Caring councillor's tragic death

TRIBUTES have been paid to a former member of Warrington Borough Council who has died following a tragic accident at home.
David Earl (pictured) represented Westbrook on the council from 2004 to 2012 for the Liberal Democrats and was also a member of Burtonwood and Westbrook Parish Council until June this year, when he was forced to retire through ill health.
Before moving to the Warrington area he had served as a Liberal Democrat on Trafford Borough Council.
He spent much of the last year in the Walton Centre in Liverpool after a severe injury in November last year following a fall at his home in Callands. Two weeks before his death he moved to a Care Home where he caught an infection.
Mr Earl was born in Sale and trained as a draughtsman before changing career in his mid-20s to become a youth and community worker. He returned to engineering later on and worked for a number of companies in Warrington.
For two years he was a member of Warrington Council’s executive board with responsibility for innovation. He was particularly proud of the part he played in setting up the Contact Centre in Horsemarket Street.
He was a director of the bus company Network Warrington and a governor of two schools and also a regular volunteer at the YMCA and the foodbank, a trustee of the Stepping Stone project which is an organisation that looks after young people who are at risk of becoming homeless and a trustee of Warrington Community Transport.
Liberal Democrat leader on Warrington Council, Cllr Ian Marks said: “Dave was an excellent councillor and a truly caring member of the community. He championed the cause of people less fortunate than himself with tremendous enthusiasm. Many of his activities were not known to colleagues because he didn’t make a fuss but just got on with the task of helping others.
“He felt strongly about the environment and was an active member of the local ‘Clean up my Community’ Group. He had just returned from a litter pick when he fell so badly at his home. It was typical of Dave that he was helping others right up to the end. We shall miss him greatly.”