Former Borough Mayor dies

Eric's mayoral appeal campaign in 1963-1964 was in support of the former Bexhill Youth Centre (now Bexhill Youth and Community Centre) and contributed to the building of a new hall at the Church Army-run centre the following year.

He was the borough's youngest mayor since 1935.

The bulk of his working life was spent with the then British South Africa Company. His year of office also saw the opening by the company of offices in St Leonards Road, purpose-built on the site of the old Ephrons furnishing store, which had been destroyed by fire.

He had been instrumental in the company choosing Bexhill in a move which mirrored that of many companies at the time of "de-centralising" from the capital.

The office opening and the Youth Centre campaign were high-points in service to local politics which began in 1958 and which spanned nearly two decades.

Eric Corke came to Bexhill in 1946 after war service with the Royal Artillery. He was a member of staff of the British South Africa Company which at the time had offices in Albert Road as a result of war-time evacuation from London.

His early public service included membership of and chairmanship of Bexhill Round Table. Eric was a leading worker for Bexhill Carnival, which had been revived by Tablers and which was run by them for a number of years.

He was first elected to the former Bexhill Town Council as a Conservative in 1958 and rose to become an Alderman of the Borough.

His employers' Bexhill office closed as a result of amalgamation. But Eric Corke continued to be a forceful and out-spoken contributor to the town's public life despite the time-consuming need to commute to London.

In addition, he was active with his brother in local building development and their firm erected a considerable number of up-market properties in the town.

Some of his most outstanding borough work came as chairman of the town council's entertainments committee, later merged with the estates and parks committee to form the amenities committee.

The early years of this chairmanship were marked by a renovation scheme at the De La Warr Pavilion. At 20,000, this was both expensive at the time and controversial but it updated the kitchens and lounge bar.

The East Wing was transformed in honour of the 1966 visit of the Queen and Prince Philip into the Elizabeth Room and the old Lecture Hall became the Edinburgh Room.

His chairmanship coincided with the work of the late Rupert Lockwood as pavilion entertainments manager and saw such memorable enterprise as the annual Festival of Music, which attracted orchestras of the stature of the Halle and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

It was typical of Eric Corke that in his capacity as chairman of the borough health committee in 1959 he had donned a diving suit and went down more than 30ft some half a mile offshore to make a personal inspection of repair work to the sewer outfall off Galley Hill!

In addition to his widow and former Mayoress, Irene, Eric Corke leaves grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Tributes to Eric may be left by clicking on this link