Unlimited Digital Access / Get £25 off your Annual Digital Subscription! Use code 25OFF
GET STARTEDMore on KentOnline
Unlimited Digital Access / Get £25 off your Annual Digital Subscription! Use code 25OFF
GET STARTEDMore on KentOnline
A memorial bench dedicated to the late Wendy Hinder has been unveiled in the Franklin Drive play area in Maidstone by her husband Bob.
As a borough councillor for Boxley Ward since 2004, Wendy Hinder had been instrumental in preventing the closure of the play area during the borough council's rationalisation of its parks in 2015.
Striding out with her stop watch to prove it was more than 15 minutes' walk from the nearest alternative, Cllr Hinder was able to persuade the borough to place the small park on the Weavering housing estate into the hands of Boxley Parish Council on a long lease instead.
Subsequently both she and her husband Bob - also a borough councillor - used their members' allowances to purchase additional equipment for the park.
On Saturday, a grateful parish asked Bob Hinder to unveil a bench dedicated to Wendy's memory at the play area at a ceremony attended by around 40 residents and some of their children.
Wendy Hinder was a "Janner" - that is someone born and bred in Plymouth. (The word stems from old Cornish for 'someone who lives by the sea').
And although she had lived for many years in Maidstone, she still retained an affection for the West Country, which is why a St Petroc's Cross - the flag of Devon - was hung above the bench for the ceremony.
Guests were also treated to a Devonshire Cream Tea, with scones spread with raspberry jam made by Cllr Bob Hinder himself.
Parish council chairman Chris Sheppard spoke about how important the play area was for local residents, and said that his own children and now his grandchildren played there.
He said that Cllr Wendy Hinder had "always put people first" and added: "Nothing was ever to much trouble for her, she would never say no to any request for help."
He then invited Bob Hinder and the couple's son Andrew to try out the bench.
Earlier the same day, a service of thanksgiving for Wendy Hinder's life was held at All Saints Church in Maidstone.
Cllr Wendy Hinder was a Conservative, but was well respected by councillors on both sides of the council chamber, many of whom attended the service.
Cllr Hinder died in February, 2020, from Cretzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a condition that causes degeneration of the nerve cells in the brain, which is always fatal.
She was 77.
