A LONG serving Teignbridge Councillor will be stepping down in the May elections.

Apart from a gap between 2011 and 2014, Cllr Sheila Cook has served on the council since 1995.

Sheila and her husband Phil moved to Kingskerswell from Richmond-upon-Thames in the early 80s.

They had been active with the Liberal Party in Richmond and were soon involved with the Kingskerswell Liberals (became LibDems in 1988).

Sheila had grown up in Devon, and tells of her experience in Exeter during the Exeter Blitz.

On her move back to Devon she became a cook at Newton Abbot Hospital, and stood as a Liberal candidate for Kingskerswell in the 1987 elections. She was unsuccessful in the Teignbridge election, but became a Kingskerswell Parish Councillor.

Sheila was first elected as a LibDem Teignbridge Councillor in 1995, and served until 2011 when her seat was taken by a Conservative.

She returned in 2015, following a further change in the national political situation.

She was Chairman of Kingskerswell Parish Council during the mid 90s, and continued as a parish councillor until she stepped down in 2020 due to ongoing health issues.

She is of the two councillors for the Kerswell-with-Combe Ward.

Fellow ward councillor, Mike Haines, said: ‘During the 36 years that we were councillors together Sheila was always a staunch LibDem whilst I have always been Independent. Nevertheless we have worked well together to serve our residents and became very good friends whilst retaining our political differences.’

Sheila has been very involved in other organisations in the village. For many years she helped to run Kingskerswell Community and Leisure Centre, with a long spell as chairman of the management committee.

She helped to run the Saturday morning lunches at the Centre, together with many others. She supported Phil with work on Kerswell Downs, and with the Natural History Society.

She said these involvements together with her attendance at St Mary’s Church have given her a wide circle of friends.

On Teignbridge Sheila was on the Scrutiny Committee with a particular interest and involvement in the issues of household waste, conservation and sustainability and she spent many years on the Highways and Traffic Orders Committee with Devon County Council.

Since the last election Sheila says her hearing and eye sight have deteriorated, and now into her 90s she has decided to step back from her role as a councillor.

Cllr Alan Connett, Teignbridge Council Leader, said: ‘Sheila was a force to be reckoned with.

‘I met her first in the campaign for the 1995 elections for Teignbridge Council and then served with her for the following years.

‘She spoke her mind and said things as she saw them. Sheila has been a stalwart of the Liberal Democrats team on Teignbridge for many years.

‘Her wealth of experience and clear view about what needed to be done often focused discussions among colleagues and on the council.

‘For me, as a new councillor, Sheila was very encouraging and supportive – as she remained through all the years I have known her and we have served on the council.

Sheila found the good in most things and all people – and kept a positive and cheery outlook even when there were clouds in the sky.

‘A committed member of the Liberal Democrats over many years, Sheila had first joined the Liberal Party.

‘She devoted her life to political campaigning whether for the Party or the causes she supported.

‘Sheila has been a hard working and dedicated local councillor and she will be missed.’

Cllr Alistair Dewhirst, Devon County and Teignbridge District Councillor, said ‘Within days of meeting Sheila for the first time she asked me to lunch and was soon regaling me with tales of the Parish Council, organic food, cats, the Community Centre, national politics, Greenpeace, Teignbridge Council – and that was all before I had sat down! I had never met people more passionate about life and their local community than Sheila and her husband Phil, my predecessor on Devon County Council. Both Sheila and Phil were ardent environmentalists.

‘She knew people everywhere and is an inexhaustible mine of stories about politics and her life – she was an outstanding tennis player and played at junior Wimbledon. She is forthright in her views and does not suffer fools gladly but she has fought hard for her beliefs and the welfare of Kingskerswell was always her driving force.’