A WELL-known figure and former mayor in Cirencester, John Bartlett, has died at the age of 83.

John, a teacher and local councillor for two decades of his life, was struggling with Alzheimer's and died of pneumonia on Thursday, September 7.

The 83-year-old was a prominent political figure in Cirencester in the late 1970s and 1980s: he was town mayor in 1985-6, he worked as a town councillor for 12 years and was a Cotswold District councillor for 20 years, where he was eventually made an honorary alderman.

He was also a Gloucestershire County councillor for eight years.

John was working as a teacher - teaching maths, technical drawing and crafts subjects - when he became involved in local politics.

He took an early retirement in 1985, finishing as head of Frazer house in Cirencester Deer Park School to pursue his role as town mayor.

As well as being a teacher, he also worked as a silversmith, a skill he developed while he was training to be a teacher.

John lived in Cirencester for 50 years, spending 25 in Stratton and the last 25 years of his life in Daglingworth.

His wife Mary Bartlett, 82, said: "He had a marvellous life.

“He worked very much for the community in Cirencester when he was active.

“He was involved with the planning of the bypass when it came, the dual carriages around Cirencester.

“He also had very good relationship with the American air force because back then, RAF Fairford was used as a base for the American air force.

“When he was county councillor, he went around every library in the county to see if there were any small things that could be done to improve the library service. When he was chairman of education, there was a long waiting period for disabled or handicapped children to be assessed for special education.

“He sped up the waiting times from 18 months to just six weeks by appointing more psychiatrists and psychologists.

“He has always been very articulate but sadly, he had a particular type of dementia that took his ability to converse away and he lost his communication skills.

“It’s been a trying period. His communication got less and less."

Speaking of their marriage, Mary recounted a time in May when they were in the communal lounge of Hunters Care Home: “He held my hand and he summoned up as much of his speech as he had left and he said to everybody: ‘this lady here is the lady I love.’

“There wasn’t a dry eye in our house. That sums up our marriage. We had a very happy marriage. We had two lovely children and four grandchildren.”

A thanksgiving service will be held at Holy Rood Church in Daglingworth on Friday, September 22 at 3.30pm.