Posthumous award presented at House of Lords

Welshpool parents Don and Llinos Lewis have been to the House of Lords to receive a posthumous award in memory of their late son Ian.

Ian Lewis, who was Assistant Chief Executive and Director of Partnerships at Hackney Council, died on May 1 aged 52, after fighting a 12 month battle with pancreatic cancer.

He was posthumously awarded a Public Sector Hero Award by Locality UK, the country’s leading network of communities ambitious for change.

Mr Lewis oversaw relationships between Hackney Council and the Voluntary Community Sector(VCS) grants programme and received the award for promoting social justice.

Mr Lewis’s father Don said it had been a special occasion at The House of Lords. “Ian told us very little about his role at Hackney Council so what we heard made Llinos and I very proud of all his achievements,” he said.

At the ceremony he was described as a person that didn’t recognise sides by Jake Ferguson, Chief Executive Officer of Hackney Council for Voluntary Services (CVS).

“He just focussed on what was best for local people and was not afraid to do the right thing,” said Mr Ferguson.

“Ian helped to channel millions into the community sector and to raise the profile of so much good work the VCS does locally. He was clever and consider, a rare combination.

“He respected all parties around the table and genuinely seemed to care. His work in Hackney leaves a lasting legacy to be built on.”

Mr & Mrs Lewis moved to Welshpool in 1982 and have also lived at Llanfair and Llanerfyl, before returning g to the town in 2014.

The couple are both drivers for the Montgomeryshire Volunteer Bureau and Mr Lewis is the group’s treasurer. He is also a past captain and secretary of Welshpool Golf Club.

Picture: Don and Llinos Lewis with the posthumous award presented to their late son Ian at The House of Lords