Edwin completes 50 years of serving the community
A PARISH and district councillor from Waterhouses has just completed 50 years serving his community.
Councillor Edwin Wain joined Waterhouses Parish Council in May 1971. The council serves several adjoining villages including Waterfall, Cauldon and Calton.
Since then he has gone on to represent the Hamps Valley ward as a district councillor at Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, where he now has the responsibilty for planning, car parks and markets.
Mr Wain has also served his community for many years as he is the owner of the village shop in Waterhouses.
He said: “I am celebrating 50 years as a parish councillor. There have been a lot of changes during the time I have served.
“I clearly remember part of Waterhouses
village being flooded in the 1970s. People had to be rescued from their properties.
“The local cement company took all the carpets from the homes to the factory to dry them. Several homes were damaged in the incident.
“Since then work has been completed to avert it happening again.
“I have been at the village shop since 1968.
“In my younger days I was chairman of the West Derbyshire Young Conservatives, so when I moved to Waterhouses I had some political knowledge, so I joined the parish council.”
Mr Wain was elected as district councillor for the area in 1987 until 1991.
He was re-elected in 1995 and has represented the Hamps Valley ward, which covers several Moorlands villages, ever since. He has also represented
the district council at the Peak Park authority for three years.
Mr Wain, 77, says he has no thought at present of retiring as he enjoys his council roles.
He continued: “During my time on the parish council we have seen some new housing developments in Waterhouses which has the seen the village grow.
“I was however, against the Dove Way development, but did manage to get the house numbers reduced on the site so they were not crammed in.
“The local cement company had a sports club in the village which had a large piece of land. I met the owners and as well as few houses we got a new sports pavilion built and acres of land for free. This was an exceptional deal for the village.
“There are disagreements in council meetings, but I like to think when we walk away we are still friends and colleagues.”