday, July 29, 2015

WELL-KNOWN BRIGG MAN ROLLS BACK THE YEARS

It was like a trip down memory lane for "yours truly" and for Brigg resident Ralph Appleyard on Monday night.
Ralph was a deputy chief officer at Brigg-based Glanford Borough Council and was a familiar figure at meetings in the wonderful, wooden-panelled council chamber at what's now Hewson House, off Station Road.
Sitting with fellow officers and committee chairmen, he would answer councillors' questions and impart advice and recommendations.
But, long since retired from his role in local government, Ralph turned up at the Angel Suite on Monday to exercise his right to address Brigg Town Council during Public Question Time - part of the authority's monthly meeting.
We covered scores of council meetings in the 1980s when Ralph was a council officer and rang him on many occasions to put questions while reporting for the Lincolnshire and South Humberside Times.
There were no press officers at Glanford during this period, and no email. If you had questions you picked up the phone and rang the chief officer or his deputy. Ralph, then the deputy borough engineer and surveyor, was always very helpful to the gentlemen and ladies of the Press.
I hadn't see him addressing a council meeting since 1983 - until Monday night. How time flies!


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