Community / Tributes to ‘greatly respected’ ex-councillor
TRIBUTES have been paid in the council chamber to a former elected member who passed away last month at the age of 89.
Bertie Black represented both the old Cunningsburgh and Quarff and Bressay wards.
Convener Andrea Manson said at a meeting of the full council on Wednesday that Black was a “very talented and greatly respected man”.
The flag on top of Lerwick Town Hall flew at half mast earlier this month on the day of his funeral.
Manson said Black was born and brought up in Quendale, and was an “excellent scholar and sportsman” at school.
He then went to the Anderson Educational Institute in Lerwick, where he met his wife to be Carol.
The pair ended up spending more than 60 years together, Manson said.
The convener continued by saying that after national service the pair married and moved to London, with Black joining the BBC as an engineer.
The couple returned to Shetland frequently, and after retirement they came back to live in Bressay, where Black’s parents stayed.
Manson said Black was first elected in the old Cunningsburgh and Quarff ward in 1994, and he became vice chair of the social work committee and chairman of Shetland Charitable Trust.
He then represented the Bressay ward from 1999 to 2003.
“He was a hard working councillor who always did his best for his constituents, and for his ward and especially for his beloved Shetland,” Manson said.
The convener said that Black was survived by three children and six grandchildren, of whom he was “immensely proud of”.
Bressay Community Council meanwhile said Black “contributed greatly” to the island community.
“His knowledge, humour and balanced insight has been of great service to the island,” a representative said.
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