Browse Sections

• Education

Sudden death of campaigner

Ailsa Cranna
17/ 4/2008

A CAMPAIGNER and former councillor has died aged just 42 after undergoing a routine back operation.

Friends and family of former Whitefield councillor Warren Flood are still struggling to come to terms with his unexpected death which happened as he was coming round from surgery.

The ex-Pilkington Park councillor died in Fairfield Hospital on Thursday, April 3. An inquest has been opened and adjourned and a funeral was held at Rainsough Cemetery on Tuesday.

Warren, 42, of Kingswood Road, Prestwich, had been suffering from severe back pain but continued to work for family friend Bury South MP Ivan Lewis as a case worker.

He leaves a widow Catherine, parents Marilyn and Arthur, and sister Natalie.

This week the family were too grief-stricken to talk of their loss but asked Mr Lewis to speak to the Advertiser on their behalf.

He said: "Warren’s sudden death has left the whole community in shock that such a special young man should be taken from us in the prime of his life. Warren touched the lives of thousands of my constituents who he helped with their problems.

"Warren was unique in the often tough world of politics. He had no enemies.

"In the past week the words that have been used time and time again by friends, family members and constituents about Warren are ‘warm, kind, compassionate, loyal, principled, honest, decent, committed and full of integrity’.

"I have lost a special friend, the people of Bury a true gentleman, simply one of the best."

Betty Tebbs, of Ostrich Lane, Prestwich, a fellow CND member alongside Warren, said: "Warren died on my 90th birthday. I was celebrating and happy and then the news came through and I was plunged into such sadness."

Warren served for eight years as a councillor for Pilkington Park Ward in Whitefield from May 1994 to 2002, and went on to represent Moorside Ward, in Bury from 2004 to 2006.

He was chair of Bury Council’s planning committee for a number of years, and a prominent supporter of Bury Football Club.

When the club faced bankruptcy he was one of the leading Forever Bury campaigners. Members of Forever Bury were among the 250-plus mourners at the funeral, alongside senior representatives of all the political parties on Bury Council.

Council leader Bob Bibby said: "It’s always sad to lose a former councillor and more so in such tragic circumstances such as these.

"Warren was a good and caring councillor and represented the residents in Pilkington Park and Moorside with great distinction."

Former council leader Wayne Campbell added: "He was an absolutely wonderful person. I had the privilege to work with Warren both as a fellow councillor and as a fellow case worker for Ivan."

The Flood family have asked that any donations in Warren’s memory be sent to the Creative Living Centre, in Bury New Road, Prestwich, a facility supporting people with emotional and mental distress.

A spokesman for Pennine Acute Trust, which runs Fairfield Hospital, said: "It would be inappropriate to comment at this stage."