Tributes have this week been paid to a former Mayoress of Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge who has died.
Gillian Kenyon-Gill, who was Mayoress of Burnham and Highbridge for two years from 2005-6, has passed away after a battle with cancer.
Friends and family members have paid tribute to her warm, friendly nature.
The family says Gilli was born in Peterborough and has a younger sister who still lives with 200 yards of the house where they were both born.
She finished a successful school career at Peterborough County Grammar School for Girls.
She married her first husband Derek aged 19. They had three sons. She held various jobs in Peterborough and worked for an agency as a clerical ‘temp’.
She left her first marriage after 18 years and eventually settled in South Wales, working as a charity manager. A few years later she met and married her second husband Andy.
After that romance failed, she moved to Trefor in North Wales, working as a self-employed chiropodist and reflexologist.
Eventually financial needs, and being the unwanted English woman in a very Welsh village, prompted a career change as a residential respite carer.
The work led to her meeting her third husband, Eric, in Bromley. After marriage, they decided to ‘retire’ to Burnham-On-Sea.
A highlight of their time together in Burnham was when Eric was elected Mayor of Highbridge and Burnham, with Gillian as his Mayoress, functions that they enjoyed and continued for a second term.
Together they were active members at Burnham Moose Lodge, and enjoyed the folk music club at the Ritz Social Club.
Sadly, the marriage with Eric later failed and Gillian moved into sheltered housing at Elizabeth Court in Burnham, where she continued to live until the end. Sadly, poor mobility meant that she was virtually housebound for the last four or so years.
A constant thread through her life was Guiding. As a young girl, she started with the Brownies, then Guides, and progressed to become a unit leader.
Although retiring from active Guiding when her first marriage ended, she maintained an interest and remained a member of the global Guiding organisation until the end. Click here for her more.
