Long-serving Fleet councillor ‘a true community champion’
TRIBUTES have been paid to a local councillor and former county councillor who has died.
Cllr Sharyn Wheale was a longserving Hart district councillor, acting as a representative for Fleet East for close to 32 years.
Chairman of the district council on two separate occasions, Cllr Wheale was also a county councillor for a number of years. There she represented Fleet, an area for which she was also a town councillor, for the Conservative Party.
In a statement issued on the district council’s website on Tuesday, its chairman Cllr Simon Ambler, said: “We are deeply saddened by the news; Sharyn will be sorely missed. She was a great friend to many and served her community tirelessly for three decades. Our thoughts are with her family at this difficult time.”
Other tributes have also been paid online to Cllr Wheale after the news broke of her death over the Easter weekend.
In a tribute on Facebook, Cllr Steve Forster said: “This is such sad news: Sharyn Wheale was a true community champion.
“She has represented residents in Fleet, Hart and Hampshire incredibly effectively. It was a joy working alongside her. I will miss her close friendship, sage advice and wonderful sense of humour”.
The Hart Conservatives group also paid tribute in a heartfelt statement on its Facebook page. It said: “We are saddened by the passing of Councillor Sharyn Wheale. Thank you Sharyn for all you have done to serve your community.
“You helped and supported many people and became a friend, as well as a colleague, to us all. We shall all miss you. Our thoughts are with your family and friends”.
Fleet West candidate Mohua Chakraborty also paid tribute to Cllr Wheale online, describing her as an “extraordinary person, leader and friend”. She said: “It’s a sad loss, for residents of Fleet, and me personally.
“Cllr Sharyn Wheale was an extraordinary person, a leader, a guide, and a beautiful friend! Will miss her forever. Blessed to have known you, and I promise to follow all the pathways you had set. Your legacy of being ‘people’s person’ will remain forever. I humbly promise you, and also the residents of Fleet”.
Hart councillors are set to pay tribute to Cllr Wheale at a council meeting tomorrow (Thursday).