(MANAGING DIRECTOR)
(524)
Born in Vauxhall Lane, Leicester on 4 June 1922. He was one of seven children, his father was a clicker in the Boot and Shoe trade.
Educated at All Saints School, the family then moved to Braunstone and he attended Hazel Street School followed by King Richard’s Road School.
On leaving school, he became a baker’s van boy. At the age of 17 years, he became a travelling salesman, selling tea for the Midland Tea Distributors.
When the Second World War broke out, Councillor Page went into munitions work at British Thompson, Houston on Melton Road and it was there that he met his future wife Joan. They worked together, he as a driller and she on assembly work on aircraft magnetos.
Mrs Page was born in Canada and spent the first eight years of her life there. Following the death of her mother she came to England to live with her grandmother in Leicester. They were married at Holy Apostles Church, Leicester on 24 July 1943. They had three sons, Roger, Stuart and Martin and a daughter, Gillian.
Councillor Page was called up into the army in 1944 where he served in the Army Catering Corps at Aldershot and then in the Royal Army Service Corps in an administrative capacity. In 1948, he obtained a job at Fosse England Limited selling car and lorry tyres and became the firm’s sales manager after 2 years. In 1952, he joined Bergougnan Tyre Company. He was promoted divisional sales manager in 1954 and worked for the company until his retirement in 1981. In addition, he went on to set up his own business, Walkers Tyre Service Ltd. where he became the managing director.
Councillor Page was first elected to the Leicester City Council in 1961 as a Conservative representative for the Westcoates Ward. He served on a number of Committees including Central Purchasing, Civil Defence, Health, Highways and Public Works and Public Cleansing and Baths. Councillor Page also served on the former Children’s Committee where he held the Chairmanship from 1969-71. He was also the Chairman of the Desford Boys School Sub-Committee and served as Vice-Chairman of the new Social Services Committee between 1971-74 when, following Local Government re-organisation, the provision of Social Services became the responsibility of the new Leicestershire County Council.
Councillor Page became a Director of Leicester City Football Club in 1975. He also served on the River Dove Water Board, the Leicester Number 1 Hospital Management Committee in addition to being a Governor of King Richard III School and a Manager of Dovelands School.
He was appointed High Bailiff of the City on 15 May 1980 for the year 1980-81.
Councillor Page was elected to the office of Lord Mayor of the City on 20 May 1982. He chose his wife Joan as his Lady Mayoress.
The highlight of Councillor Page’s Year of Office was meeting two members of the Royal Family when they visited the City. On 2 June 1982, His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent visited Leicester where he was greeted by the Lord Mayor upon his arrival by helicopter. His Royal Highness officially opened the Leicester Business Advice Centre in New Walk and the Magazine Works Space in Newarke Street. Following a Civic Luncheon at the Lord Mayor’s Room, which was hosted by Councillor Page, His Royal Highness visited Camber International, Manufacturers of Jersey Textile Machines in Melton Road and Goodwin Barsby and Company Limited, specialists in crushing and Asphalt Plant in St Margaret’s.
Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret came to Leicester on 15 May 1983, in her capacity as President of the Girl Guides Association, to open the Leicestershire Girl Guides’ new headquarters in Regent Road. The Princess later attended a Royal Variety Charity Concert, in aid of the St John’s Ambulance Brigade, at the De Montfort Hall.
Councillor Page had the distinction of becoming the first Lord Mayor of Leicester to attend upon a Pope when, on 30 May 1982, he was among a number of Lord Mayors and other dignitaries from the Midlands, who were invited to the open air Mass, celebrated by His Holiness Pope John Paul II at Baginton Airport at Coventry. The Mass was attended by 300,000 people and the Civic Heads were thanked by the Pontiff for their attendance.
The Lord Mayor visited the twin city of Krefeld during September 1982. He witnessed the annual Freedom of the City Parade by the 16th Signal Regiment, Royal Corps of Signals who had been stationed in Krefeld since the end of the Second World War in 1945.
Councillor Page was also privileged to become the first Lord Mayor of Leicester to take part in the Annual Lord Mayor of London’s Show held in the capital on 13 November 1982. It was the first time since the instigation of the Lord Mayor of London’s Procession in 1215 that Lord Mayors and Lord Provosts of Great Britain had gathered in London for the historic occasion. The Lord Mayor of Leicester travelled by coach and horses through the streets of London in what was an unprecedented event.
The Lord Mayor maintained the close interest of the Mayoralty with the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment when he visited the Battalion, stationed at Ebrington Barracks, Londonderry on 29 November 1982. He met many of the 150 soldiers from Leicestershire serving in the Battalion on active peacekeeping duties and he also took a flight in an army helicopter. Councillor Page also paid a visit to the Mayor of Londonderry, Alderman William O’Connell.
Advancement in medical science was of great interest to Councillor Page and he chose to preside over an Appeal for Medical Research during his Year of Office. The Appeal, which was well supported, exceeded £100,000.
Councillor Page’s Year of Office was concluded on 19 May 1983.
He died in Leicester on 7 September 1989, aged 67 years.
