(RETIRED ENGINEER)
(523)
Born in Leicester on 26 May 1914 and educated at Harrison Road School.
On leaving school in 1928 at the age of 14 years, he was first employed as an apprentice engineer at the Leicester firm of Ashwell and Nesbitt. He remained with this firm as a centre lathe turner until 1938. Between 1938 and 1940, Councillor Berridge was a self-employed insurance agent in Leicester. He re-entered the engineering industry in 1940 and was employed by the Leicester firm of Goodwin and Barsby, as an engineer, until he retired in May 1979.
He married Miss Margaret Liddle of Leicester in 1952 and they had two children, a son Andrew and a daughter Anne.
Councillor Berridge, who joined the Labour Party in 1945, was elected to the City Council in 1962 to represent the Belgrave Ward. He was defeated in the Municipal Elections of 1965 but was returned to the City Council in September 1970 when he won a seat in the Latimer Ward. In 1979 he was re-elected for the Belgrave Ward. Councillor Berridge also became a County Councillor in 1973 when he was elected to represent the Belgrave Ward on the new Leicestershire County Council.
He served on many Committees of the City Council including the Education, Environmental Health, Finance, Manpower, Traffic and Transport and the Works Committees. He was Chairman of the Works Committee for a number of years. As a member of the Leicestershire County Council, Councillor Berridge was a member of the Environment, Highways and the Building and Supplies Committees.
He joined the Amalgamated Engineering Union in 1942 and was appointed a Convenor, a post he held from 1943 to 1979. He was elected the Branch Secretary of the Leicester Branch in 1952. Councillor Berridge also served as a member of the District Committee of his union from 1950 to 1979.
Councillor Berridge was a Trustee of the Bradgate Park Trust. He was also the Chairman of the Governors of the Hugh Latimer Primary School and a Governor of four other City Schools.
A devout Methodist, he served in a number of offices in his local church at Claremont Street, Leicester over many years.
He was appointed High Bailiff of the City on 17 May 1979 for the year 1979-80.
Councillor Berridge was elected to the office of Lord Mayor of the City on 21 May 1981. He chose his wife Margaret as his Lady Mayoress. Mrs Berridge had served as a Labour Councillor on the Leicestershire County Council since the Spring elections of 1981.
During his Year of Office, Councillor Berridge received visitors from the twin cities of Krefeld and Strasbourg and three specific twinning weekends took place when a large number of organisations from the two cities visited Leicester and were received by the Lord Mayor. One such occasion took place on 30 May 1982 when the Lord Mayor gave a full Civic Reception to 74 visitors from Strasbourg at the Lord Mayor’s rooms at the Art Gallery.
The Second World Blind Bowls Tournament was held in Leicester in 1981. The Lord Mayor watched the early stages of the competition, which was attended by 80 players and officials from 7 countries. The tournament was held at the Belgrave Bowling Club, Thurcaston Road, Leicester and Councillor Berridge presented the prizes at the concluding ceremony on 21 August 1981.
In September 1981, the Lord Mayor visited Krefeld and reviewed the troops of the 16th Signal Regiment, Royal Corps of Signals on parade on the occasion of the 7th Anniversary of the granting of the Freedom of Krefeld to British soldiers.
During April 1982, Councillor Berridge visited the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Anglian Regiment at their Ebrington barracks in Londonderry and met many soldiers from Leicestershire. They were serving in difficult and hazardous conditions and, during the visit, the Lord Mayor came under a hail of stones from local schoolchildren causing him to crouch for shelter by the old city walls. A more pleasurable experience was a visit to the Mayor of Londonderry, Alderman Joe Fegan.
The Lord Mayor attended the official opening ceremony, to mark the bringing into use of the X-ray Scanner machine at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, on 30 April 1982. The occasion marked the culmination of the Mayoral Appeal by Councillor Albert Sylvester Watson (Lord Mayor of Leicester 1978-79), which was the most successful Appeal in the City’s Civic history.
Councillor Berridge inaugurated an Appeal in support of the International Year of Disabled People, putting a special emphasis upon the needs of Mentally Handicapped People. An Appeal for £30,000 in order to purchase two specially converted minibuses, for use at the Fosse Day Centre was launched. The target was reached by Christmas 1981 when the two vehicles were presented to the centre by the Lord Mayor.
Councillor Berridge’s Year of Office was concluded on 20 May 1982 whereupon he was appointed Deputy Lord Mayor for the year 1982-83.
He died in Leicester on 3rd February 2002, aged 87 years.
