Mr Ken Cracknell MBE Suffolk Regiment

Obituary for Mr Ken Cracknell MBE

868837 Ken Cracknell MBE of Beccles, died peacefully, after a long illness, in Feb 2011.

He served with B Coy, 8 Suffolk, from enlistment in 1944, in North Norfolk, the West Indies and Bermuda. He was a former Vice Chairman of the Beccles Branch.

The Eastern Daily Press carried a piece titled: ‘Death of community stalwart fondly known as ‘Mr Beccles’.

He was Mayor of the Suffolk town three times and was made MBE in the 2002 New Year Honours List for service to the community of Beccles.

Born in Bury St Edmunds, to parents who were both born in Beccles, he was chef at a London diplomatic club where Sir Winston Churchill was a regular diner. He worked at a Norwich restaurant and joined Anglia Television, where he spent 26 years as Catering Manager.

In 1942 he met his wife Stella in Beccles and they married in the same church as his parents and were together for 53 years until her death in 1999. She was a well-known entertainer in her younger days, playing the accordion.

Heavily involved in the community, he was an organiser of Beccles Regatta Carnival and a past chairman of the committee. He helped to set up a network of Citizens’ Advice Bureaux in Beccles, Bungay and Halesworth. A long-standing member of the Beccles Branch of the Suffolk Regiment Old Comrades’ Association, he was a member of the Royal British Legion.

Elected as an independent to the town council for Rigbourne Hill Ward in 1987, he became chairman of the planning committee. Then in February 1991, he was elected mayor and launched efforts to raise funds for equipment, including a defibrillator, for Beccles Health Centre. And 17 years later that bit of equipment saved his life when his heart stopped during a visit to his doctor.

As well as two more terms as mayor, he was also a member of Waveney District Council.

AJKC