Community Champion and friend to many

JOHN WILLOCK died on May 30 aged 67 in Prince Philip Hospital.

John was born on May 11, 1949. All his life he strove to improve the lot of ordinary people. Cheerful, enthusiastic and resilient, John would help anyone and was fearless in support of a good cause.

A son of Llangennech, he served as a Community Councillor there for 20 years and was Chair of Council twice. His passions were politics, community service, and his family, including his dogs and racing pigeons.

He was a lifelong socialist, trade union member and shop steward. A tireless campaigner, one of the first members of People First Wales/ Gwerin Gyntaf Cymru, for whom he was a County Council candidate in 2012 and a stalwart supporter.

John spent his life fighting injustice and improving facilities for local people. In Llangennech, he started an angling club, youth club, dramatic society and the historic society.

In the wider Llanelli area, he was a long time secretary of the Llanelli Trades Council, he ran a Socialist Discussion Group, he successfully campaigned against the closure of Llanelli Care homes, saving Caemaen Care Home from closure.

He was himself recently a resident of Ty Mair Nursing Home when illness left him unable to cope at home.

John was instrumental in setting up the annual commemoration of the 1911 Llanelii Railway Strike and was always greatly impressed by the courage of the strikers, the brutality of the shootings and the anger of community shown afterwards. Usually, when troops start shooting people dead, the locals disperse. In Llanelli, hundreds of unarmed angry people chased the soldiers back to the station and they had to lock themselves in for their own safety. No wonder the history of the incident was suppressed.

This year, the 1911 committee, of which John was secretary, dedicated the events of this commemoration week to the man whose energy and dynamism promoted this important event.

John is survived by his sons, James and Julian. Tragically, his lovely daughter, Samantha, suddenly and unexpectedly died earlier this year. John was heartbroken.