Members considered the Recommendation of the Policy & Finance Committee that Cllr Neville Chard be awarded the title of Honorary Freeman for his long public service to the Town and at Bisterne Football Club (F/4585 19.05.10 refers).
Proposal by Cllr J HERON
Cllr Heron said that the Town Council had for some years been of the opinion that there ought to be a legal provision to allow Town and Parish Councils to grant some form of honorary status to individuals who had made an immense contribution to the town or community. Although the Town Council had tried to interest other councils in making these awards, its proposals had not received much support nationally.
Members had therefore been surprised and delighted when, earlier in the year, they were advised that the Town Council would now have the authority to grant the title of Honorary Freeman or Honorary Freewoman to those persons who had given long and meritorious service to the community.
He said he was delighted to formally propose that Cllr Neville James Chard be the first person to be awarded the title of Honorary Freeman of Ringwood. Cllr Chard’s service to the community dated back to the second World War when he was an Army Cadet attached to the Home Guard and based at the Bridge House Hotel which was now known as Armfield Tech in West Street. Amongst his duties he was required to sit in the observation post on the roof of the current District Council Public Offices building watching out for air raids and making sure that notifications to Central Control at Winchester were undertaken expeditiously.
Cllr Chard was looked upon as the ‘father of the Council’ - although it was not quite true that he had been a Member when Caesar invaded! As a result of his war time duties, Cllr Chard had actually been involved in community activities, starting on the roof of the building, for over sixty-five years; an astonishing record.
Cllr Chard had been mostly associated with two things. Firstly, his beloved Bisterne Football Club which he had joined in the 1948/49 season, then simply as a player. In 1957, he had become Secretary of that Club and was still Secretary a mere fifty-three years later. It was not just the paperwork that Cllr Chard did at Bisterne, but he was also the grounds man, head cook and bottle washer. As grounds man, he had gained many awards of ‘Grounds man of the Year’ for Hampshire, South and South West England, including the Channel Islands and also came third in the England and Wales Nationals competition for the best pitches.
Not content with his football activities, Cllr Chard joined the former Ringwood & Fordingbridge Rural District Council in about 1970 and, subsequently, in 1973, became one of the first Members of the newly formed New Forest District Council, a Council on which he served until 1987. Cllr Chard joined the Town Council in about 1972. He had multiple entries of his name on the Roll of Honour at the Town Council, having served as Chairman of the Council in 1982/83 and then for three years from 1986 to 1989 and, latterly, in 1999/2000. In addition to all of those roles, Cllr Chard had been Chairman of virtually every Committee of the Council.
Statement by Town Mayor, Cllr C FORD, seconding proposal by Cllr Heron
The Town Mayor, Cllr Ford, thanked Cllr Heron for his summing up of Cllr Chard’s very long list of community service. She said she had the very great privilege of seconding his proposal and sincerely hoped that every Member of the Council would join in a unanimous vote of approval for granting Cllr Chard the title of Honorary Freeman of Ringwood.
She said that, as might be imagined with her background as a Wren, she was particularly pleased that Cllr Chard had the proper training from his early days! He had joined the Boys Brigade at ten and remained a member until he was 18. Running in parallel with that, he had been a member of the Army Cadets from age 14 to 18 and it was during that time that he had spent many happy hours on the roof of the Public Offices building.
It was ironic that as the father of the Council he had been a member of the Civil Defence, but had not been old enough to be conscripted until the end of the war; as a result of being a conscript, he had served time there instead of doing National Service. Not many people could remember missing National Service because they had already served as a Conscript.
She said she was sure that that real training which he had had in the uniformed services had stood him in very good stead. After leaving the Army, he had joined another uniformed service in the Post Office. Those were the days when the Post Office not only delivered the mail, but passed the time of day with its customers and helped them by doing some of their shopping and cutting their hedges; the reward for which was numerous cups of tea!
She believed that Aldermen of the City of London were entitled to drive their cattle across London Bridge; perhaps Honorary Freeman of Ringwood should be allowed to graze sheep upon the Bickerley Common!
She offered her congratulations and said that the title of Honorary Freeman of Ringwood was very well deserved.
Cllr Rippon-Swaine also commented that Cllr Chard was a dedicated councillor and a beacon for the Town.
Cllr Woodifield said that as a new councillor, she wanted to personally thank Cllr Chard for all his help to her and that he really had been a ‘father figure’.
RESOLVED: That, by virtue of section 249(5) and (6) of the Local Government Act 1972 Act as amended by the 2009 Act on 12 January 2010, at the unanimous behest of the Members of Ringwood Town Council here present, the first title of Honorary Freeman of Ringwood be granted to Cllr Neville James Chard ISM.
Response by Cllr CHARD
Cllr Chard said he was very grateful to Cllrs Heron and Ford for nominating him for the honour and for the Council approving it. He was very proud to be known as the ‘father’ of the Council. When he first started playing football for Bisterne in 1948, he had never imagined that 63 years later, he would still be involved with the Club. Nor had he imagined that when he became a Councillor, he would still be one 40 years later.
He had served with and under 13 Chairmen and Town Mayors and had lost count of the number of Councillors he had served with. In his 40 years on the Council, he had served with five Town Clerks. All of them had brought something different to the table. The current Town Clerk kept reminding him that the world was changing so fast that there was no option but to change with it. It was inevitable and no-one was wholly comfortable with that scenario, but the job of councillors was to manage the situation the best they could for the benefit of the people of Ringwood.
Finally, he thanked his partner Jenny, his son and all his family and friends who had given him immeasurable support throughout his time of public service. He said it was a great honour to be the first person to accept the privilege of being awarded the title of ‘Honorary Freeman’ of Ringwood. He also said he was very moved that members of both Bisterne Football Club and Ringwood Town Football Club had attended the ceremony.
There being no further business, the Town Mayor closed the meeting at 7.45pm.
