SWITCH OF VENUE IN BRIGG WILL BE THE FIFTH SINCE GEORGE HEWSON'S ERA

Brigg Town Council will be switching to a new venue for future meetings - all of which are open to interested members of the public.
Monthly sessions having been held in the top floor function suite at the Buttercross for some months, they will now be relocated to a conference room in the nearby Angel building, where the council has its offices.
This move was agreed by councillors during their February meeting, held earlier this week.
However, please note that the Annual Town Public Meeting will still be held, as planned, in the Buttercross on Tuesday, March 15 from 7pm.
This offers an opportunity for Brigg people "to voice any concerns or bring forward ideas for the benefit of the town and its residents." It will be chaired by Town Mayor Coun Brian Parker.
As this is of particular local interest, Brigg Blog will issue a reminder a day or two prior to March 15, and look to post the agenda.
The switch of venue for council meetings comes as the Government is lifting the last Coronavirus emergency period restrictions.
However, members of the public can opt to don masks when attending forthcoming council meetings and the annual town session. During their latest meeting, some councillors wore face coverings throughout.
At the height of the Covid-19 emergency, Brigg Town Council held 'virtual' meetings on the internet, using the Zoom platform. This followed emergency legislation passed by the Government so councils (large and small) across the UK could continue to operate and make decisions.
Once traditional sessions were able to resume, the Buttercross function room was used because of its size, which permits people to distance from othersS.
When Brigg Blog first started covering meetings of Brigg Town Council in 1980 they were held in an ornate debating chamber deep inside the then Glanford authority's Station Road office block.
This was later renamed Hewson House in recognition of the huge contribution made by long-serving local, district and county councillor George Hewson, of Brigg.
George was present at the first Town Council meeting we covered from the press bench for the Lincolnshire & South Humberside Tims 40 years ago.
The Royal Navy veteran of both world wars, and his wife, ran a shop on Colton Street for many years, which served the Newlands housing estate.
In the latest issue of Brigg Matters Magazine there's a 'profile' feature about his grandson, Howard Hewson, an estate agent with Newton Fallowell, on Wrawby Street (adjoining College Yard).
Other Brigg Town Council meeting venues have been the Corn Exchange and Brigg Methodist Church (both briefly) and the Angel Suite (over many years).
The next meeting of Brigg Town Council will be held on Tuesday, March 22, from 7.15pm.


PICTURED: The Buttercross, Hewson House... and George Hewson in the 1960s, wearing the Brigg Urban District Council chairman's chain of office (this authority never had a Mayor). He served as the Town Mayor of Brigg in 1980/81 and also Mayor of Glanford in the mid-1970s. He was a member of the Lindsey and later Humberside county authorities.