(RETIRED GROUP SAFETY ADVISOR)
(539)
Born in Leicester on 5 February 1929 and educated at Coleman Primary school and Moat Boys’ School.
On leaving school, at the age of 14 years, he was apprenticed as a Joiner/Wood Machinist.
Served in the Royal Air Force for his period of National Service from 1947 to 1949.
Married Miss Elizabeth Bee at Leicester on 16 June 1951. They had two children, a son Neil and a daughter Amanda.
He returned to the building industry in 1951 and eight years later joined the Leicester firm of Jelson Limited Builders. He was appointed as the Jelson Group Safety Advisor in 1985 and retired from that position in 1994.
Councillor Flint was first elected to the City Council as the Labour Councillor for the Abbey Ward in 1972 and, upon the re-organisation of Local Government in 1973, he was elected to serve on the new Leicester District Council. He continued until 1987 when he retired as a Councillor due to his work commitments.
He also served as an elected member of the Leicestershire County Council, representing Mowmacre, Leicester from 1981 to 1986.
Following his retirement from work Councillor Flint returned to the City Council as the representative for the Mowmacre Ward in 1995.
Councillor Flint was the Deputy Leader of the Council from 1980-1984. He held a number of important Committee Chairs over the years including Estates, Recreation and Traffic and was also a Vice-Chair of the Public Control Committee.
A Labour Party member since 1956 he served, for many years, as the Chairman of the Leicester West constituency Labour Party. Councillor Flint was appointed to the City bench as a Justice of the Peace in 1968.
In 1976 he was appointed Chairman of Mowmacre Boys Club. His hobbies included cycling, gardening, reading, steam trains and walking.
He was appointed Deputy Lord Mayor of the City on 16 May 1996 for the year 1996/97.
Councillor Flint was elected to the office of Lord Mayor of the City on 15 May 1997.
He chose his wife Elizabeth to be his Lady Mayoress. Mrs Flint was born in Belgrave, Leicester. She attended the Belgrave National School and later Harrison Road Senior School before working for the Leicester firm of N. Corah (St Margaret) Limited as a fully-fashioned nylon seamer. After the children went to school she returned to work and had various part time jobs as well as working at the City General Hospital as a Theatre Service Assistant.
The outstanding visitor to the City during Councillor Flint’s Mayoralty was Diana, Princess of Wales to whom he was introduced on 27 May 1997 when she formally opened the Richard Attenborough Centre for Disability and Arts at the University of Leicester. Sadly, it was his painful duty to attend the Memorial Service of Thanksgiving, at Leicester Cathedral, for the life of the Princess following her tragic death on 31 August 1997.
The Lord Mayor also met His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent when he officially opened the Osborne Building at the Leicester Royal Infirmary on 25 February 1998.
The long-standing twinning link with Krefeld was strengthened with a visit by the Lord Mayor to the German city in March 1998 which immediately followed the annual Civic Visit to Kilkenny. Councillor Flint also made a Civic Visit to Leicester in Massachusetts to take part in the 275th Anniversary celebrations held during June 1997. He became only the third British person to be permitted to stand on the floor of the State Senate in Boston. The Lord Mayor also received visitors to the City from Kilkenny and Strasbourg and a delegation from Chongqing, China.
The ties with the Royal Anglian Regiment were maintained when Councillor Flint attended the Open day of the 2nd Battalion at Battlebury Barracks, Warminster on 4 September 1997.
On 14 October 1997 Councillor Flint was privileged to host a reception in the City Rooms in honour of the visit to Leicester by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend George Leonard Carey.
The first ‘Citizen of the Year’ award scheme was launched by the Lord Mayor. The person chosen, as the first recipient was Yvonne Todd of the Eyres Monsell Tenants Association, who received her award at a ceremony in the Council Chamber on 17 April 1998.
During his Mayoralty Councillor Flint visited 56 of the City’s Primary Schools.
Councillor Flint adopted the Glenfield Hospital’s Breast Care Appeal as his chosen Charity. The Lord Mayor’s Appeal raised the sum of £70,250.
Councillor Flint’s Year of Office was concluded on 21 May 1998 whereupon he was appointed High Bailiff of the City for the year 1998/99.
