3:19pm Sunday 14th March 2010
By Alex Willmott
TRIBUTES have been paid to a popular Burnley councillor and county councillor who has died following a short battle with cancer.
Liberal Democrat Coun Bill Bennett, who represented Queensgate ward, died on Saturday morning aged 61.
His wife Cathy said: "Bill loved being a councillor. He loved helping people. He was always in the front, getting involved in everything.
"Bill was determined when he joined Lancashire County Council to make Burnley and Lancashire work together and I hope that work will be carried on."
After a career that included serving in the Army Signals Corps, Coun Bennett, of Berry Street, also worked at Lucas aerospace and as a postman for more than twenty five years with the Royal Mail.
In addition to his work on two councils, he supported Burnley Civic Society, Burnley Boys' Club, Barden Lane Nursery and the Royal British Legion.
Paying tribute to his colleague, Coun Darren Reynolds said: "Bill's wife Cathy showed me the massive stack of cards and letters that Bill had been sent while in hospital.
"Messages came from as far afield as Germany, but the most touching messages were those from local well-wishers.
"It really came home to me just how widely he was appreciated when I was working outdoors in our Queensgate ward. So many people kept asking me how he was doing that I could barely remember them all when passing their wishes on.
"Bill was an amazing man. He stayed positive right through to the end. He still had his mobile telephone switched on in his hospital bed, taking calls from people in need of help. It is so sad, and so unfair that we have lost him."
His funeral arrangements will be announced later.
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